FDC484950

There’s the flaw in your argument: it’s got nothing to do with value for money. It’s about scarcity, desirability, and individuality, and some of this comes directly from price and branding. It’s the same with any other consumer item. A basic Ford Focus will get you to your destination in exactly the same way as a Porsche 911. Is the Porsche value for money at 5 times the price? No, it really isn’t. But they still sell plenty, right

To a degree you are right, but it’s clearer when you look at the range as a whole. Combustion - £1700 ABZ £3,000+ AB1 £3,500+ ABII £4,500+ Z £5500+ Prima Artist £7500+ There is a massive difference between the Chinese Combustions and the ABZ. I owned an NG3 briefly and swapped it for an ABZ soon afterward as the difference in tone and feel, woods, finishing, construction etc. made it a no-brainer for me. There was nothing special about the NG - perfectly usable, but it didn’t have that special something. It felt like a mass produced instrument. However, having tried the Z models at around double the price of an ABZ, I’d agree that the law of diminishing returns definitely applies - and even more so with the sky high prices of the Prima Artist. At this level you get more of everything (different woods on bass and treble side, more laminations, fancier finishing, different headstock profile, different bridge etc.) but IMHO it’s adds nothing of value and just ups the price massively. To me the elegant simplicity and perfect construction, finishing and tone from the ABZ justifies the cost. It’s also a similar price point to Fender custom shop of MM basses after recent price hikes. Not everyone has £3K to spend on a bass or can justify it, but that’s a very different discussion as everyone’s concept of value is different. Would I be happy with a £400 bass? No.

I wonder how many people buy an instrument that sounds great but looks awful (to them)? Looks mean a lot more to many. Fundamentally a £300 Squier can sound identical to a £5,000 custom super J/P. It may even play the same. So what are you paying for? Quality of materials really boils down to fancier-looking woods that the manufacturer has been more choosy with, and a more time spent finishing and setting up the instrument (which doesn’t necessarily mean better playability). I did see some industry figures years ago for large scale instrument production costs and although it’s out of date due to labour, material and shipping price hikes in recent years, it’s pretty clear that a painted bass with standard hardware manufactured at scale costs surprisingly little, once the cost of tooling is recouped. Companies like Fender tend not to spend a lot on R&D (although they must have done in the past when introducing models, with little success due to the very conservative buying public!) as they are effectively churning out the same instruments with colour and name changes and relatively minor tweaks (high mass bridge, lighter tuners, neck join profiling). With the US models you are paying for a hard case instead of a gig bag, the higher labour rate (even if the proportion of the total cost is the same, the monetary amount is more), generally more attractive woods and marginally more expensive hardware and electronics - and the name and country of origin being the US - which is by far the largest reason for the huge price hike

.

.

This is certainly one approach to making music. Thank goodness it’s not the only one.

The review is hilarious. Bold styling??

Politics aside, it’s now basically the same to return goods inside Europe as it has always been outside Europe. I’ve bought a few instruments from the US, for example, but each time it was quite a risk, and on the basis that if I didn’t like it I’d have to take the hit and sell it in the UK, because returning it would either result in a very long wait for a refund - or no refund at all. We are where we are, so I’ve decided only to purchase from the UK from now on. Most of the time it’s next day delivery, you have distance selling laws to back up an easy return if you don’t like it, and the shop should be capable of dealing with any issues along the way. My only concerns are that with relatively few shops in the UK selling basses, choice will suffer, and it’s more likely that a monopoly will result in significantly higher prices.

Not a dig in any way, but to put this in perspective it’s a UK made bass that is cheaper than most smartphones. I do wonder about the economic motivations behind what people purchase sometimes. For example, I recently bought a new winter coat. It was £350! The last one I bought from the same brand 21 years ago was £250. I very nearly didn’t bother as it i thought it was very expensive. But on the other hand I’ve spent £3K on a bass which is just a hobby, and man maths has calculated it to be very good value for money and an essential purchase 🤩

I think Mike Lull do a 5 string P with 35” scale but they’re pretty pricey.

As has been said, all couriers get it wrong. I’m just lucky that I’ve not had anything lost (yet!) That being said, Parcelforce is not a company I would trust with any musical equipment Since COVID I’ve noticed many more deliveries just being dropped near the door without anyone knocking - the first I know about it is either the delivery message or when I open my front door. And that’s with every courier (PF, DPD, APC, UPS, TNT, FedEx, Amazon’s own deliveries, and of course, Hermes).

Given the skyrocketing prices (and lack of availability) of, for example, North American instruments, there could well be a gap in the market. As always, quality and price will measure success.

It depends on what your tastes are, but personally I wouldn’t get two basses with basically the same config, style and sound. You’ll end up favouring one and the other will just gather dust. Maybe consider the ACG for its filter preamp as it will give you a genuinely different palette of sounds compared with the Overwater? If your heart is set on a J style bass, exhaust the off the peg options before going custom as there are plenty of choices out there.

.

Now why would you de do do, de da da dat?

.

I too had a couple. I could be completely wrong but given they seemed well made, I wonder if the very short bridge unit forces the thick B string to be wedged in and therefore dull?

Swing is the number one reason the bass line exists in jazz. It’s there to provide a constant pulse and to drive the band forward. Fact is jazz evolved on acoustic instruments so it’s generally a good idea to think how you can emulate that deep, rich sound an upright bass makes, and to capture the essence of that tone. There are some jazz musicians that maintain that jazz must have upright bass, but ignore them. You can swing perfectly well on electric but sensitivity of tone and touch are paramount. Honestly, a bass line that swings and drives the band playing only root notes (or even questionable note choices) is better than a great line played with poor time and feel. The best advice I was given when starting was just play quarter notes. No triplets, skips or anything else. You need to establish that quarter note pulse and there’s so much else going on when you start learning. Harmonically a blues is the ideal starting point (many jazz standards are based on a blues) and as per posts above the scope to add additional chords etc. can make it quite sophisticated. Finally, your music collection contains all the answers. More than probably any other genre, listening is key. It’s a wide genre with an evolution of close to 100 years, so plenty of excellent music to mine for ideas

Tribal Tech, the album is fantastic, some real gems in there such as The Necessary Blonde. Illicit is also good (and has some stunning bass playing). Reality Check less so but still some good songs (Nite Club, Speak, Jakarta and Foreign Affairs). Face First is more patchy (but Wounded is brilliant, Willis' best solo IMHO). Thick is only really worth it for Slick and they lost me completely with Rocket Science (except the liner notes, which are hilarious). From their earlier albums (which I could never find in print so bought Primal Tracks), Nomad, Mango Prom, The Rain and Twilight in Northridge are worth listen. They are rather hard to reproduce, as a band, however I guess you can't talk about Fusion and guitar without mentioning Allan Holdsworth but a) no-one will know the tunes and b) there's little chance the guitar player will be up to the job 🤣

Fitted a white pickguard from Pickguard Planet, really cleans up the look of the Big Al. I also bought a black one as I wasn’t sure but the white looks better. I’d love another one, maybe one of the later ones with the lighter tuners and mahogany body. There’s even one with a solid rosewood neck and a Dargie’s delight but even getting one is next to impossible. Let me know if anyone finds a 5 SSS 😀

.

The challenge for me with MM basses is that I’m not overly keen on the current Stingray colours (harvest orange aside) and they’ve temporarily (or maybe permanently) dropped the US Sterling. Fortunately I was able to pick up one of the last Sterling 5s earlier this year in the lovely toolbox red. They do have some nice basses and I’m a big fan (I was also lucky enough to score a fantastic Big Al 5 SSS - a bass I really wished they’d bring back, and I’ve said as much to Ernie Ball!) and fair play to them coming up with some interesting new designs. Prices are reflected everywhere - the Dingwall I recently bought is in the same price range as an SR5 and although it has something quite special about it it’s reflective that a top-drawer non-small-volume instrument is around £3K these days. Even a Fender US Elite (non custom shop) is creeping towards £2.5K. I do think they’ve upped their game in the last few years with lighter instruments and some lovely finishes. It’s also quite cool that you can buy a bass directly from them including all taxes for significantly less than from a UK retailer!

It wasn’t bad. General fit and finish was good, playability excellent and electronics generally up to Sadowsky standards. However it suffered from 3 issues; push pull pot for preamp bypass was OK but the bottom pot (passive tone IIRC) was non-functional. B string was significantly quieter than the other strings on any setting, even when adjusting the string and bridge (setup was otherwise fine), and finally, whilst it was light it had horrendous neck dive, even with lightweight tuners (although it’s partly the jazz bass shape and worse seated than standing). In the end GG offered a repair but I decided to get a refund. In comparison the Sire V7 I bought, although showing signs of being more cheaply built, sounded and felt way better at just over 25% of the price.