Artist/Signature basses?

[Waddo Soqable]

The Sid Vicious could be a blow moulded plastic mock up, it's not like you're going to actually play it... 

[Lozz196]

20 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

The Rolf Harris is half a sheet of hardbound from B&Q  ( or a length of upvc  waste pipe) 

And we still don’t know what it is yet.

[mr4stringz]

1 hour ago, tegs07 said:

I don’t think the Gibson Garry Glitter or Fender Rolf Harris are going into production anytime soon.

There’s always the Stylophone…

 

 

[tegs07]

3 minutes ago, mr4stringz said:

There’s always the Stylophone…

 

 

Forgot about that! The days of innocence when “do you know what it is yet” didn’t have seedy and sinister connotations.

[snorkie635]

54 minutes ago, mr4stringz said:

There’s always the Stylophone…

 

 

If that came as a five-string and had a maple board, I'd be all over it. Space Oddity here we go.

[Waddo Soqable]

1 hour ago, snorkie635 said:

If that came as a five-string and had a maple board, I'd be all over it. Space Oddity here we go.

I can see you with a wobble board Snorks. ... 😁

 

I used to have a Stylophone, they brought them out again in modern-ish times, unfortunately I lent it to someone and never got it back.. 

[snorkie635]

18 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

I can see you with a wobble board Snorks. ... 😁

 

I used to have a Stylophone, they brought them out again in modern-ish times, unfortunately I lent it to someone and never got it back.. 

Probably in the hands of Coogee Bear by now.

[Waddo Soqable]

13 minutes ago, snorkie635 said:

Probably in the hands of Coogee Bear by now.

Doesn't he just sit in a chair looking spaced out... He'd  need someone to work the little stick thing for him

[snorkie635]

6 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Doesn't he just sit in a chair looking spaced out... He'd  need someone to work the little stick thing for him

Look away Vicar.

[drTStingray]

9 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

I like when big manufacturers build something out of the ordinary for an artist, rather than just make a version of a bog standard model that just has a different finish or some subtle difference. For example, the Fender Roscoe Beck or the first Stu Hamm Urge (when it was still medium-scale) are really cool and unique twists that are familiarly Fender-shaped enough, but still the RB is not quite a Jazz and the Urge is not quite a Precision 😎. That said, I really like some more conventional models too that were based on the artist's actual favourite, like the JMJ or the Miller Jazz. 

Which is the exact reason I bought a Musicman Stingray Tim Commerford signature bass - still the only ash bodied, long scale passive Stingray produced. Sounds brilliant - you can choose between series, parallel and single coil pick up selections, have a passive tone control and also a push pull volume cut/boost - really useful in some situations. 
 

 

[crazycloud]

18 hours ago, Kiwi said:

These days the majority of signature guitars (and basses) for PRS, Fender or Gibson are a standard production instrument with maybe a couple of tweaks at best.

Something like neck profile isn't difficult to change for a Sig model but can completely change the feel as can the spacing on a >4 string instrument. I like 6ers, but not at 19mm at the bridge. In that case I'd rather have 14mm like the Ibanez Gerald Veasley but I'm partial to the SRs anyway. Tone is overrated for the most part, and as I said, you'll never sound like that person anyway.

 

Otherwise modding a FSO in a minor way does nothing for me anyway, so I'd never pay even a modest premium, nor would I for even the base level (US$3200) Greeny Les Paul, let alone the 50k version. Blatant Onanism*.

 

* This is the name of my next Prog album.

[Jack]

I'll buy a good bass regardless of the name on the headstock.I would never buy a bass because I like the player. Back in the day when you could get a pristine used one for £250 the Ibanez K5 was the best B string pretty much under £1000 despite the Fieldy connection.

[Hellzero]

To make it easier, I have my own signature basses. 🤔🤪

[TheGreek]

14 hours ago, drTStingray said:

Which is the exact reason I bought a Musicman Stingray Tim Commerford signature bass - still the only ash bodied, long scale passive Stingray produced. Sounds brilliant - you can choose between series, parallel and single coil pick up selections, have a passive tone control and also a push pull volume cut/boost - really useful in some situations. 
 

 

 

Similar to the Sterling Mini

[snorkie635]

2 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

 

Similar to the Sterling Mini

Like this one:

 

 

[Maude]

I have a few 'signatures' but mainly because they are great basses that you can't buy in other guises. 

Epiphone Jack Casady, as already mentioned it's the sensible way to own a Gibson Les Paul bass. 

A Yamaha Attitude, a Precision but so much more. 

A Yamaha BBPH, the sensible way to own a BB1200s. Actually more of an amalgamation of a 1200s and a 734a. 

An Eastwood Hooky Pro 6, the sensible way to own a Shergold Marathon 6.

 

It helps that I'm a fan of Hooky, and although I totally appreciate Casady and Sheehan's music I'm not exactly fanboi enough to buy a bass just for the sake of it. All four of these basses are fantastic instruments in their own right and unavailable to buy as a non signature model or anything close by any other manufacturer. 

 

Ironically very few people outside of the bass world would link these basses to their signature players, yet pick up any generic violin bass by any manufacturer and people will say McCartney. 

 

Play what makes you happy regardless of the reasons. 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Maude

[TrevorG]

Depends on the signature. I read somewhere Jeddy Lee bought his Jazz bass for £200 from a porn shop. So why does a copy cost £1500? Anthony Jackson's name on a bass comes with a £16000 price tag. I did own a Stanley Clarke signature Alembic. You can't get those tone controls on many basses or have the quality of build and it was relatively cheap at the time when I bought in in Tokyo. Hadrien Faraud's Ken Smith looks fabulous and there are plenty around but I wouldn't prefer it to other Ken Smiths as they're all great. Same with Victor Wooten and Fodera. Loved the look of Mononeon's bass but it turned out to be not for me at all. Signature basses like Victor Bailey's tend to have more attention to the build than other Fenders and that's cool but in general a good bass is a good bass regardless of sponsorship.

[tegs07]

51 minutes ago, TrevorG said:

read somewhere Jeddy Lee bought his Jazz bass for £200 from a porn shop. So why does a copy cost £1500?

John Lennon bought a six bedroom house in Weybridge for £20K. Shyster estate agents now want several million for it:

 

https://www.thepinnaclelist.com/design/kenwood-home-weybridge-surrey-england-uk/

 

I expect inflation has something to do with the price discrepancy.

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by tegs07

[Hellzero]

21 minutes ago, TrevorG said:

I read somewhere Jeddy Lee bought his Jazz bass for £200 from a porn shop.

I didn't know that porn shops were selling instruments, I'll need to check...

 

And who is Jeddy Lee: a character from Star Wars?

[TrevorG]

24 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

I didn't know that porn shops were selling instruments, I'll need to check...

 

And who is Jeddy Lee: a character from Star Wars?

I suppose if I don't check my spell check I deserve the consequences. I once texted my wife, who'd just met an old friend, to "give her my love". When I looked the message read "finger her my love"! I should know better by now.

[TrevorG]

52 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

John Lennon bought a six bedroom house in Weybridge for £20K. Shyster estate agents now want several million for it:

 

https://www.thepinnaclelist.com/design/kenwood-home-weybridge-surrey-england-uk/

 

I expect inflation has something to do with the price discrepancy.

I would understand the discrepancy if I'd paid that for Geddy's(please note spell check tried to change that to "Teddy's") actual bass. But I feel I'd follow more in his footsteps if I bought one from another pawn shop where inflation would still not take it to £1500.

[tegs07]

3 minutes ago, TrevorG said:

I would understand the discrepancy if I'd paid that for Geddy's(please note spell check tried to change that to "Teddy's") actual bass. But I feel I'd follow more in his footsteps if I bought one from another pawn shop where inflation would still not take it to £1500.

Looked it up on the internet and yes $200 second hand in 1977. Average income in the USA in 1977 was around $7000 a year so the (used) bass cost him nearly two weeks salary for the average worker. The average salary in 2022 was $33,000 so 2 weeks salary would be around $1300. Nearly enough for a new Fender Jazz.

 

For simplicity income tax and sales taxes not included. 

Edited May 28, 2023 by tegs07

[TrevorG]

11 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

Looked it up on the internet and yes $200 second hand in 1977. Average income in the USA in 1977 was around $7000 so the (used) bass cost him nearly two weeks salary for the average worker. The average salary in 2022 was $33,000 so 2 weeks salary would be around $1300. Nearly enough for a new Fender Jazz.

 

 

Price list from 1977

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by TrevorG

[Piers_Williamson]

And isn't the irony that Jeddy now owns most of pre-CBS everything Fender Bass? (or did he borrow them for his book?)

[tegs07]

I

23 minutes ago, TrevorG said:

was actually using the mean calculation as median can skew the figures somewhat (for the 1977 and 2022 dates). If you want to use median then in 2022 the average USA wage was over $54000 a year. Two weeks would buy nearly 2 new Fender Jazz basses.

 

Edit: No it was median. Results here: https://dqydj.com/individual-income-by-year/

 

Either way using your link or mine instruments have still fallen in price relative to wages.

Edited May 28, 2023 by tegs07