Unexpected Purchases?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Reading MoJo's "I've done a very stupid thing" thread, I though to myself "Why would anyone do that, I wouldn't buy a bass by mistake or on a whim like that", however yesterday I was looking for a case for my Epiphone vintage pro thunderbird, and found a vintage pro including a case on ebay at what seemed like a very low current bid, with the auction ending in less than an hour.

I watched the auction and the bidding stayed low, so I couldn't resist putting in a sneaky 'lowball' bid in the dying seconds fully expecting to be outbid by the current high bidder's maximum bid, or by someone else sniping.

I was quite surprised when I won the auction, and have paid for it, but now I have the dilemma of getting this humungous box delivered at a time the missus won't see it, plus hiding it until I decide what to do with it. I really don't need another sunburst vintage pro t-bird, so I'll probably set up the bass and sell it on, just keeping the case for my existing t-birds. The case looks a little battered but appears to be structurally fine - hopefully just needing some of the tolex to be glued down.

Who else has bought a bass unexpectedly on a whim without really thinking it through first?

[LeftyJ]

19 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

now I have the dilemma of getting this humungous box delivered at a time the missus won't see it, plus hiding it until I decide what to do with it

I resolved this by having my purchases delivered at my work address 🤫

On topic, my purchases are never really unexpected, but I don't always fully think them through either 😅. When I bought my first Status S2, I HAD to have it, based on looks alone. I had lusted after the very same instrument years earlier but missed out. I was unable to try it first, as it was located in Israel. It was a huge and expensive gamble. The asking price was alright, but I would also have to pay import duties and added VAT so the total price would be higher than I would be able to retrieve for it if I wouldn't like it.  

It turned out fine, because I absolutely love the thing, thankfully!

Edited July 8, 2019 by LeftyJ

[Baxlin]

On a whim, yes.  An 80s Marlin, hoping it would be lighter than my EB3.  It isn’t.

But it was only £40, and being sold by a local hospice charity, and now I’ve fettled it a bit, it’s fine as a back up bass.  

[Dem Jolie-blues]

4 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

I resolved this by having my purchases delivered at my work address 🤫

   AS above,     Always

[Daz39]

This one's easy if your other half can not distinguish between two sunburst tbirds. Just say it's the one you own that went for a service or a mate borrowed and gave me an old spare case for it.

 

[dave_bass5]

Most of my music purchases are on a whim, and all go to my work address. if anything is mentioned at home (vary rarely), one of you guys lent it to me lol.

I brought a Jack Casady bass last Nov. Never looked at one or had the slightest interest in one. After watching the Stone Roses documentary and liking the tone, 45mins later i had brought one. I sold it a couple of months ago.

 

[Lozz196]

I recently bought a Squier Vintage Modified 77 Jazz Bass when returning a bass I’d bought that had a slight defect. I saw it displayed and thought it looked great, tried it out and just loved playing it. After years of buying and then moving on Jazz after Jazz I think I’ve finally found one that I really gel with, and at a time when I wasn’t looking for one.

[Maude]

Our guitarist is heavily into Rickenbackers and I'd always joked that the only Ric bass I'd own was a 4005, seeing as a decent one goes for between 7 and 9 grand I wasn't ever going to buy one. Then a custom built copy popped up on FB when I had a quick look before going into work, it looked lovely but it was 300 miles away and the best part of a grand, I'd never played one and I couldn't try this one. By lunchtime I'd agreed to buy it 😁

Edited July 8, 2019 by Maude

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

3 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

I resolved this by having my purchases delivered at my work address 🤫

 

I do this, but I'm self-employed and work at home.😳

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

3 hours ago, Daz39 said:

This one's easy if your other half can not distinguish between two sunburst tbirds. Just say it's the one you own that went for a service or a mate borrowed and gave me an old spare case for it.

 

No problem there its when the courier brings a blummin' great box to the door if the missus is around at the time. She didn't notice my vintage pro t-bird once I had it in the house as it she can't tell the difference between it and my pro-v five string t-bird. I also managed to sneak in the JMJ mustang as I already had a white mustang and a musicmaster the same daphne blue colour as the JMJ - perhaps she thinks the JMJ is the offspring of those two.

[la bam]

Wasnt there a post a few weeks ago, where a seller was popping in a "Congratulations on winning this prize" piece of paper to fool peoples wives into thinking their husbands had won it, instead of buying it?!

Edited July 8, 2019 by la bam

[Maude]

Also not exactly on a whim but definitely a quick decision was my Bex4. I'd sort of wanted a Bex4 in tabaccoburst for while since missing the end of an auction due to poor signal while away on holiday, usually they're the orange or the blue. There was a post on here linking to the sale of one as a recommendation to someone enquiring about hollow bodies. It was an old post but the Bex4 was still miraculously up for sale. I PM'd the chap and we did the deal, and I paid by PayPal. The email address linked to PayPal is the one Mrs. Maude now uses so I new she'd get the notification but wouldn't bother reading it as I'm always buying little bits and pieces, I thought the transaction amount didn't come up in the email heading so when she text me joking "what have you bought now?", I just told her it was some secondhand strings from someone on here. The next text read "What, for £280!?". So I just replied "Oh yeah, they might still be attached to a bass". 

😂

[BlueMoon]

4 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

but now I have the dilemma of getting this humungous box delivered at a time the missus won't see it, plus hiding it until I decide what to do with it.

Nice story!

I always tell my missus that it is a bass that is being returned after having had some fret work done. Rave about how good the guy was and how fast he turned it around.

[Vinny]

Not bass related, but this afternoon I went out to get a new 3/8" ratchet. I didn't get one, but (and I'm really not sure how, exactly) I now own a van.

Edited July 8, 2019 by Vinny

[Delberthot]

4 minutes ago, Vinny said:

Not bass related, but this afternoon I went out to get a new 3/8" ratchet. I didn't get one, but (and I'm really not sure how, exactly) I now own a van.

I once went out to buy Robocop on DVD and bought a brand new car

Back on topic, I had a stormer of a gig with my Harley Benton Jazz, came home and bought the Precision in my sig just because I needed one

[gazhowe]

I went to buy a sandwich last Thursday lunchtime and ended up unexpectedly buying a Fender Player Precision as well.  It’s the 3rd time I’ve gone out for lunch and  bought a bass without planning to, all from the same shop. Hopefully this one will be a keeper, unlike the other two, but I really need to find a nice sandwich shop further away from PMT Newcastle in future. 

[BassTractor]

14 hours ago, BlueMoon said:

I always tell my missus that it is a bass that is being returned after having had some fret work done. Rave about how good the guy was and how fast he turned it around.

Story of my life.
- What? Another 65-stop pipe organ?
- No, love, just one that had some fret work done. Great craftsmanship! Fast turnaround!"
- ...

Edited July 9, 2019 by BassTractor

[miles'tone]

10 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

Reading MoJo's "I've done a very stupid thing" thread, I though to myself "Why would anyone do that, I wouldn't buy a bass by mistake or on a whim like that", however yesterday I was looking for a case for my Epiphone vintage pro thunderbird, and found a vintage pro including a case on ebay at what seemed like a very low current bid, with the auction ending in less than an hour.

I watched the auction and the bidding stayed low, so I couldn't resist putting in a sneaky 'lowball' bid in the dying seconds fully expecting to be outbid by the current high bidder's maximum bid, or by someone else sniping.

I was quite surprised when I won the auction, and have paid for it, but now I have the dilemma of getting this humungous box delivered at a time the missus won't see it, plus hiding it until I decide what to do with it. I really don't need another sunburst vintage pro t-bird, so I'll probably set up the bass and sell it on, just keeping the case for my existing t-birds. The case looks a little battered but appears to be structurally fine - hopefully just needing some of the tolex to be glued down.

Who else has bought a bass unexpectedly on a whim without really thinking it through first?

I was looking at that exact one! I would have put in a bid myself but I'd just accidentally bought an SX 62 Pbass I didn't know I needed about an hour before! 

What're we like eh? 😄

[Newfoundfreedom]

Yup. Drunk me bought sober me a Squier Jag one night after a few too many vodkas. 

The weird thing is, sober me can't stand Fender / Squier basses. I just think the headstocks are so bloody ugly. It's true what they say about "beer goggles".  Although to be fair the thing sounds superb and the build quality is ridiculously good for a "cheap" bass. So I kept it as a back up / practice bass.

I also once did the cheeky bid, no chance of winning, thing on eBay and ended up with a full Laney stack. 😂

[Doctor J]

A couple of weeks ago I saw an old SR1000E. The item description, however, read...

Quote

Please check photos that show the main damages and flaws on the item by pointing with a ballpoint pen. / This is a used item. There are signs of wear such as scrapes and scratches on the item. Please see all photos. / Screw for strap is missing. / Pre amplifier is faulty. Even after battery replacement, no sound is made from the guitar. The root cause is unclear. / Neck is bent upward. / Truss rod cannot turn almost.[/quote]

 

I have a bit of a thing for old SRs and had a belly full of wine at the time and mentioned it to a mate, expecting a rational response to move on and forget about it. What I got was 

 

He who hesitates is lost

so, emboldened - as I do enjoy fixing up fixer-uppers - by Dutch courage and bad advice, clicked Buy It Now, drifted back into tipsy reverie and promptly forgot about it until it arrived in the post a few days later.

 

Thankfully, I was able to see the source of the electronic woe within a couple of seconds, fixed in a couple of minutes, and the truss rod was a little stiff but quite functional, nothing which couldn’t be solved by a clean and lube of the nut and bolt. It needed a thorough decontamination from the biosludge which coated every square cm, but it’s working fully, the neck is straight as an arrow, it sets up nicely and sounds like a beast. It makes a great sibling for my same-year SR800 which came off the line 141 units earlier. I have some new straplocks on the way and that’ll be one of the best mistakes I ever made.

Edited June 16, 2021 by Doctor J

[Newfoundfreedom]

5 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

A couple of weeks ago I saw an old SR1000E for about £175 with free postage (nice because it was in Japan). The item description, however, read...

 

 

Superb!

He who dares, wins. 

[martthebass]

On ‎08‎/‎07‎/‎2019 at 13:32, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

Reading MoJo's "I've done a very stupid thing" thread, I though to myself "Why would anyone do that, I wouldn't buy a bass by mistake or on a whim like that", however yesterday I was looking for a case for my Epiphone vintage pro thunderbird, and found a vintage pro including a case on ebay at what seemed like a very low current bid, with the auction ending in less than an hour.

I watched the auction and the bidding stayed low, so I couldn't resist putting in a sneaky 'lowball' bid in the dying seconds fully expecting to be outbid by the current high bidder's maximum bid, or by someone else sniping.

I was quite surprised when I won the auction, and have paid for it, but now I have the dilemma of getting this humungous box delivered at a time the missus won't see it, plus hiding it until I decide what to do with it. I really don't need another sunburst vintage pro t-bird, so I'll probably set up the bass and sell it on, just keeping the case for my existing t-birds. The case looks a little battered but appears to be structurally fine - hopefully just needing some of the tolex to be glued down.

Who else has bought a bass unexpectedly on a whim without really thinking it through first?

Erm......couple of weeks back on a JMJ Mustang when I already had 2 Mustangs.  I promised the boss that I'd sell one and fortunately did.  As a consequence my genitalia are still largely intact, but it was a close thing.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Well, the new thunderbird turned up and it could pass for a new one - there's not a mark on it. The case although superficially bearing a few battle scars is structurally sound as I hoped and there doesn't seem to be any rips that require attention. All in all not a bad purchase.

It arrived when I had the house to myself and its rehearsal night tonight so its in the back of the car where the missus won't see it.

[Maude]

We rent a basement as our permanent rehearsal space so I keep my doublebass and a few basses there. I get anything new delivered to work and then straight into the basement. 

[Guest oZZma]

My purchases are usually long-planned but a few weeks ago I was mentally not too ok so... I ended up buying a bass that 1. I didn't really "need" 2. costed me almost one monthly wage and 3. after all I'm liking a lot LESS than my old one. 
I still can't explain how could I lose control to that point and I also feel quite ashamed if I think back to this episode, because I've never been the kind of person that buys stuff just becase bored, or anything like that. And I hate consumerism.
Anyways, lesson learned. Stay away from classifieds when saddened or melancholic. It doesn't "heal" anything and you can only regret that.