What's The Best Deal You've Ever Had?

[dave_bass5]

For me it has to be my Fender P. Not only are these MIA’s very rare, I found this on line in on a small dealer’s website for £700 posted, inc nice gig bag. 

or, the two free Sire gig bags i get sent to me when i asked about buying one here in the UK. Direct from the top man at Sire. 

[AndyTravis]

This. Actually.

To the day...can’t think of a bass which has cost me so little yet brought so much fun and garnered so much attention.

It owes me £200, possibly under £150, I’ve had a few shandies, so my mental arithmetic and cost sheet are currently uploading an update of some sort...

[gjones]

Bought an Ashdown ABM 500 IV head, for £134, about a year ago.

Sounds great.

[LeftyJ]

USA-made G&L Legacy Special in a blue swirl finish for 250 euros. A previous owner used to have a Roland GK2 pickup in it that was stuck to the pickguard, thankfully not screwed to the body. However, there was a little piece of pickguard material screwed to the body as some sort of cable guide for the GK2. It was a great guitar, very versatile, but I hated the finish (it was a foil wrap with a clear coat finish sprayed over, it actually had air bubbles in the cutaways!) and couldn't get along with the floating tremolo and sold it. Not such a good deal anymore: the buyer recognized it from the previous ad where I bought it from and wanted to pay no more than the same 250. I stupidly agreed.

Carvin LB75 on this very forum with LOADS of finish wear all over the body but a perfectly good and unharmed neck, also for 250. I loved the tone and playability but absolutely hated the looks. Sold it for 450 to pursue another bass with the same pickup configuration and later bought another LB75 that sounded nowhere near as good as the black one. I was able to buy the black one back a couple of weeks ago for approximately what I paid for it and I'm glad I did. It still looks like sh!t but it's a great bass. I had to replace the battery box with a new Gotoh BB-02 and the frets were dented a little more than I remembered it from 7 years ago but I was able to solve that by polishing the frets.

[Pow_22]

Two that spring to mind are a sunburst Epiphone Rivoli (reissue) with hardcase from Bass Gallery for £250 a few years ago.  I also once snagged a 'spares/repairs' SVT on ebay for £350, all it needed was new valves and it was fine

[Steve Browning]

20 hours ago, casapete said:

My best buys have usually concerned stuff I've bought that has eventually become worth a lot more!

I acquired my 63 P-bass for not a lot of money, but it was in a right state after being left in a loft for a few years. Spent a fair bit getting it into shape, and it will be with me till the end. ( Originally belonged to an ex-bandmate who sadly got killed in a road accident, and his widow approached me a few years later to see if I wanted it.)

Bought a very rare Marshall Bluesbreaker combo in the late 70's/early 80's for (IIRC) £80. It was a really rare 4x10 version which are like hen's teeth. Sold it for a paltry £150 I think - it let me down on a gig and I got fed up of it. Nowadays would be worth maybe 10K !!

Got my 1959 Les Paul Junior for what would now be considered a song - think it was £400. This was at a time when they weren't particularly desirable, but to a Keith Richards fan like me it was priceless. The going rate for them now seems to be around the £3.5 to £4k range i think. Again, won't be going anywhere though.

Probably the best thing I've got is my late 60's Marshall 1974 18 watt guitar combo. Bought for £45 in the late 70's, and now worth a fair bit. A friend who had a music shop was asked by his Marshall sales rep if he knew anyone who had one to sell, so he contacted me to see if I was interested. Told him thanks but no. He rang back and said the Marshall guy wanted it for a famous client of theirs (who had hired the same model for his blues album) and would I accept an offer of £4k? Must admit I did consider it, but again politely refused. Certainly the best guitar amp I've ever had.

 

 

A mate of mine had a 2 x 12 one of these. Just a volume and a tone control. Coupled with his Grimshaw Les Paul, without doubt the best guitar sound I have ever heard.

[Rich]

12 hours ago, owen said:

He does replacement machine head "ears" in wood. I am going to be all over those like a bad rash. 

He does?? Oh boy, I might be in trouble. I'd love some nice ones for my Shuke.

[binky_bass]

He is based in the states, but I can't imagine the import/shipping being prohibitively expensive. Fantastic work though. 

[Rich]

If my memory serves me correctly, back in the day didn't one of our number score what appeared to be a Marshall amp devoid of its vinyl at a boot sale for next to nothing, and said amp turned out to be an original 60s Super Bass head? Going back many many years here.

[Rich]

12 hours ago, owen said:

He does replacement machine head "ears" in wood. I am going to be all over those like a bad rash. 

Just checked the online store. Yowch... rather more than I was hoping/expecting, and the exchange rate does us no favours.
Sadly I think I'm going to have to pass.  

Edited June 2, 2020 by Rich

[Iacopo San]

11 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

For me it has to be my Fender P. Not only are these MIA’s very rare, I found this on line in on a small dealer’s website for £700 posted, inc nice gig bag. 

or, the two free Sire gig bags i get sent to me when i asked about buying one here in the UK. Direct from the top man at Sire. 

That is the most beautiful Precision I have ever seen.

Maybe only after my MIM Fiesta Red P. 👹

[4000]

13 hours ago, binky_bass said:

Roger made the Bunny tuners for Binky, the Maple/Buckeye/Abalone knobs and the truss rod cover. All unbelievably good work...

I think the cost was $450 dollars (I think) for 6 knobs, 10 tuners and the truss cover. 

For inlay work, Bill Nichols is utterly superb. His work is incredibly detailed and flawless. The 1 foot tall Binky inlay is a masterpiece.

I may be the only person on BC that doesn’t know, but what’s the story behind the inlay and name?

[AndyTravis]

6 minutes ago, 4000 said:

I may be the only person on BC that doesn’t know, but what’s the story behind the inlay and name?

I did wonder - cool Character, has a look of Matt Groening’s work.

[binky_bass]

@4000 RSN are my initials, a bit 'indulgent' to call it my Signature Bee, but I wanted something absolutely and irrefutably mine. And Binky, he was one of the first Characters Matt Groening was known for as part of a comic strip called 'Life In Hell' prior to The Simpsons. When I was younger I used to doodle Binky on anything I could doodle on. Also, the very first introduction to The Simpsons, as a short sketch, was aired on the day I was born. So a few tie-ins their. I think Matt is actually aware of Binky's existence... no phone calls to appear on The Simpsons yet though! 😂

[Owen]

58 minutes ago, Rich said:

Just checked the online store. Yowch... rather more than I was hoping/expecting, and the exchange rate does us no favours.
Sadly I think I'm going to have to pass.  

Ah! I have just found the actual ordering page. Ummmm...... i think I might have to go in anyway. I have been looking for this exact service for about 6 years.

[casapete]

3 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

A mate of mine had a 2 x 12 one of these. Just a volume and a tone control. Coupled with his Grimshaw Les Paul, without doubt the best guitar sound I have ever heard.

I believe the recent reissue (model 1974x) is a pretty good stab at matching the sound of the original, and is available with a matching 1x12 cab to augment the combo’s 1x12. They are quite a loud 18 watts too, used mine in a band scenario a few times. Maybe lacking the clean headroom of a Fender Deluxe but fabulous Bluesbreaker tones when running flat out. 😊

[Nibody]

Sattelite cherry SG copy. Was a nice guitar. My guitarist at the time poo pooed it as it was "a cheap copy" and would "sound crap". Bought for £30 at a car boot on a whim, sold for £150 from memory on ebay.

[yorks5stringer]

I got talking to a guy at work, maybe 20 years ago and he said he had on old Burns Jazz  3 pickup Guitar under his bed. He brought it in , it was missing a fret and a bit of a state but  from the 60's I gave him £50. Got the one fret replaced and advertised it ( can't remember where).  I was in Yorkshire at the time and a guy came all the way from Wales to buy it for £200, I probably could have got more for it.

The other bargain was a Jaydee Supernatural Roadie I got for £300 from one of the many second-hand shops there used to be in Leeds. The windows were crammed with all sorts of stuff but this JD came down from £500 to £400 and I chopped in an old combo to get it for £300.. Ended selling it for £400 a couple of years later as it was a very specific sound and image. Hindsight!