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[quote name='TimR' post='755428' date='Feb 23 2010, 08:22 PM']Because we consume with our eyes. Regardless of whether something is best fit. Look at the adverts for Porsches, Lamborghini and Harley verses those for any hot hatch. Do they figure commuters or women getting loads of shopping in the boot? No. Harley don't make commuter bikes, doesn't mean you can't commute on one though. Watch the marketing for this bass. Lets see how quickly the price drops. Advertise it for £5k+ in loads of mags, put it in the shops while everyone lusts over one then drop the price £2k and watch the rush for a bargain. Cynical? Who me? If they've done their market research, there are people out there who like them. If they haven't does it matter? Are they built to order? If they don't mass produce them there will hardly be loads sitting in a warehouse somehere.[/quote] I'm sorry mate, but you are drawing the wrong conclusions based on a very simplistic analysis. The marketing surrounding the brands of transport you mention are many and varied, depending on model. Simply put, the more expensive models are marketed by selling a lifestyle, the more practical (like the Cayenne) by selling prestige and luxurious practicality, and the "budget" models, if you can call them that, by brand leverage focusing on aspiration. The GUS is none of those, it is simply a very expensive product because of very expensive production processes, and the result is meant for musicians who want supreme design and quality, and who happen to have the money and may want to demonstrate that via a unique appearance. You think the chrome saveloys are there for anything other than brand identity? They have no practical use whatsover. It's the Fabergé egg of the bass world.

[quote name='witterth' post='755413' date='Feb 23 2010, 08:17 PM']Tell you what Pete Academey, Isn't that"Steely Dan" of band name legend? who's is the one on top? yours or Walters? [/quote] Have you been chasing the Jazz Poppies?

[quote name='TimR' post='755370' date='Feb 23 2010, 07:43 PM']All I am saying is that it is the hobby musician with income independent of music that subsidises all of these things, Guitars, effects units, boutique amps etc. If the company making these bases makes a loss on them, and you have to hope they've done some sort of market research, I will be very surprised.[/quote] Finally, you have explained your point clearly. I agree too, it's a good, if obvious, point. However, as far as we can tell, and it's by no means conclusive because of the silent majority here, BigRedX is the only person of Basschat's nearly 9,000 members to have ownership of a Gus bass, and as far as I know I am almost the only member to have owned a Kopo and a Wilkins. Does that mean anything? I don't know.

[quote name='Clarky' post='755303' date='Feb 23 2010, 06:43 PM']Erm, I commuted to work in London on a Harley for years (a Sportster to begin with, later a Fat Boy). Very reliable, massive torque, low seats (so easy to clamber on in a business suit), looked wicked (the Harley, not the suit).[/quote] Harley owners are from all walks of life, and I've known a few. I couldn't really get where Tim was coming from there either.

I hope you rendered a full application of the chrome sausages.

[quote name='TimR' post='755098' date='Feb 23 2010, 03:31 PM']Your OP was how can you justify spending £5350 on a new bass? If I know that there is a second hand market then I'm not spending £5K+, I'm spending £5k - resale value. If there was no second hand market then the prices would have to be much lower, but there will always be people who are prepared to spend more for a new bass with warranty etc. You could buy a £5k bass, do 30 £100 gigs with it. Sell it for £2k and will have broken even, and had good use out of an expensive bass and someone would have a top expensive bass for less than half price. Put your own numbers in and see if you can justify it. BUT this only works if you are a hobby musician with a job supporting your hobby. Hobby musicians who want the lastet gear (people with GAS) are what the industry relies on. Someone posted about Harleys earlier, same thing, they don't make bikes for cummuters, they make bikes for 'rich' people to play with. By 'rich' I mean anyone who has the ability to save enough to buy one.[/quote] Erm, thanks for clearing that up

[quote name='TimR' post='755098' date='Feb 23 2010, 03:31 PM']Your OP was how can you justify spending £5350 on a new bass? If I know that there is a second hand market then I'm not spending £5K+, I'm spending £5k - resale value. If there was no second hand market then the prices would have to be much lower, but there will always be people who are prepared to spend more for a new bass with warranty etc. You could buy a £5k bass, do 30 £100 gigs with it. Sell it for £2k and will have broken even, and had good use out of an expensive bass and someone would have a top expensive bass for less than half price. Put your own numbers in and see if you can justify it. BUT this only works if you are a hobby musician with a job supporting your hobby. Hobby musicians who want the lastet gear (people with GAS) are what the industry relies on. Someone posted about Harleys earlier, same thing, they don't make bikes for cummuters, they make bikes for 'rich' people to play with. By 'rich' I mean anyone who has the ability to save enough to buy one.[/quote] Erm, thanks for clearing that up

[quote name='TimR' post='754838' date='Feb 23 2010, 11:34 AM']So you got a good deal. Someone had to originally buy it new. Not you as you couldn't afford it, but someone did, decidided to move on or up and sell their old one. The guys who designed and built that bass have to eat, feed their kids, drive cars, and live in houses. How much was the first fender in relation to a weeks money. Many people sitting in the building where I work get £5000 a day! They're not proffesional musicians though, but they are the sort of people who are subsidising the rest of us and giving us the ability to buy second hand high end models at a good price.[/quote] I was talking about [b]inspiration [/b]not getting a good deal. Even so, I am not at all clear on the point you are trying to make.

[quote name='HoweDy' post='754550' date='Feb 22 2010, 11:44 PM']frank zapper?[/quote] Kind of.

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='754534' date='Feb 22 2010, 11:28 PM']Good call, sir. Thunes![/quote] I thank 'ee Not at all difficult technically, but if you can play it with the sheer power, grace and musicality that Thunes did, you are a bass hero in my book.

Valley Girl

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='754492' date='Feb 22 2010, 10:40 PM']Everyone's inspiration comes from different places. For some it's their instrument, for some it's the band(s) they're playing with, for some it's their loved ones, for some it's their musical heroes, for some it's the sausage they had for lunch, for some it's social injustice, for some it's a huge bag o' weed... everybody's different. I need -- i.e. want -- too many basses (various combinations of 4/5 strings, fretted, fretless, tuned bizarrely for different projects, etc.) to realistically lust after the really expensive ones. But if you can afford it and it brings a smile to your face... well, f*** it, why not?[/quote] Agreed, but all I am saying is, a £160 fully forged Solingen steel chef's knife does not inspire me to chop more sorrell or experiment more with summer savory than does my £35 Kitchen Concept.

[quote name='JMT3781' post='754489' date='Feb 22 2010, 10:39 PM']Nice supermodels? is that the Kopo thats currently sat in my bedroom silddx? [/quote] Ah, my friend, that was certainly Monica Belucci in bass form Unfortunately the width of her neck precluded me from more intimate relations.

[quote name='retroman' post='754459' date='Feb 22 2010, 10:14 PM']Inspiration is a valid point. My first bass was an Aria legend, the el-cheapo plywood P Bass copy. My second bass is the Rickenbacker 4001 that I still own That Ric cost me my every last spare penny, at a time when I was running around in a battered old Datsun Estate Best thing I ever done, musically. Having a top end bass that played so well, really inspired me to raise my game, and take bass playing more seriously [/quote] Is it a valid point? I might question how long that inspiration lasted. In my case, it was inspiration that made me up my game and get a Warwick, I needed something reliable, ergonomically designed and versatile. I did my research, bought one second hand and it remains, most of the time, my number one bass. I have flirted with, and occasionally bought, cheap tarts, nice friendly girls and young supermodels, but really, the 'vette feels like an extension of me. It didn't really inspire me to play more much longer than a week or so. My bands inspire me infinitely more than a nice piece of wood with some strings on, as do my bass heroes.

[quote name='molan' post='752440' date='Feb 21 2010, 01:26 AM']I have been known to offer Jake his fee just to watch him play [/quote] Yeah I remember that You had a lesson not long after me in June I think. He's amazing!

[quote name='Paul S' post='754032' date='Feb 22 2010, 04:48 PM']I usually use Parcelforce 48, you can add insurance as required, it is trackable, too. Never had a problem. Just pop into the local post office and do it from there - saves hanging around all day waiting for someone to collect it, too.[/quote] They broke a hard shell case I shipped a bass in recently and are refusing to pay up. I'll never use them again. £^%&*$& *$^%s

[quote name='bassbloke' post='754179' date='Feb 22 2010, 06:30 PM']i said go and practice.[/quote] Actually, you said piss off and practice or [b]something[/b]. I have just put the laundry on and am now about to do the recycling, wash up, cook dinner, record a bass track for a mate's album, and start rehearsing for Saturday's gig. Does any of that count?

[quote name='bassbloke' post='754160' date='Feb 22 2010, 06:17 PM']Your Warwick is mass produced by a machine. Warwick buy in huge quantities of wood, bung it through a cnc machine to produce the body blanks or wings. The economies of scale and minimal human involvement allow costs to be kept low. I can guarantee that once you step away from mass produced instruments and start choosing custom options the costs increase dramatically. You have no idea how many hours goes into a Gus guitar, how much R&D has gone into the building techniques and, most importantly, you've never picked up a Gus guitar and played it so you don't have the slightest clue of it's 'core worth'. The core worth of a Klimt or Van Gogh is what, a bit of canvas, some oil or watercolours and a bit of wood for the frame. That must be, what, £25. Like others have commented, this is an utterly futile discussion topic, so let's all piss off and practice or something. No wonder other musicians think bassists are a bit of a joke.[/quote]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='754080' date='Feb 22 2010, 05:14 PM']Before I get seriously involved in this discussion can someone confirm that the bass in question is this one: Rather than the one that's been posted previously in this thread.[/quote] Correct

[quote name='Golchen' post='754003' date='Feb 22 2010, 04:29 PM']Get a Jazz that is active and also with a precision pup. Sorted. (Note: that's what mine is!)[/quote] Sounds like the labradoodle of the bass world, that. Does it eat pickled onions?

[quote name='Marvin' post='754004' date='Feb 22 2010, 04:30 PM']It's a transitional period [/quote]

I'm tempted! How does the lightshow actually feel if you have your thumb over the top of the neck?

[quote name='Marvin' post='753915' date='Feb 22 2010, 03:16 PM'] I tend to veer widely from sugar and then to salt. Suffice to say my truffles do not taste very nice I go from being very tolerant to verging on being a disciple of Trotsky and questioning everything, there must be permanent revolution. I'm in a salty mood today [/quote] I thought you were in a cheesy mood?

[quote name='josh3184' post='753938' date='Feb 22 2010, 03:32 PM']ah, my apologies.[/quote] No need, my friend. The supply side is the easy part, uncle's attic.