adriansmith247 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Anyone else noticed the price of basses is going up and up? It seems you need around £1,200 for a decent bass. I saw a P Bass for £12,500 here recently I know there are amazing basses out there for less, and I have a few myself. I am just commenting as I would never spend close to two grand on a bass then take it out on gigs. Just my view. I was chatting with a friend about this and the price of good guitars. We came to the conclusion that all the people that were in their teens during the 70s 80s 90, playing in bands now have good jobs and access to a deceny amount of cash. Same thing is happening with road bikes. Some spend thousands on a bike. Vintage guitars and basses are recommended to people looking to make money as an excellent investment. Some guitars then never get played. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asingardenof Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 "Decent" is very subjective though. You could buy what I consider to be a "decent" bass for a hell of a lot less than £1200. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adriansmith247 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 3 minutes ago, asingardenof said: "Decent" is very subjective though. You could buy what I consider to be a "decent" bass for a hell of a lot less than £1200. agreed but have a look in the for sale section here and many are over a grand. My decent 80s jazz cost £175 now worth a lot more prices pushed up by collectors 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asingardenof Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 5 minutes ago, adriansmith247 said: agreed but have a look in the for sale section here and many are over a grand. My decent 80s jazz cost £175 now worth a lot more prices pushed up by collectors Oh certainly, as well as other factors such as inflation, the myth of "vintage" instruments being better than modern ones, etc. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tegs07 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) 22 minutes ago, adriansmith247 said: agreed but have a look in the for sale section here and many are over a grand. My decent 80s jazz cost £175 now worth a lot more prices pushed up by collectors It’s worth remembering that 1980 was 43 years ago. Without getting onto my favourite topic we have lived through an era of extraordinary low interest rates for many reasons. That time is over. What is happening is not just limited to instruments. Costs are increasing and the days of cheap money look to be over. 1980 until now was historically an anomaly. I can’t see a change in the short to medium term. Edited January 23 by tegs07 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor J Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 If you avoid the fashionable brands, you can pick up genuinely great used instruments for less than 500 quid. If you choose to spend over that, that's great, but £1200 is still a hell of a lot of money and far beyond what you actually need to spend to buy a particular level of quality. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adriansmith247 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 I remember looking at a second hand Wal bass for £1,500 thinking that was an insane price (late 90s) now you don’t get much change out of £15,000 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tegs07 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 2 minutes ago, Doctor J said: If you avoid the fashionable brands, you can pick up genuinely great used instruments for less than 500 quid. If you choose to spend over that, that's great, but £1200 is still a hell of a lot of money and far beyond what you actually need to spend to buy a particular level of quality. There are some used bargains out there. Even in the fashionable brands if you’re not too preoccupied with country of manufacture… 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asingardenof Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 6 minutes ago, tegs07 said: It’s worth remembering that 1980 was 43 years ago Shut up, it was no more than 23 years ago surely 6 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Good basses were never cheap. I bought my Fender Precision in 1969 on a deal for £95, but the retail price in the UK was £120. That's about £2400 at today's value. In 1969 a cheap bass was generally unplayable crap. Since the advent of CNC machines, and Asian labour, good basses can be had for a few hundred pounds. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naxos10 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) In fact 1980 was only yesterday..... Edited January 23 by naxos10 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adriansmith247 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 15 minutes ago, asingardenof said: Shut up, it was no more than 23 years ago surely Certainly seems like about 20 ish 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adriansmith247 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 (edited) 13 minutes ago, chris_b said: Good basses were never cheap. I bought my Fender Precision in 1969 on a deal for £95, but the retail price in the UK was £120. That's about £2400 at today's value. In 1969 a cheap bass was generally unplayable crap. Since the advent of CNC machines, and Asian labour, good basses can be had for a few hundred pounds. Agreed. I took out a loan to get a second-hand Ibanez Musician for £325 back in the 90s. Even in the last 10 years the value has gone up from around 600/700 to over £1000 Edited January 23 by adriansmith247 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 The amount of money you need to spend in order to be taken seriously by people who find that sort of thing important/impressive has certainly gone up, yes. 6 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) At the same time as the premium brands are going up in price, budget instruments are astonishing quality these days. In the last year or so I've bought a sub £500 Gretsch skinny stringer that I'm currently using more than my US pro 2 Strat and a Squier bass vi that's one of the most fun instruments I've ever owned, good enough that despite my new found love for the bass vi I feel no need to 'upgrade' to the recent Fender reissue. I'd happily gig with either of them Edited January 23 by Cato 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnybass Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 There are loads of playable basses now at very low price points, as well if you go second hand and not fashionable you can still get a bargain. If you want a US made name brand bass, its not going to be cheap...ever. On the Wal story I went round three music shops with about £300-£500 to spend on a bass in the early 90's...in that afternoon I played a 76 Precision, a white Ricky 4001, a Wal Mk1 all for £500-£600 Mostly becausse none were fashionable then and a musicman stingray 5(Which was slightly higher than my budget)...The fender was a dog and weighed more than a small planet, the Wal had the hard V neck that I really hate/hated and I couldnt get a good sound or comfy playing position on the Ricky...I borrowed a £100 from my parents and got the Musicman...occasionally regret it to this day purely for the resale value, have to remind myself the reason I was buying a bass was my bass at the time had an unfixable neck and so I had no usable bass for the 3 bands I was gigging with. Sold the Stingray for a profit a few years later, but no where near as much as I would have got for any of the others. Jonny 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 2 minutes ago, neepheid said: The amount of money you need to spend in order to be taken seriously by people who find that sort of thing important/impressive has certainly gone up, yes. There always was a lot of "joining the club". SVT/810's was/is a club, as is any Ampeg, many of the guys using Fodera basses are running Aguilar rigs. Back in the day owning a Fender Precision was a sign that you'd made it. Owning the more expensive Jazz meant you had a "deal"!! You'd see the bands on Ready Steady Go for the first time, with their Hofners and Watkins, and by the second appearance they were playing Fenders, Ricks and Epiphones. When you got a "deal" the first thing you did was, head to the music shop and buy new gear, because you'd made it. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adriansmith247 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 12 minutes ago, jonnybass said: There are loads of playable basses now at very low price points, as well if you go second hand and not fashionable you can still get a bargain. If you want a US made name brand bass, its not going to be cheap...ever. On the Wal story I went round three music shops with about £300-£500 to spend on a bass in the early 90's...in that afternoon I played a 76 Precision, a white Ricky 4001, a Wal Mk1 all for £500-£600 Mostly becausse none were fashionable then and a musicman stingray 5(Which was slightly higher than my budget)...The fender was a dog and weighed more than a small planet, the Wal had the hard V neck that I really hate/hated and I couldnt get a good sound or comfy playing position on the Ricky...I borrowed a £100 from my parents and got the Musicman...occasionally regret it to this day purely for the resale value, have to remind myself the reason I was buying a bass was my bass at the time had an unfixable neck and so I had no usable bass for the 3 bands I was gigging with. Sold the Stingray for a profit a few years later, but no where near as much as I would have got for any of the others. Jonny Yes, I remember seeing an old 70s jazz for about £300. I bought a Ricky 4001 for £200 then sold it a couple of years later for £400. I thought I had done really well. Gutted now obviously 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Increasing prices is all the "premium" manufacturers have got left to justify their existence in the face of improved quality and value at the cheaper end. They can't improve quality, because they're already "the best", right? They can't offer more/better value because that'll eat into the bottom line - plus they've already done much of this - beyond a certain price you generally expect a hard case, for example. All they've got left to do is try and tug on that thread of "it's expensive so it must be good, right?" The trouble with tugging on a particular thread too hard... there's only so long you can take the p!$$ out of your consumers before they eventually go "remind me - why am I paying this?" 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 My first Wal, a 5 string mk2, cost £750. That was in 2002 and I had watched the price drop week on week until I couldn't resist any longer. A few months later I bought a mk 3 Wal for £1100. Crazy prices. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnybass Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 5 minutes ago, adriansmith247 said: Yes, I remember seeing an old 70s jazz for about £300. I bought a Ricky 4001 for £200 then sold it a couple of years later for £400. I thought I had done really well. Gutted now obviously Part of me philosphically uses it to remind myself that basses are for playing for me...and that I dont like the Wal V shaped neck...as a Mick Karn fanboy I had lusted after them for a few years, then that afternoon, and I spend about an hour with it I was cured of Wal related GAS...although I did think, could i buy it and just rip out the pickups electronics?? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 £1200 will buy you a low end premium bass. I'd expect, good machine heads, bridge and excellent finish and woods. Bottomed end £500 bass will be just as playable but will have cheaper hardware and basic woods. They're all CNC machined so the build quality should be pretty much the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurroundedByManatees Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) Enough decent basses are available for little cash. Especially used Ibanez (higher SR models), Yamaha, better range squiers to name a few... The prices of vintage basses have rocketed in a few years, and keep rising every day it seems. It's totally normal now to see late '70s Fenders in a common finish to be listed near €4k. Meanwhile most of them have a sloppy build quality you won't accept from the cheapest house brands out there. But apparently people are prepared to pay big cash for them. Edited January 23 by SurroundedByManatees 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) Back in about 1990 I went shopping for my first 'proper' bass since learning on an 'Axe' I ordered off the back of a magazine. With a budget of £500 I ended up in Musical Exchanges in Birmingham trying to decide between a used Wal (I'd never heard of them before that day) and a brand new Washburn Status. I ended up up getting the Washburn... Many years later I was staggered to learn the prices that Wals were being sold for. Missed opportunities and all that, but I'd spent a good couple of hours with both instruments and the truth is that 17 year old me preferred the Washburn. I've still got it. Edited January 23 by Cato 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Edwards69 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) On one hand, you can buy perfectly decent "giggable" basses for a lot less. On the other hand, the price of these basses has drastically risen over the last couple of years. For example, my G&L Tribute JB2 has become my primary bass since getting it in the black Friday sales in 2021 for a mere £299 (down from £399). Excellent instrument and ready to gig out of the box. That price held for a few months after black Friday. But I've noticed recently that it's not just shy of £500. Similarly, Squier prices used to be fairly stable for a number of years, but I've notice the prices creeping up in recent months. Edit: Looking at a number of Squier model on PriceSpy, many of them jumped up by around £50 in the summer. Edited January 23 by Greg Edwards69 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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