Kids today.... never had it so good!

[The Admiral]

In the midst of some BC surfing the other day, I came across a forum member offering an old Jap bass for sale - which was the exact model I first bought for £118 in 1982 from Russell Acott's in Oxford - a Satellite through neck precision copy.

Mine had a factory sticker on it, which pointed out the pick ups were DiMarzio's, and looked lovely when it was polished up, and I wish I'd kept it, as it sounded nice too. Bloody heavy though. This made me think about how the price of instruments has changed over time - so I had a look for a UK inflation calculator, to work out what £118 would be worth today - and the answer : £311.52.

If you want to do the same - here is the calculator link : [url="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/historic-inflation-calculator"]http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/historic-inflation-calculator[/url]

If I then think about the quality of the instruments available today as beginners basses - Yamaha RBX 170 for instance @ £120 on the internet - there is just no comparison, they are so much better and easier to play.

Also, not only are the basses better, but the breadth and availability of teaching aids is astounding now : MP3 bass trainers, internet video lessons and even school music grades on rock instruments (unheard of in the 80s) etc. Yet a friend who teaches guitar and bass, regularly moans about the inability of his students to stick at the instrument through the basic 'pain' stage of scales and building up their hand strength, and their attention span seems so short too. He gets paid irrepective of course, but his main beef is that so many of them don't do any work between lessons, the progress is painful for both he and the kids, and they seem to want to be Jaco, without doing any work!

He also finds plenty of kids, guitar players particularly, who can't pick up anything by listening, and have no idea where to start unless it's Tab, and whilst they can play any amount of widdly widdly solos, have no idea how to play chords and the rhythm guitar parts.

That said, if I was 15 now - I would probably be pretty much the same - so it's not a serious rant about the youth of today, and perhaps it would be more interesting to build a thread on 'first bass, what was it, where from, and how much in today's terms?'

Anyone fancy filling in the gaps here?

First bass was :
From :
It cost :
Which today is :

Cheers

A

[NancyJohnson]

[quote name='The Admiral' post='378587' date='Jan 13 2009, 07:21 AM']First bass was :
From :
It cost :
Which today is :[/quote]

#1 - An Arbiter SG bass (white)
#2 - £35.00
#3 - £202.30

(Interesting that my second bass - a Columbus Jazz copy @£65 equates to £376.00...blimey)

Good thread.
P

[gafbass02]

First bass was a used kaman GTX53
bought for £100
In today money that's £156

And to stick with the theme some years later I also picked up a Columbus and a satellite jazz bass copy

[ardi100]

First bass was a no-name hollow body that my parents couldn't have spent any money on. Twas a pig (looked beautiful, thought!).

When I used to weork in a music shop I loved selling beginner basses. The spiel always began, In my day . . .

Edited January 13, 2009 by ardi100

[johnnylager]

Piece of sh*t Kays catalogue P-copy - £100 in 1985, £221 now. That would get me a VMP and a big night out today.

[Paul Cooke]

first bass was a hand-me-down beat up '69 P-Bass my cousin gave me...

This was back in '77 before prices for old basses went stupid and back then, the old bass was seen as a bit of a clunker by him...

I went slightly nuts and painted it with white gloss paint so it looked like Sid's P bass because I couldn't afford a new Olympic White one...

[G-77]

my first bass was a kay, it was a gift so i don't know how much , but i figure about £100 so from '81 that will be £295

my first bass i bought new was my '82 Fender P £345 1983 now £838.35

[yorks5stringer]

First bass was a Gibson EB2, bought privately and cheaply for £50 which is now £415. It was a dog, trouble is they now go for £1200 plus...

[Merton]

Only 16 years ago so less of an impact...

First bass was : Vester Stage Series Jazz copy
From : Rockbottom in West Croydon
It cost : £175 in 1993
Which today is : £248.50

I still can't afford another £175 bass, let alone a £250 axe!

[alexclaber]

12 years ago - a secondhand 1990 Hohner Jack for £200. That would be £264 now which isn't a lot more but how much more bass would you get for that money now?!

Alex

[crez5150]

First bass was : Ibanez Musician same as this one -
From : Monkey Biz, Romford
It cost : £249.00
Which today is :605

[Musky]

First bass - a Kay precision copy ( KB-24) from 1980. Cost then was £70, which is £243 now. It played and sounded rubbish.

Interestingly the new Precision I bought a year later cost me £250, which at £737 nowadays seems marginally cheaper than the cost you can get a USA P Bass now. The case for it cost £50 though - that's almost £150 now.

[waynepunkdude]

My Encore I bought from Cash Converters in 1995 ( I think) for £43 now £58.91.

I still have it if anyone wants it for £60

Edited January 13, 2009 by waynepunkdude

[Deep Thought]

Bass:-Westone Concord I
From:-Modern Music, Truro(still there), 1982ish
Cost:-£120, now £316.80
Still got it!

[Jase]

First bass was : Vox Clubman
From : Bought in 1980, my first bass.
It cost : £ 10
Which today is : £ 34.80

[KevB]

First bass : Columbus Jazz (modified by owner)
Cost : I think about £30
Equiv now : About £70

I subsequently changed pretty much everything on the bass apart from the body, gave it to my niece to learn on and she still says its her favourite to play.

[The Admiral]

[quote name='KevB' post='378699' date='Jan 13 2009, 10:21 AM']First bass : Columbus Jazz (modified by owner)
Cost : I think about £30
Equiv now : About £70

I subsequently changed pretty much everything on the bass apart from the body, gave it to my niece to learn on and she still says its her favourite to play.[/quote]

If anyone is like me they may not read the thread starting post, and simply guesstimate the inflation factor. For those that wish to use the actual inflation calculator - I'm posting it again ; it's here :

: [url="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/historic-inflation-calculator"]http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/historic-inflation-calculator[/url]

Cheers

A

[ziggenpuss]

My first bass was a 60's Epiphone semi-acoustic that I had swapped a 1974 , ash bodied, Fender Strat for around about 1989. I went on to swap the Epiphone for a solid body no-name plank.

No idea how much the Epiphone would be worth now but I saw a similar Strat on an Australian collector's web site last year valued at £3,500 GBP (after conversion from$Aus)

I had bought the Strat for £80 as it needed a re-fret.

Bought a second-hand Columbus P copy after that for £40- £68.40 today

Edited January 13, 2009 by ziggenpuss

[Prosebass]

First bass was : 63 Ibanez in 1976
From :Big brothers mate
It cost :free
Which today is :£0.00

Yamaha 150 watt 3 x 12" powered bass cab and pre-amp secondhand in 1978 £210.00 equivalent to £898.00 now

Hofner S7B £218.00 in 1982 = £575.00 now a Wal at the time was £230.00 = £603.00

Interesting to see 6d (sixpence) was worth £2.00 back in 1914....although my parents reckoned in 1948 they could go to the pictures and buy a bag of chips on the way home for 6d which is the same as 67p now.....cheap as chips

Edited January 13, 2009 by Prosebass

[OutToPlayJazz]

Columbus bass (sort of black Charvel/Jackson copy) bought from Foulds in Derby.
Cost in 1986 £175
In 2009 £364

[steve-soar]

Ibanez Blazer in natural with black guard,
£99 in 1984
£229 in 2009.

[Mr Fudge]

Having been a g****r player for many years to buying a bass (for Geddy Lee reasons of course) I bought an active hohner jack bass. Didnt really know what I was looking for. It was about £300 in about 1990ish. I wish I still had it.

[Funkmaster]

First bass was : a Jedson short scale bass
From : Contact in Leeds (think of it as a 1973 version of Crack Converters!)
It cost : £19.50
Which today is : Dunno what £19.50 is in 'todays money' but the bass probably wasn't even worth £19.50 back in 1973!

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='Funkmaster' post='378801' date='Jan 13 2009, 11:40 AM']First bass was : a Jedson short scale bass
From : Contact in Leeds (think of it as a 1973 version of Crack Converters!)
It cost : £19.50
Which today is : Dunno what £19.50 is in 'todays money' but the bass probably wasn't even worth £19.50 back in 1973![/quote]


Use the converter that was in the very first post.

[url="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/historic-inflation-calculator"]http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/historic-inflation-calculator[/url]

[PJ Phillips]

hehehehe.... great topic.
I can't teach young students anymore for that exact reason. It was really frustrating when they came back the following week and the 'homework' was still under the bass in the case where it was put a week before. "What's this string called"? - "The top one"? :0P
I even went as far as de-tuning the G and A strings after the lesson only to find the bass still out of tune the following week. It was a waste of the parents money and I told them. That was 14 years ago! Little B**tards. All they wanted to do was play 'Love Games' and 'Almost There' - Anyway, I am happy now and the treatment and therapy have paid off.

First bass: 'Kay' Rickenbacker Copy (with warped neck)
From: A great little shop in Camberwell, London can't remember the name. (11th October 1979)
Cost: £52 (with new set of strings - Rotosound Swing Bass) - Still use them and love them.
Today: £205.40