funkypenguin

On 26/10/2023 at 21:06, BillyBass said:

Great stuff Ben.  And this must be the custom build you were waiting for, for ages!  

Thanks for the warm words!

The build itself was just over 15 months from order to completion, a lot of the waiting prior to that was all about squirrelling away the money! 

It was well worth the wait though, it's been my main bass for around 18 months now and has been everything I hoped it would be and more!

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Might be a glitch in my laptop of course 

I'm getting a little bit of that when I listen on my phone but nothing on my laptop, through monitors or through headphones....interesting, thanks for the heads up there! something to look at for when the whole project gets mixed!!

2 hours ago, Beedster said:

Outstanding playing, very well done. Sorry to say however that I'm 100% with @JakeBrownBass, the tone - at least on my computer - detracts significantly from the performance, I find it distorted in an unmusical way, with what appear to be recording artefacts in some of the upper register notes. I'll listen with headphones later, but even if it's better in that medium - and reflecting the comment from @lowdown above that if listened to on monitors I might hear it very differently - to my mind if you want people to listen to and share your work, it's important to get the recorded tone to work across devices if you can. 

 

But hey, it's not all bad, I'd kill to have the patience and skill to learn and perform those pieces. I had to play one of the suites for Grade V on a 'cello and it was a several hours per day task to learn, and even then I needed the sheet music in front of me 👍

When you say recorded artefacts, are you talking about the harmonic colouration that almost sounds like distortion? If yes, that's a characteristic of the Hellborg power amp. It's something I really like, but I get that some really don't  Noted regarding optimising the sound for different devices!

43 minutes ago, JakeBrownBass said:

Fantastic work. 

 

The recorded sound is distracting from the performance for me. It feels like i'm listening from outside of the room with how much top end is rolled off. 

Thanks  

Interesting that the sound makes you feel like you're listening outside the room, there wasn't any top end rolled off on the amp or the desk although it is quite a dark sounding bass.

Hey everyone  

Here is my complete recording of Bach's second Cello Suite in D Minor, the first part of a larger classical recording project that I'm hoping to get finished and released this year!

Any thoughts, please share them!

Hope you enjoy my work!

Bump  

In my experience? John East, Jon Shuker, Fodera, Gruvgear, Mogami and Thomann.

18 minutes ago, jimbobothy said:

… it was a shame more people were not there as it was a cracking gig. Potentially due to the time of the year or maybe too niche for some? Either way it was fantastic 👍🏼

I think time of year has something to do with it, a lot of the people I mentioned the gig to were away on holiday. Fantastic gig in any case!!

On 21/08/2022 at 17:08, martin lee said:

To everyone who had commented and enjoyed Robins story, it saddens me to tell you that recently Robin lost his fight. He truly was a gentleman and my first port of call for many bass and life discussions. I am truly saddened by his passing and heart broken for his parter and four boys… I came on here to read through his story and remember the kind soul that he was and the enjoyment in working with him on this project!!

Really sorry to hear this, met him at the North East bash and he was an absolute gentleman  

3 hours ago, Misdee said:

 

 

I like Wal basses, but they were always an idiosyncratic design. To my sensibilities they have their strengths and their weaknesses. They certainly sound unique, and I love the fact that they have such a pedigree. I would hate it if they went down the Sadowky route.

 

I wouldn't think so, they've a full order book so unless they take on and train more builders to bring the wait times down the way that Fodera did back in 2010, I don't see why they would change their business model. 

12 hours ago, 40hz said:

But, IMO, they do need to scale up production a bit more. I don't think this would affect quality or devalue the brand at all. I'm stuck in this limbo of wanting to order one, but then not being wanting to wait 4-5 years to actually receive it.

Would you be happy to pay the corresponding price increase that would come with scaling up production/employing more luthiers that can build at the same level as Paul? What is it about the long wait that's putting you off out of interest? Is it that you're worried your tastes will change in the interim? I would think that the long wait would be ideal, in that you can spec precisely what you want, no holds barred, and you've a long time to save up the bread once your deposit is paid  

Ben

7 hours ago, joe_geezer said:

I can't argue with that, its just a shame younger gifted players won't have the opportunity to carry on the Wal legacy, the Wal ownership club will continue to be only for middle aged doctors and lawyers that can barely string 2 notes together 

If they want a Wal enough and are prepared to save/wait, it's doable  I've never understood the whole lawyer/dentist stereotype, the guys I know with higher value instruments are all a. serious players and b. gig them regularly.

11 hours ago, joe_geezer said:

If Wal were to hire an extra 2 contractors, that would at least halve the waiting times, would that be a positive move or do you think even that would degrade the quality of Wals?

Those contractors would also have to be paid and fully trained to Paul's standards, so while it might impact waiting times, the prices would correspondingly increase.

Ben

I can't cover my bass on my contents insurance so I use Allianz, and they cover both my basses and my rig, and that covers everything including unattended vehicles.

Ben

Just now, dclaassen said:

Yup...I flew with mine to Germany and back..no bother at all...

Exactly. I've flown with mine to the States and back with minimal fuss. 

Had a couple of gigs with my new bass recently and I'm absolutely loving the shorter 32" scale length, kind of wish I'd switched earlier!

On 21/05/2022 at 13:44, dclaassen said:

I’m really grateful for these responses. I consider this bass to be practically irreplaceable because I would never spend what the replacement would cost, even if it did play as well. I’ve got a Peavey 5 coming in soon that is nothing special. think I’ll offer that.

My question to your colleague (were I in your position) is why has his friend taken these gigs if he isn't going to fly with his bass? My father in law owns an electrical installation company and he wouldn't dream of turning up on a job without his tools, so why do musicians feel they can turn up with no gear? I can understand needing to borrow/hire a rig if you're in another country, but a bass can be flown easily enough (I would get another seat on the plane if I were flying anywhere in Europe via budget airline). If he doesn't want to, then that's his choice and he should be looking into hiring one.

As for lending gear....I've seen what happens when people lend gear in good faith to people they don't know. Hard no from me, for my rig or any of my basses.

1 hour ago, Kev said:

Is there a conversation on Talkbass somewhere where he specifically references how the Presentation II costs Fodera over $30k to build??  Or even this mini bass at almost $17k, still taking their 10% profit pledge as true?  I haven't seen Fodera use a wood that a much cheaper luthier does not use at least as good a grade as, so wouldn't have thought this would have any bearing on price.  It seems to be all about the shops location, and how many hours it takes them to build each bass.  Still, I can't fathom the figures at 10% profit.

The shop's location, rent, overhead, materials, paying an entire team a living wage to NY standards, taking care of the entire team's health insurance (having worked in the states, this is Expensive), their pension plans and training a new generation of luthiers to take over the business once Vinny and Joey decide to call it a day since they're not getting any younger.

Having googled it, Jason talks about why the Pii costs so much in this thread, his username is JustThumpin 

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/does-your-ability-limit-what-you-would-spend.1154501/

I know you're an Alpher guy Kev, and I would be interested for them to work out just what they end up making per hour on their basses.

31 minutes ago, thodrik said:

I have similar thoughts. When I was 15 I just assumed that the more extravagant basses were constructed out of really expensive wood!

Some of the materials they use are very expensive (such as CITES certified Brazilian rosewood), others are very time consuming to work with (such as Buckeye), but it's a combination of factors that make Fodera so expensive, as Jason explained in that talkbass thread. Some people seem to think that Fodera are raking in money but met them and talked to them at some length, they're really not. 

25 minutes ago, Kev said:

I mean I'm not trying to argue or just attack Fodera, as they're not alone as you say!  But 10% profit margin, am I right in saying that it therefore as a starting price costs them ~$32k to make one of those Presentation II models?  If so, how??

I remember reading somewhere (I think it was another post by Jason) that the presentation ii takes somewhere in the region of 250 hours to build because of the hybrid design they use on it (I'm no luthier so I couldn't say why it takes so long but I'm told the entire thing is proprietary and hard to make). After they built the first Presentation II for AJ, they then calculated how long it took to build and priced it accordingly. It's worth noting that they weren't profitable for most of the companies existence and were close to going bankrupt when Jason came onboard

In the interests of full disclosure: I've a Fodera arriving tomorrow, so I'm not unbiased. Further disclosure: I also went to Warwick to get a quote on what it would cost me to have the same spec made, albeit with a couple of detailed alterations (Streamer body). Their quote came to more than I've paid for my Fodera inclusive of VAT. 

5 hours ago, Kev said:

Just madness.  And people will buy it, gleefully.

 

I don't get the travel bass trend, but I get there is a market and loads of builders are doing them now.  Saw one for $3,000 odd the other day and thought who on earth would pay that kind of price.  Little did I know.

 

It's hard to watch some luthiers struggle to make a name for themselves, build for little profit if any to get their names out there, and there's companies like this basically printing their own money, because they have a NY workshop.

 

Fodera make a 10% profit margin on any instrument they make, which is hardly printing money Kev. They pay a decent living wage to their entire team, whereas I'm pretty sure that some of the smaller luthiers such as Shuker and Alpher (once they factor in how long each instrument takes in man hours) aren't even working for minimum wage.

If you want a better breakdown of their business model, the link below is a breakdown that one of the partners (Jason) did of what goes where in terms of finances. It's not all to do with them being in NYC (although it's certainly part of it).

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/so-many-people-are-selling-their-foderas.881417/page-3#post-12628306

And since someone mentioned Alembic, a 4 string series II STARTS at $35250....

http://www.alembic.com/prod/prices.html

Hey Everyone,

For sale is my last remaining Vanderkley EXT112 cab, I've switched over to using my Hellborg rig so this is now sitting gathering dust, and with a new bass incoming any day now I'm having a mini cull of any gear that isn't earning it's keep.

It's been fairly heavily gigged since I bought it in 2013 but is still in perfect working order, although some of the carpet covering has gone a little fluffy (see photos for details!). I bought this secondhand and there was no cover. Technical specs can be viewed via the link below.

https://vanderkleyamp.com/cabinets/

I'm happy to deliver this anywhere in Greater Manchester (I'm based in Rochdale) and in West Yorkshire (where my folks live) but other than that it's collection only. These are around £600 new, I'm looking for £300.

Ben

I use the Warwick Hellborg PR40 preamp going into the Mono 500w power amp. It's stupidly heavy thanks to the transformers in the power amp but it's the best sounding amp I've yet played through, and the Preamp sounds absolutely beautiful recorded.

2 hours ago, Vin Venal said:

 

Well yeah, this is the thing - it's all also really subjective.

 

Anything much over 8lbs for me pretty much means a sitting down instrument.

Definitely a horses for courses thing with instrument weight, I've never really understood the preoccupation some players have with sub 10lb instruments but then my Warwick breaks the 11lb barrier and I've never really struggled with it even on long gigs (a 4 inch wide strap definitely helps).

If you've found your 'keeper' bass in that Squier, then thats awesome, keep it, enjoy it, play the frets off it  some people go down the custom route because they want something really specific from their instrument that isn't available off the shelf, at which point (and this is always assuming that you know precisely what you want and why you want it) you need to really trust that the builder a. knows what they're doing and b. understands what it is that you're looking for from the instrument.