How much is too much?

[~tl]

As long as I could justify owning the bass (i.e. I would play it regularly, rather than just have it for the sake of having it) then I would be prepared to pay whatever it costs. A good instrument is worth paying for! Saying that, there aren't many basses above the £1500 mark that tickle my fancy...

Edited October 6, 2008 by ~tl

[Adrenochrome]

The most I've paid for a bass is £220. I've never had much cash to spare to be honest! People at gigs like the sound of my bass so I'm not concerned about not having expensive gear.

[OldGit]

[quote name='KevB' post='300669' date='Oct 6 2008, 05:31 PM']I'll never own a bass with LED's if I can possibly help it. [/quote]

Why's that then Kev?

PS mine are on the side, of course. No way I'd ever have them on the front. I don't have front markers at all on one of my basses. Just don't need 'em..

[Rich]

[quote name='jake_tenfloors' post='300630' date='Oct 6 2008, 04:53 PM']personally, as much as i can spare to spend at the time of purchase

-Jake[/quote]
+1

[mcgraham]

I think an instrument is worth however much you're willing to spend on it. It's a combination of what the bass brings (in its sound, feel, construction, enjoyment, rewards of your passion) and how much you can afford (either disposable income or willing to scrape money together to get it).

I'm parting with a few grand to get my Wood&Tronics bass, but to me it is them or nothing. I have played no other bass that feels or sounds the way theirs do. I will get the mileage out of this instrument, because nothing else that I have seen offers me what I desire in an instrument. And I'm willing to pay for that because I have a passion for music that will cause me to make this purchase worth it.

Mark

[spinynorman]

I wonder about vintage instruments as any kind of investment strategy. In 1973 I bought a Gibson J50 acoustic guitar for £150. It's now worth about £800, which is a stunning return of 5% compound growth. So I've had the use of it over that time, and if I'd bought the Martin, which was a similar price, I might have got 6% out of it. Anyone who bought it now would be lucky to get any return out of it at all, as the value hasn't moved for at least 10 years.

My best bass cost £250. The others cost more. That probably should be telling me something.

[mike257]

I bought my Stingray for just shy of a grand in 2004, and it was the first 'proper' instrument I treated myself to. I got my Sandberg in a trade, but reckon it would have cost my a touch over a grand for a new'un.

I love the pair of them, and find it hard to see that anything could be [i]much[/i] better than them. I don't think I could justify spending much more than that for an instrument.... and now only if I was paying the bills with it, because I think those two are enough.

Once you hit a certain price point, you're going to be getting a really good quality instrument. I'm not sure how much better off you'll be by spending [i]another[/i] £1k. Having said that, I've never tried some of these [s]sw***y[/s] posh expensive basses that some of you lucky lot have in your collections, so I might be talking rubbish.

[size=1][i]EDIT: The profanity filter working overtime today then?[/i][/size]

Edited October 8, 2008 by mike257

[thepurpleblob]

Well, I bought a new StingRay for just over a grand and that didn't hurt too much. I take your point though, I wouldn't want to spend so much that I would get upset if it got scratched!! If I buy it, I want to gig it.

[elom]

Too much is when you spend money on a bass that you should be spending on essential things. No matter how fantastic the bass, if you're missing your mortgage payments etc. then you've got things a bit wrong.

As has been said before there are loads of decent cheap basses out there nowadays, you don't need to spend thousands. If you've got the disposables though, fair enough.

[ARGH]

If an orchestral player pays 50k for an instrument...Then really there isnt a limit,upon what you want.

[Jase]

I prefer to buy second hand, they're all over priced IMO. For me, around £500 second hand is my limit. I was looking at Windmill Jazz basses, the one that caught my eye was about £1200, as much as I really want one I'd never pay that for it.

[Rich]

[quote name='mike257' post='301613' date='Oct 7 2008, 07:08 PM']Once you hit a certain price point, you're going to be getting a really good quality instrument. I'm not sure how much better off you'll be by spending [i]another[/i] £1k. Having said that, I've never tried some of these [s]sw***y[/s] posh expensive basses that some of you lucky lot have in your collections, so I might be talking rubbish.[/quote]I'm pretty sure that once you hit a certain price point, the extra thousands are simply buying further aesthetic qualities rather than enhancing the sound. The price point seems to depend on the individual maker... Alembic's appears to be about 10 grand

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='elom' post='301830' date='Oct 7 2008, 11:26 PM']Too much is when you spend money on a bass that you should be spending on essential things. No matter how fantastic the bass, if you're missing your mortgage payments etc. then you've got things a bit wrong.

As has been said before there are loads of decent cheap basses out there nowadays, you don't need to spend thousands. If you've got the disposables though, fair enough.[/quote]
Good point!

I agree with Jase about buying second-hand if you can get what you're after that way.. And also with Rich that there is a point beyond which the benefits are really just [i]"further aesthetic qualities". [/i]

Having said that, it's a free country (apparently), so what people choose to do with their money is up to them and I must admit that I enjoy seeing what inspires Basschatters when they're buying basses.

In 1990 when I was far more foolish, I spent £1500 on a very beautiful Tobias Classic 5 from the Bass Centre in Wapping which was an impulse purchase.. First I had to take it back because the pick ups were faulty, then I had the nut changed and then I had different circuitry installed.. Nearly £1800 later I woke up to the fact that the bass didn't make me very happy, didn't enhance my playing and just wasn't for me which is why I was endlessly tinkering with it. In the end, I sold it on and bought a late 70s USA BC Rich Eagle for £400 and was much, much happier..

Most I've spent since then was on a DJ5 here for £800 and my Wal Pro2e which in the end cost me about £700, after I sold on the spare circuitry it came with..

[phil_the_bassist]

I brought my 'ray from the BassMuppets in Denmark St for about £1300 "brand new" (notice the quotes, turned out it wasn't brand new, but that's another tale) with some insurance money from a crash. I know I was shafted, and could've got it for cheaper, but I've [b]never[/b] regretted payin that much cos I've grown with the bass, and tweaked and fettled the setup and intonation and experimented with strings etc etc etc and now I've got a bass that feel so [i]RIGHT[/i] I can't think of any reason to buy another!

I think I'll probably spend more, if I find a bass that would give me a worthwhile improvement on my 'ray, but I've not found one yet!


There are some blahdy tasty customs out there that would tempt me to spend £2k+. ACG, Shuker, RIM, GB etc etc look freakin awesome, and sound incredible but I need to be 100% that I wouldn't just go "ooh, that looks very pretty, now hand my my Stingray, I've got a gig to go to!"

[cytania]

First a test, see if you can say the following in a jolly 'tales from the road' voice;

"So I was setting up and my Sadowsky was on it's stand on stage. The club was just filling up but blow me down while my back was turned to tape up some cables some tea-leaf had nicked it!"

If you find these words causing you to choke try addding 'luckily I had that Musicguard insurance malarky, still I'll never find one quite as good'. Not helping? I think I may be establshing the need for a gigging instrument...

The other real question is whether like me you are an amateur or a pro who needs to make money. The true pro needs to balance instrument cost against the money it will make. Tough balance between a reliable workhorse bass and one that screams 'steal me'. Not that thieves would know a Squier from a pre-CBS...

[tauzero]

The day before I first met my Warwick Thumb, twenty years ago, I never thought I would spend more than a couple of hundred quid on a bass. However, when I played it (to test out an effects pedal, as it happened), I was so struck by it that I paid £900 for it.

Most of my basses have been in the £100-£300 bracket. I would like a custom bass or two sometime, though, but wouldn't want to pay out ridiculous amounts.

[skelf]

[quote name='phil_the_bassist' post='301914' date='Oct 8 2008, 09:08 AM']I brought my 'ray from the BassMuppets in Denmark St for about £1300 "brand new" (notice the quotes, turned out it wasn't brand new, but that's another tale) with some insurance money from a crash. I know I was shafted, and could've got it for cheaper, but I've [b]never[/b] regretted payin that much cos I've grown with the bass, and tweaked and fettled the setup and intonation and experimented with strings etc etc etc and now I've got a bass that feel so [i]RIGHT[/i] I can't think of any reason to buy another!

I think I'll probably spend more, if I find a bass that would give me a worthwhile improvement on my 'ray, but I've not found one yet!


There are some blahdy tasty customs out there that would tempt me to spend £2k+. ACG, Shuker, RIM, GB etc etc look freakin awesome, and sound incredible but I need to be 100% that I wouldn't just go "ooh, that looks very pretty, now hand my my Stingray, I've got a gig to go to!"[/quote]



Hi
I would just like to say that ACG basses are not in the £2k price range unless you are looking for a fully loaded 9 string and even then it does not quiet make the 2k.

[rjb]

I paid around £1500 in total to get my two Thumb Basses second hand - (£900 odd for the NT and £500 odd for the BO).

Had wanted these basses for years and found myself in a position to treat myself. Wouldn't ever spend over 1k on a bass, though.

Next year I may drop a few hundred on a fretless passive Corvette. That should do me for many years....

[chris_b]

How much is too much? In my experience it's the same as the difference between plonk and vintage wine.
I've got 2 basses that cost over £1000, but the money wasn't the point. At this level you are buying "subtle extras", which, if you can hear and feel them, are what makes you happy and comfortable and pushes your playing up another gear.
For me this is a one-way trip. I would find it very hard to go back to a "bottom of the line" bass.

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='chris_b' post='302847' date='Oct 9 2008, 11:17 AM']How much is too much? In my experience it's the same as the difference between plonk and vintage wine.
I've got 2 basses that cost over £1000, but the money wasn't the point. At this level you are buying "subtle extras", which, if you can hear and feel them, are what makes you happy and comfortable and pushes your playing up another gear.
For me this is a one-way trip. I would find it very hard to go back to a "bottom of the line" bass.[/quote]


It's strange out of all the basses I have had the one that feels the best in my affinity Squier cost me £100.

[OldGit]

[quote name='cytania' post='301926' date='Oct 8 2008, 09:27 AM']Not that thieves would know a Squier from a pre-CBS...[/quote]

My pre-CBS was nicked to order, I'm sure.
I agree that the average community recycler doesn't know a really valuable bass from a normal one but some people do...

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='OldGit' post='302860' date='Oct 9 2008, 11:35 AM']My pre-CBS was nicked to order, I'm sure.
I agree that the average community recycler doesn't know a really valuable bass from a normal one but some people do...[/quote]


I think your SX is worth £20 I'll give you £30 for good will