SlapbassSteve

D'oh! Looks like I was too slow this time then, been after a project...

As I see it, it's supply and demand. Budget guitars and basses are getting cheaper by the day and the internet is full to bursting with lessons, live footage and tabs so it's becoming easier and easier to pick up an instrument and enter 'bedroom bassist' mode. Then you got TV shows like the X Factor replacing TOTP with a 'joe public can have massive success, even if he's not massively talented or committed' attitude and, whether for better or for worse, more people then ever are playing, some incredibly talented and hardworking, some less so. I think it's great that more people are picking up such an awesome hobby, but at the same time if every kid has a half decent band and wants to gig, sooner or later Kid X'll happily take less money for the set then Kid Y if it scores him the work. Makes it considerably harder for those of us that do it for a living when some folk'll happily play three tight sets for beer money. Of course there's a trace of irony to this as I'm only playing now because I managed to get hold of a godawful £60 Boston p-bass copy at 16, had beginner instruments been more expensive I'd never even have considered it. Turned out a pretty good investment though!

Each to their own I reckon. Personally I used to have 16 or so when I was in my musical 'cocoon' ('bedroom bassist' phase to the rest of you haha)at college, working part-time as a librarian and once a month buying a treat for around the £60-80 mark, and then playing the lot of them to death as I learned whichever Mark King track I was into at the time on every single one in preparation for my bi-monthly gig. Fun times! Now a little older and wiser, I'm gigging up to four times a week in a pub covers band. I've kept the best few from that phase but slimmed the herd down a little- now I can actually afford a real Fender or two here and there I've no longer got the urge to buy a chinese P-copy every five minutes. Presumably its about being happy with what you've got, my Fender P and J basses both tick all the boxes for everything I do, live and otherwise. That said I'd never dream of getting rid of my beloved '64 Egmond or that Squier Jazz I spent the contents of my life savings account on at 16. Could never see them as 'just tools' though, I've spent an average of six to eight hours a day for four years and counting with a bass of some description so far, and as I write this I'm at my laptop with one just riffing away, can't spend that long with something and not get attached. Perhaps I just need a girlfriend...

Odd that the strings didn't sort it. I've just sold an '86 Jap Precision and it seemed about the same as my '08 acoustically. That said I don't play unplugged much! Could well be the fret finish, it's never occurred to me that it'd alter the clankiness before, but I can't think of anything else(bridge, neck wood etc) that wouldn't also be affected by being plugged in.

My brother and I have both bought used MiM P-basses untried in the past (2002 for £150 and a 2008 for £200) and while both were a bit of a gamble as the pictures were a tad blurry, in both cases turned out to be massive bargains as it was just a case of the sellers not knowing what they had. Both needed a setup but now have great actions and great sounds, although I'm not a fan of the newer mex p pickups(too much clanky treble). There are some real bargains about so it can definitely be worth buying s/h. From my (admittedly limited compared to a lot of folk on here) experience of new basses, the thing with trying them out is you can't tell if one is any good just by playing for a bit, even from main shops the setup is often appaling instore- I remember trying out my dream bass at the time (about three years back) a Fender Marcus Miller in a well known music shop based in Brighton and being shocked at how the action rendered it nearly unplayable, there's no way I'd've parted with the £949(or whatever the price was at the time, it was a while back...) without taking my trusty set of allen keys to it and trying it once set up. Odds are it was the dream bass I hoped it would be, just there was no way of knowing with current setup. A high action is also unfortunately a great way of hiding a poorly finished neck, a trick I've seen a lot on the cheaper basses I've had. What I'm gradually getting at is that whether new or second hand 90% of the time there won't be anything wrong with a bass that couldn't be remedied with a decent setup, usually a little work on the truss rod or at very worst a bit of fret levelling. If it's a genuine Fender with a working trussrod at a good price then go for it, but unfortunately be prepared to have to fix a shockingly high action whether buying new or used.

I wonder if the 'pro guitar tech' that did the defret also showed him how to lower the action? Bargain starting price at £179 too... be interested to see what it ends up going for!

Agreed to everything so far, it was seeing a lad at school slapping out Can't Stop by the Chili's that made me want to take up bass in the first place, coolest thing ever! Also check out anything by TM Stevens, anything by Les Claypool, The Reddings, Stuart Zender and/or Jamiroquai, You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon, Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen, One World by Dire Straights, Slow Ride by Foghat, City Lights by Chic, Get On The Floor by Michael Jackson, Let's Work and I'm Yours by Prince, Magic Touch and Righteous Rhythm by Rose Royce, Pull Up To The Bumper by Grace Jones... I could go on all night!

Hi, I have spent a lot of time looking at what these 70's rick copies go for on ebay, preloved etc over the past year or so. Can't say I've seen an Aria recently, but there've been a few Ibanez's and a couple of Hondo II's like mine on there. A lot of the value will depend on whether it has a set neck and/or stereo output, decent examples with both can be worth around £350-400. However I've seen them go from as low as £200 in good condition, so I think it depends a lot on if the right person is looking to buy. Sounds great in the vid by the way!

Hi all, I'm a second-year music student at Hope University in Liverpool, but originally from Sussex and then Shropshire. I've been playing about four years now and haven't been able to put a bass down since I started. First bass was an awful Boston Precision thing that I had to completely set up to make playable- shim neck, adjust truss rod, lower action etc, great initiation for a beginner. Spent the first year or so practising roughly six hours a day, couple of years later got three marks off a distinction at the Grade 8 RGT bass exam. Since then I've mostly used jazz basses for rock and funk/disco, although I'm partial to the occasional flirtation with an active MM copy, six-string or similar. Current gear as follows, in no particular order- '02 Fender MIM Jazz(w Badass MkII bridge) '08/9 Fender MIM Precision(w hipshot detuner + gotoh bridge) Squier VM 3TS Jazz (w passive varitone control plate) Squier Standard Jazz Hohner 'The Jack' headless Status look-alike '64 Egmond Princess Yamaha RBX374 Wesley Nimrod (flying V) Westfield Stingray copy '74(ish...) Hondo II(probably) Rickenbacker, stereo outputs. Had to basically rebuild it from scratch after it's (mental?) previous owner painted it black(strings, frets, hardware, everything...) and to date I've re-wired it four and-a-half times... Currently I mostly play rock with a covers band in and around Liverpool, but left to my own devices I'm happier with some Chic, Sun, Level 42, RHCP, Primus, Jaco etc. Bit of a cliche these days but anything funky. Also dabble in the odd bit of metal. Been with more bands then I care to mention, and been in that awful 'now let's just wait for the right people to hear us' situation enough times to know that the most realistic way to make a living from bass is with the function circuit. For some recordings of me playing the VM Squier through a Fender Bassman half-stack, check out my last 'serious' band's Myspace. Steve