Just as you haven’t had a Yamaha in your hands, I haven’t had an HB in mine. But I sure own a Sire U5, as well as an M5 and a V8. Each is excellent.
I’ll give HB the benefit of the doubt, but from I’ve seen and read, I seriously can’t fathom an HB being in the same realm as Sires. That said, I’m reasonably sure your mileage (kilometer-age?) will vary, but, oh well, that’s just the way it goes. 
It really is.
I had the Sire U5 here, and I really liked natural finish much better than than any colour that HB provided.
But in the end I chose the HB … as you very well know from your favourite thread 
I had a second decision point, where I could have gotten the U5 - when I decided to get a fretless bass.
I decided against it (again). HB is half the price at a similar quality level. With all the mods I made (including making it fretless) it’s about the same price as the U5 - but MUCH better!
This weekend I stumbled over a bass player while playing in the park. He owns more than 20 basses (at least that what he tells his wife, it could be more), some very expensive.
He fumbled my bass a little and told me that my (modded) HB (Ronin) plays like a boutique bass, whatever that means…
Maybe the Thomastik Jazz Flats helped
I had similar positive feedback about my fretless HB a few months ago - where it was compared to a 2000€++ custom fretless (though I am not 100% happy myself with my fretless myself).
I heared that HB can be purchased much easier in the US now … maybe give it a try, just to prove me wrong? You can always send it back…
No, thanks. I have no need to prove anyone wrong. Happy playing.
I don’t think there’s any need to compare brands in terms of wondering if Bentons would be good beginner basses. Much like any brand, some would be and some would not. That’s fine. Per reputation they are certainly generally above the quality floor for an acceptable first instrument.
It might surprise you but I would not recommend any of my Yamahas for beginners - they are either too expensive, too rare or need slight mods to make beginner friendly.
None of that detracts from their value
Ah, the van must be a Sweetwater location.
The BB234 was my first bass and it’s great as a starter. Easy recommendation
I’m left handed but learned right on bass.
My rationale, apart from not wanting to limit my future bass choices was this:
My left hand usually does the more intricate nuanced things i.e. writing. So the fretting hand does more of that kind of thing.
I have no idea if my theory holds up as my sample size is one and that’s not enough data points.
Absolutely, IMO one of the very best entry level instruments, along with the TRBX304, which is what I started with.
For my current instruments, here is why I would not recommend them:
SBV-550 & SBV-800MF: Relatively rare, expensive, and have slight neck dive until you change the tuning machines. Otherwise feel great and are really playable though.
BB734A: Like a much better BB234, so no issues at all with feel or playability, but is too expensive an instrument until you know what you really like. Also, a little more complicated as an active 3-band/passive tone control bass.
BB-VIII: Actually wouldn’t be a bad choice except it’s pretty rare, only made for one year in 1985, and has a big chunky vintage P-bass like neck with a 43.5mm nut.
Likewise, my guitar - a Revstar Standard - while great is not one I would suggest due to cost. Beginners should instead try a Revstar Element if they want one.
Also a lefty and this is 100% my rationale for playing a righty bass
Acoustic Bass Guitar: “People will talk about getting a bass they can just pick up and hear without plugging in, bring to the campfire, take to the sing-a-long jam session, etc. There are basses that are built like giant acoustic guitars, but are actually basses. IGNORE THIS.“
I concur. I have one, but in my defense I didn’t buy it for myself, my wife got it for me when I said I wanted to learn to play bass and I didn’t have the heart to exchange it for an electric, so I did my first 4 months on it. It got the job done but all the points made by @Gio are spot on. One thing I do like about it: we have a fifth wheel and we travel semi-frequently in that so I bring the ABG along so I can practice while out of town and it works great. I did have an opportunity to jam with a neighboring RV’er who played acoustic guiltar (6 string) on a trip last month and you definitely could NOT hear me so there’s that…But it keeps my practice routine going even when on vacation.
Great article.
My only points of critique:
I’m normally a fan of putting the “What TO do” section before the “What NOT to do” section. I think it works decently in this case, since the focus is on making things simple, and you’ve got a nice link right to the simple bullet points for those who want that.
I might want to see a quick summary at the start that briefly lays out the best practices as laid out later in the article:
“If you want to skip the rest of this article: The best thing you can do is set a budget (including $200-$400 for all the other gear), grab a buddy, go to a local store (ideally small and independent), find a 4-string guitar that you think looks cool and is made by a reputable name brand, and check it to see that it feels and sounds good.”
In your list of trusted brands - you mention Sire, but don’t put the logo up. I’d like to see the Sire logo. If you have to bump something, I’d probably bump the Epiphone logo because it’s a Gibson subsidiary like Squier and Sterling. (Or drop Fender, Ernie Ball, and Gibson in favor of the logos for Squier, Sterling, and Epiphone as the more affordable, and less already known.)
I think there’s a lot you got right in here. The tone is entertaining and the graphics pacing is good.
For the 5+ string I’d encourage mirroring Josh’s video. He says something like “if you have extensive experience with guitar or another string instrument and the music you want to play needs 5 strings that might be the right place to start.”
I started with a five string and think it was the right decision for me, but I played violin already. I bought a 4 string bb434 as my second bass and the only thing I don’t like about it is wishing I got the 5 string version.
Another lefty chiming in on point #8:
I’ve got experience both ways. I was a self-taught teenage bassist playing lefty, stopped playing for ~25 years, and now I’m a B2B graduate playing righty.
I think a lot of the desire to play a left-handed bass is simply “I’m a lefty, and left-handed basses exist, so I should get a left-handed bass.” Not all of it of course. Some left handed folks genuinely cannot abide playing right-handed. But a great many can and do. Heck, Josh is left handed.
If you’re new to string instruments then both your left and right hands have to learn a new skill. Does it really matter which hand learns what? Both of them will need to develop dexterity, speed, rhythm, and accuracy.
That all said I think there are a few really great reasons to start with a lefty bass:
And just to reiterate that first one: “because I want to” is totally a valid enough reason.
I struggled (and failed) for years to learn strings lefty, absolutely convinced that was how I should play… without ever having tried righty.
I was buying a ukulele and talking to the shop guy about switching the strings around and he suggested I try playing it righty for a while first, that maybe fretting with my left would fit me better. He was correct.
Which meant buying a whole passel of righty instruments and giving my lefties to another left-handed player.
GAS to the max!
Totally!
I travel with my little acoustic Ubass and love it, I did a few gigs/mini-tours with a band that carried a Taylor acoustic bass for quick acoustic rehearsals…
It’s all better than nothing, but it’s a bummer when you can’t hear yourself!
Yep - a mistake to fix. I had Gibson and Epiphone in one line, but they got two logo spots. Appreciate the keen eyes!
Nice quote pulled!
For all the left-handed stuff - I was blown away to find out Josh was a lefty that learned right handed.
That’s wild to me.
I stayed out of that one, as I have no experience with it.
Ha!
Great summary, and good TLDR idea.
I appreciate all the feedback!
Y’all are great.
What an awesome article, I wish it’s made into a video. It’d be so cool!
The article is well thought out and laid out in the bitesize easy reading and more importantly easy to absorb and retain wisdom.
As someone who acquires and let go a few more instruments than the average musicians, I can really appreciate you airing out all of the secrets and the art of buying “preowned” wisdom, 
I’ve experienced almost everything you mentioned on the article except for the DeathWound and SpicyTunaWound strings, I know the ladder is a WestCoast thing but I’ve yet tried it.
What I’d love to share…
From buy in store and bass buying buddy.
I did that with one of our member Toby @T_dub. It’s one of his Local Shop. Wonderful NOS MusicMan Cutlass bass. The guy plugged it into a Genzler Amp, which sounds so wonderful, that ended up costing me additional Grand a week later, so be aware that your $300 potential bass can sound so awesome when you plug it in to a $1500 amp,
From buying used
There are gems out there, one of those “my grandpa had it in the attic for a few decades” kind of once in a lifetime deal but the chance you’d run into that is both Fat and Slim at the same time.
Most of the time it’s just people wants to get rid of it and price it for a quick sale. Best deals come from angry girlfriend or wife who put them up on a yard sale I scored a $2500 bass for $500, I could have gone lower because she said “I don’t know, make me an offer”. When she immediately accepted “it’s Yours”. I knew it was too high, 
Thank You so much @Gio for such a well done master class of buying your first bass.
Another lefty who plays bass righty chiming in.
In my case, i learned to play cello as a youth and played through college. There is no such thing as a lefty cello (that i know of), and when you learn in the school orchestra, you learn the same as everyone else. So i was already used to using my left hand for “fretting” (in quotes because it isn’t considered fretting on cello).
I also agree with @Barney that it seems like you would want to use your more skilled hand for the more complex task (fretting)
I bought one HB and it was the only bass I had that was unplayable out of the box. I had to change some of the parts to make it work. So my experience is different.
@Gio I think this is an excellent article. One thing that might help is to boil things down to a cheat sheet - give a one page list of Ignore this (pickups, # of frets, etc.) Don’t do this, do this, and buy this. Would save a lot of scrolling for new people.
