Mrbigstuff

I wouldn’t buy a vintage bass from anyone other than Andy Baxter now that the prices are so high. But I got offered a ‘77 P bass for £500 around 5 or 6 years ago. Too good to be true? Well I thought even if the pickups aren’t original the other parts would be worth more than the price, so I went to see it. Well, the only thing that was original was the neck and body. The body weighed a tonne and the neck was covered in dings and miles from being straight. There wasn’t any foam under the pickups so they were so slammed they were barely producing any sound. If that bass had been on eBay like this one some unlucky sod would have taken a chance.

These two gigs are extremely competitive and difficult to get full time work in. The majority of musicians I went to uni with make a living from a mix of teaching, sound engineering and cover gigs (weddings ect). Our teacher in first year said only 2/15 in the class would make it full time and he was right. I’ve had a long journey in work in the decade since I graduated but work in finance. I could be doing music part time at the weekends but have chosen not to. Despite this, those three years studying music everyday were the best of my life and I still play as often as I can at a much higher level than I would had I not gone. For me that makes the degree worth every penny.

Tbf they’ve probably got a lot on, appeasing the online shopping experts of basschat in making minor adjustments to their website without which they’d be the worst retailer in existence.

I thought it was possible alternative chords used in solo sections.

A signature guitar is usually based off the model that player is notorious for playing. So mine would be my Blizzard Pearl MIM P bass. I would happily use it on a million sessions.

Some nice licks, but do they support the song as a bassline? I don’t think so, but that’s not why she’s written those lines.

Charlie Chandlers for SW. replaced the pups on my Fender P bass to Lindy Fralins.

I don’t think you can compare the prices between BG and AB as simply as down to the guitar details, because they have different operating costs. BG are in Camden and I’m sure have high rents, whereas AB left London to setup shop in the north. As a consumer, if you’re going to buy one of these surely you want to have a good look first, so it depends on where (or how far) you’re willing to travel. Both have worked on and seen far more vintage Fenders than any of us so I would trust either on what they say is original.

At 3am I was trying to sleep, like most people do at 3am…. If the noise is sufficient to keep people awake in the early hours, that isn’t reasonable no matter where you live (with the exception of student halls). If you want to make noise that late, go to somewhere with a license to be that noisy.

Well last night a neighbour (about 6 houses away but it’s a small cul-de-sac) had a Eurovision party until 3am that was very loud. I will therefore be swapping my 300w combo for a 1000w rig and playing at full volume until further notice.

Weirdly my MIM P bass has a B width neck. Didn’t know it at the time but it plays really nice. It’s a 60th anniversary special so don’t know if they were one off specs for that model or if all 2006 MIM Ps had B width. *Won’t post a pic because it isn’t a vintage fender

Only bass I regret selling was a Warwick fretless NT thumb 5. Had the fatter neck and I think it was 2002 but was still a thing of beauty.

As many do, I used to live in flats in London and had to give up double bass as a result of neighbour complaints and threats. I never played bass at home through an amp and got into a habit of playing through headphones at all times. I think horns and drums require common sense on hours of practice but to prohibit music at all is ridiculous.

This is one of my favourite designs. I would love to hear it played, there aren’t many demos out there.

My one to rule them all is currently circa £8k so not sure I can play along but for £1.5k a used Warwick Streamer stage 1 or Fender elite jazz would be nice

Thanks for persisting Clarky, Bilbo was a great asset to this community so glad the news is positive.

If it’s original it looks like the international colour but I think that’d make it ‘79-81

Not wanting to derail the thread from B*****, Covid or Russia, but Fender and MM upped their prices before these took effect. I remember when the top fender bass was AM Dlx and they cost around £1.2k new. Then they released the elite and it a similar bass for £2k. My MM stingray was around £1k new in 2007 but it was 2012ish that the price doubled. Warwick’s move to the team build and master build series also saw prices double and I remember that was only a few years later

I thought matching headstocks were a custom option until the run in 1966 with the lollipop tuners. There’s tales of a few precision basses out there with a matching headstock too.

The worth of the commodity. I think it is pretty obvious the vintage market has been driven by dealers creating prices and consumers forget the difference, and ultimately creating investment opportunity.

Same reasons s/h car values have increased. FWIW I sold my near mint MM SR for £500 on here only 15 or so years ago which was about the going rate at the time.

I’ve had quite a lot over the years before going back to 4s - now need to go back to 5s again - and there’s lots of differentials so try before you buy is a good tip. My first 5 was a Warwick Rockbass Fotress. It was fine but lacked in build quality. I’ve had fully fledged Warwick’s and they are good but different to a lot of other basses. I’ve also owned a Sire V7 and this would be my choice again. It’s standard sound in passive and a killer active preamp. For pit work you want a really clean and balanced sound for the engineers but also where you can dial up a punchier sound for rockier numbers. I think the Sire fits the bill. There‘a a lot to navigate through though. I can’t stand the skinny necks on Ibanez and also can’t reach 35” scale length very well. Then there is added weight and in some cases larger bodies to contend with. Turns out my perfect bass is a Ken Smith 5 which is unashamedly expensive.

I think you’ve been wise to differentiate prices and value