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

[tauzero]

8 hours ago, Boodang said:

Your post scared me there for minute but I’ve been to the mirror, pinched myself and I’m definitely real. All this despite buying a new boutique bass every 6 months. 

 

You know you could cure that by selling me that Sei Flamboyant fretless.

[Misdee]

4 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

I play a Mike Lull PJ5. It's a boutique bass in every sense.

 

If I could find a P bass at half the price that played and sounded as good as my Lull I'd buy it in a heartbeat. 

 

Until then the Lull will have to do.

If it's a vintage P Bass you find it might be twice the price of the Lull rather than half the price. 

 

I've got a nice USA Lakland PJ that I play more than anything else.  It's probably the equivalent of your Lull. It sounds great, but not really different to a good Fender bass. I've had it a long time and it's a superb amalgamation of the best things about old Fender basses and modern construction. Just a very very useful bass. It's much better made than a Fender but in sonic terms it's essentially the same.

 

That's no bad thing because Fenders sound good, but contrary to a lot of what I see on YouTube from supposed experts, if there is a better rendition of the Fender tone then it's a subtle difference with all of these basses. I'm talking about basses like  Moolon and Olinto et al. I'm not including Sadowsky because that's all about the preamp and how it compliments the bass overall. 

Edited May 18 by Misdee

[tauzero]

On 17/05/2024 at 00:18, Dan Dare said:

Real musicians tend to find and stick with a few instruments that we really like and change them relatively rarely.

 

Ah yes, this reminds me now. There was a Moffat bass bash a few years ago that Dave Swift, he of the Jules Holland boogie-woogie band, was the special guest at. In the Q&A session, someone asked him how many basses he had and he replied "about 65".  He was then asked to repeat that so we could record it. Still, he only gets on telly now and again so he can't be that real.

[tauzero]

5 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

 

Debatable. Strads are pretty well all accounted for and range in value from £4m for a regular one to "name your price" for one of the more highly-regarded examples. Even a very prominent player would have difficulty in parking those sums at the kerb of a fiddle and insuring it would be a nightmare.

 

Do you know who André Rieu is?

[tauzero]

5 hours ago, peteb said:

It's not just sound engineers, it's band leaders as well. You can sense the palpable relief when you pull a Fender out of the gigbag when you first play with someone new, not to mention everyone seems fascinated with any 70s Fender that you take out on a gig! 

 

I suppose it's different for us pub band weekend warriors, my bandmates don't even know how many strings my bass has or whether it's fretted or not, the last thing on their minds is whether it's a Fender (no, it never is).

[TimR]

3 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

I suppose it's different for us pub band weekend warriors, my bandmates don't even know how many strings my bass has or whether it's fretted or not, the last thing on their minds is whether it's a Fender (no, it never is).

 

25 years ago I turned up to a dep gig with a Jackson Chavel SB, complete with pointy headstock. I was about 20 years younger than anyone else in the band.

 

I'd never met any of them before. The band leader looked at my bass and said "Watch me for the changes and X on rhythm guitar for the chords. And keep it simple, nothing flashy." 

Edited May 18 by TimR

[Boodang]

12 hours ago, TimR said:

 

Was it less than £1500?

Actually I was lucky on this one. My local luthier was retiring and wanted to reduce the amount of wood he had lying around so he only charged me for the parts not all his time.

£800. Normally it would be double that, so not that much more than the target price. 

[Steve Browning]

I guess my SVLs would be classed as boutique Precisions. They were made from measurements taken from my 66 Pbass. They are certainly over the budget we're talking about, but the picture shows the wiring. That's indicative of Simon's attention to detail, and I was happy to pay it. I've not played a Custom Shop bass, but these basses are flawless. Light and resonant, and beautifully finished. A good bit cheaper than the Custom Shop, too.

[TimR]

Wow. That's a steal! That's exactly what I'm looking for. 

[Boodang]

12 hours ago, peteb said:

 

As ever, you are taking an argument to an absurd extreme to make some dubious point. I assume that @Dan Dare was talking about everyday working musicians rather than millionaire superstars like Slash, Steve Howe, Joe Bonamassa, etc.  

 

I think in this case absurdism is justified as 'real musicians....' is bit too much of a blanket statement. 

[Leonard Smalls]

23 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

the wiring

You want beautiful wiring? Not a bass, but this is my Bow Technologies hifi pre-amp. Hand assembled!

 

[Dan Dare]

12 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

Do you know who André Rieu is?

 Yes. You ain't the only one on here who knows about classical music. My first instrument was actually the violin, btw.

[chris_b]

12 hours ago, Misdee said:

If it's a vintage P Bass you find it might be twice the price of the Lull rather than half the price. 

 

I've got a nice USA Lakland PJ that I play more than anything else.  It's probably the equivalent of your Lull. It sounds great, but not really different to a good Fender bass. I've had it a long time and it's a superb amalgamation of the best things about old Fender basses and modern construction. Just a very very useful bass. It's much better made than a Fender but in sonic terms it's essentially the same.

 

That's no bad thing because Fenders sound good, but contrary to a lot of what I see on YouTube from supposed experts, if there is a better rendition of the Fender tone then it's a subtle difference with all of these basses. I'm talking about basses like  Moolon and Olinto et al. I'm not including Sadowsky because that's all about the preamp and how it compliments the bass overall. 

 

I loved my 2 Lakland's but the weight finally got too much.

 

I believe Mike Lull worked with Seymour Duncan to make a P pickup that sounded exactly like Mike's 62 Precision. 

 

I thought my bass sounded good from the start, but when I did a comparison with Happy Jack, I discovered his Lull sounded better than mine!! I finally tracked down the difference. . . . flatwound strings! I put flats on and my sound hit the jackpot.

[Leonard Smalls]

39 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

classical music

André Rieu classical?

In much the same way as the Carpenters are Death Metal! 😁

 Extreme Easy Listening at best, though it's only easy to listen to if you like the slimiest of cheese 🧀😜

[Woodinblack]

19 hours ago, peteb said:

It's not just sound engineers, it's band leaders as well. You can sense the palpable relief when you pull a Fender out of the gigbag when you first play with someone new, not to mention everyone seems fascinated with any 70s Fender that you take out on a gig! 

 

Honestly never known either of those things to be true, but I guess different circles.

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

 Yes. You ain't the only one on here who knows about classical music. My first instrument was actually the violin, btw.

 

Well, I know a bit about classical music, and I also know about André Rieu. I was commenting on him having a loaner Strad and not buying one, and seeing as his annual tours gross $50M, and he can afford an orchestra of his own, I'd think a Strad would be pocket change to him.

[Dad3353]

7 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

Well, I know a bit about classical music, and I also know about André Rieu. I was commenting on him having a loaner Strad and not buying one, and seeing as his annual tours gross $50M, and he can afford an orchestra of his own, I'd think a Strad would be pocket change to him.

 

He can afford an orchestra of his own because he hasn't spent anything on a Strad..! 

[Nicko]

8 hours ago, Boodang said:

I think in this case absurdism is justified as 'real musicians....' is bit too much of a blanket statement. 

I think my point was that many musicians would just love a large collection of instruments, but few can afford it.

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, Leonard Smalls said:

André Rieu classical?

In much the same way as the Carpenters are Death Metal! 😁

 Extreme Easy Listening at best, though it's only easy to listen to if you like the slimiest of cheese 🧀😜

 

I appreciate he's the classical music equivalent of Kenny G, but if you want to be clever and have the last word, have at it.