How to raise cash for a better bass? Is it even possible?

[mike257]

14 minutes ago, cgull said:

Well the response has been a heap of fun 🤣  Thank you all for the good bad and ugly comments all enjoyed in a good spirit.

Just to clarify that anyone who starts bass at approximately 50 years of age like me and thinks he is the next Sting is bonkers, so lets just move on from the too old for Lego and must be bonkers stuff because I have no intention of behaving like all the other 50 year olds who watch box sets and rot when there's time to be spent playing bass before the reaper knocks.

Any way he who dares wins, so if no other bassist sets up a funding site (and I never once said it was a charitable cause did I?) and Im the only one then Im on a winning streak.

Theres got to be more bonkers people out there I just need to find 'em round em up and get them to buy a ticket. I mean think of all the people who have 6 strings .. thats bonkers

I can't agree mate. 

There's more homeless people on the streets than ever. There's people using food banks. There's people fleeing war torn parts of the world who've lost everything. 

You're a grown adult who's taken up a hobby. You have, presumably, a perfectly functional bass guitar already. 

You're asking total strangers to put their hand in their pockets so you can replace the perfectly adequate equipment you already have to carry out your hobby with an incredibly pricey luxury item that most people who actually play the bass as their profession and their living couldn't even justify owning. 

I'm sorry if this seems harsh, but I think it's absolutely ridiculous. You want nice, non-essential, luxury items, do what the rest of us do and work for it and earn it. I work in live music, and there's still times when I've sold instruments that I was actually going out and earning money playing to fill gaps in my cash flow. I've never put up a gofundme and asked people to chip in to replace the instruments, or to help pay the bills I was selling them for. I just dealt with it, because it's just "stuff", and when I can afford to I might treat myself to a nice bass/guitar one day. You're not (as far as I can see from what you've said) dependant on it for an income. 

Nobody is saying you shouldn't play bass, or enjoy playing bass, or aspire to own beautifully crafted instruments. Do those things, by all means. Just don't ask people to part with their hard-earned to fund your hobbies and interests. If you really think that's sensible behaviour you need to go give your head a wobble. 

[Bleat]

So let's get this right just to clarify things...

you have presented the world's most ridiculous idea to a forum of strangers who have no vested interest apart from to give you honest advice, the concensus being it is at the very least "not a good idea" or approach to help fund your lifestyle by getting others to pay for it. You have now in turn thanked us for "entertaining" you with this honest advice, and are going to plod on regardless finding as many people that you think may be stupid enough to part with money to have the chance of winning a Lego set , so that you may continue your mission to adorn yourself with a finely crafted and very expensive instrument  that will neither make you famous or allow you to demonstrate any higher level of ability than if you owned a cheap P-Bass, but at least will make a nice conversation piece as it sits in the corner of the living room.....  … right you are then. 

You are definitely as bonkers as those who choose to play Rickenbackers.😄

[binky_bass]

6 minutes ago, mike257 said:

I'm sorry if this seems harsh, but I think it's absolutely ridiculous. You want nice, non-essential, luxury items, do what the rest of us do and work for it and earn it.

Damn straight.

[FinnDave]

I've just read the thread from beginning to end and can only assume it's a wind up, which case it seems to have worked. 

If it's not, then the OP needs medical help, not money.

[Dan Dare]

7 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

I used to get the Bell catalogue and dream about Fender Jazz basses, but the reality was I kept within the bounds of reality and played sub-£75.00 Columbus copies.  It was all I could afford on my paper-round and Saturday-boy earnings.

Fast forward to 2020, let's set up a funding website and get people to pay towards a bass.  I'm sorry, but that's insane and it's a forking disgrace that you should expect anyone to pay for something you want, but hey, we live in strange times.  We all want something, but most of us just suck up that we're never going to get it or we have to do a hard save to get to it.  I was raised to believe that you'll appreciate the good things more if you actually put in the graft to pay for it yourself.

This. Why should others buy you a bass (especially a ridiculously expensive one)? Go out and work and earn the money and pay for it yourself. It took me over 20 years to get a Jazz Bass. Like Nancy, I played El Cheapos until I could afford the one I wanted. Makes you appreciate it more when you finally get it.

[cgull]

<post deleted>

Edited June 1, 2023 by cgull
remove silly posting

[binky_bass]

4 minutes ago, cgull said:

You're missing the irony.  I was saving and then I bought a Lego....

A. As an enthusiastic Legoman, no one calls it 'a lego' unless you're talking about a single piece. 

B. The £60 odd you spent on that set is 4% of the cost of the bass you want, not exactly halfway there with £60 pal!

C. Save up mate and buy it. Literally that's it. 

[Bassassin]

So this isn't a mistimed April Fool, then.

Just curious, Mr @cgull, what bass do you play at the moment?

[binky_bass]

A fleet of Foderas and half a dozen MTDs clearly. Paid for by staving orphans.

[steantval]

We could possibly set up a crowdfund and send Mr Cgull on a weeks holiday to -

 

[odysseus]

Extra shifts, weekend job, better job, sell something you don't use, cut back on unneccessaries.....

From your OP, it sounds a bit like you want something for nothing.  Doesn't often work that way.

[Bleat]

You need a Lego "Build Your Own Integrity" set ... your current one seems to be missing a few pieces.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Bleat

[gjones]

Paper round.

sex work.

Raffle your house.

Edit: possibly all 3?

Edited March 8, 2020 by gjones

[paul_c2]

I'm not bothered, the public will decide for you. I looked at the gofundme earlier and it was 1 donation of £5. I'm 95% sure that was the OP himself! (By the way, there's transaction fees and stuff, you won't get £5 back but slightly less). The link has been removed now but I'm betting it stays at £5 for ever.

There are worthy causes, semi-worthy causes and non-worthy causes on them things, the worthy causes struggle (unless an associated news story goes viral). So a non-worthy cause won't do nothing unless someone accidentally clicks - but there's a few steps to go through so its unlikely they'll donate anyway, unless truly foolish.

I bought a bass which was expensive (for me) but I've used it extensively, including paid gigs, so it was worth it. Earn the money for it honestly and you'll appreciate it more anyway! So given that nobody will donate, you'll either never buy it (and appreciate what you have) or scrimp and save over a long time, and eventually buy it. Then you'll either have buyer's remorse or appreciate it, whatever happens it will be funded by your own money though.

Its brightened up my Sunday afternoon, so no worries.

[Reggaebass]

8 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

I used to get the Bell catalogue and dream about Fender Jazz basses,

I used to do the same, It wasn’t this one was it 🙂

[Machines]

This is definitely one of the most bemusing posts i've seen here for some time. I can only suggest the OP is not socially aware and lacks some element of normal brain function (EDIT: And that's being said by someone with Asperger's).

I've recently shifted 3 basses (nearly £2k worth) to help fund a round of IVF, maybe I should have just put a sob story on Basschat instead.

EDIT: My main bass is now a Squier VM Jazz, to confirm my new found love for cheap instruments.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Machines

[lemmywinks]

Time to put your big boy pants on and stroll over to the Job Centre maybe?

[lemmywinks]

Having said that I also like expensive basses and if there's any free ones going I'm down, Marleaux Consat for me if possible. Cheers.

[binky_bass]

9 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

Having said that I also like expensive basses and if there's any free ones going I'm down, Marleaux Consat for me if possible. Cheers.

You can have one of mine, but I'll need all of your organs. 

[BrunoBass]

The Age of Instant Gratification.

I want it, therefore I must have it. Now.

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, steantval said:

We could possibly set up a crowdfund and send Mr Cgull on a weeks holiday to -

 

Let's send him to the Lego factory (it's further away):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billund,_Denmark

[lemmywinks]

25 minutes ago, binky_bass said:

You can have one of mine, but I'll need all of your organs. 

Will you take Lego in px?

[Bassassin]

Seems Mr Gull isn't about to say what bass he currently plays. Shame, it would be interesting to know what's holding him back from realising his playing aspirations.

Might be educational too - having never, ever paid more than £480 for any bass (and that was massive exception!) who knows what dizzying altitudes I might have reached, if only I'd had two an a half grand's worth of handcrafted exotica at my fingertips...

I'm not going to participate in the low-key pile-on this thread's become. Good luck to him; I appreciate the aspirations and achievements of chancers and gyppos, because I'm not ashamed to count myself among that cohort. Possibly my proudest moment was flogging a guitar for £300, having picked it up at my local car boot for £7.50. Some long-term BC members may be aware I did that sort of thing quite a lot a few years back, and while I never kept a running total, I'm confident I made enough to buy several of them pretty Mayonnaise thingies.

So while I applaud this chap's craven brass neck, I'm not entirely sure his methods will pay off. No, actually I am entirely sure a combination of a dodgy raffle and glorified begging will unfortunately achieve very little. There's not a single reason why anyone might give him a bung to buy a fancy toy.

So @cgull you want ideas for how you might raise cash? Buy stuff, sell it for more than you paid for it - and repeat. There's a reasonably well-established precedent for that being an effective way to generate profit.

 

[fretmeister]

I worked very hard to be able to afford a used Hyperbass.

I was gutted! All it did was increase the amount of wrong notes I could play.

Must have been something wrong with it.

[Brook_fan]

Interesting topic- its interesting that some have commented on this guy's GoFundMe as glorified begging.  As someone who has tried to set up a GoFundMe campaign (that hasn't really been successful) such cooments make me feel very uncomfortable, as I don't want to be seen as begging.  I guess in my case though I was at least offering something for the donations (a copy of the album when it was finished), that part of me thought that as I run a successful youtube channel with over 620 subscribers from which I have never earnt a penny I felt that those people who enjoyed my music might like to support me whilst I have hit tough finacnial times and had to sell guitars just to pay the rent; and that I at least only shared the campaign amongst frineds and my youtube followers.  I must admit, this guy's attitude is a little suspect- he already has presumably a good enough bass to play on (I am currently borrowing instruments from people) and he doesn't put his music out there for others to enjoy.  He's got more balls than me asking for money just because he wants a £4k bass to learn on!!

Robbie