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The ones that got away...


Kiwi

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Tell us about the bits of gear you nearly bought but didn't and then regretted it later.

Mine:

Celinder J Update 5 at the Bass Gallery, sounded phenomenal but I baulked at the £2500 price tag and the colour wasn't blue.  I was a fool to pass it up, it had everything I ever wanted in a Jazz bass.

1965 Fender Jazz, just didn't do anything for me. Didn't have The Sound, felt fragile, didn't fancy gigging it either.  But what if...

Wals...I have always liked them since playing a gorgeous 5 string fretless Mach 2 back in the mid nineties at the Bass Centre Wapping.  But could never imagine myself with one...until now.

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Bass Direct used to stock Nordy (Nordstrand) basses. They had a stunning 5 string jazz, white with blocks and binding etc. that played like a dream, I was smitten.

My wife was with me and I reluctantly put the bass back and picked up a gig bag and strings etc. We got in the car and started to drive off and my wife was quiet, I asked what was wrong and she said “I thought you were going to buy the bass”. I said I would love too but I was short on money and she replied “we could have worked something out”. Aaaarrrggghhh!!! 

By that point the moment had passed to go back, and I have never seen a bass like it come up for sale or had my wife encourage me to buy a very expensive bass since.

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3 hours ago, NJE said:

Bass Direct used to stock Nordy (Nordstrand) basses. They had a stunning 5 string jazz, white with blocks and binding etc. that played like a dream, I was smitten.

My wife was with me and I reluctantly put the bass back and picked up a gig bag and strings etc. We got in the car and started to drive off and my wife was quiet, I asked what was wrong and she said “I thought you were going to buy the bass”. I said I would love too but I was short on money and she replied “we could have worked something out”. Aaaarrrggghhh!!! 

By that point the moment had passed to go back, and I have never seen a bass like it come up for sale or had my wife encourage me to buy a very expensive bass since.

The Gallery had a redwood burl Nordstrand six a number of years back I very much regret not buying... Don’t see Nordstrand basses very often.

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Wal Mk 1. Was in Guitar Guitar Glasgow circa 2009. I could have got it for under two grand...I didn't think it was worth it at the time (I liked it, I didn't love it). However, I should probably have bought it, kept it for ten years and then sold it for double the price. 

Another one was a Sandberg JM4 'hardcore aged masterpiece' in Roquefort blue. Fantastic bass. I ended up buying a Sadowsky Metro. I don't regret it as the Sadowsky has been great. However that Sandberg was bloody great too...

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About 20 years ago there was a shop in Denmark St with two 8-string Rickenbacker 4003's hanging up. I wasn't especially looking for one, and at the time the £1600 cost seemed like a bit of a stretch...but the part of me that said I should get one rationalised not doing so on the basis that they were both fireglo and I've never especially liked that finish

Idiot

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27 minutes ago, Monkey Steve said:

About 20 years ago there was a shop in Denmark St with two 8-string Rickenbacker 4003's hanging up. I wasn't especially looking for one, and at the time the £1600 cost seemed like a bit of a stretch...but the part of me that said I should get one rationalised not doing so on the basis that they were both fireglo and I've never especially liked that finish

Idiot

I bought one of them. It was a fantastic bass, only sold to fund my custom Alembic. 

Wish I still had both!

Edited by 4000
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When the Squier Classic Vibes series came out about 10-12 years ago i went into a shop in Bury St Edmunds to try one out - a white jazz. It was pretty good.

But then I picked up a USA jazz they had in store, in the same white/rosewood/tort colour scheme...

It just sang. It was lovely, and it ruined the idea of getting the Squier. I didn't have the money for the USA, so I left with neither.

I also tried out a Gibson SG Classic (with lovely slim neck, P90s etc) in a shop about five years ago and I immediately fell in love. Lightweight, snarly and bright. Again, wasn't in the position to buy and had nothing to sell, but went back a few more times to try it again, until someone bought it.

A year or so later I finally bought one, but it wasn't the same, and it didn't last long. Bummer.

 

Edited by bassbiscuits
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The (lost) ladies of my life:

A surf-green Pensa-Suhr. Hands down the greatest J I have ever played. At the time I was after another bass. I got neither.

A brown unlined fretless Wal 4 that had a lighter, nearly whitish round place in the body. Did not have the money while she was there. Have never seen her since.

A red five-string Vigier Passion. Two weeks before I had the money, she was gone.

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In the early 90's my local music shop had a new Chris Squire Rick signature edition on special offer. I lusted after it and then had a rational discussion with the wife. Ended up leaving the shop having ordered an electric piano for the kids to learn music on. Hey ho! 

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If this is all about losing money then I could have bought Bitcoin pretty early.

Biggest annoyance was not buying a pre EB stingray for £500 and a refinished 64 jazz (£2000) and One of Steve Harris’s Jazz basses he have a tech at the end of a tour (£750). 

Every other guitar I’ve wanted I’ve bought.

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A 1960 Strat in Fiesta Red, c.1978 in A1 Music, Oxford Rd, Manchester. Would be worth about 25 grand today.

A couple of Fylde acoustics which made an appearance in Sounds Acoustic around the same time, notably a Prospero 12-string.

There is a happy ending though - in 1977 I went down to Sounds Acoustic with about £25 quid in my sweaty mitt to buy a cheap Martin copy. Arrived at the shop to see some dude leaving with my guitar, the last one in stock. I consoled myself by playing a second-hand Fylde Orsino, and bought it on finance. It took me 2 years to pay it off, but I still have that guitar today and it's one of my most prized posessions.

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Birmingham "Musical Exchanges" store, June 1986. I'd just joined a very REM-y trio and was desperate for a Rickenbacker bass. I sold my custard yellow BC Rich Warlock, saved up my meager wages and I had £350 - then the going rate for second hand Ricky - burning a hole in my pocket. There were three or four hanging up in the shop, including my dream bass - a black 4001 with chequered  binding. I played it. I hated it. I played all the others and hated them, too. I tried so hard to justify buying one, but I just couldn't. I could have cried.  On my way out, I spotted an Ibanez 850 Roadstar in burgundy. I played it and fell in love. That bass was my number one gigging instrument for nearly twenty years. The Rickys I could have bought that day would be worth about £2000 now, I guess, but that Ibanez gave me so much pleasure and was so reliable that I don't mind too much. I love the look and sound of a fired up Rickenbacker bass, but they're just not for me.

Edited by rushbo
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13 minutes ago, rushbo said:

Birmingham "Musical Exchanges" store, June 1986. I'd just joined a very REM-y trio and was desperate for a Rickenbacker bass. I sold my custard yellow BC Rich Warlock, saved up my meager wages and I had £350 - then the going rate for second hand Ricky - burning a hole in my pocket. There were three or four hanging up in the shop, including my dream bass - a black 4001 with chequered  binding. I played it. I hated it. I played all the others and hated them, too. I tried so hard to justify buying one, but I just couldn't. I could have cried.  On my way out, I spotted an Ibanez 850 Roadstar in burgundy. I played it and fell in love. That bass was my number one gigging instrument for nearly twenty years. The Rickys I could have bought that day would be worth about £2000 now, I guess, but that Ibanez gave me so much pleasure and was so reliable that I don't mind too much. I love the look and sound of a fired up Rickenbacker bass, but they're just not for me.

If it had chequered binding then upwards of £3k now, depending on year. Sorry.😉

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There have been many, but my worst could be (as noted elsewhere) not buying Neil Brewer’s mapleglo ‘72 Ric 4001 for £500 in 1996. Neil was bassist in a Genesis/Yes-esque band called Druid. I’d never heard of them when I went  to try the bass, but after Neil mentioned them I stumbled across a copy of their first album in a local second hand record shop and loved it. I had been intending to buy the bass as a backup for mine but it was a fair bit heavier and wasn’t as open-sounding as mine, so I passed. Wish I’d bought it though as it was still lovely and would have been a piece of history to me.

Another was missing out on a jetglo ‘72 in the Bass Centre in Birmingham. The setup needed work but it sounded phenomenal. I’d px-d my Warwick Dolphin Pro 2 against a Status 2000 in Musical Exchanges. I really didnt get on with the Status, so took it back and swapped it back. I then popped round the corner to the Bass Centre and saw & tried the Ric. I should have asked about px-ing the Dolphin against the Ric, or simply got the credit card out. 

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This very Wal Mk 1...

287D4C2E-1296-4173-B792-65C046DC4341.thumb.jpeg.1e0e070bfc17f0cfe837ec987edbc78d.jpeg

Saw it hanging in a shop in Denmark Street around 2000 and thought, “I’m sure I recognise that thumb rest.” I asked and they said that Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet was selling his Wals (there was a walnut one next to it). Funnily enough I’d popped in to ask if they had come across any Pro Series Wals - as I really wanted one to go with my Mark 1. The price was a decent second hand price too, not some silly celebrity bass figure.  Anyway that evening I mentioned it to my wife who said “You should have bought it.” “Really?” “Yes, of course!”

Popped back in the next day but of course... you can fill in the rest...

 

 

 

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On 07/10/2019 at 09:40, CamdenRob said:

The Gallery had a redwood burl Nordstrand six a number of years back I very much regret not buying... Don’t see Nordstrand basses very often.

That was mine! I've hunted long and hard for it since, it seems to have gone deep underground. I traded it for a 9 string ACG that I still have. Would absolutely love it back...

Screenshot_20191008-212258_Gallery.thumb.jpg.f5ca52db53d1a7aaa6a2c824f2d47689.jpg

Edited by binky_bass
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6 hours ago, TrevorR said:

 The price was a decent second hand price too, not some silly celebrity bass figure.  Anyway that evening I mentioned it to my wife who said “You should have bought it.” “Really?” “Yes, of course!”

Popped back in the next day but of course... you can fill in the rest...

OUCH! OW OWOWOWOWOWOW!!

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On 07/10/2019 at 17:20, AngelDeVille said:

Before I took bass playing seriously I bought then let this little gem go...

Busting my gut trying to find one now... I don't miss the rest of the rig....

 

 

 

GetAttachment5.jpg

Every now and then i look on American sites for the lefty version... 

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5 and a bit years ago I split with my ex and although left with all the bills to pay alone I had more spare cash. Sandberg were about 900 on Thonann. The sunburst P-MM was in my shopping basket so, so many times but I couldn't do it. I played a Sandberg of the same model at LBGS and realised it was phenomenally good. Big regrets. I got some Bartolinis for my j bass instead. 

Around 2006 with no real responsibility in the world I played a German Warwick double buck in the Bass Centre, 800 quid. I chickened out. 

2014 having not bought the Sandberg I was buying my first property. I saw a late 70s P bass in my local music shop. Sunburst body faded almost green. Original pickup and covers. Immaculate maple finger board. 1000 I think. Didn't bond with it in store but could have just been a rubbish amp. Another forum member hss it and loves it. 

 

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