for shame no status !
on a more serious semantic note though , you say 893 'brands' - just wondering how many other basschatters would include luthiers as brands?
i dont doubt they should all be included somehow but my general idea of brand would be Status, Wal, Vox, Shergold, Hayman etc. We have some great luthiers in this country but i would speculate as to how many luthiers would self identify as a brand?
as usual there are exceptions and one springs to mind - the late mr tony zemaitis - is arguable that he as an individual was a brand, long before his son set up the japanese zemaitis custom shop