those would be good choices! The goal would be to avoid spending the extra on a vintage or reissue without gaining anything from doing so.
Itis highly likely you will eventually sell or upgrade your first bass.
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@howard my bass tutor told me a few weeks back that you can’t really go wrong with a Fender (purely as a purchase - it might not suit everyone’s playing style) because they hold their value reasonably well.
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That part is true but the problem with buying a vintage or reissue as a first instrument is that you’re paying a premium price for something where the standard model is as good or better, and as a beginner you don’t really know what you like yet to begin with so going for a better cost/performance instrument is a better plan
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Quite. I’ve gone through a lot of basses looking for what I actually like. My first bass was a second hand Epiphone that cost about £100. It was good enough to get me going. It was only after playing many different instruments that I concluded I really like Dingwalls, dislike playing Ricks, love the sound of my mate’s G&L, prefer the headstock shape of a Squier CV 50 P bass over the later Squier / Fender basses…
@manana, I have a friend who is a pretty well known professional guitarist. We were discussing guitars earlier this week. This guy can play any guitar he likes and is a brand artist (not Fender). For that brand, he plays a stock guitar, not a custom. His view on customs is that they are over-priced and often are not as good as the stock items. Below is an excerpt from the conversation about Squiers. (Remember, he’s not a Fender artist). The p bass is for his studio. I have anonymised to protect his privacy.
The reality is that you can buy a Squier bass that will be a fraction of the price of a vintage instrument, and probably as good, if not better … with vintage, who knows what problems you might find. It might be perfect, but then again…
Personally, I’d go second hand lower end at first, buy and sell on basses until you find what really works do you. At that point, I’d go “all in” 
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Yep yep thats a perfect summation
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@howard totally agree.
A distinct disadvantage about being a lefty, and it annoys the crap out of me, is I don’t have the luxury of being able to try out dozens of different instruments to see what I like. Unless I’m at Taniguchi Gakki, I pretty much have to buy. It’s another reason I’d be happy to stick with Fender and Squier. Unless, of course, I’m back in Tokyo.
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