Burns-bass

17 minutes ago, Rick's Fine '52 said:

Well, like everyone, you’re entitled to your view. 

As a bass player and collector, and artist (very poor amateur), I don’t agree with your art appraisal either, if you’re saying the value is in the concept and execution, I think those are two different things, Leo had the concept, so puts replicas in the shade, and regarding execution, do you think Jackson’s execution was any more skilled than others that have done it since and copied, like John Squire for example? I personally don’t think so. That style doesn’t need skilled execution, it’s all about the concept and interpretation. Which bringing back  to guitar terms, Leo was a trailblazer in every aspect of his craft. 

I guess when you see the scale and execution of a genuine Pollock (which are bigger than garage doors) you really can see the difference.

Jackson defined the style so by nature his execution is the best. And there is huge skill in it. Maybe give it a try. (I did as part of an art course and much of Pollocks work is much more conceptual than it appears at first glance).

Leo was a trailblazer who automated, systematised and refined his craft. He’s the Henry Ford of guitars. Beautifully crafted designs made from cheap components that are endlessly produced (and emulated).

They’re things bolted together by low paid workers. That original ones have survived unmolested is surprising and that’s why they’re collectible. 

8 minutes ago, Rick's Fine '52 said:

In theory you could say that about a £100k Broadcaster too, and I agree that John does great work, I have one of his basses. Or a £45m Pollock painting, which, as an artist I could replicate in 45 mins. I’m pretty sure players/collectors don’t care for that though. Just saying. 

They’re not comparable. A Pollock isn’t about a technique (see Ed Sheerans Pollock-esque paintings), it’s the value of the concept and the execution. 

I’m highly negative about the vintage bass market, but these all original models genuinely are rare and obviously highly valuable because of that. 
 

I don’t think it sounds any better than any other single coil P bass but that’s me. 

2 hours ago, NickD said:

Fixed that for you!

Good point. This year I’ll have done around 80 gigs and only 5 on electric bass. 

8 hours ago, Homatron said:

Thanks for the advice @JPJ & @Burns-bass. I'm certainly not offended! 

 

I don't have a tutor (not sure if there are any in Plymouth) but an experienced/trained friend of a friend has offered to give me some pointers. Looking forward to that in the next week or so.

 

I'm taking it slow and steady, referring to Discover Double Bass and other resources to keep me on track.

 

Currently loving playing over an F blues!

An experienced and trained friend sounds fully qualified to give some pointers. 

My guess is you'll tell a few people you play double bass and will be out gigging by May.

I find selling things is cathartic. There are two or three I really like but nothing (aside from people) is irreplaceable. 

Bought a Rush book, probably struggling to make sense of it like me!

Great buyer happy days.

Look at how neat that wiring is. Beautiful.

I've been thinking about this a bit recently. I bought a double bass that was owned by Jack Bruce (not in the putative sense most vintage instruments are sold) but with provenance from Bonhams. It's 100% one of his, but it means nothing to me really. I bought it because I needed a great sounding classical bass and this was checked over by a friend and was given the OK. We assumed it would be out of my price range, but in the end it sold for half the original Bonham's sale price. 

I guess my point is that the "value" of celebrity ownership is probably temporal and that the celebrities of today are unlikely to mean much (if anything) to the generations in the future. Maybe a few will, but ultimately, we're all shadows and dust. Or 3 generations from irrelevance, as my mum put it when we were enjoying a walk. 

1 minute ago, Beedster said:

 

I disagree mate, it adds price, not value 

Semantic point as we have to define value in this context. Intrinsic and extrinsic.  If we agree that the manufacturing process adds value then ownership and age can do too.

What people sometimes forget about celebs buying vintage instruments is that they add value (which we can’t). 
 

A big standard 70s jazz is £3k. One owned by Geddy Lee is £30k for example.

Buying them up also gives the impression they’re rare, which they’re really not. 
 

I can see the value in a completely original pieces, because they genuinely are rare. But the rest of them, not really.

19 minutes ago, Beedster said:

But why's that a sadness? It's a few pieces of wood and metal put together in a factory, to many people it's just as much a piece of visual art or a historic antique as it is a musical instrument (as I said above, you can get instruments just as good for around 5% of the likely price of this). As Leo would have agreed, there's nothing particularly special about them as instruments, it's not a Strad  

The more I play the old ones I realise it's an entirely harmless indulgence, but an indulgence nonetheless. Some of these older basses can feel quite agricultural. We often ascribe onto them meaning, history and value that's not really there. These things aren't the history, it's the players.

When I showed my dad one of my old vintage basses he appaised it and then said "It would look so much better with a fresh coat of paint. Why don't you make it look good again?" which made me laugh.

8 hours ago, JPJ said:

Congratulations and welcome to the (addictive) club. The best advice I can offer is get help with hand / body position before you start to bake in problems that can even result in permanent injury. If there’s no tutors near you, then there’s some great advice for free from Discover Double Bass on YouTube. That said, I’m sure your cello experience will come in useful 😎

This advice offended one Basschat member so much that they left when I gave it. But it’s true.

19 minutes ago, Beedster said:

I had a '56 (or was it a '55). Nice bass, was it £17,500 nicer than an MIJ '55 RI.........?

 

Answers on a postcard 

Let's not open this old can of worms (argh go on then...)

11 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Doesn’t appear to be on the shops website yet, I’d guess a bit more than 18,500, depending on how original it is 

It's a vintage bass off!

Maybe Sting will buy it and it'll never be advertised for sale. 

As a London shop, I reckon £18,500.

My cousin (bass player) has got his too. He’s massively excited by the whole thing and that makes me happy.

Hi Donavan, I'll message you directly. 

5 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Anyone near Stromness, 1966 P bass on gumtree, 3k

If it looks and smells like a scam...

What’s the scratch plate for? If it’s for the look then I can’t see why you wouldn’t screw it on. If it’s for protection, then you risk doing more damage by adding one (so why bother).

If you’re going to keep the bass forever then do whatever you want. If not, but a bass you will keep forever (with a scratchplate maybe!)

How do you find the DCX?

48 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

I've bought mandolins, double bass and viola from Thomann. They sell some very good value instruments but my experience is that you need to budget for a decent setup. 
 

Good luck with the sale! I have a Thomann double bass and it's excellent.

Yes, I quite agree. The person I bought it from struggled with it, but ultimately gave up. All it needed was some time with a specialist and now it's a good value entry level bass. More suitable than the bass I started with!

The model is this one:

https://www.thomann.co.uk/thomann_111sn_3_4_double_bass.htm
 

I’ll politely suggest the “experts” at Thomann didn’t do a great job of setting it up. 

This is a Thomann laminate bass that has been set up and is ready to play!

The story is that I picked up recently from someone who had tried DB and failed. Not from a lack of effort and skill but a terribly set up bass. (I actually went there to buy his bass buggy and ended up with the whole bass.)

I’ve had it professionally set up and the action lowered so it’s now a great starter bass. (Bridge fit isn’t perfect, but it’s much better than it was.)

The action is low, it sounds good (in a thumpy plywood way). I was going to use this to teach with but I don’t have the space, skill or time to teach so it’s here. It’s a really well built bass that simply needs playing. 

Personally I’d find a used set of Spiro Weichs and add those and it’ll be a whole new beast.

For £499 you get:

Bass

Case

Few books

For £35 more I can add a magnetic pickup.

This reflects pretty much what I paid, but if you’re stuck for cash and want to try DB we can always work something out. I’m quite proud we’ve fixed up another double bass and it’ll get to be used again.

(Hettie used for scale.)

I see this bass advertised somewhere before. It’s truly awful.

17 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

It's usually a mystery as to where they've been before, sometimes we get a bit of an anecdote, or info on the immediate previous owner. Full history is usually not available. 

With my '73 Jazz, which is very heavily worn, I bought it from BassBros, but Nick (@oldhorsemurphy RIP) contacted me as he'd only just sold it to them. He told me how long he'd had it, and where he bought it. He'd bought it from the original owner, who was responsible for ALL the wear on that bass. He must have played it every day since 1973!

I sold Nick a 70s Jazz too. What a lovely guy he was.