I've already raised my eyebrows so high at the price of some signature guitars -- like the Gretsch $10,000 Eddie Cochran Signature -- that I thought they couldn't possibly go higher. But that was before I visited the Warwick basses site. Wanna be like Adam Clayton or Bootsy Collins? Warwick wants to help you by producing two signature models -- the Bootsy Collins Star signature basses and the Adam Clayton Reverso. With Warwick's rep for quality, I'm sure these two basses will be well made and sound fine. The Clayton Reverso looks pretty snazzy:
http://www.warwick.de/modules/produkte/p...44763&cl=EN

But with its orange or black stars an flames -- yes, flames -- the Bootsy model looks like a California street rod collided with a playing saucer.

http://www.warwick.de/modules/produkte/p...44762&cl=EN

OK _- so beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Now, the prices: $12.500 for the Clayton, $12,000 for the Boots (and the Warwick pricelist calls him "Boots').

Step away from your keyboard, please:

AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGHH!

Are they insane?

So your choices" 1 Clayton or Bootsy bass OR
24 Fender Squier basses OR
12 USA Made Laklands OR
Roughly 10 Fender Custom Shop or Rickenbacker basses OR
Two Hyundais OR
12,000 99-cent meals at Burger King.

I have lived too long.

`

Well, thaz list price. Street $$ is prolly
"only" $9500. Part of it is just rampant
stoopiddity, but it's largely due to taxes
and currency rates. In the USA a $9500
Warwick is 6X the price of a StingRay or
a P-Deluxe, which is simply not rational.
But in the Eurozone, that same Warwick
is only 2X or 2.5X the price of that same
StingRay or P-Deluxe, in the same shop.

2X is still crazy ? All in the wallet of the
beholder I spoze. After all, EBMM offers
some non-signature, non-limited-edition
basses that're priced about 2X vs a Ray,
and Fender also offers several signature
or VRI basses priced about 2X vs "stock"
USA Deluxe P or J basses.

And then, there's Alembic ! IIRC their
Stanley Clark models are $12k STREET !
And some of their non-signatue models
are also almost that much.

Notice that I've not touched on custom
luthery Exotic Wood Works of Art. After
all, what price rare art ? I've compared
only "manufactured" basses with same.

`

Street price of almost $10K? Apparently the streets really are paved with gold. My price range is more like poorly maintained asphalt.

LOL. You bass guys really crack me up.

`

Hey, I work for the Dept of Tranportation.
A mile of Interstate Highway is into the
7-figger range. Depends on the number
of lanes. Traditionalists believe that four
is enuf for anybody, but many of the new
highways have six or even eight. Sounds
kinda familiar, no ?

Ax-wise, I try to stick to 3-figgers, and if
I buy one thaz barely put a toe over the
line into 4-figger pricing then, to me, it's
an Exotic Ax.

`

Really ? OK, $10k maybe ain't much for
a grand piano ... You're a piano guy ?

`

For $10K, Adam Clayton should come to my gig and hold the bass for me. Or buy one for me because I'm stupid enough to consider spending $10K. I imagine that this bass will sell only to collectors or goofballs who don't play but simply want it 'cause it's expensive. I remember someone saying that the whole $5K+ market is aimed at lawyres and professionalswho don't play except occasionally and just want to have things. I don't understand the whole collector's mentality. If I can't play it, what's good is it to me? Other than to resell someday.

`

Yeah. $5k ++ fancy firewood is about possessions.
However, if those with that much loose change will
spend some supporting the arts, let's not begrudge
them some functioning musical sculpture. Where do
cool used basses come from, anyway ? Somebody's
gotta ante up to be the first owner !

But I really do bleeb the $1k to $3k "vintage beater
ax" thing is about nostalgia. It's about casting your
memory back to when minimum wage was a living,
even without gig money. The rent was split with so
many roomies that it was negligible. 10 gal of gas
cost 1 hour's work at washing dishes, there was no
HIV and your dick was always ready for some kicks.

If you can spare a couple grand to revisit that, it's
a bargain - "priceless" as they say ... Plus, such an
ax is not so overly precious that you'd fear to gig it,
and if it gets a few more nicks and bumps on stage,
who's ever gonna notice the difference anyways ?

Personally, I'll leave those basses to whoever needs
that trip. But I can dig why some folks play them. If
OTOH, it's not about a $2K vintage player but a very
specific year, color etc with TOTALLY ORIGINAL parts
right down to every screw and blob of solder and so
it goes for $12,500 ... thaz NOT in the least related
to the thing I claim to understand ! !


`

`

Feeling obliged to a bit of "full disclosure":

I regularly gig basses costing a bit over $1k.
Thaz for used or deep clearance discount price.
and the most I've ever paid is $1300, did that
3 times IIRC. 2 of those play on endpins but
are not doghouse URBs. My URB cost $250 !

The other one is ... drumMMmmb rRRrollll ...
a limited edition Warwick ! Speak of the devil
and up he jumps. Acoarst mine never had any
$10k street price, being a version of Corvette.


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I'd emphasise that it's a wood and electronics
variant, not a cosmetic ltd edition ! To my ear
I've got a sound I couldn't get from a Fender,
EBMM, GnL, etc for about same price as those
brands ... and it's a very light, comfy, easy to
play and beautifully built bass ! I just cannot
fathom what an additional $7k is gonna get
you from the same builder ! ? !


`

Yeah -- I'm sure plenty of players think I'm nuts for having a USA Lakland, which retails for around $4500 now. But I didn't pay that. It was more like $900 with two trades of basses I didn't play anymore. And I paid $1300 for a Steinberger l2 in 19821 when they first came out. You could still snag a Fender or Gibson USA made for around %400 then. It's about sound and playability for me -- looks come in third. If I can find a player/sounder in the $300 range, I buy it, which explains why I have an OLP and Hofner Icon. My second bass back in 1966 was a Gagliano P bass shape with PUPS, tuning gears, hardware & electronics that matched the Hofner Beatle bass. It was not a bad sounding bass, either. Within a year I had picked up a used '59 P for $150. Like to see that happen now.

`
I can still recall an odd incident concerning the
$600 Squier jazz geetar that my bro absolutely
loves. He was knockin 'em dead one night, and
I was at the bar, lizznin. Some young stranger
sitting next to me excused himself from his SO
to go up and check things out right up by the
band. I didn't hear all what he said to her, but
it was all enthusiastic excited talk BEFORE he
went up close to the band.

When he returned, he was in a different mode
.... silent, almost sullen. I am quite sure that
he'd intended that my bro's cool performance
was spozed to be his own excuse to bust their
budget to buy himself whatever 'exotic' brand
of geetar my bro was playing. The "bad news"
[about which he was so silent and sullen] was
prolly that he already had a "better" ax than
the Squier my bro was playing.


`

Snobbery in all forms. There's also the reverse snobbery of players who use boutique basses being dissed by those who prefer junkers. You'd never have seen a punk rocker using an Alembic back in the '70s. I still hear people say that Paul McCartney used a crappy Hofner. But, for a bass that cost roughly $100 when he bought it, the Hofner sounds great. Sound is what is should be about, not looks.

`

Maybe I'm one of those to whom you refer.
I'm specifically meaning my remarks, over
time, about the "worship cult" that the
Hofner viola bass has gathered.

Knowing I'm surely repeating myself, I'll
try to keep it really short:

One day not-yet-sir Paul was suddenly in
need of a bass guitar, having drawn the
short straw. His choices were limited by
his wallet and his left-handedness. The
Hofner was more affordable in the UK cuz
the German economy was in worse shape.
So Paul bought the pig-in-a-poke, made
it perform, and later switched to a Rick.

An innocuous enuf short tale of the early
years of the Beatles ... except that it's
also an explanation of why the Hofner
viola bass is now "worshipped". Worship
Paul's ability, talent, and perserverence
if you choose, but not that toidy little ax.

I think whaz really weird is that Hofner
also still makes the "Club Bass" which is
the same bass but in a more user friendly
shape. Both cost about the same, but the
iconic nature of "The Beatle Bass" leaves
the "Club" in near obscurity. This warns
me that players of the Hofner viola can't
argue that "It's Really About the Sound" !


`

I agree that if Paul had played Vox, like Bill Wyman, most of us would have wanted a Vox. Or if he'd played a Sears Silvertone, we'd have wanted that. Somehow I avoided the Hofner cult for almost 45 years. In my little corner of Rock, the Fender P bass was king. My first bass was a singlecut Kay from Spiegels. It lasted about a year until I bought Gagliano P bass-shaped thang that was made by Hofner -- had Hofner PUPs and the same control panel as the violin bass but on a P bass shape and 4-in-line headstock. Next bass was a used '59 P that I played exclusively till I got Rickenbacker 4001 in 1972. The Rick was Chris Squire worship but I went back to the P after my Yes-clone band broke up. After that I had a Gibson Ripper & a Steinberger L2. Now I'm back to a sorta P bass with the Lakland. But I do have a Hofner Icon as Paul worship. I plan to try a Dingwall Combustion when I'm in Florida next month.

`

While I certainly was not in that shop when Paul
bought that bass, I have a strong suspicion that
if someone else had drawn the short straw, they
would have visited the same shop for the same
reason and come away with a Hofner Club Bass
instead of the Viola.

Seems reasonable that both were most likely on
hand and both at the same affordable-in-a-hurry
price. The Club is an assymetrical design, while
the Viola is symmetrical ... and Paul is a lefty ...
and Hofner could make lefty axes more cheaply
from a symmetrical design ... and .....

So you see what I'm thinking ? That if George or
John had drawn the short straw, then the Hofner
Club Bass would be the iconic "Beatle Bass" and
we'd have lotsa cheap copies to choose from and
Hofner's Viola Bass would've followed the rest of
the viola mutants into obscurity.

So thaz my take on the Beatles, the post WWII
European economy, them ugly little basses, and
left-handedness. YMMV.


`