Bass for my 12 year old daughter

[PaulThePlug]

1st Stop... whats local on Gumtree?

I got a Ibby GSR200 for £50! Now wired VBT for simplicity of use and left the Phat II

Some letter stickers on the fretboard to help them (and me...) along the way... 12th is quite far enough!

And Custom Star Wars Stickers to make it his own...

Edited March 19, 2022 by PaulThePlug

[Misdee]

Just clicked on this thread to see if the title referred to a possible part exchange deal that someone had been offered. I was going to say see if you can get them to throw in an amp and a new set of strings as well.

 

I've got a Harley Benton Shorty to futz about on at home and it's a really fun bass to play. Sounds like a P Bass, plays remarkably well, 30 inch scale, weighs about 7 1/2 pounds and cost less than a hundred quid. Eminently suitable for a twelve year old( the age I was when I started playing, funnily enough), I would think.

Edited March 19, 2022 by Misdee

[Pea Turgh]

My 12 yr old daughter liked my Squier CV Mustang, but ultimately preferred her Ukelele!

I think there’s some decent options out there, so it’ll boil down to what inspires her enough to pick it up.

[Happy Jack]

1 hour ago, Scoobs said:

... one I like if she does go off it would be ideal.  

 

And that is EXACTLY how I started playing bass.

 

Seriously.

 

😎

[Scoobs]

Latest word from the lady in question 'I don't care what it looks like, it's the sound that matters'.

😎

 

She's already playing ukulele and guitar (well right now she's banging out a 12 bar blues on the piano but that was from her younger days !!), so the current discussion is all around lessons, what on and how often and what do we do when the magic money tree stops producing!!!

[jd56hawk]

8 hours ago, Scoobs said:

Latest word from the lady in question 'I don't care what it looks like, it's the sound that matters'.

😎

 

She's already playing ukulele and guitar (well right now she's banging out a 12 bar blues on the piano but that was from her younger days !!), so the current discussion is all around lessons, what on and how often and what do we do when the magic money tree stops producing!!!

Good thing about buying a bass today?

You can buy one that feels good, sounds good, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 looks good.

Now more than ever before.

Edited March 19, 2022 by jd56hawk

[Frank Blank]

Just PMd you.

[OliverBlackman]

There’s a Sire U5 in the classifieds 

[fretmeister]

There's an amazingly upgraded Ibanez Mezzo medium scale in the classifieds....

 

32 inch scale, nice slim neck, 8lb weight etc

 

ahem.

[MrCrane]

My daughter started at 8 on an Ibanez Mikro. An excellent little bass in it's own right.

 

  She's still using it 5 years on (but casting not so subtle glances at my Lakland Precision 🙂).

[jd56hawk]

On 19/03/2022 at 05:10, lemmywinks said:

A Hofner is probably a terrible choice unless they want a specific sound and are happy with the limitations of what can be done on the instrument. What sort of music does she like to play?

True enough.

Same goes for an EB-0.

[sammybee]

My daughter (12 yo) started playing bass (semi-seriously) about 2-3 years ago. At 9 years old, I bought her a decent short scale bass, which she never touched, much preferring a full size bass. Over the past few years she has played a Squier PJ (music teachers), Sire V5, Stingray, and... she often picks up my US RI 75 Jazz which is hefty to say the least. I'm not sure how tall your daughter is now, but if you buy a smaller bass - they shoot up quickly and she may out grow whatever you buy today in 6 months.

Edited March 20, 2022 by sammybee

[AndyTravis]

Must say my Ella impressed me this weekend. Spent a few hours a day playing…then showed me that she’s playing something from the Hamilton soundtrack which she’s figuring out by ear and an app she’s found.

 

😊

[alyctes]

Ibanez Mikro for me.  Compact, well made, plays well.  Fits in a guitar gigbag.  Excellent backup bass when she outgrows it.

[bigsmokebass]

On 18/03/2022 at 19:45, AndyTravis said:

On 18/03/2022 at 19:45, AndyTravis said:

Yamaha rbx 260 seems to work for mine (also 12)

 

I know I'm a fan boy of Yamaha (too!) but this is a good shout. They're great and ideal for beginners, quality enough to last if the passion progresses until the next bass is affordable/deserved and often found cheap enough if second hand is what you're after to start with. 👌🏻

 

I still have my Westfield B1000 from when I was 14. For a precision bass copy, it's actually well built and sounds really good! I've taken it apart numerous times and put together again when I was younger, a mad phase where I painted it (fretboard too 🙈) it's been to many practice sessions, gigs and recorded with 😂 hell of a bass and still sounds amazing 18 years later! 😅 

They can also be found in a range of colours, rosewood and maple necks and dirt cheap when they show up on sites, more often then not, barely touched and great condition. 

If you think your Farida is good, give this a try 😉🤙🏻

 

 

If you're looking to buy new, I'd check out Yamaha, (JHS) Vintage, Aria and few other brands but I'd keep active basses at bay for the moment. 

[Bassfinger]

My lass is 10 and has a 3/4 size J&B jazz bass, and its the real deal. Reasonable finish, proper sound, perfectly playable, and relatively inexpensive.

[Scoobs]

Thanks for all the replies folks lots of good options around - it still amazes me how much you can get for relatively little money these days. My memory may be fading but I'm fairly sure I paid more than £150 for my first bass and that was in 1983! It wasn't a brand I recognised then or ever see now either.

[Lozz196]

9 minutes ago, Scoobs said:

Thanks for all the replies folks lots of good options around - it still amazes me how much you can get for relatively little money these days. My memory may be fading but I'm fairly sure I paid more than £150 for my first bass and that was in 1983! It wasn't a brand I recognised then or ever see now either.

Which back then was a huge amount of money. As beer was approx 50p a pint that’s equivalent to 300 pints, same today is well over a grand.

 

My 1st bass cost £50 in 1980, a Kay EB-0 copy, again a large sum of money back then, especially for a 15 year old - I had to work hard for that £50.

[Scoobs]

Beer is a great way to measure inflation and yes it did take some saving up! A lot of papers delivered and lots of early mornings went into mine. 

[zbd1960]

I was a barman in late 70s early 80s. At the start of that, bitter was 23p a pint, lager and Guinness were 25p. Your baby/split drinks (Britvics, tonics etc) were 13p... 

[Jack]

There's 12 year old girls in my school playing 34" basses no problem. I started at 13 and most of the girls at that age are taller than the boys anyway. 

 

If she needs a short scale though then I'd echo the Talman and suggest the Jackson Minion. Great basses if you like the look. I also had a Gretch that was nice but I probably wouldn't that as my only bass. 

[Scoobs]

Cheers Jack, latest news is she is happy with the Farida for now which is great news for me. Less good news is the thing has developed a weird crackle, watch out for a help post coming up. Meanwhile I need to get a case together to justify buying Karlfer's P Bass special to SWMBO... 

[naxos10]

I would have thought that as your daughter neeeeeeeeeeds a bass and the Farida is the only one in the house then your case for purchasing Karlfers P Bass has already been formed😁

[Scoobs]

Not yet fully formed Naxos, but agreed it has a solid foundation. Slightly trickier to negotiate will be the next three questions I can see coming namely:

 

Do you need to spend that much?

 

Darlington - isn't there one any closer?

 

And finally what's so special about that one (maple, sunburst, PJ pickups, jazz neck obviously but doesn't carry much weight with a non bassist) 

 

Wish me luck  

[naxos10]

I wish you the very best of luck sir.