Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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JSett
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Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by JSett » Wed Jun 02, 2021 11:03 pm

So, as my hands get older and more painful through work (I'm a tattooer, so my hands go through a lot of weird vibration and stretching every day) I'm considering finally making the move to a shortscale bass.

I don't play bass much, but I like to have one around for noodling around on, writing and occasional subbing duties. I'm avoiding newer instruments where possible where I can afford it and vintage Mustang basses are pretty expensive over here in the UK. However, 70s Musicmasters are still pretty cheap (£7-900). Almost always in black or OLY for some reason, never any of the fun colours.

There's no places remotely nearby that seem to ever get these (and I'd pay a shop premium for that pleasure) so it would likely be through evilbay or reverb that I get one. What should I be looking for or expect? I almost exclusively play in EB, with occasional drop-D. Can the shorter scale handle this? Is it going to feel like a 'toy'?

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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by mgeek » Wed Jun 02, 2021 11:46 pm

I had one of these for years and it was 'okay'. I bought it for similar reasons to you, it said Fender on the headstock, was cheap (200 quid in the late 90s) and short scale, but it was almost supernaturally dead sounding, very heavy, thick poly on the neck, just not that exciting. 7-900 quid seems like an awful lot of money to pay for one imo, but maybe I'm a tightwad.

Also, I thought mine had been modded but turns out they all came like this - with the exact same pickup the guitar version had, with six magnets. ;D

There are a lot of cool sixties options with short scale basses if that sorta thing floats your boat

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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by JSett » Thu Jun 03, 2021 12:49 am

mgeek wrote:
Wed Jun 02, 2021 11:46 pm
I had one of these for years and it was 'okay'. I bought it for similar reasons to you, it said Fender on the headstock, was cheap (200 quid in the late 90s) and short scale, but it was almost supernaturally dead sounding, very heavy, thick poly on the neck, just not that exciting.

Also, I thought mine had been modded but turns out they all came like this - with the exact same pickup the guitar version had, with six magnets. ;D

There are a lot of cool sixties options with short scale basses if that sorta thing floats your boat
Yeah, I've heard they vary wildly - like all 70s Fenders. I've thought about other brands but I'm a bit of Fender fanboi really and would like to keep it in the family.

Plus, I can pretend I'm Tina Weymouth (just less attractive and the wrong gender 😂)

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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by zhivago » Thu Jun 03, 2021 1:44 am

I haven't played a Musicmaster of Mustang bass, but I've played a Gibson SG shape one...the EB-0, which is also short-scale, and it felt a bit like a toy compared to a Precision or Musician bass.

Having said that, the "rubbery" feel was lots of fun to play coming from a guitarist's point of view...it was definitely easier on the hands. :)
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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by Flurko » Thu Jun 03, 2021 1:53 am

Given how cool mustang basses are (see this and this), and how much I love playing my Squier Bronco, I suppose the Musicmaster Bass will be pretty nice.

(Nick Campbell's Musicmaster is pretty cool, but the pickup situation on his is pretty peculiar)

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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Thu Jun 03, 2021 5:24 am

I honestly think £400-£500 tops is a more realistic price range. Saw one today on my local Gumtree at £1150 (I think), which had been stripped, therefore a refin, and was from that late '70s era they all seem to be from over here.

I would predict the seller will be stuck with it till Hell freezes over, but for the fact that there's one born every minute. I had a job shifting my '78, in a rare colour, at an asking price of £425 just a few years ago, so one can only wonder what has happened in the meantime to make these so desirable all of a sudden.

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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by JSett » Thu Jun 03, 2021 5:35 am

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 5:24 am
I honestly think £400-£500 tops is a more realistic price range. Saw one today on my local Gumtree at £1150 (I think), which had been stripped, therefore a refin, and was from that late '70s era they all seem to be from over here.

I would predict the seller will be stuck with it till Hell freezes over, but for the fact that there's one born every minute. I had a job shifting my '78, in a rare colour, at an asking price of £425 just a few years ago, so one can only wonder what has happened in the meantime to make these so desirable all of a sudden.
I think I saw that stripped one. Utter madness.

Everything old has basically doubled from what I can tell. Competition Mustang? Was £1100-ish, now £2k. 70's Jaguar? Was £1800, now £3000. Custom colour 60's Jazzmaster? well, fuck your mother...was £4.5k, now at the low low price of £8k+

This seems to be across the board and all within the last 2 years (and even more so during Covid).

I would say, considering a brand new high-end Squier bass is about £400(?) and a Fender Player Mustang bass is, what, £550 new?... then maybe £800 is kinda reasonable for a vintage US-built model. Over a grand, no fucking way. Theres a shop in Paris trying to sell a Daphne Blue '74 for something mental like £2200 at the moment hahahahhhahahaahahahahhahaha get fucked.
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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:04 am

I've been considering a short scale bass for a while now, and I would consider that Musicmaster bass.

I would never want that to be my only bass.

Bear in mind I've never owned one, so I hardly know what I'm talking about.

My understanding is that the Musicmaster bass has a six pole single coil pickup there, so basically a Strat pickup instead of a four pole bass pickup. That's not ideal in and of itself, frankly, and the noise floor that I would expect from a single single-coil pickup would annoy the hell out of me.

I feel like the Musicmaster would be fun, but ultimately not at all versatile in any way for either recording (which I do) or live playing (which I don't).

It was an entry level, cheap, student instrument made up of leftover parts. This doesn't mean that it can't be very useful in some cases or fun, but to me "fun" is the main thing that it would be. I would like one, but I wouldn't make an awful lot of effort for one.

Now, I wanted to mention that this is, of course, only my outlook on these, yours could of course be much different.
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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by infiniteposse » Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:30 am

My 2 cents would be that buying any 70's Fender is a bit of a crap shoot, let alone one of the student models. I'd personally opt for something you could reliably count on as a well-playing instrument from the get go. The JMJ Mustang basses are really well put together, feel great and sound awesome. You could buy new and even return it if it didn't work out for you. I am biased as I own one and like it a lot.

Apologies as this is off the "vintage" track, but this is what I'd do in your situation.
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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by sam » Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:50 am

I have a yellowed out ‘78 that I love. Plays comfortably and sounds good enough (to me at least) for home noodling and occasional jamming with friends.

Mine was a Craigslist pickup just before prices started to get a little wild. If I hadn’t grabbed it I would’ve been seriously considering the JMJ mustang bass.

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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by GreenKnee » Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:51 am

I've owned a 74 Musicmaster bass for nearly ten years now and I've always loved it. Toured for a few years with it, thrown it around and it always comes back for more. I use flatwound strings that really bring in the punch, and just recently replaced the stock pickup with a Mojo Pickups 4-pole version.

If you can play one before you buy I would recommend that as 70s Fenders can be a bit iffy, but if you click with it you'll love it!

With the stock 6-pole pickup I used a Sansamp Bass Driver on all the time to tighten things up and bring in more low end

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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by CaptainCrunch » Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:19 am

If I may, I'd suggest maybe getting a used Squier Bronco bass - I'd pay more for a pair of jeans then I've ever spent on one, and it's even got the ultra-authentic 6-pole Strat pickup!

One of those, maybe with a cheap rail pickup, and you'll know if short-scale bass is for you. And you can sell it for what you paid.

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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by PJazzmaster » Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:50 am

No reason for not buying one at a good price.
With some patience you should still be able to find one for far less than 1000 GBP
I got my late 70‘s MM bass via OSG when demand was low and they were still cheap (usually below 500 EUR). Mine had a refinished body. I found an original mid 70s daphne blue body at some point. Very greened out Daphne Blue :freako: . It‘s perfect now.
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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by JSett » Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:59 am

PJazzmaster wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:50 am
No reason for not buying one at a good price.
With some patience you should still be able to find one for far less than 1000 GBP
I got my late 70‘s MM bass via OSG when demand was low and they were still cheap (usually below 500 EUR). Mine had a refinished body. I found an original mid 70s daphne blue body at some point. Very greened out Daphne Blue :freako: . It‘s perfect now.
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Well, daaaaaamn, that's glorious. Please sell it to me hahahahah
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Re: Talk me into/out of buying an old Musicmaster Bass

Post by GreenKnee » Thu Jun 03, 2021 12:31 pm

CaptainCrunch wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:19 am
If I may, I'd suggest maybe getting a used Squier Bronco bass - I'd pay more for a pair of jeans then I've ever spent on one, and it's even got the ultra-authentic 6-pole Strat pickup!

One of those, maybe with a cheap rail pickup, and you'll know if short-scale bass is for you. And you can sell it for what you paid.
I'd second this! I've played a couple of Broncos and must say they pretty much get all the pros of the Musicmaster bass for a crazy cheap price. Plus they do one in shell pink :?

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