How Can You Justify Spending £5,350 on a New Bass??

[xilddx]

[quote name='TimR' post='754838' date='Feb 23 2010, 11:34 AM']So you got a good deal. Someone had to originally buy it new. Not you as you couldn't afford it, but someone did, decidided to move on or up and sell their old one.

The guys who designed and built that bass have to eat, feed their kids, drive cars, and live in houses. How much was the first fender in relation to a weeks money. Many people sitting in the building where I work get £5000 a day! They're not proffesional musicians though, but they are the sort of people who are subsidising the rest of us and giving us the ability to buy second hand high end models at a good price.[/quote]
I was talking about [b]inspiration [/b]not getting a good deal. Even so, I am not at all clear on the point you are trying to make.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='silddx' post='754897' date='Feb 23 2010, 12:37 PM'] I was talking about [b]inspiration [/b]not getting a good deal. Even so, I am not at all clear on the point you are trying to make.[/quote]

I think it's like that strange thing the Americans believe about how giving tax breaks to the richest people makes everybody wealthy.

[johnny_frog]

personally i'd be better off spending the 5k on lessons... tis my fingers that are limiting me not my bass

[TimR]

[quote name='silddx' post='754897' date='Feb 23 2010, 12:37 PM'] I was talking about [b]inspiration [/b]not getting a good deal. Even so, I am not at all clear on the point you are trying to make.[/quote]

Your OP was how can you justify spending £5350 on a new bass?
If I know that there is a second hand market then I'm not spending £5K+, I'm spending £5k - resale value.
If there was no second hand market then the prices would have to be much lower, but there will always be people who are prepared to spend more for a new bass with warranty etc.
You could buy a £5k bass, do 30 £100 gigs with it. Sell it for £2k and will have broken even, and had good use out of an expensive bass and someone would have a top expensive bass for less than half price. Put your own numbers in and see if you can justify it. BUT this only works if you are a hobby musician with a job supporting your hobby. Hobby musicians who want the lastet gear (people with GAS) are what the industry relies on.

Someone posted about Harleys earlier, same thing, they don't make bikes for cummuters, they make bikes for 'rich' people to play with. By 'rich' I mean anyone who has the ability to save enough to buy one.

[xilddx]

[quote name='TimR' post='755098' date='Feb 23 2010, 03:31 PM']Your OP was how can you justify spending £5350 on a new bass?
If I know that there is a second hand market then I'm not spending £5K+, I'm spending £5k - resale value.
If there was no second hand market then the prices would have to be much lower, but there will always be people who are prepared to spend more for a new bass with warranty etc.
You could buy a £5k bass, do 30 £100 gigs with it. Sell it for £2k and will have broken even, and had good use out of an expensive bass and someone would have a top expensive bass for less than half price. Put your own numbers in and see if you can justify it. BUT this only works if you are a hobby musician with a job supporting your hobby. Hobby musicians who want the lastet gear (people with GAS) are what the industry relies on.

Someone posted about Harleys earlier, same thing, they don't make bikes for cummuters, they make bikes for 'rich' people to play with. By 'rich' I mean anyone who has the ability to save enough to buy one.[/quote]
Erm, thanks for clearing that up

[xilddx]

[quote name='TimR' post='755098' date='Feb 23 2010, 03:31 PM']Your OP was how can you justify spending £5350 on a new bass?
If I know that there is a second hand market then I'm not spending £5K+, I'm spending £5k - resale value.
If there was no second hand market then the prices would have to be much lower, but there will always be people who are prepared to spend more for a new bass with warranty etc.
You could buy a £5k bass, do 30 £100 gigs with it. Sell it for £2k and will have broken even, and had good use out of an expensive bass and someone would have a top expensive bass for less than half price. Put your own numbers in and see if you can justify it. BUT this only works if you are a hobby musician with a job supporting your hobby. Hobby musicians who want the lastet gear (people with GAS) are what the industry relies on.

Someone posted about Harleys earlier, same thing, they don't make bikes for cummuters, they make bikes for 'rich' people to play with. By 'rich' I mean anyone who has the ability to save enough to buy one.[/quote]
Erm, thanks for clearing that up

[Marvin]

Damned deja vue again. Think I keep reading the same post twice. Could be an echo on the forum. Hmmm.
Either that or I need my eyes tested.

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='TimR' post='755098' date='Feb 23 2010, 03:31 PM']You could buy a £5k bass, do 30 £100 gigs with it. Sell it for £2k and will have broken even, and had good use out of an expensive bass and someone would have a top expensive bass for less than half price. Put your own numbers in and see if you can justify it.[/quote]

Okey-doke!
[list=1]
[*]I buy a £100 beater bass, do 100 x £100 gigs with it and give it away free to a croup-ridden Dickensian orphan called Pip who goes on to become the finest bassist of his generation.
[*]I buy a used Gus bass for £2k and I'm £8k up on the deal.
[*]I buy a Harley for £8k and ride off to the local cafe with my Gus on my back, like the entirely total dude that I am.
[*]At the back of the cafe I find Cheryl Cole, sobbing into her mug of Ovaltine. She spies my Harley and my Gus. An exchange of pleasantries follows and she's back to my gaff to assuage her distress.
[*]On the way home I phone Mrs Skank and tell her there's a sale on at John Lewis in High Wycombe. The coast is clear for an afternoon of unbridled pleasure.
[*]Leaving the entirely satisfied Miss Cole asleep on the kitchen table, I place a call to The Sun newspaper and sell my story for £25,000.
[/list]

Do it my way and everyone's a winner!

Edited February 23, 2010 by skankdelvar

[xilddx]

I hope you rendered a full application of the chrome sausages.

[Clarky]

[quote name='TimR' post='755098' date='Feb 23 2010, 03:31 PM']Someone posted about Harleys earlier, same thing, they don't make bikes for cummuters, they make bikes for 'rich' people to play with. By 'rich' I mean anyone who has the ability to save enough to buy one.[/quote]
Erm, I commuted to work in London on a Harley for years (a Sportster to begin with, later a Fat Boy). Very reliable, massive torque, low seats (so easy to clamber on in a business suit), looked wicked (the Harley, not the suit).

Edited February 23, 2010 by Clarky

[xilddx]

[quote name='Clarky' post='755303' date='Feb 23 2010, 06:43 PM']Erm, I commuted to work in London on a Harley for years (a Sportster to begin with, later a Fat Boy). Very reliable, massive torque, low seats (so easy to clamber on in a business suit), looked wicked (the Harley, not the suit).[/quote]
Harley owners are from all walks of life, and I've known a few. I couldn't really get where Tim was coming from there either.

[supabock]

This whole expensive bass thing is bcomming quite frustrating.... Yes i do own a couple, but i think back in the day paid reasonable money for bespoke bases, and they have been great tools for many years....However, I cannot get my head round the 4k, 5k territory that basses are commanding today. I know its fairly subjective, but I tried a bass recently and it was a bespoke bass again, by a well made luthier and, well what can i say, it was the most comfortable bass i had ever played, with little or no effort needed to play it, oodles of eq and practically any sound you wanted from it you could get. Price tag, absolutely reasonable and coming in at half of of what these these high priced basses are commanding. A good bass will make you play well but not as well as the person endorsing it may play........

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='supabock' post='755345' date='Feb 23 2010, 07:26 PM']I know its fairly subjective, but I tried a bass recently and it was a bespoke bass again, by a well made luthier and, well what can i say, it was the most comfortable bass i had ever played, with little or no effort needed to play it, oodles of eq and practically any sound you wanted from it you could get. Price tag, absolutely reasonable and coming in at half of of what these these high priced basses are commanding.[/quote]

Bernie's latest by any chance? Heard that you played it...

Edited February 23, 2010 by EBS_freak

[TimR]

[quote name='Clarky' post='755303' date='Feb 23 2010, 06:43 PM']Erm, I commuted to work in London on a Harley for years (a Sportster to begin with, later a Fat Boy). Very reliable, massive torque, low seats (so easy to clamber on in a business suit), looked wicked (the Harley, not the suit).[/quote]

So, did you buy a Harley because it was a cheap bike, economical, you could nip in and out of the traffic, drive it in all weathers and it wouldn't matter if it got covered in road salt or if you scratched it when you got knocked off,

or because it looked wicked and was a head turner.

People from all walks of life ride Harleys? Do you see many people turning up at the dole office riding them? Do you see many couriers riding them? I put 'rich' in inverted commas to reflect that again its a relative term.

All I am saying is that it is the hobby musician with income independent of music that subsidises all of these things, Guitars, effects units, boutique amps etc. If the company making these bases makes a loss on them, and you have to hope they've done some sort of market research, I will be very surprised.

[Clarky]

[quote name='TimR' post='755370' date='Feb 23 2010, 07:43 PM']So, did you buy a Harley because it was a cheap bike, economical, you could nip in and out of the traffic, drive it in all weathers and it wouldn't matter if it got covered in road salt or if you scratched it when you got knocked off,

or because it looked wicked and was a head turner.[/quote]

Doesn't matter what grounds I had to buy, I was merely pointing out that its a fallacy that you cannot commute on a Harley as they are actually very practical (well the Sportster definitely was). I really am not sure what your point is. Harleys are nice bikes, they are iconic, they are objects of desire, last forever if treated right (and not nicked like mine were) ..... And?????.

[xilddx]

[quote name='TimR' post='755370' date='Feb 23 2010, 07:43 PM']All I am saying is that it is the hobby musician with income independent of music that subsidises all of these things, Guitars, effects units, boutique amps etc. If the company making these bases makes a loss on them, and you have to hope they've done some sort of market research, I will be very surprised.[/quote]
Finally, you have explained your point clearly. I agree too, it's a good, if obvious, point. However, as far as we can tell, and it's by no means conclusive because of the silent majority here, BigRedX is the only person of Basschat's nearly 9,000 members to have ownership of a Gus bass, and as far as I know I am almost the only member to have owned a Kopo and a Wilkins. Does that mean anything? I don't know.

[witterth]

[quote name='Marvin' post='752177' date='Feb 20 2010, 08:34 PM']Doesn't BigRedX play something similar to that?[/quote]
Tell you what Pete Academey,

Isn't that"Steely Dan" of band name legend?
who's is the one on top? yours or Walters?

[TimR]

[quote name='Clarky' post='755384' date='Feb 23 2010, 07:54 PM']Doesn't matter what grounds I had to buy, I was merely pointing out that its a fallacy that you cannot commute on a Harley as they are actually very practical (well the Sportster definitely was). I really am not sure what your point is. Harleys are nice bikes, they are iconic, they are objects of desire, last forever if treated right (and not nicked like mine were) ..... And?????.[/quote]

Because we consume with our eyes. Regardless of whether something is best fit. Look at the adverts for Porsches, Lamborghini and Harley verses those for any hot hatch. Do they figure commuters or women getting loads of shopping in the boot? No. Harley don't make commuter bikes, doesn't mean you can't commute on one though.

Watch the marketing for this bass. Lets see how quickly the price drops. Advertise it for £5k+ in loads of mags, put it in the shops while everyone lusts over one then drop the price £2k and watch the rush for a bargain. Cynical? Who me?

If they've done their market research, there are people out there who like them. If they haven't does it matter? Are they built to order? If they don't mass produce them there will hardly be loads sitting in a warehouse somehere.

[xilddx]

[quote name='witterth' post='755413' date='Feb 23 2010, 08:17 PM']Tell you what Pete Academey,

Isn't that"Steely Dan" of band name legend?
who's is the one on top? yours or Walters? [/quote]

Have you been chasing the Jazz Poppies?

[xilddx]

[quote name='TimR' post='755428' date='Feb 23 2010, 08:22 PM']Because we consume with our eyes. Regardless of whether something is best fit. Look at the adverts for Porsches, Lamborghini and Harley verses those for any hot hatch. Do they figure commuters or women getting loads of shopping in the boot? No. Harley don't make commuter bikes, doesn't mean you can't commute on one though.

Watch the marketing for this bass. Lets see how quickly the price drops. Advertise it for £5k+ in loads of mags, put it in the shops while everyone lusts over one then drop the price £2k and watch the rush for a bargain. Cynical? Who me?

If they've done their market research, there are people out there who like them. If they haven't does it matter? Are they built to order? If they don't mass produce them there will hardly be loads sitting in a warehouse somehere.[/quote]
I'm sorry mate, but you are drawing the wrong conclusions based on a very simplistic analysis.

The marketing surrounding the brands of transport you mention are many and varied, depending on model. Simply put, the more expensive models are marketed by selling a lifestyle, the more practical (like the Cayenne) by selling prestige and luxurious practicality, and the "budget" models, if you can call them that, by brand leverage focusing on aspiration. The GUS is none of those, it is simply a very expensive product because of very expensive production processes, and the result is meant for musicians who want supreme design and quality, and who happen to have the money and may want to demonstrate that via a unique appearance. You think the chrome saveloys are there for anything other than brand identity? They have no practical use whatsover. It's the Fabergé egg of the bass world.

Edited February 23, 2010 by silddx

[Marvin]

[quote name='witterth' post='755413' date='Feb 23 2010, 08:17 PM']Tell you what Pete Academey,

Isn't that"Steely Dan" of band name legend?
who's is the one on top? yours or Walters? [/quote]

[witterth]

[quote name='silddx' post='755429' date='Feb 23 2010, 08:22 PM']Have you been chasing the Jazz Poppies? [/quote]
Sorry silddix, not with you......
have I been duped by an urban legend? is that it?

[discreet]

[quote name='witterth' post='755455' date='Feb 23 2010, 08:39 PM']have I been duped by an urban legend?[/quote]

Steely Dan: A silver vibrator from the W. S. Burroughs novel 'Naked Lunch'.

[TimR]

[quote name='silddx' post='755451' date='Feb 23 2010, 08:37 PM']I'm sorry mate, but you are drawing the wrong conclusions based on a very simplistic analysis.

The marketing surrounding the brands of transport you mention are many and varied, depending on model. Simply put, the more expensive models are marketed by selling a lifestyle, the more practical (like the Cayenne) by selling prestige and luxurious practicality, and the "budget" models, if you can call them that, by brand leverage focusing on aspiration. The GUS is none of those, it is simply a very expensive product because of very expensive production processes, and the result is meant for musicians who want supreme design and quality, and who happen to have the money and may want to demonstrate that via a unique appearance. You think the chrome saveloys are there for anything other than brand identity? They have no practical use whatsover. It's the Fabergé egg of the bass world.[/quote]

Ultimately supply and demand set the price. If the demand is not there at that price and the price cannot drop then the item will not sell.

[witterth]

[quote name='discreet' post='755466' date='Feb 23 2010, 08:46 PM']Steely Dan: A silver vibrator from the W. S. Burroughs novel 'Naked Lunch'.[/quote]
Well thats!! what I thought!!... its just that guitar is....is well..a... a "double header" err KWIM (too rude? sorry Mods)

no implications about Mr Academey/MrBecker intended btw....