Annoying Twit

Reserves tend to put people off, lessening the chance that the instrument actually reaches the reserve. If anybody's interested, I quite often contact sellers to ask what their reserve is, and more often than not they tell me.

Ibanez Blazer, low start price but has a reserve. Includes case. Looks nice to me. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-Blazer-Bass-Guitar-/281447107222?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item41878e0a96"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item41878e0a96[/url] Untested Westone, 99p start: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-OLD-VINTAGE-BASS-GUITAR-WESTONE-THUNDER-I-A-ACTIVE-BASS-/111469157168?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item19f4145b30

Damn. I must think more carefully in future when I see the word 'Japan' on a listing. Superficially I think it looks nice however. How about this for some gen-u-ine Japanese niceness then? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-pantera-x790-bass-guitar-/171468674894?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item27ec54574e

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1411293484' post='2558132'] Does look in nice condition, and that would've been a very realistic price when the MIJ market was a bit healthier than it is now. Mine was £50, and a proper fixer-upper! Jon. [/quote] I would be surprised if someone doesn't bid £100 on it, if it was in or at least near a major population centre. Having looked up Stowmarket on google maps, I'm sure it's a nice quiet place to live. But I wonder if it isn't exactly a good place to advertise basses as collection only.

Bass VI videos seem to vary in quality considerably. The video on that ebay listing doesn't demonstrate the bass side of that instrument, but I don't think it's horrible. E.g. This is IMHO even less impressive than your bass VI video. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0mZoDtGk-g"]https://www.youtube....h?v=z0mZoDtGk-g[/url] When I played The Hand of John Curley's Gretsch (effectively a Bass VI I think) it was a very flexible instrument. Too many bass VI videos miss out the 'bass' part of that flexibility. This video perhaps shows the capabilities of the instrument better. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_l3Wb6dDSQ"]https://www.youtube....h?v=O_l3Wb6dDSQ[/url] But, are those upper strings all in tune? In this video, there's a variety of stuff, including 'bass'. I'm not sure that this guy is getting into he groove for the bass line though. and there's quite a lot here that makes me not want to buy a Squier Bass VI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qblERL_-i1M

Is there a reason why you chose that bass? Many players will start off with a standard Precision or Jazz bass copy, of which there are plenty of options available. The Oregon comes with a hard case which IMHO is good to have. It has neck through construction, which gives it an interesting look. It's not unreasonable to buy a bass that you think looks good, I've seen it said that your first bass sitting there on the stand should scream 'play me' to you, as you need to spend a lot of time playing it to gain skills. If you look at the Oregon and think "wow", then that's an advantage in itself. If the Oregon is in your budget, then you have a lot of choice, both new and second hand. I'd expect that the Oregon should be good enough at that price and spec. However, it may suffer from depreciation if you buy brand new and want to sell it later. It also may not be set up well when you receive it.

I haven't seen one sell for a while. But I thought that they generally sell for quite a bit less than £300, and that the £150 BIN and £100 starting price are reasonable. In that I'd expect it to sell for the £100 starting price, and someone who wants one may go for the BIN to secure it.

Someone has FIVE Harley Benton basses for sale. Three 'Vintage' models, two standard. No way they can be making a profit here unless they are B-stock models, or less (e.g. Deko). http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Bass-/4713/m.html?item=131299549884&hash=item1e921022bc&pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&_ssn=simon020166

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Columbus-Vintage-Jazz-Fretless-Bass-1970s-Japan-/111467028981?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item19f3f3e1f5 Fretless Columbus bass. Though overpriced.

Seems to be in good condition, and a decent deal to me. Watchlisted to see how much it actually does sell for.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1410779698' post='2552930'] According to this BBC News story [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-29117849"]http://www.bbc.co.uk...cation-29117849[/url] only 5% of children are playing electric bass, bottom of the list of instruments; even less popular than percussion at 6%, electric guitar at 13% and drums at 14%! [/quote] I'm not sure that's too bad a thing. Better supply/demand ratio. Is that 5% of all kids, or 5% of all kids who play instruments?

IMHO it's a reasonable starter bass. It sounds like a bass, and plays OK.

I had a go on it yesterday. I would say that it plays and sounds similar to the similarly (in NZ) priced Squier Affinity Jazz. I didn't play them side by side however, so that's not a scientific comparison. It feels, particularly the neck, a little bit cheaper than my Rockbass Streamer Standard. (Old model with the big 'Rockbass' on the headstock).

I'm not convinced that sniping makes a huge difference. The main reason I use sniping is to protect myself from shilling. But most auctions won't be shilled. I remember buying a Vintage LP copy where I waited until seconds before the end to bid, and won it for the starting bid. No-one else bid. I think that second hand sale prices are going to mainly be due to basic supply and demand. It seems that high prices of instruments have led to small numbers (per capita) being in the country. In the 70s/80s, it's said that Prog Rock was pretty much a non-starter because of import duties on the equipment that such a band would need, leading to not very many people being able to afford it. Here's a 70s progtastic NZ track for anyone into that sort of thing. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCN1FXUnFP4"]https://www.youtube....h?v=TCN1FXUnFP4[/url] Though, when I read up on the short history of this band, the cost of the equipment was a major factor in their being ... unsustainable really. The prime minister of that time 'Piggy' Muldoon refused to allow musical instruments to be tax-deductable, and also refused to remove sales tax from record sales, as he said that most of the records that sold were those 'horrible' pop records and he wasn't removing the tax from them. The Knobz were a one-hit wonder power pop band that specifically addressed this controversy in their one hit 'Culture'. You get to see the real 'Piggy' Muldoon in the preamble, and an actor playing him in the rest of the video. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8frPD7DgqI"]https://www.youtube....h?v=n8frPD7DgqI[/url] As well as taxes, there is a history of importers putting big markups on imports, making them expensive in NZ. I note that Squier instruments tend to be about 10% higher in price than they are in the UK. E.g. £400 for a 60s Classic Vibe Jazz bass. But, £350 for an Epiphone Viola bass that's £230 in the UK? Someone's making some jam out of that. I see nothing that takes the place of (e.g.) Harley Benton and J&D instruments which are OK but so cheap it's hardly worth buying second hand. A fair number of lower end instruments however. But returning to the main topic, I think it's possible that what makes a lot of the second hand prices difference is that the UK is utterly flooded with bass guitars, with many of the basses from the 80s effectively still around, and of course many of those sold new in the intervening decades. With the greater cost of instruments in NZ in those periods, fewer were bought, per capita. And hence there is more demand for them, leading to higher resale prices. In the UK, there are huge numbers of instruments out there. Think of all the Westones, Arias, Bass Collections, Vintage (brand), Westfield, etc. etc. instruments out there. Think of the number of times we've seen stuff going for crazy prices but nobody has bid. In the UK, there are just too many basses out there, and not all of them can engender enough demand for the quality of instruments they are. (Not saying they are all good, but even a Westfield P-Bass copy is a lot of instrument for the £50 or perhaps even £30 that they can go for on ebay).

I've been in New Zealand for a week. There is a very large difference between the supply/demand balance for second hand goods in New Zealand compared to what we have in the UK. In the UK, there are about 6300 bass guitars on ebay, with there being a huge range of all sorts of instruments. The NZ equivalent to ebay is trademe.nz. I'm told that it's wildly popular here. But, there are 195 bass guitars currently listed. About 20 of these are a single seller on the north shore of Auckland who sells low end unknown brand basses and bass guitar kits. [url="http://www.trademe.co.nz/stores/so-music?cid=1321"]http://www.trademe.c...-music?cid=1321[/url] OK, so NZ is a much smaller country than the UK. But, if I calculate the number of bass guitars listed per capita, then it's less than half that of the UK. And if I had time to look at the basses available, I'd say that there's an even lower proportion of interesting and quality second hand basses here. Though, there is this 'custom patriot bass' which IMHO looks interesting and original. [url="http://www.trademe.co.nz/music-instruments/instruments/guitar-bass/bass-guitars/auction-778130325.htm"]http://www.trademe.c...n-778130325.htm[/url] I looked through for MIJ basses, and apart from some new looking Tokai basses selling for a definite 'price', I didn't find any. I'm told that in NZ people tend to buy to keep, so second hand availability of instruments (and other things) is much more limited than in the UK. Certainly there are quite a few shops selling a good range of basses new and seemingly having good stock. Prices here are higher than the UK. E.g. a Squier Affinity Jazz will cost about £200 new. My sister uses trademe extensively, and has regaled me with stories of how you get bidding wars for quite old stuff. We drove past a cafe and I was told that if I went in, I'd recognise some of the furniture in it as being stuff that was around the house when I was growing up. And yes, it would be worn and old. There is a re-use culture here. We apparently sold a dirty old mattress to someone who wanted to use the kapok inside to make things for sale. And when the buyer came around to pick up this disgusting looking old mattress, his face lit up when he saw it! Some old torn bedspreads were sold on trademe to someone who used them to make dog clothes, which were are told were primarily for export. Listing appears to be free on trademe, and you can easily relist if anything sells. But, all sorts of stuff sells because of the seemingly lower supply/demand ratio here. I showed my sister a photo of an incredibly poor condition Yamaha BB1000 that I saw in a second hand shop. She said it would probably sell to someone who would want to decorate a cafe. (I would think it would put me off my lunch a bit). She sold some very large shrubs which were bought by a professional gardener who came around with a team and spent half a day extracting them. They did say that these plants at that size would cost 'thousands' at a garden centre, so I suppose financially that works out for them. My sister had been quoted hundreds for a professional to remove them. My sister has started using selling on trademe to get rid of stuff that she would otherwise have to pay to get rid of, or at least which would require hard work. E.g. she sold some shrubs from her garden. Putting a new meaning into 'cash on collection', the people who bought them (and yes, people did) had to go around to my sister's place, dig the plants out of the garden, and take them away. And people did. There was a cowboy gardener who mulched some neighbour's bamboo and the mulch went all over my mother's garden. After the gardener didn't come back to clean up the mess, my sister put the mulched bamboo littering my mother's garden on trademe at $1 (50p) a trailer load. And it sold, it turned out to be six trailer loads. And this wasn't in sacks etc., the buyer had to clean up my mother's garden. And they sold. The person who bought them needed the mulched bamboo for some purpose that I've forgotten, but it was something like some high tech composter or something and the mulched bamboo was needed for it to run properly or something. Returning to basses, I've worked out how to search 'expired' listings. This sold for £100: [url="http://www.trademe.co.nz/music-instruments/instruments/guitar-bass/bass-guitars/auction-769073359.htm"]http://www.trademe.c...n-769073359.htm[/url] Generic Chinese basses are selling, but for about £115 new. [url="http://www.trademe.co.nz/music-instruments/instruments/guitar-bass/bass-guitars/auction-775289045.htm"]http://www.trademe.c...n-775289045.htm[/url] I suppose that would be about the same in the UK I'd guess. Having searched far and wide, there are a few interesting things on trademe. There's this bass which is claimed to be from 60s Maori showband the Quin Tikis, [url="http://www.trademe.co.nz/music-instruments/instruments/guitar-bass/bass-guitars/auction-779351180.htm"]http://www.trademe.c...n-779351180.htm[/url] It's claimed to have belonged to band member Sam Matapare, but photos of him show a different bass While this photo of the band with a different bassist (Weasel Tairoa) show something more similar to the listing. Sam Mataparae is playing sax on the far right of that photo, but I have found references that he did play bass as well. [url="http://www.audioculture.co.nz/people/sam-mateparae-and-the-rockin-rockers"]http://www.audiocult...-rockin-rockers[/url] Edit: Now that I search, there are more interesting things here. This is an MIJ Ibanez Roadster. Is £210 BIN not a reasonable price? [url="http://www.trademe.co.nz/music-instruments/instruments/guitar-bass/bass-guitars/auction-777435030.htm"]http://www.trademe.c...n-777435030.htm[/url] Prices vary, but £210 seems in the ballpark: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/154621-ibanez-rs-800-roadster/"]http://basschat.co.u...s-800-roadster/[/url]

I'm really tempted to go and play it.

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1410446847' post='2549540'] There were no photos of the JB-75. I was buying blind and think I just got lucky. It could just as easily ended up hanging on the wall. [/quote] Wouldn't you still be able to return it if you decided you didn't like what you received?

You got a real bargain there!

Today I actually saw one of these W basses in person. It did look a bit inexpensive in the flesh. The same shop had a really large range of the new Rockbass basses with the W on the headstock and small 'Rockbass', including a six string. The guy in the shop said that the basses with the W body weren't bad for the price. He said that the two closely spaced single coil (I presume) pickups sound quite decent. The picture seems to have disappeared from the first post: EDIT: It has it's own trebly single coil sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLavQlMTI-0

How are you finding the BZ-6000 bass?

Many of the root 8th note songs here have another instrument playing arpeggios. E.g. keyboards in With or Without You, and guitar on Every Breath You Take. Perhaps in those cases the arpeggios provide sufficient supporting melodic motion, and having too much motion in the bass would be too much. BTW: Just because I started the thread doesn't mean I get more say than anyone else as to where it goes. However, I was interested in hearing about songs with inappropriately simple. E.g. boring. I was thinking about this after reading the story of a bassist on another forum, maybe TB. He was wondering why his band hadn't called him in for the recording of an album. He then heard that he wasn't to worry because they rhythm guitarist had played bass. When he heard he recording his worst fears were realised. Nothing but root notes on the whole album.

[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1409909979' post='2544461'] I actually prefer Jones' root notes. Much more powerful sound to my ears. Matlock always sounds like he's overplaying the songs to me. [/quote] I'm listening to sp**k right now. Matlock's lines are rather poppy, and the bass sound is IMHO too polite. So far, I'm agreeing with Low End Bee.

Bob Mould "Star Machine". Suits the song though. I was really looking for boring, unimaginative, songs. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RALObIcjmy0"]https://www.youtube....h?v=RALObIcjmy0[/url] Elmore James got nohin' on this, baby. I've forgotten how to inline youtube videos. Could someone please remind me?

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1409858065' post='2544116'] The Thumb is 17" scale (and not suitable for conversion to Ashboryness). And although the GK was a bit more than £31, the Thumb certainly wasn't. [/quote] Ah, gotcha. I didn't realise it was the toy Thumb. I interpreted it as a full size one. Which made my eyes pop out at the size of the speaker on that amp!

Some interesting examples there. U2 With or Without You and the Taylor Swift song have almost the same classic I V VI IV chord progression, both in D major, except that the Taylor Swift song has a single crotchet's worth of IV before the pattern repeats. And the Taylor Swift song does have a keychange. Out of interest I tried playing a different line including fifths along to With or Without You. Definitely didn't suit the song, there's already enough going on there. I think there's some space in the intro and breakdowns of the Taylor Swift song for a few sneaky subtle harmonics though. They rhythm isn't straight eighths all the way through though. It is, as described, restrained. But there's variation in there. I enjoyed the White Zombie track more than I expected to. While it's all one note, hen I played along with it, I could put in a fair amount of interest in the rhythm using some sixteens and the occasional bit of syncopation. I haven't listened carefully enough to what the original bassist was playing, and the mix isn't clear - not that I think it's meant to be. But I found that it was possible for me to create (recreate?) a bassline for that with one note that I found quite enjoyable to play. I'm reminded a lot of Nitzer Ebb. I find it interesting that I found none of the songs on here really boring, all had their interest. And I could enjoy playing any of them. Any particular Gilbert and Sullivan tracks that are really boring? (Do you mean Gilbert O'Sullivan?) Nice cheesy but fun major key bassline on 'What's In a Kiss' if the latter. EDIT: "Doesn't it make you sick" sounds to be more or less all root note crotchets more or less.