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Your most expensive gear mistakes?


Al Krow

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2 hours ago, knirirr said:

Yes, even then.
The last bass I sold was a decent quality popular model which I would have thought even I could avoid making a loss on as I bought used and it (unusually) had frets. But no; I had to pay import costs when buying and commission when selling.

Interesting one. Is it fair to say that with, certain notable exceptions - Wal, Ken Smith and Rics come to mind, basses seem to fall further from RRP to their eventual used resale value than pretty much any other bit of gear? Or is that too broad a generalisation?

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Buying new is a schoolboy mistake which I have to own up to. I bought a new Precision Elite, as I just didn't have the patience to wait until a secondhand one came along on Basschat. Days after I bought it, the marketplace was flooded with the things 😨

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9 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

I'm only reading this thread to make myself feel better. :ph34r:

Quite frankly I wouldn't know where to start with myself and I certainly couldn't narrow it down to just 3!

I've just taken legal advice in relation to the OP and I've been informed that nowhere does it stipulate a restriction to 3 items**.

Take your time, and give the rest of us an opportunity to feel better about ourselves... 😁

 

 

** although I can't guarantee this won't be overturned in the Supreme Court 😂

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My only expensive ones go way back, but both involve selling basses which I should have stashed, tho I was in my late teens/early 20s and new shiny things were irresistible.

Since you're wondering, a Jetglo 4001 and a 73-74 black and maple precision. sold both for less than £200. I knowwwww....😕

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I was playing rhythm guitar in a covers band some years ago, mainly playing a Telecaster. I’d had a good quarter at work, got a nice fat bonus, and so decided to scratch an itch that had bugged me since my teens and layed down £1800 on a Rickenbacker 360. 
 
I was massively disappointed. Fit and finish was terrible, and the sound was weedy and / or harsh. I took it to two luthiers to try and sort out how badly it played and neither could make any significant improvement. It kept going out of tune despite more tweaks. I gigged it once and put it down after one song, never to be played live again. 

I kept it for a while, not being able to bring myself to sell it as it looked so gorgeous but eventually let it go and took a big loss on it. Honestly, it was a piece of junk. 

Lesson learned.

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33 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I've just taken legal advice in relation to the OP and I've been informed that nowhere does it stipulate a restriction to 3 items**.

Take your time, and give the rest of us an opportunity to feel better about ourselves... 😁

 

 

** although I can't guarantee this won't be overturned in the Supreme Court 😂

I've decided to take legal advice... but if anyone cares to trawl through years of Basschat (2004-2009 was a particularly low point), a number of my sins are all too well documented.

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3 hours ago, gjones said:

Buying new is a schoolboy mistake which I have to own up to. I bought a new Precision Elite, as I just didn't have the patience to wait until a secondhand one came along on Basschat. Days after I bought it, the marketplace was flooded with the things 😨

True. The problem comes when the items you're after are like rocking horse stinky poo and you know it's extremely doubtful that they'll ever come up used in the colour and condition you want.

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I imported this Landing s/scale from  usa,   custom built for me with the synth pickup and all hard wired in,   plus the synth and all cables,  looked good but had neck issues and other electronic hurdles to jump,  I have one Landing which is outstanding,  but oh dear not this one.  Cost me 2400 dollars  plus import fees ,  got 400 for the guitar on fleaBay,  even less for the synth  !   I could go on  ...

SYNTH PACK 004.JPG

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7 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Sounds to me you could make your relocation money back (and then some) by flogging your missus to the highest bidder on basschat! 😂

 

1 hour ago, oldslapper said:

😂

I’d be even more broke, she’s my conscience and accountant. But I’ll put it to her.

 

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

I think you've just gone and increased the sales price...😄 

 

15 minutes ago, oldslapper said:

It’s all about the marketing ! 

Must get a job at Fe*#der 🥴

Is there a cheaper Mexican version?

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Buying an MIA Stu Hamm Urge 2 bass. However, it cured me of two misconceptions. First, that flexibility lies in having lots of pickups - two J and one P - and second, that flexibility requires an on-board preamp. I also got a third, very important lesson - if there isn't a usable sound in a bass, no amount of tweaking will bring it out.

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Shelling out £2200 on a Gibson 335 custom shop, then discovering I just could not get on with the sticky feeling nitro neck, gigged it twice then traded it for a brand new US Strat which turned out not to be as nice as my bitsa Strat so sold on again for a further loss, I reckon that in the end I managed to end up trading the 335 for a sherbet dip!

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14 minutes ago, converse320 said:

Well I first tried to learn bass around 1989ish.  I went to my local guitar shop with £400 and tried a pre Ernie Ball Stingray, a 1960 Precision, and a new Patrick Eggle Milan.  I bought the Patrick Eggle.

Ouch! 😮

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All depends what you consider expensive...I've always been up for a bit of experimentation, but collectively it's £££.  Tons.

Gretsch Baritone...is it a baritone or a just weird bass thing?  Rickenbacker 4003.  Gibson NR Thunderbird reissue (Issues, grrr).  A pair of Aguilar SL112s (they were nice, but not aggressive enough).  Tech21 GED 2112 (just grrr).  TC Electronic BH head (gimmicky Toneprint, fun, questionable output wattage, not very good).  Sansamp VT Bass rack (bought blind, didn't do anywhere near what I thought it was going to do; one rehearsal - 'Uh-oh', one gig and sold.)  Trace Eliot rack gear...lots of it, GP12 SMX/Mono power stage, stereo power stages, just horribly bland, most of it bought in one purchase, immediacy of, 'What the fork have I done?'

There was an Ibanez Roadster thing I loathed from the moment I bought it.  It cost me under £200 decades ago, but WAS a lot of money at the time.  It was forking shirt.  I lost my temper with it when I was gigging and (unplanned) broke it up towards the end of the set, much to the gasps of the people watching.

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Bought what I came to realise later was a very nice example of a Sterling Ray35 for a very good price, played it for a bit and got to thinking “this is great - if this is the moderate budget model then I bet a real Stingray 5 would be just amazing!” ...ended up trading it in for one and started working to convince myself it was indeed better. Ended up having to admit to myself that it was much worse and needed to be moved on. Ultimately I lost a grand and learned a lesson.

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