Owning and Gigging high end Basses

[chriswareham]

Most expensive bass I've owned is a Musicman Stingray. I loved it, taking great care to clean it after every gig no matter how drunk I was, and it regularly got a setup at a decent music shop. However, for the 50 to 60 minutes I was on stage it got covered in sweat, beer and on one occasion blood while I hacked away at it with a steel tipped pick. After all, that's what it was as designed for.

[Kev]

Well, I am very much a hobby player and am not gigging at the moment. Own two instruments, a Wal Mk2 and a Warwick SSII and, in honesty, I am not sure I would take either of them to a pub gig. The Wal without question I would not, the Warwick possibly, but I would not be able to let it out of my sight, however unpractical it may be!

[M@23]

Given that it'd probably made of sone fancy exotic wood, I don't think it would suit the road worn look like a Jazz or Precision. But, instruments are meant to be played, so, to summarise... I don't know.

[LukeFRC]

Generally the more worried about damage i've been the less I've enjoyed playing the bass. That's not actually linked to the cost of the bass- borrowing someones cheapy is just as stressful IME

[molan]

I've gigged a £10k Fodera in small pub. I'm a great believer that if you own a bass it should be out there gigging. My 'everyday' gigging bass is a £4.5K Ritter but the Fodera gets an airing every now and then.

I'm absolutely certain that no-one in the audience has the remotest interest that I'm using an expensive instrument but it doesn't bother me at all. I play these because I enjoy them and they make me smile every time I pick them up and that's all that's really important to me

[UglyDog]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1421523495' post='2662315']
My five string is pretty high end, but I gig it in all sorts of places. It has accumulated dings, but what the hell, it was made to be played.
[/quote]
^^ This.

Edited January 18, 2015 by UglyDog

[AndyTravis]

I don't know why I'd buy a £4k bass not to gig it?!

My Kingbass was gigged, they're about £3k new.

I've gigged old, new, expensive and cheap.

Makes no odds, wouldn't pay out if I wasn't going to use it. My favourite was the Custom Shop 64 Jazz, gigged that everywhere. "Is that old mate?" Nope, "custom shop?! Why are you bringing that?" It sounds good.

It's wood with strings on it.

How much is your car worth? Would you buy a new car and not drive anywhere for fear of a bump?

[Leonard Smalls]

I've been gigging my Wal since I bought it in 1990...
M band at the time had a stage show where an artist would paint a background - and us - while we played. Luckily all that's washed off the Wal, but there's deep wear on the body. It's starting to look like Stanley Clarke's "If only this bass could talk" which is fine by me. It's there for playing.
I'm not the sort of person who would buy a new couch and leave the plastic on for the next 5 years!

[zero9]

What's the point in buying a bass and not gigging it? Even Stadivarii' (or should that be Stradivariuses) get gigged, and they make a £10k bass pale into insignificance money wise.

Just be sensible when you take them out and don't leave them on the train (like a former Stradivarius owner did IIRC).

[timmo]

[quote name='zero9' timestamp='1421589773' post='2662949']
What's the point in buying a bass and not gigging it? Even Stadivarii' (or should that be Stradivariuses) get gigged, and they make a £10k bass pale into insignificance money wise.

Just be sensible when you take them out and don't leave them on the train (like a former Stradivarius owner did IIRC).
[/quote]I think the difference being, you wouldn`t play a Stradavarius in front of a load of drunks at the Dog and Duck. I don`t see why you can`t oown an expensive bass and just using it at home, and another to gig with. I wouldn`t personally buy something that i wouldn`t be able to take out of the house and gig with though.

[stingrayPete1977]

There aren't many double basses under a grand you could gig regularly, you could buy one for less but a full setup is often needed, shipping costs, a set of strings decent strings at least £100 or £150 for a set of spiros, then its far more fragile once at the gig too. Since taking a DB out I worry a lot less about my Stingrays tbh

[FinnDave]

My idea of a 'high end bass' is a Fender US standard. My Precision was unmarked when I acquired it (in exchange for a Jazz in the same condition) but 40 or 50 gigs later and it has a couple of dings on it. I was not too happy the first time it was knocked into the drumkit, but now now I just worry less about it.

[M@23]

[quote name='zero9' timestamp='1421589773' post='2662949']
Just be sensible when you take them out and don't leave them on the train (like a former Stradivarius owner did IIRC).
[/quote]

I'd forgotten about that - the owner had leant it to a friend too, and it was the friend that left it on the train. Outrageous! There's another one for the 'do you lend your gear' argument!!.

[Skol303]

When you're dead and gone, your nearest and dearest will most likely sell it for whatever price you quoted when lying to them about its true cost.

So if you can afford it, just buy it, enjoy it and play the damn thing

Edited January 18, 2015 by Skol303

[molan]

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1421543987' post='2662657']
I don't know why I'd buy a £4k bass not to gig it?!

How much is your car worth? Would you buy a new car and not drive anywhere for fear of a bump?
[/quote]

Totally agree.

The 2nd point is quite relevant to me as well recently.

Cracked a rim on an alloy on my car and a replacement will be £500. In the short term it's been welded at about £40 but It was bad enough for the, virtually new, tyre to be damaged as well so that was another £240.

The garage said that alloys are notorious for this sort of damage and that I should be really careful and not drive over speed bumps or potholes for fear of damaging any of the other wheels - I asked him if he'd driven much on British roads recently

He did actually see the funny side of this and recommend what, for me, was the 'Squier equivalent'. Get some new plain steel wheels and ditch the low profile tyres for something simple and cheap as they'd "do the job" without the worry . . .

[stingrayPete1977]

I always look at in comparison to cars, even the best cars for holding value Mini, Vw, audi etc will lose £1500 a year even if you buy one thats already lost the big chunk when brand new. You only live once

[BigRedX]

If the bass is right for the gig it gets used irrespective of how much it cost me or what would take to replace it. I've done one gig (at a pub) where I was using all 3 of my Gus basses and I'd lent the guitarist my G1 guitar as a back up in case he broke a string. That's about £20k of instruments on stage before you even take into account the value of the drums and amps. It didn't bother me in the slightest and as others have said the average gig-goer has no idea how much instruments are worth.

TBH if I was worried about the safety of any of instruments at a gig I'd probably be more worried about my own personal safety. Instruments can be replaced or repaired. At my age I'm not so resilient any more.

It all seems from what I read that the dickhead punters are generally at covers band gigs. I think I'll stick with my punk rock and psychobilly originals. It's much safer!

[zero9]

That's why I drive a Volvo, probably the safest cars on the road

I think there are two different type of high end instrument buyers. Those who like to gig and play the best instrument they can afford and those who just want to keep it pristine, look at it every once in a while and regularly polish it

[Kev]

Interesting to see the number of people saying there is no point in spending high on a bass and not gigging it. I would have thought purchasing instruments for use in the studio rather than on stage would be quite common?

[molan]

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1421697789' post='2664120']
Interesting to see the number of people saying there is no point in spending high on a bass and not gigging it. I would have thought purchasing instruments for use in the studio rather than on stage would be quite common?
[/quote]

This is a really good point. I'm surprised that we rarely get people,at our shop buying basses and saying they are to record with rather than for gigging. Obviously we get a lot of customers who record regularly but they generally seem to record with whatever their main gigging basses are.

We do get a lot players who aren't gigging at all though but play purely for their own pleasure (and some of these guys are seriously good players!). I hadn't referred to these earlier because I guess I was only thinking about players that owned high end basses and were out gigging.

[jacko]

I've only taken alembic basses to my gigs since 1996. I bought them because they're a delight to play (to my hands at least) so there'd be no point in not taking them to gigs. I worked out a while ago that with 2 basses, amp and cabs I'm travelling with the best part of £12k worth of gear but I don't spend much time worrying about it.

[JTUK]

I gig hi end basses as they are my go to basses.
I don't play sh*te-holes tho..and neiher am I worried about a
ding or two. I'll just get them re-finned at some point.
I don't know if that will invalidate Fodera's in any way
if you don't have them fixed by Fodera..??
If it did, that might make me think again but since
I don't intend to buy one, the issue is moot for me..??

[No lust in Jazz]

Just to finish off with this, I'm hoping to check out a Fodera next month.

Many thanks for taking the time to share views and experiences.

[Telebass]

If you're worried about gigging your favourite bass, regardless of what it cost, you probably shouldn't be gigging.
If you don't give a damn because it's cheap, and you treat it like firewood, you probably shouldn't be allowed near any musical instruments...

[Muzz]

I have probably £4-5k (new replacement price) of Shukers/Dingwall on my guitar stand at every gig, posh wedding or local pub. Doesn't give me a second's thought, tho obviously I keep an eye on them. I've gigged every bass I've owned.