Ideas for selling double basses

[sk-bass]

Hi,

 

I’m not sure if any of you have tried selling a double bass before, but it’s not easy!!

I have just inherited a collection from my father and have no idea of the best course of action, other than just taking them to auction and getting 50% of what they’re worth. 
I’m in London if that makes a difference. 
Plus if anyone is in the market for 3/4 swell or flat basses including 5 strings, let me know!

 

 Thanks!

Edited 13 hours ago by sk-bass

[knirirr]

When I got mine the seller put the word about amongst tutors in the area. If you know any then that might be worth a try.
Sadly, I only have room for one.

[Happy Jack]

Any unusual basses in the collection, or are they all 'normal' 3/4 and 4/4 basses?

[Beedster]

Frankly you're in London, where there are a lot of bassists, plus it's an easy place to get to for most people (you could have been in Aberdeen), plus you're now talking to the largest online community of bassists in the UK. You've made a good start 👍

 

Might be an idea to take a few photos and post them here, I'm no expert but there are a lot of very helpful folks on this site who are and will offer good advice

 

Good luck

[Beer of the Bass]

There must be some shops in your area who would take at least some of them on consignment - it can be slower but the returns are usually slightly better than auctioning with limited info and it gets you a professional opinion on them.

If it's a large number of basses, they're likely to only want to take the better ones, but it's worth enquiring.

[simonlittle]

As @Beedster said, being in London is a big help. There are a few places that could sell you bass for you on commission. Plus there are plenty of double bass players about here. Found myself on the overground with two others in the same carriage coming back from a gig the other night!

A lot will depend on the quality of the instruments. It’s probably easier to sell cheaper ones as there’s a larger market. The better basses are best off in a shop where the right people are more likely to see them. 
Laurence Dixon’s Bass Place in Herne Hill is a great place to start. Bridgewood & Neizert in Stoke Newington maybe. I’d probably steer clear of the bass guitar shops for now as it’s generally the wrong customer base. 
Out of town you could talk to Thomas & George Martin in Banbury about more high end basses, or The Double Bass Room in Battle for more mid-range instruments. I’m sure there are other places. 
There’s also a good Facebook group for selling double basses. It’s international but there don’t tend to be many basses for sale in the UK so you could attract a bit of attention there. 
And of course there’s the mighty Basschat! Let’s see some pictures! 📸
 

 

[keeponehandloose]

Try the Double Bass Room in Battle,,  I was there at weekend and people from all over were viewing. Seems a popular place.

[NickA]

Well, you can advertise here, but "posh" basses don't really sell that well ( ie stentors and zellers will go, a John Lott, perhaps not).

 

Musicalchairs.com?  But it suffers from people wanting to try several basses, rather than travel miles to try just one.

 

Bass shop ( thwaites, neitzert, Tofts, turners etc) but they'll sting you for 20% commission.  Bassbags will also sell stuff on commission (10% I think) specialise in mid range stuff but like to have the odd £10k bass in stock.  Good thing about these folk is that they know lots of people, get lots of custom; they all know each other and will commission-share if someone is hunting for a particular thing and they know where one is.

 

I recently had to sell my late dad's cellos.  Bassbags have agreed to sell his £3k teaching cello ( it was on musical chairs for a year with zero interest) but his performance cello ( rare 18th century job) had to go to a specialist restorer who charged us £5k to do it up and will take another £15k or so in commission when it sells ..... still better than selling "as seen" at auction.

 

The value determines the best method really.  Do you know what you have in that respect?

 

Try here first!