tegs07

Agreed. I think Simon Gallup has played pretty much every bass there is at various times, particularly live and he always just sounds like Simon Gallup.

I am not sure how much these comparisons really mean. There will be small differences but with the same pickups*, player, rig etc the basses will all be pretty much identical. What really matters is how comfortable the bass is to play, be that weight, shape, neck dimensions etc, then reliably - quality wiring and hardware may save some embarrassment, then aesthetics. An MDF table would serve the same function as a teak or oak one but might not look as nice or last as long. * Even this is relative and subjective. Most basses that are mass produced have fairly similar pickups eg I doubt if I could tell a Mex P from a US P or a Yamaha BB when played through the same rig. They would all sound like P basses.

There is another dimension to this in that some people might want to buy a US made bass like a G&L or say a Hofner bass because they live in the USA or Germany and want to support local producers. Perhaps if more people bought one bass from a company in their country rather than 3 from the far east these companies would not be facing bankruptcy and disappearing from the market.

True but if you want a new Rickenbacker or Musicman you are going to need a little more than 2K.

Indeed. Personally I would rather own one bass I love than 5 or 6 mediocre ones anyway. It does seem like one expensive bass attracts more ire than several mid priced ones..

Honestly. I think that they are more likely to take advantage of basses made in countries where wages and rents are cheaper so can make the same thing for less.

Wages, rents, wages, energy costs, wages, commodity costs, wages did I mention wages? Anyone seen the price of RAM these days? A small prediction that in the near term the price of base metals, precious metals and timber is going nowhere but up. Musicman prices I think just reflect a wider trend. Many Mexican made Fenders now break the £1200 barrier. I don’t think this is simply down to profiteering.

yep. they were great.

I guess it depends on circumstances. I saw The Hamsters play numerous times in pubs throughout the country. I suspect they made a reasonable living and a 3K instrument would be worthwhile. I know a photographer that used a camera and lenses costing way more than 3K to photograph plenty of bands - many playing in pubs.

One sobering thought is that expensive is relative to wealth. The US national debt costs $1 trillion in interest payments. About what it costs to finance its entire defence budget and coincidentally what Elon Musk was paid .I guess if you can afford to run the world’s largest military then a $50,000 bass would be cheap. For most of the world though mass produced instruments in the far east are the only affordable instruments. Most made in the west would be considered expensive to extremely expensive. Which would explain the rise in bankruptcy for household name companies.

Probably £1000. However these things are all relative. If you had asked 5 years ago £500 as I had less disposable income. Some people could easily justify £3000. Still cheap compared to a lot of work tools or hobby equipment.

I guess it is just the inevitable direction of travel. As for data, yep it is incredibly valuable. It’s why Facebook and X et al are ‘free’. We are the product. I am just glad I am not of the generation that has been profiled since birth and accepts it as normal. I guess financial data is the holy grail and makes the work of HMRC, Any credit rating agencies, financial services, lenders of every description and if I pop my tin foil hat on, the ability for the state to subdue the masses via an intricate mesh of social credit. Happy Christmas 🎅 !!

I guess because this is a bass forum that the discussion is about bass and electric bass in particular, however for me when I think Hofner I think high quality acoustic instruments, particularly cello’s, violin, viola etc.

Don’t Hofner still make high quality hand built acoustic instruments? Strongly suspect that their financial situation is more to do with a sluggish economy and high energy costs. I doubt Macca can help, unless he can broker a peace agreement with Russia.

suspect things like apple pay will be able to cope…. or any credit or debit card linked to an underlying wallet populated with whatever stable coin, tokenised deposit variant/s are adopted for use.

Banknotes will be replaced by Crypto and blockchain in the next 5 years and yes a blockchain ledger is totally traceable.

Possibly. There is a certain aspirational lifestyle that involves a kind of self consciously cool parody persona that only resonates with certain people IMO. It’s not particularly subtle or requiring much in the way of imagination but does seem to require a lot of money and effort.

I am not sure that the clash is about how they play bass. It seems to me they can both play well and will appeal to different audiences. For me it’s more of a cultural clash between being a blinged up, revenue driven persona and a more down to earth, less sell your soul kind of ethos.

I guess each to their own. I am not a big fan of YouTube type ‘entertainment’ but give me Danny Sapko anytime. In my grouch like, cynical way Dubai is the ideal zoo to house these types of vacuous, bling, influencers. All the tax avoiding, money obsessed, shiliing, toxic toss pots can all move there and impress each other.

Agreed. Full tax scavenging mode. Just picking the meat from the bones rather than the fat. The real question being why do so many people need a side hustle just to get by?

There are a couple of reasons for this though such as demographics and changing tastes. I don’t know many young people who listen to the radio, buy records or go to gigs by unsigned artists. They do seem to use social media and festivals with big names are a big thing though. Add in unaffordable housing, expensive transportation and food and all the rest and being a YouTube musician is probably more appealing than the traditional route to making a living in music. The overheads are low and the audience is online.

The Limiñanas, Bristol. Great live band and The Fleece is probably my favourite Bristol venue.

Not really my thing but he seems like a decent sort. What little I have watched he has a marmite kind of humour that I find amusing. Not sure about the claims that he’s not much of a bass player. He’s exactly the kind of bass player I like.

Agree on both counts. Both bands clearly have something but whatever it is it’s lost on me