(minor nit, I have played one of those multiple times - not exactly unseen )
It’s ideal if you can play the actual instrument you buy but this is not always possible.
Also note that if you buy used, there’s a lot more freedom with this, as unless you get a real lemon - unlikely from a reputable seller - it’s hard to lose money if you’re smart about the price. But that takes a little bit to learn.
I strongly dislike buying new instruments but that is just me. They are simply 40-50% too expensive
This is really good advice and most notably, your $1500 “new” basses you are budgeting will be $500-$1k on the used market, unless they are rare or something.
While the idea of buying a new instrument may seem gratifying, just remember - the moment you open that box and pick it up, it’s now a used bass. You just burned several hundred dollars opening a box
The two benefits are warranty and return policy, but many vendors offer these on used instruments as well.
Another good option, if you insist on a new instrument, is to keep an eye out for “outlet” or “B-stock” pricing on floor models, discontinued models, or instruments with small cosmetic defects. Those are relatively common and you end up with a new instrument (sometimes with issues, sometimes not) for a near-used price.
I figure out what bass I want based on my required needs and cost/value.
My first bass I wanted something not too expensive because I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. I found a great deal on a Yamaha bass on amazon warehouse deals, I had other Yamaha instruments so I knew they made good products so I bought it.
For the 2nd bass, I’d been work on slapping but no matter what changes I made to the setup or my “style” I just couldn’t get a good sound from the TRBX174 so I decided I’d buy a jazz bass. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it so I bought a Squire Affinity Jazz, it was great for the price and it was much better for slapping.
Then I decided I wanted a 5 string bass to work on theory and sight reading. I watched YT videos, read forum posts and reviews and decided I wanted a Yamaha TRBX604. I shopped around online and couldn’t find the model/colour I wanted and in my online travels I came across the Sire basses. I did more reading and decide on a sire M7 which was a fair bite more expensive than the Yamaha but offered better features. It was available on Amazon too so it was easy to buy.
I’m always looking at guitarts/basses on the local buy/sell… I’d been thinking about getting a fretless bass and an Ibanez GRBX35 showed up for a really good price. I’d never heard of him or that bass before so I did some reading online, watched some videos and decided it’d would do the job so I bought it.
I’d been playing a lot of jazz stuff, I really liked the pbass sound but my TRBX wasn’t quite sounding the way I wanted, even with flats on it so I decided I wanted to buy a Precision Bass. I looked at them for a while, found some ok local deals but none of them had the colour or neck that I really wanted. I happened to find a nice orange player precision bass on amazon warehouse deals for a good price so I bought that. Currently that’s my favourite bass
If I was going to buy a bass for $1500+ I’d buy a Dingwall Combusion.
I look at the instrument itself before even thinking about the cost. I actually have two basses - one I bought in 2003, an OLP Spector-style bass. I didn’t know anything about basses back then. The neck is really thick and has jumbo frets, which are just way too big for my puny hands. But I had no idea, I was a young 20 something back then.
The bass I currently play now is a Daisy Rock, which is far better on my hands. The neck is slim, action is nice and low, and just suits me way better. Both basses I have were under $300 each. Do I need anything else? Nah, not yet. Maybe someday. But for now all I need to do is learn how to play the notes, and play them well.
Maybe I should contact him regarding my Vic20, Commodore64, and Commodore 128 computers. He’s probably not interested in my Timex Sinclair ZX80 because you have to program it yourself in Machine language, but you never know
I’m blown away by the support and responses. I wanna thank everyone and I do feel like I had the wrong mind set of going in with a price range in mind. I am nervous about buying a bass, spending money that I’ve saved up for and it turns into a dud or something that I don’t truly love.
I’ll be checking the forum here to see what other people are enjoying
As a final testimony to money not equating to quality in musical instruments, I like this:
He’s the touring bass player for the Smashing Pumpkins, and one of the two bass players in his dad’s band. His dad is Peter Hook, the former bass player for Joy Division and New Order. The bass he is playing there, and talking about how he and his dad are using it as their main bass for both bands, is $750 new.
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