Is a new mass-produced bass ever worth more than £1500

[Misdee]

27 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

Expensive doesn't  necessarily equate to good taste.  

Very true, but I've got good taste too.

[TimR]

Is saying you have good taste, a bit like saying you're a good driver?

[Misdee]

39 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

One persons good taste is another persons tragic.

Very true, but an indicator of what's the consensus on good taste is how much people want your cast-offs. I've never had a bass I couldn't sell for decent money and  they always sell fairly quickly. Sometimes I've sold basses I bought new for a profit because of their rarity and desirability. The last bass I sold on Basschat was a custom USA Lakland JO that I had made for me. That must be nearly five years ago.  In the current market the new owner would be able to sell it for more than he paid me, and good luck to him. Everybody has done well out of the deal, the way it should be.

 

I haven't bought a used bass myself since 1997, in case your interested.

[Misdee]

12 minutes ago, TimR said:

Is saying you have good taste, a bit like saying you're a good driver?

I don't know, I can't drive. I've got good taste in basses though. Most folks would think so, anyway. There's no accounting for other folk's eccentricities.

Edited May 15 by Misdee

[Mykesbass]

49 minutes ago, Misdee said:

Very true, but I've got good taste too.

I do hope this is tongue in cheek. Online is terrible for nuance 🤨

[chris_b]

I have good taste. Ask Mrs B. She'll tell you.

[Misdee]

4 hours ago, Mykesbass said:

I do hope this is tongue in cheek. Online is terrible for nuance 🤨

 I can't tell!😀 I'm a mystery to myself nowadays.

 

I totally agree that there are plenty of expensive basses that are not worth the money and not particularly desirable regardless of price tag. Fashion plays a part too. It's all about choosing the right ones.

 

I very rarely see a bass nowadays that I really want  to buy, or even investigate further. Choice has narrowed. Lots of nice basses are no longer new, albeit for a variety of reasons.  I'd like a Wal, a  Kubicki, a Pedulla, a Vigier with a graphite neck like they were back in the 1980's, an L Series Steinberger.  In reality what I've got  is a choice of is mostly the usual Leo Fender-derived designs in one form or another. There's very little that wets my appetite. Probably a good job because I'm not a rich man.

Edited May 15 by Misdee

[ezbass]

My first guitar of good quality cost me £125 in ‘75, an Aria, law suit, Les Paul (bolt on neck). Apparently, that equates to about £1130 in today’s prices. I’m amazed that I spent that much back then, it didn’t feel like a massive amount at the time, not cheap, but definitely OK (it was nearly all the money I had earned from a job in the summer holidays). Spending that kind of money these days on anything, gives me pause and maybe I’m not being realistic? Heaven alone knows what the equivalent cost of a Fender or Gibson would be compared to back then. Perhaps it’s merely crossing certain lines in the monetary sand that makes us wince? Also, maybe we’re in a golden age of good instruments for, by comparison to decades ago, little money. 

[dclaassen]

Value is a slippery thing. There are a lot of giggable bases under £300, especially with some minimal tweaks and upgrades. I find value in my boutique bass when it encourages me to play it. So does a less expensive instrument, just not in the same way. The Pedulla is no case queen, but inspires me to play better.

[Misdee]

Funny thing is, the way trends in bass tone on mainstream pop records have gone recently, a less expensive bass can actually get you a better lo-fi retro kind of sound than a top quality bass.  If you turned up to a recording session with a vintage cheap crap bass that looks  cool lots of producers nowadays would be absolutely delighted. The more clunky the better.

 

I am not saying for one minute,by the way, that playing  cheaper basses is any less enjoyable  or fulfilling than expensive ones. Just that some folks are inescapably compelled towards quality instruments. I've got a Harley Benton Shorty that I love, even if one of the tuning pegs fell off the first time I changed the strings. It cost £80 and I've had a hundred times more fun playing it than some expensive basses that I've owned in the past. 

Edited May 15 by Misdee

[Woodinblack]

5 hours ago, TimR said:

Is saying you have good taste, a bit like saying you're a good driver?

 

Indeed it is, 80% of drivers are above average, I am guessing at least 90% on this forum have above average taste

 

[Rosie C]

11 hours ago, dclaassen said:

Value is a slippery thing. There are a lot of giggable bases under £300, especially with some minimal tweaks and upgrades. I find value in my boutique bass when it encourages me to play it. So does a less expensive instrument, just not in the same way. The Pedulla is no case queen, but inspires me to play better.

 

This is a me - a Squier sunburst jazz. It cost about £250 new five years ago, and has had new tuners, a fretless neck swap and a pro setup. It sounds good and I don't feel a need for a better instrument. 

 

[Burns-bass]

34 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

 

This is a me - a Squier sunburst jazz. It cost about £250 new five years ago, and has had new tuners, a fretless neck swap and a pro setup. It sounds good and I don't feel a need for a better instrument. 

 

There’s often a weird relationship where people with hugely expensive instruments can barely play. I’ve witnessed this many times in vintage guitar shops, or at bass shows.

 

Manufacturing and production in 2924 is so good. The basses you can get for £100 we would have paid almost 5 times as much in the 90s.

 

The £1500 bass I use now is head and shoulders above any vintage instrument I’ve ever played.

[asingardenof]

10 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Indeed it is, 80% of drivers are above average, I am guessing at least 90% on this forum have above average taste

 

Ah, the Michael Gove theory of statistics

[Misdee]

There's some expensive basses that have a unique sound -Alembic and Wal for instance - and if you want that sound you have to spend that kind of money. There's also lots of expensive basses that, to my ears,don't have a particularly distinctive or unique tone. That's a whole other discussion/Basschat argument.

 

Expensive Fender-style bass can be the most perplexing sub-category in so much as, strictly in terms of tone, a decent inexpensive model can be hard to distinguish from a boutique example, or indeed a genuine vintage bass.

 

I think it's a mistake  though, to assume that all people get from buying a bass is something they need to perform a practical task with.  Throughout history musical instruments have been regarded as beautiful objects, imbued with magical properties in many ancient cultures. Not   aspiring to the best quality basses for practical reasons doesn't justify dismissing  the aesthetic dimension of high-end basses.

 

Also, one of the defining characteristics of modern society is that the things we buy or  want to buy are symptomatic of our wider aspirations and how we want to imagine ourselves. If you identify yourself as a bass player then buying basses is very much part of that psychology.

[theplumber]

On 30/03/2023 at 20:21, jezzaboy said:

The world has gone mad. £3k for a Musicman, £1800 for a P bass and slightly off topic, Mexican Fender Nate Mendel P £1300, Squire £400 + and even a Harley Benton at £400+.

 

Bloomin madness!!

Tried out a Fender Nate Mendel in Merchant City Music Glasgow a while back. Terrible neck. Fret sprout everywhere! I mentioned it to the salesman who said yes a few mexican made Fenders have been like that recently. We will get our tech guy to sort it out before it goes out the door! I had just purchased a second hand Squier Classic Vibe for £200 and it was loads better in every way! By the way I wasn't going to buy the Nate Medel bass anyway.....it's too expensive and I am skint/too tight!!

[rushbo]

18 minutes ago, Misdee said:

There's some expensive basses that have a unique sound -Alembic and Wal for instance - and if you want that sound you have to spend that kind of money. There's also lots of expensive basses that, to my ears,don't have a particularly distinctive or unique tone. That's a whole other discussion/Basschat argument.

 

Expensive Fender-style bass can be the most perplexing sub-category in so much as, strictly in terms of tone, a decent inexpensive model can be hard to distinguish from a boutique example, or indeed a genuine vintage bass.

 

I think it's a mistake  though, to assume that all people get from buying a bass is something they need to perform a practical task with.  Throughout history musical instruments have been regarded as beautiful objects, imbued with magical properties in many ancient cultures. Not   aspiring to the best quality basses for practical reasons doesn't justify dismissing  the aesthetic dimension of high-end basses.

 

Also, one of the defining characteristics of modern society is that the things we buy or  want to buy are symptomatic of our wider aspirations and how we want to imagine ourselves. If you identify yourself as a bass player then buying basses is very much part of that psychology.

Pin this comment and close the thread.

[Greg Edwards69]

Regarding value, I'm reminded of an article about the new eye-wateringly expensive iPad Pro's I read earlier today on Medium

 

"No matter how I put it, cost is about value for money and anyone finding the new iPad Pro too expensive perhaps isn’t getting enough value out of it, and therefore should opt for a cheaper model. Pro devices are intended for professionals who use them to deliver work and projects, things they can bill for and easily make that money back. Good, top-of-the-line tools cost serious money, regardless of what industry you work in."

Edited May 16 by Greg Edwards69

[Reggaebass]

35 minutes ago, Misdee said:

Fender-style bass can be the most perplexing sub-category in so much as, strictly in terms of tone, a decent inexpensive model can be hard to distinguish from a boutique example, or indeed a genuine vintage bass.

A cheap fender style bass sounds nothing like a 63 precision, or any vintage basses I’ve got or had, just my opinion 

[neepheid]

I only offer my personal opinion - what anyone else does is up to them.  But I have my red lines over which I do not cross for any bass, I don't give a monkeys who makes it or what mythical/mystical properties it may have.

[Burns-bass]

32 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Regarding value, I'm reminded of an article about the new eye-wateringly expensive iPad Pro's I read earlier today on Medium

 

"No matter how I put it, cost is about value for money and anyone finding the new iPad Pro too expensive perhaps isn’t getting enough value out of it, and therefore should opt for a cheaper model. Pro devices are intended for professionals who use them to deliver work and projects, things they can bill for and easily make that money back. Good, top-of-the-line tools cost serious money, regardless of what industry you work in."

 

Excellent post.

 

My computer is use for work cost 2 or 3 times a US Fender bass, but I need it for the speed and processing power. Given that the computers I own run my business and support the lives of about 10 other people, makes sense to buy the best and get the value from them.
 

 

[neepheid]

Apples (if you'll pardon the pun) and oranges.  "Better" is measurable in computers.  In basses, it mostly isn't.

[Misdee]

39 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

A cheap fender style bass sounds nothing like a 63 precision, or any vintage basses I’ve got or had, just my opinion 

I agree, but a cheaper Fender-style bass sounds more like a Fender than a cheap  would-be exotic wood boutique style bass sounds like a Fodera or Alembic ect. There's that identifiable characteristic Fender-style tone, even if it's nowhere near as good as a decent Fender.

 

I'm a Fender fan myself, by the way. Just wanted to make that clear. 

 

[asingardenof]

21 hours ago, asingardenof said:

Depends if it was an Affinity or a Standard. My Korean Precision Standard was £230 when I bought it new in 1998 but I believe the Affinity series was cheaper than that.

Inspired by the recent post on the comparison of US costs of instruments in the 60s in today's prices, I thought I'd do something similar here and in today's money my Precision would be worth £430 new according to the BoE inflation calculator (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator), which is more or less the same as a new Squier Classic Vibe today.

[chris_b]

On 30/03/2023 at 20:21, jezzaboy said:

The world has gone mad. £3k for a Musicman, £1800 for a P bass and slightly off topic, Mexican Fender Nate Mendel P £1300, Squire £400 + and even a Harley Benton at £400+.

 

Bloomin madness!!

 

As a general comment. . . . as my experience shows £1700 was the actual cost of a Precision bass in the late 60's. That was for sunburst, the colours cost even more, so the prices have remained pretty constant.

 

If people think the price cuts caused by CNC's and Chinese labour costs equals the "right price" for a bass then fine. IME you get what you pay for and the more expensive "mass production" basses can bring more to the table.

 

If you just want the sound of a bass on a rehearsal or night out gigging with your mates then what they bring won't matter, you're not going to hear, understand or much less care what the differences are. Again that's fine, but don't assume your preferences will be the same for everyone.