The ones that got away…

[bassbiscuits]

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I wondered who else has been left gutted after missing out on a dream purchase.[/font][/color]
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My story from a couple of years back involved a local musician whose friend was selling off a load of old shop stock and studio gear, among which was listed simply "Fender jazz bass". [/font][/color]
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A quick phone call later to the seller, and the guy had described what was an mid 1970s jazz bass, in near mint nick, which had been used occasionally round his studio.[/font][/color]
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I’m being a bit vague on details as I’m mindful that someone out there actually did buy this, but the price was about half of what I’ve seen similar items go for here currently.[/font][/color]
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I assured him I’d be on it, ran across town to bank and withdrew the money, dashed back to work to get the afternoon booked off and rang him to confirm I was on the way (about an hour away).[/font][/color]
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He said: “Ooh hang on, a chap has just come around to try it. I’ll give you a ring back if he decides he doesn’t want it, to save you a wasted journey….”[/font][/color]
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Needless to say, he wanted it. [/font][/color]
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The seller rang back with the bad news, and he was actually a cool bloke who was very sympathetic, so no hard feelings at all.[/font][/color]
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Bummer tho.[/font][/color]

[neepheid]

I missed out on an eBay bargain last year, should have taken the BIN (which was a damn good deal as it is) but I decided to try my luck and put in a bid to turn it into an auction. Unfortunately, the bass ended up being sold in person before the auction ended to someone who came to collect another bass from the seller. Kicked myself and rued that decision a little.

[keefbaker]

When I was about 20 there was this crazy blue half-fretless 6 string in a music shop in Leeds. I kept looking at it in awe until it disappeared. Then there was this crazy 9 string bass which I kind of wanted cos both it and I were nuts.

In retrospect I'm quite glad I didn't get either, but at the time (this is 20-odd years ago mind) I was gutted.

[colgraff]

I lusted after an Egypt bass in a music shop in the 80s. it was too expensive for me but might be collectible now.

[TheGreek]

Now where do I start....

[CamdenRob]

Not one that got away because I could never have afforded it at the time, but there was a burl maple top Sei sixer in an advert from a copy of bassist magazine I got when I was at school (14 or 15 years old). I literally became obsessed with it, I cut the ad out and carried it around with me for about six months... even tried to get the school to give me a grant to buy it... I was desperate for it, first time I'd really really GASsed for a bass.

...of course in true GAS fashion by the time I did actually have the money to buy decent gear I wanted something else and the Sei was long forgotten.

[bassbiscuits]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1456417219' post='2988841']
Not one that got away because I could never have afforded it at the time, but there was a burl maple top Sei sixer in an advert from a copy of bassist magazine I got when I was at school (14 or 15 years old). I literally became obsessed with it, I cut the ad out and carried it around with me for about six months... even tried to get the school to give me a grant to buy it... I was desperate for it, first time I'd really really GASsed for a bass.

...of course in true GAS fashion by the time I did actually have the money to buy decent gear I wanted something else and the Sei was long forgotten.
[/quote]

I loved all that part of being a kid tho! I remember I had flyers for basses all over my walls - things like Westone and Washburn which just seemed like cool, exotic, beautifully contoured wondrous things.

Not really the same now I'm in my 40s with internet access eh...

[Roger2611]

I have recounted this on here before, not really one that got away, more some one took advantage of my lack of knowledge at the time,

Many years back I paid the going rate of about £300 for a very battered 1979 sunburst Precision which I gigged happily for about 3 years, anyway when the band packed up I wanted some studio gear so looked to sell the Precision, I spoke to a local guitar shop who said he would take a look at it and make an offer.....I was expecting about £350 back at the time as a sale through a dealer, he took it to bits, made a phone call and offered me £1300 for it there and then, which unsurprisingly, I took. I always regretted selling the bass as it was a really light stunning sounding bass and I always wondered why he had paid so far over the odds for it.

The shop changed hands over the years, I went in one day and the guy who brought my bass was in the shop, so I asked him why he had offered far more than market value for it, he conceded that yes, the neck was 1979, the rest of the bass and the case was a pukka 62 Precision so was in fact worth far more than he paid me for it! The phone call he made was to the previous owner who had been looking to buy the bass back for a number of years.

I knew noting about Nitro / Poly finishes, pot dates, different era cases or the multitude of other things that would have identified it as a pre CBS bass, just the S9 serial number on the headstock which confirmed it was a 79 neck

Nowadays with the help of the tinterweb I guess I would have been more clued up, always wonder what happened to that one!

[blue]

63 Hofner Club bass before they started binding the neck and with raised logo. Just couldn't afford it. Plus I already have one.

Blue

[bubinga5]

The one that got away was a Sei 5 string Jazz bass, it had an olive wood top, Bartolini pups and a J East preamp. It had 19mm spacing but a neck to die for. it also had a very thin body and scalloped neck heel that felt so good to hold.

I bought it from Molan (Barrie) It was a dream bass. Sounded great and to play it was just amazing. Never played a bass quite like it. I sold it on BC for £900 when i was on hard times. Stupid idiot. i wanted to get it back, and contacted the guy i sold it to. but he wanted stupid money, which i thought was a bit crap of him. couldn't afford it at the time. Would sell all my gear to get it back now.

Edited February 26, 2016 by bubinga5

[jonnybass]

A 75 white rickenbacker 4001..shop was looking for £500 for it in 1999...first one I had ever played and it played amazing..left the shop went back a week later and it was gone.

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='bassbiscuits' timestamp='1456418610' post='2988871']
I loved all that part of being a kid tho! I remember I had flyers for basses all over my walls - things like Westone and Washburn which just seemed like cool, exotic, beautifully contoured wondrous things.

Not really the same now I'm in my 40s with internet access eh...
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I think Mrs C might take a dim view of me plastering the bedroom walls with pictures of bass guitars...

[GuyR]

Two come to mind - Quite recently an early 70s fretless Jazz bass modified with an extended fingerbard by Ned Callan and formerly owned by Dill Katz, which I had seen played live on many occasions - on ebay with starting price of £600 it received no bids. I phoned the seller the day after the auction finished and it had just been picked up. Turned out it was only two miles away. Gutted.

Oh, and there was a '66 sunburst Telecaster I had on long-term loan, for which I couldn't find the £180 my friend wanted.

[RhysP]

Twin neck Wal with case for £399 in a music shop in Birmingham in the 80s.

[Dazed]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1456417219' post='2988841']
Not one that got away because I could never have afforded it at the time, but there was a burl maple top Sei sixer in an advert from a copy of bassist magazine I got when I was at school (14 or 15 years old). I literally became obsessed with it, I cut the ad out and carried it around with me for about six months... even tried to get the school to give me a grant to buy it... I was desperate for it, first time I'd really really GASsed for a bass.

...of course in true GAS fashion by the time I did actually have the money to buy decent gear I wanted something else and the Sei was long forgotten.
[/quote]

Sounds very familiar! I did the same with a Hohner Jack advert and then a Warwick Dolphin Pro1! Although I did end up with both.

As for the ones that got away.... There've been several over last 2 or 3 years. Usually followed immediately by the gutted sick feeling! Gas however soon finds another object of stalk worthiness!

Edited February 26, 2016 by Dazed

[TheGreek]

[b]Tale No1[/b] - Always wanted a Status Kingbass - managed to get one through a friend of mine - a British Racing Green Artist, green is my favourite colour - everything I could want in a bass - the bass had great balance, great tone, was a just a great bass.

At around the same time I acquired a GB Rumour - loved this (still got it actually) so when a Spitfire came up I was keen to get this too. The owner didn't want to sell, wanted to trade for the Kingbass - I was so awed by the Rumour that I dived in.

Trader arrived and we discussed the deal - even before he left I was having "[i]seller's regret[/i]" but I still went with the deal. Living to regret this as he went on to sell it to another BCer who has it as his avatar - every time I see the avatar I kick myself...efforts to get the bass back have so far failed but I'm ready to pounce if/when it ever comes up for sale again....

You know who you are...I'm waiting...

[TrevorR]

Back in about 2000 or 2001 when I was on the look out for a Wal Pro series bass I popped into Denmark Street to see if anyone had had recently. Went into Music Ground (I think) and chatted to the bloke behind the counter. He said, "No, not had any of the old style ones in for a while. But we have just had those two in, if you're interested." and pointed to a pair of Wals hanging on the back wall. There was a maple topped fretted and a walnut fretless. But the maple one looked strangely familiar and it had a thumb rest down below the G string. I asked the assistant. He said, "Yeah, we're selling it for that bloke on Eastenders." Yes, Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet. And they were pretty much going rate for a second hand Wal at the time. But I already had a Mk 1 Wal and I was look for a Pro Bass so I wasn't interested.

But it kept niggling at me. About a week later I broached the subject with my wife who reluctantly agreed that, if still there, it would represent an investment as well as something I would enjoy and cherish... Of course, when I went back they were both gone.

And pretty much every day I regret the day I didn't buy the Wal that Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet used at Live Aid... Arrrrgh!

Got my Pro Bass in the end though.

[SimonEdward]

This is painful - for me anyway!

I was in the Bass Gallery in Camden one Friday in the late 90's, and Martin had a Jaydee Custom 4 in black - matte finish - with saturn inlays for a bargain £995.

Pay day was the following Wednesday, and I thought I would return then - with £££ - with maybe half a chance of getting a gig bag or some strings thrown in (!)

Big mistake. When I played it, the owner (selling through the shop), had reduced the price significantly, for a quick sale, and by the time I returned, it had gone.

About 15 years later, I asked John Diggins to build me something similar - and whilst it's a great bass - it's just not the same as 'the one that got away!

[darkandrew]

Derek Forbes' Vigier 5 string. Saw it on eBay a few days before I was due to go on holiday, put in a bid before I went away and was out-bid by a fellow Basschatter while I was sunning myself in Majorca.

Edited March 2, 2016 by darkandrew

[Rich]

There are two, both of them going back quite a few years.
1) pre-EB Stingray (before 'Rays became trendy/popular) I saw advertised for £250.
2) mint condition Shergold Marathon 8-string in a Reading music shop window for £295.

EDIT: now I come to think of it, that Shergold was £195, not 295.

[rodney72a]

Didn't see this one when it was live... The date in the description is around ten years off. Photos aren't great but still the most incredible bargain I've seen in a long time, if real!

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-1971-precision-bass-guitar-/131614867970?nma=true&si=jzu76xTpULyFrzCsTt4VIsIM%252FVE%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&clk_rvr_id=914731407189&rmvSB=true#shpCntId"]http://www.ebay.co.u...B=true#shpCntId[/url]

Edited March 4, 2016 by rodney72a

[GuyR]

I noticed that one just after it had finished. If it is real, I hope the seller never finds out what he was selling - that would really take the gloss off your day...........