Boodang Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 1 hour ago, adriansmith247 said: I remember looking at a second hand Wal bass for £1,500 thinking that was an insane price (late 90s) now you don’t get much change out of £15,000 Wal… the most overrated overpriced two pieces of wood to ever be bolted together. Not that I have a strong opinion about them or anything. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asingardenof Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 2 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said: On one hand, you can buy perfectly decent "giggable" basses for a lot less. On the other hand, the price of these basses has drastically risen over the last couple of years. For example, my G&L Tribute JB2 has become my primary bass since getting it in the black Friday sales in 2021 for a mere £299 (down from £399). Excellent instrument and ready to gig out of the box. That price held for a few months after black Friday. But I've noticed recently that it's not just shy of £500. Similarly, Squier prices used to be fairly stable for a number of years, but I've notice the prices creeping up in recent months. I suspect this is a result of both inflation and them artificially suppressing prices during the pandemic when every man and their dog was thinking about learning to play an instrument while stuck at home. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boodang Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I remember paying £1500 for my custom Sei back in the day. I think what I find most depressing is that Warwick are now charging for a bolt on what they used to for a neck through, and the NTs have gone through the roof. Still, the advent of quality mass produced cnc’d basses are most welcome and my fav bass is my Squier jazz. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I've got a Bass Centre price list and a Warwick Thumb was over £1000 in 1989. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Good SH basses disappear very quickly on Facebook marketplace. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burns-bass Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Prices go up over time shocker! You can get a perfectly good, giggable bass for £50. You may not like the name on the headstock, but the Ibanez bass I got for £50 was streets ahead of anything I’d owned in the 90s. I picked up a vintage Japanese Squier for a tad over £100 last week. You can still get good stuff without breaking the bank. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burns-bass Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 37 minutes ago, TimR said: Good SH basses disappear very quickly on Facebook marketplace. In my experience that’s usually because one of the scumbag bedroom dealers has got there first. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 You can't find a decent bass for under £1200? Ridiculous!! There are loads of good basses available for far less. Have a look on the Basses for sale thread here - lots that I'd love to own for under your price. Build quality of the "cheap" basses today means that it's difficult to find a poorly built bass - you might want to upgrade parts but you really don't "need" to. I don't know what constitutes a "decent" bass in your mind so I'll keep my rubbish Yamaha, G&L, Lakland and Squiers - wouldn't want to clutter the marketplace with junk. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Smalls Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 In 1990 or so I went into Allbang and Strummit in Covent Garden with £500 cash in my pocket... I tried a Jaydee at £450, a Wal mk 1 at £500 and an Alembic (the Stanley Clarke type) for £550... Loved them all, couldn't afford the extra £50 so bought the Wal, which I still have. It's a bit battered after 100s of gigs, there's still some fluorescent paint in-between the pickup and body from a band where we got painted as we played (!), but don't think I'd ever sell it... 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 4 hours ago, adriansmith247 said: I would never spend close to two grand on a bass then take it out on gigs. Just my view. It's all relative. How much did you pay for your car? Do you take it out on the roads? 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 3 hours ago, chris_b said: Good basses were never cheap. I bought my Fender Precision in 1969 on a deal for £95, but the retail price in the UK was £120. That's about £2400 at today's value. In 1969 a cheap bass was generally unplayable crap. Since the advent of CNC machines, and Asian labour, good basses can be had for a few hundred pounds. Yep, in 1987 I paid £450 for a Yamaha BB1100s at a time when a pint of beer was around 60/65p, so my bass was equivalent to some 700 pints of beer. With a pint now being around a fiver, well that’s around £3,500 today. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
40hz Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) I think the bass/guitar industry is seeing something the car industry is seeing. Once selling a classic, well known bass or car at a reasonable price, but, in the past few years prices have gone wildly out of control with little effort or will to counter this. In swoop the Far Eastern brands to take over the market. You're seeing it now with European and American manufacturers having their market share eaten away at an alarming rate, as they were too happy to rest on their laurels. Granted, the Bass industry is slightly different in that many manufacturers have their toe in budget lines. Which leads me onto my belief that it's not too far away until the budget lines are then repurposed/rebadged into the 'real thing'. Imo, YMMV, etc. Edited January 23 by 40hz 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 20 minutes ago, Lozz196 said: Yep, in 1987 I paid £450 for a Yamaha BB1100s at a time when a pint of beer was around 60/65p, so my bass was equivalent to some 700 pints of beer. With a pint now being around a fiver, well that’s around £3,500 today. Beerflation 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Not it hasn't! In fact quite the opposite. Talking real value. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tegs07 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) 34 minutes ago, 40hz said: I think the bass/guitar industry is seeing something the car industry is seeing. Once selling a classic, well known bass or car at a reasonable price, but, in the past few years prices have gone wildly out of control with little effort or will to counter this. In swoop the Far Eastern brands to take over the market. You're seeing it now with European and American manufacturers having their market share eaten away at an alarming rate, as they were too happy to rest on their laurels. Granted, the Bass industry is slightly different in that many manufacturers have their toe in budget lines. Which leads me onto my belief that it's not too far away until the budget lines are then repurposed/rebadged into the 'real thing'. Imo, YMMV, etc. mmm i think wages and rents may have more of an impact than resting on laurels. Lets see what happens next as geopolitics, cost of fuel and demographic changes in China start to have an impact on the price of imported goods. Edited January 23 by tegs07 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 2 hours ago, chris_b said: I've got a Bass Centre price list and a Warwick Thumb was over £1000 in 1989. I bought mine in 1988, Dave at Musical Exchange in Birmingham knocked £50 off the £950 asking price. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 1 hour ago, Leonard Smalls said: In 1990 or so I went into Allbang and Strummit in Covent Garden I loved that shop, the guys were so welcoming and not typical of the other shops in that area. I was sad to see it go so quickly. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 When I started playing end of the 90s/ early 2000s my first bass, a Tanglewood P copy, was £250 including a strap, pick and a rubbish second hand practice amp. In 2006 I was in London, probably the Bass Cellar, and a German made Warwick $$ was £800 new, I think US Fenders could have been a similar cost. I wanted the $$ but only just venturing into the world of work didn't think that was a sensible use of my first paycheck. Right now that gets you a Rock bass made in the far east and little of the magic that those original German Warwick's had. I think MM Stingrays were a similar £800-900 around the time. I paid £1850 for my Stingray brand new at the end of 2018. The rises are incredible but also inevitable, a dollar was 50p in 2002 now it's not, the UK was in the EU but leaving coincided with COVID and Russia being what they are and then something political happening in the UK that might have cost people with mortgages and rents a lot more money.... The world is just a more expensive place now all around, some things more than others. I'm approaching a big birthday and for years thought this was my chance to blow loads on a flashy bass but I'll probably get a £150 Harley Benton or stretch to the Hofner Ignition bundle at £400 and still have something I'd happily gig. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tegs07 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) 7 minutes ago, uk_lefty said: but I'll probably get a £150 Harley Benton or stretch to the Hofner Ignition bundle at £400 and still have something I'd happily gig. Truthfully £500 even new would get a really decent workhorse bass that would be suitable for any gig (even with all the effects of inflation) in the used market I could find a bass, amp and effects peddle. I’m not sure if I could have done the same in the 80’s certainly not for the same quality. Definitely not in as n afternoon from the comfort of my sofa! Edited January 23 by tegs07 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 3 minutes ago, tegs07 said: Truthfully £500 even new would get a really decent workhorse bass that would be suitable for any gig (even with all the effects of inflation) in the used market I could find a bass, amp and effects peddle. I’m not sure if I could have done the same in the 80’s certainly not for the same quality. Definitely not in as n afternoon from the comfort of my sofa! Exactly. Sire, Harley Benton... I have gigged both, the HB just before Christmas, and that was less than £160 new. Does this mean that there is exploitation to make the quality so high for so cheap, or we've been overpaying for bad quality for so long (and this can be for myriad reasons such as complex supply and distribution chains, not just profiteering). Anyhows, it seems the rule that dictates the price of second hand gear is priced low to make me want it, go sky high when I've plucked up the courage to buy it, and crash when I want to sell it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 3 minutes ago, uk_lefty said: or we've been overpaying for bad quality for so long 70s and 80s Fenders?? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pseudonym Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) I find all of this perplexing. As far as I can tell, it has never been so easy to buy well-built equipment for such a small outlay. Nor has it ever been so easy to assemble a high-quality gigging or recording setup for so little. There are obvious instances of drastic price increases, but generalising from those particulars distorts the picture beyond recognition. Even the prices of new, US-built Fender Strats are comparable with the deep discounts available in 1987, when sterling was more than 20% stronger against the dollar than it is today, and VAT was lower. Edited January 23 by Pseudonym 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurroundedByManatees Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 3 minutes ago, TheGreek said: 70s and 80s Fenders?? Dan Smith era Fenders are actually 10 steps up from their late 70s counterparts in terms of build quality. And cheaper because not '70s 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 11 minutes ago, tegs07 said: Truthfully £500 even new would get a really decent workhorse bass that would be suitable for any gig (even with all the effects of inflation) in the used market I could find a bass, amp and effects peddle. I’m not sure if I could have done the same in the 80’s certainly not for the same quality. Definitely not in as n afternoon from the comfort of my sofa! I was thinking earlier that I could get a Squier CV60s Mustang, a Behringer BDI21, a set of Elixir steel rounds, a KiOgon wiring loom, a Fender gig-bag and a TC Unitune clip-on tuner for around £500 and have a decent enough set up for what’s needed to gig at venues with FOH PA and rehearse at studios with provided backline. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gramski Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 2 hours ago, neepheid said: Beerflation Sadly all too appropriate to my waistline as well as the price of bass. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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