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Is there a bass somewhere that doesn’t “play like a dream”?


PawelG

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I've never know what the reference to "butter" means, but all the expensive basses I've owned in the last 20 years have either been Pleked when made or fret stoned and set up for me by Martin at the Gallery so, it's true, all those basses have played "like a dream".

A couple of cheaper basses were set up by me and when I moved them on they were playing far, far better than when they were sold to me. So from a "nightmare" to a little bit "dreamy", at least.

I try to put all the info into my adverts but some don't put in enough. I still add "non smoking home" in my adverts. I remember the old days when basses, amps and cabs, from smokers, came into our non smoking home and the terrible stink that was so hard to get rid of and made our home smell so bad! Plus the awful smell of tobacco clinging to everything from the gigs!

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1 hour ago, AntLockyer said:

My 62/63 p bass takes some effort to play well. The pay off is glorious tone.

My old 78 Precision was a bit like this, and from what I`ve read Eric Claptons fave strat Blackie was also not the easiest to play guitar that he had.

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I remember clearly the last instrument that I played that had been described as both playing like a 'dream' and 'like butter'. I could literally slide my hand under the strings at the 12th fret. It was more like Stork margarine and a nightmare.

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I think this is because there are fewer bad basses out there any more.

Thankfully the days of badly made rubbish available through catalogues and High St chains have gone so pretty much everything you buy nowadays, with maybe an adjustment by your local luthier and a new set of strings, does "play like a dream/ butter" (makes you wonder what those people dream about:crazy:).

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Every bass can play like a dream if you know how to set it up and get the best out of it. I've sold a few recently and the common feedback I get from the buyers is "The action is really low, I might higher it up a bit" :)

 

I have a parts Jazz I made with a JPJ pickup configuration for sale over here and, despite it looking rather ropey, it plays better than my Alembic. It's one of the best players I've ever owned. How can I get that across to the buyer without slipping into cliche? I never refer to butter, though. Not in instrument ads, at least.

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Surely as we get older and high cholesterol looms, we should be buying basses that play like a non-dairy spread? Or possibly something made from olive oil? Then you could advertise your bass as 'Top Benecol' or similar. Still bullplop -  just different bullplop.

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If someone sell a bass, it's  nearly always the best bass they've ever had and plays itself. Thats a given. No one is ever going to sayt its a right biatch to play so i'm flogging it - good luck with that if you're mad enough to buy it.

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12 minutes ago, fleabag said:

If someone sell a bass, it's  nearly always the best bass they've ever had and plays itself. Thats a given. No one is ever going to sayt its a right biatch to play so i'm flogging it - good luck with that if you're mad enough to buy it.

I genuinely put up why I sell stuff.

”I keep on buying stingrays, when I know I don’t get on with them”

”I buy 5’s when I need one for a project, then I quit projects...so I sell them”

”I have no money”

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Hehe. The thing is one doesn't even need to advertise them as playing like a dream. I recently sold 15 basses, and four of them were advertised with a warning about them NOT playing like a dream. The buyers confirmed that they knew what they were going to, and paid me the asking price, which was not lower than similar basses that did indeed play like a dream.

I guess sometimes it's the specific design that's important, and other times it's the buyer's conviction he/she can do something about it.

Also, being honest about these things saves you a lot of trouble afterwards, and it also makes the other ads more trustworthy.

Win win.

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