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It’s just a lump of wood isn’t it?


Rayman

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9 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

You would enjoy the air guitar YouTube guy. He started off with changing guitar body for no name body then lump of 4x2, then literal air by stretching strings between two solid workbenches and propping the pickups underneath. 

Oh good grief . Here we go again ....................................................................................

Does anybody actually get the joy of just playing the bass with some like minded idiots for the hell of it . Instead of just pointlessly arguing about the minutiae of stuff that literally nobody other than us cares about . We will all end up in the same place eventually . Enjoy the ride while we can . 

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Just now, Wally Gogg said:

Oh good grief . Here we go again ....................................................................................

Does anybody actually get the joy of just playing the bass with some like minded idiots for the hell of it . Instead of just pointlessly arguing about the minutiae of stuff that literally nobody other than us cares about . We will all end up in the same place eventually . Enjoy the ride while we can . 


Sorry Sir, you appear to have stumbled unwittingly into an Internet forum rather than the sensible and rational destination you were headed for. If you'd just turn the light off on your way out we can resume our endless circular pointless arguments until Mum brings us jelly and squash. :hi:

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I just freaking play them, even if, like Leigh from morcheeba’s p bass it comes with action that you could a) fit a bus under and b) Jamerson would be proud of

 

It doesn’t matter if it cost £150 or £15000 it just goes thump in time with drums, no one notices the price tag **

 

btw yes I bought that bass ..  from mr Gordon himself 
 

** unless it’s made of wood felled on a solstice, in a leap year and blessed by fairies in which case it will sound better 

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30 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:


Sorry Sir, you appear to have stumbled unwittingly into an Internet forum rather than the sensible and rational destination you were headed for. If you'd just turn the light off on your way out we can resume our endless circular pointless arguments until Mum brings us jelly and squash. :hi:

Light turned off . Dogs let out . Off to bed . I'll let mum sort breakfast out 😃

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10 hours ago, Rayman said:

 I was talking instrument prices with a mate, and we got to talking about whether or not one really needs to spend thousands of pounds on an instrument, when it’s perfectly possible to find a really great instrument, for a few hundred.

 


I used to drive a Citroen Dyane 6.

 

Now don't tell me my Vovo 850T wasn't worth the extra!!

 

You can find playable instruments for a few hundred pounds, but really great? I don't think so.

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1 hour ago, Wally Gogg said:

Oh good grief . Here we go again ....................................................................................

Does anybody actually get the joy of just playing the bass with some like minded idiots for the hell of it . Instead of just pointlessly arguing about the minutiae of stuff that literally nobody other than us cares about . We will all end up in the same place eventually . Enjoy the ride while we can . 

 

Ah yes, you're new. It's easy to tell.

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This sounds like yet another rewording of the old threads about , price and diminishing returns, coffee table basses.....etc.

Correct no-one needs to spend a lot of money on a bass, but if they do, why should what someone decides to do with their own money bother anyone enough to start a topic about it. I have never yet read a thread where someone owning an expensive bass has an issue with someone else's choice to buy something cheaper. 

 

When it comes down to it we buy a bass that we want and can afford and that's it. As long as it does the job the price is irrelevant after that as is whether anyone other than the player can tell it's price point.🎶

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Just to be clear, there's a case to be made for the notion that Consumerism, and the buying of unnecessary 'stuff' (this includes basses, but much, much more...) is one of the factors determining the present state of the Planet. It's not all that long ago that frugality was the order of the day (often as there was no other option in the matter, of course...), and the Planet was in better shape. Mea Culpa; I'm not the Solution, as I'm part of the Problem, too, but as long as it's realised and admitted, it's for each of us (and everyone else...) to make their own choices. It's a bit too easy, though, to just absolve ourselves from the real consequences of our actions. There's no Moral to this; I'm just sayin'. :|

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I think once you’re in to the £300-£400 bracket, you then have to spend considerably more to get not much gain in sound/tone/feel. 
I used to play acoustic guitar as my main instrument. I had a few nice examples all of which I’ve since sold. 
Two that stand out were an LA8 by Yamaha, and the Clapton signature model by Martin. 
The Yam was a fine fine instrument. Build quality was faultless. Sound was superb. The Martin was just a little better. Not 3 times the price better, but better nonetheless. 
Same with Saxophone. Yamaha alto I had was fantastic, the Albright sig model was just a little better and again 3x the price. 
Once you get past the absolute budget option then any increase in performance comes at a massive price increase I think, and once it is in the mix at a noisy gig then not a single person including the person playing it would hear that slight improvement in tone. Imho. 

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5 hours ago, tauzero said:

Remembering that partially shredding a Banksy doubled its value, sticking a Precision in a wood chipper would not just double its value, it would also improve it.

Yes but the chips would be better if it was a vintage precision … 

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6 hours ago, chris_b said:


I used to drive a Citroen Dyane 6.

 

Now don't tell me my Vovo 850T wasn't worth the extra!!

 

You can find playable instruments for a few hundred pounds, but really great? I don't think so.

My vintage brand precision is amazing. It has design limitations like all precisions but it’s still amazing, so I do disagree with you 

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6 hours ago, chris_b said:

You can find playable instruments for a few hundred pounds, but really great? I don't think so.

Oh I disagree strongly. I’ve had many P basses, MIA, 70s vintage etc… easily the best one, was an early 90s MIJ Squier. Cost me a ton on the bay.

 

There are MANY really great instruments for a few hundred pounds new…. and I’ve had my hands on a LOT of instruments well over that price, that sucked.

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The Vintage Tony Butler Precision that I had was really not that far away in quality/playability/sound from my Fender US Precisions. If I weren’t such a “I have to play US Fenders” person a couple of the TBs would be more than sufficient for my gigging needs.
 

But at the end of the day I just simply prefer my Fenders, I’ve found the specific range that just suits me perfectly, the 2013-16 US Standards. I get so much more enjoyment playing the maple fretboard versions of this range than any other basses. 

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15 minutes ago, Rayman said:

Oh I disagree strongly. I’ve had many P basses, MIA, 70s vintage etc… easily the best one, was an early 90s MIJ Squier. Cost me a ton on the bay.

 

There are MANY really great instruments for a few hundred pounds new…. and I’ve had my hands on a LOT of instruments well over that price, that sucked.

That’s the thing right there!

How many people have an expensive instrument that sucks but don’t realise or refuse to accept that it’s crap because it was pricey. “It can’t be crap because it cost me a zillion bucks!!”

I was guilty of that and a luthier pointed it out to me and I took the instrument back and got my money back. 

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I own some nice custom instruments (not just basses), but in all cases it's not really about chasing a certain tone or thinking they're 2x better than an instrument half their price.

 

For a lot of them, it's a mix of enjoying owning finely crafted things made by an individual, and wanting to support luthiery in general. I'm happy supporting independent builders, and want to encourage more of that than mass factory produced goods.

 

So I guess I see custom instruments less as just a tool to get the job done at a gig (I agree the audience probably doesn't care), and more of something that makes me happy to both play and own, knowing I'm support small builders.

 

I probably feel the same about other things too, e.g. I'd prefer a nice handmade or antique table to a mass produced Ikea plastic one, even though they both do the same job of keeping things from falling on the floor.

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I kind of agree with everyone really in some ways. Logic tells you, the more you spend the “better” it is…. I get that…. All I can tell you is this….

 

There are a couple of basses that spring to mind, that I had many years ago. A Roscoe Century 5 and a Sadowsky UV(?) 4. Both expensive (to me) and both as dull as dishwater (to me). 
 

Money can’t buy everything, and it certainly can’t buy love, but it can pay for an expensive hooker that you couldn’t afford.

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