What is the most you'd personally pay for a new bass?

[Passinwind]

I'd gladly pay at least $5K for the right upright -- if I had gigs lined up to pay that off in a year or less.

 

OTOH, I doubt I'd spend even $100 on a new bass guitar of any kind at this time.

[KingBollock]

I have been wondering why I chose £600 for my upper limit and I think I have realised why. My favourite bass, my BC Rich Warlock is my “The One”. In about 1989 I was asked what my ultimate bass would be and I described the Warlock that I currently own. They didn’t actually make this spec at the time and only started in 1999 and only for ten years (I think I’ve got the date right). And they sold, new, for £600.

 

Also, I have sometimes looked at signature basses. I remember the Blackie Lawless BC Rich Widow was sold for £5000 (at least, that’s what it said in the Inside The Electric Circus cassette cover. And which I have seen people convert standard versions of for a hell of a lot less than that). The other, obvious one, for me, would be Lemmy’s bass (rather more difficult to replicate), which also sold for £5000. (Though, to be honest, I preferred the blond one with the iron cross and “born to lose” on it). I just don’t think I’d ever go that far. However, the one signature bass I would be interested in is the Steve Harris blue one from the 80s which, I believe, sold for £600.

[Sparky Mark]

40 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Now I'm confused. You suggested I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a USA and a Skyline and now your acknowledging there is a difference.

I was wondering how much difference there could be between the USA and Indonesian Lakland Vintage Jazz 44 60 basses. Trawling through the specs, the bridge, pups, tuners, neck profile, plus most other stuff appear identical. The differences seem to be a bone nut, quarter sawn neck, graphite truss rods and nicer cosmetics/woods on the USA. I couldn't find firm prices but I estimate there could be £1500 difference between the Skyline and USA. I think it would be extremely difficult to tell these apart in a true blind test. As a gear snob I'd want a USA but the Indonesian makes perfect sense if you're wanting a 44 60.

[40hz]

51 minutes ago, joe_geezer said:

How much is a new Wal these days? I'm actually down on the waiting list for one. Paul emailed me back a few months ago stating he would let me know what time frame i would be looking at. I'm going to sell a few basses to at take a 3rd off the price and then i have plenty of time to save up for the final payment ... 

I can't seem to find it on the website at the moment, likely due to the hold on orders, but it was £6000 at the last check.

 

I'm on the list for a mk1 when they open up again, and much like you, will likely sell a couple to go towards it. It's always been my dream bass, and although the pricing is absolutely mental, there isn't anything that gets in that ball park in terms of tone/sound. It will be a forever bass though, so I can justify it. . .  Maybe 😄😄

[Sparky Mark]

3 minutes ago, 40hz said:

I can't seem to find it on the website at the moment, likely due to the hold on orders, but it was £6000 at the last check.

 

I'm on the list for a mk1 when they open up again, and much like you, will likely sell a couple to go towards it. It's always been my dream bass, and although the pricing is absolutely mental, there isn't anything that gets in that ball park in terms of tone/sound. It will be a forever bass though, so I can justify it. . .  Maybe 😄😄

I bought a Wal Custom for £275 back in the 90s and sold it a few years later for £500.. doh!! But to be honest it was a very heavy lump of mahogany with a wenge top, rosewood board and chunky neck profile compared to my Stingray. I also found myself never settling on a particular tone; with two pups and the wide ranging active EQ there was simply too much choice for me. Of course I regret selling it, mainly because I could've sold it now for silly money (in my opinion of course).

[lidl e]

2 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Now I'm confused. You suggested I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a USA and a Skyline and now your acknowledging there is a difference.

i do acknowledge a difference in perception for sure. a mental thing. i cannot say for sure if that translates into real world value.

 

[Guest]

I don't even know what the most I have actually paid is — I didn't dare add up the bits and do the currency conversions etc, I just shut my eyes and coughed up, as and when 

[chris_b]

2 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

I was wondering how much difference there could be between the USA and Indonesian Lakland Vintage Jazz 44 60 basses. . . .

 

I believe that Lakland have the same business approach as Sadowsky. If you want the special options, a hand made instrument or just a bass made in the US then they do that.

 

If you don't want those things the Asian basses are made on a production line from the same components and built to the same high standard, with the price reflecting the lower costs of building in the Far East.

 

My Japanese made Sadowsky Metro is a fantastic instrument. I have no interest in the US version at all.

[kodiakblair]

Heart tells me I'd go to £600. 

 

Head tells me I'm a lying barstool who wouldn't part with £300 , Head of course is correct 😄 

 

Had a hankering for a Mosrite/Univox quite awhile now, almost bought the Aria version last week, £329. Before hitting the buy button, Head steps in with "Hold on son. You've a cove bit for the German Carve, plenty of timber stacked/stickered under the stairs. Spares drawers are groaning under the weight of tuning pegs/pickups/bridges."

 

Before I knew what hit me the templates were drawn up ready for cutting 🙂 

 

 

[LukeFRC]

10 minutes ago, chris_b said:

 

I believe that Lakland have the same business approach as Sadowsky. If you want the special options, a hand made instrument or just a bass made in the US then they do that.

 

If you don't want those things the Asian basses are made on a production line from the same components and built to the same high standard, with the price reflecting the lower costs of building in the Far East.

 

My Japanese made Sadowsky Metro is a fantastic instrument. I have no interest in the US version at all.

it’s not quite a straight comparison…
 

Sadowsky Japan I think were linked to ESP and designed as a fairly high range small shop.
ESP japan make a range of basses at different price points - including Lakland Japan/Shoreline 

these are supposed to be better than the Cortek made in Indonesia Lakland Skyline …

so not everything is the same 

[chris_b]

29 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Sadowsky Japan I think were linked to ESP

 

 

The Metro basses were made by Yoshi Kikuchi and a small team team of luthiers under Sadowsky supervision. As far as I know the Metrolines weren't made by Yoshi.

[ChWillie]

I paid around $2000 my US custom G&L JB-5, and that was worth the features I got.   I have six other basses including a Ric 4001 I bought for $780 in 1978.   $2000 is the most I’d spend unless I had real flip you money. Then I’d buy an Alembic.  I don’t plan on buying anymore basses.  I’ve got everything I need….except an Alembic. Oy veh. 

[joel406]

I own 6 instruments. $2k usd each.

[LukeFRC]

7 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

The Metro basses were made by Yoshi Kikuchi and a small team team of luthiers under Sadowsky supervision. As far as I know the Metrolines weren't made by Yoshi.

Metro and Metroline were two different eras of the same line assembled by Yoshi - maybe you are thinking of the short run metro express line?

There was also the higher end Sadowsky TYO line too that weren’t exported.

In the highly collaborative world of Japanese instrument making who was making the bits for Yoshi’s team to assemble- I’ve heard ESP, which would make sense.

[Ralf1e]

My most expensive bass is my Spector euroLX 5 string.

I bought it from Andertons as B stock for £1830 because it had a one inch chip out of the finish where someone had banged it. That was a favour to me as it got me about £700 off the price it would have been.

I love it. It is so well made and finished. I also fail to see how the home grown versions can be better made and finished but then I haven't seen or played one which is good because having retired I don't have the money to buy one anyway.

To kind of put that into context. The Westone Spectrum LX models I have were only available as two necks in the case for one year I think 1986.

I believe as the flagship models of the company they retailed for £750 at that time.

The build quality of them is awesome as well.

Inflation calculator shows that as £2054.60p

Edited December 21, 2022 by Ralf1e
Added info

[LukeFRC]

Forget Bass prices - I’m trying to work out how much our house is worth. Hosing market is crazy - how can my house doubled in value since we bought it 8 years back?! 

[Ralf1e]

2 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Forget Bass prices - I’m trying to work out how much our house is worth. Hosing market is crazy - how can my house doubled in value since we bought it 8 years back?! 

You just answered your own question. House prices are crazy😃

[WinterMute]

18 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

 

In the case of Fodera....rent, marketing, electricity, web design/promotion, plus they actually look after their employees.

In the case of every manufacturer surely? Does this need saying?

 

Everything is worth exactly what you're prepared to pay for it, if your new house/car/bass/puppy/shoes bring you joy, it's worth the outlay.

[neepheid]

Beyond the £1500 threshold I already mentioned, the crushing guilt of what better use that money could have been put towards weighing on my mind would cancel out any joy I might derive from the bass in question.

[Lw.]

3 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Forget Bass prices - I’m trying to work out how much our house is worth. Hosing market is crazy - how can my house doubled in value since we bought it 8 years back?! 

The worst part is that increase only helps you if you want to move to a less desirable location or leave the market! 

 

Maybe now is the time to sell your house, buy a load of basses & live off-grid until it all settles down? 😂

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

1 hour ago, WinterMute said:

In the case of every manufacturer surely? Does this need saying?

Everything is worth exactly what you're prepared to pay for it, if your new house/car/bass/puppy/shoes bring you joy, it's worth the outlay.

I think you’ve taken my comment out of context to the post I was replying to.

[tauzero]

In real terms, my most expensive new bass is the JD Thumb, which cost me £900 in early 1988. It just felt so good, I had to have it.

 

I think nowadays my limit for a mass-produced bass would be around £1000 - I wanted an Ibanez EHB but waited until I could get one secondhand for a tad under rather than buy new. I'd pay more for a one-off luthier-built instrument.

[peteb]

20 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

I think someone like Overwater will pay rent, marketing, electricity, web design and actually look after their employees too.

the difference is Fodera use it as a point of their marketing and other companies don’t 

 

To be fair, there is a bit of a difference there - Fodera are based in NYC (one of the most expensive places in the US), while Overwater are based in Cumbria (one of cheapest areas in the UK) 

 

[Muzz]

I've owned some very big-ticket basses*, like Status, Overwater, Alembic, GB, Jaydee, a couple of Vintage Fenders, etc, over the years, all of them bought secondhand for under £1500 or so, and all of them have gone because I didn't like them enough to keep them - no specific fault of the basses, they just weren't me. It was good to try them.

 

I've got a teenager to put through Uni for the next 3 or 4 years, so I won't be spending a lot on basses (or any other kit) for a while, but if I had the money, I'd be taking a couple of grand (or a bit more) to Jon Shuker and getting exactly what I wanted made, and I'd be very happy about that.

 

Luckily, he's just finished one I paid for (more or less) just before The Great Lurgy hit down, and I'll be picking it up in the New Year, so that'll keep me going for a good while. It'll have to...

 

 

* Tho even more mundane ones are pretty big ticket new these days - Stingrays and Ricks nudging over £3k, etc...

Edited December 21, 2022 by Muzz

[Sparky Mark]

Imagine what these would cost if they were from the USA.