Spoombung

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='461151' date='Apr 13 2009, 12:38 PM']I don't know what you're talking about if I'm honest.[/quote] On second thoughts that was a bit obscure and vaguely ridiculous.

[quote name='wesfinn' post='461209' date='Apr 13 2009, 01:52 PM']Hello all. As chief in charge of the bass department here at GAK, I feel I have to stand up for my humble little shop. Also, it may have been myself who started this all off with the slighty off-the-cuff "conservative" remark! Sorry to anyone who feels offended by the comment, I assure you that no harm was meant. Mark Packham GAK Bass Dept.[/quote] Thanks for the reply! Well I thought you were extremely polite and informative, which (let's be honest) is not always the case in guitar shops - so no offense! As BigRedX says; a jazz bass in a posh frock does not an unusual bass make - so I welcome any deviation from the Fender and Warwick model even if you could get one-offs from Japan, Europe or the US. I'm sure your mighty wall of Fenders will remain impregnable.

[quote name='ARGH' post='461125' date='Apr 13 2009, 12:03 PM']No,its from a bunch of f***ing morons... Bass is moving on from just 'Bass'...understand that.[/quote] I thought [i]Noble Savages[/i] were "a[i] bunch of f***ing morons...[/i]" as you put it, albeit with Rousseauian pretensions...

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='461072' date='Apr 13 2009, 10:41 AM']What i really don't like is people who actually seem to criticize me for having a bass with more than 4 strings.[/quote] I'm sure you're talking about a small minority of [i]noble savages[/i].

[quote name='BigRedX' post='461056' date='Apr 13 2009, 10:23 AM']+1 As I said earlier GAK don't see the whole market for either guitarists or bassists. On the whole they only stock what they know will sell. Those looking for something different soon learn that they will need to look elsewhere, and because looking elsewhere is easier than ever they rarely come back.[/quote] Of course, but if you remove choice from your average store like GAK then how is the customer to know? It would be nice to have a variety of instruments in your local store in the £300 - £700 bracket without having to resort to visiting a specialist where you have to ring a bell on a closed door - like a sex shop. I'm just thinking how it relates to new, unusual, mass-produced or small production designs.

[quote name='ARGH' post='461052' date='Apr 13 2009, 10:18 AM']Bottom line,if you are happy WELL DONE If not...... THERES A WORLD OF STUFF TO TRY![/quote] Except not in GAK. There was a wall of Fenders, a wall of Warwicks and a smaller wall of Ibanez's. Oh, and there were two Deans.

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='460529' date='Apr 12 2009, 01:07 PM']To me, bass is about holding down the low end (my opinion only), and for that I don't want anything more than 4 strings and passive electronics.[/quote] That's charming, but unfortunately reminds me of Flann OBrien's [i]The Poor Mouth[/i] with the Gaels complaining about how misunderstood they are and the sheer poverty of their lot.

[quote name='dlloyd' post='461040' date='Apr 13 2009, 10:02 AM']There's only [i]so far[/i] you can redesign a guitar without losing functionality.[/quote] Yes. If bass designers aren't careful they'll end up designing the instrument like a guitar ...... with 6 strings! Can you imagine it?!

[quote name='soopercrip' post='461038' date='Apr 13 2009, 10:00 AM']Even if the badge is Lada, you still want an Aston Martin, but drive a focus... [/quote] Well, it's a clapped-out Astra in my case but I shall soon be in receipt of the Aston Martin of custom basses, hopefully.

[quote name='Hamster' post='461035' date='Apr 13 2009, 09:55 AM']I'm thinking about going into GAK to see if they do these conservative basses:- But I think a spalted maple top would look better, and the body bindings should be Neodymium to save weight, and I don't fancy that standard Rotosound string so I'll have to change that. I'm also worried about neck bend so maybe I should ask for twin carbon fiber trussrods and also put some LED's on it so I dont get lost on a dark stage? Any more thoughts on how to improve it - or keep it as it is and be a bit more organic? [/quote] Ah, I see your irony, but I feel I've got to point out that design doesn't simply mean attaching bells and whistles - which would clearly be impossible on your primitive design above (no hooks)

[quote name='soopercrip' post='461001' date='Apr 13 2009, 08:10 AM']I reckon we are only conservative with the contents of our wallet, Though we all lust after the Vigier, Shuker, Overwater,Sadowsky etc, the income dictates the Yamaha, CIJ fender, Warwick rockbass, skyline etc and I think 90% of us are content with that. Andy[/quote] I'm not sure the economic argument is that strong Andy, given that some Fenders can match the prices of the models you list - and how would you explain the common practise of commissioning a custom build and ending up with a slightly shinier replica Fender?

[quote name='dlloyd' post='461023' date='Apr 13 2009, 09:20 AM']Flying Vs came out in the 1950s, and the crazier spiky BC Rich designs aren't that new, several of them going back to the 1970s (there's a picture of Roy Orbison rocking out on a BC Rich Mockingbird somewhere).[/quote] ... hence my swipe at conservative guitarists!

[quote name='Eight' post='460546' date='Apr 12 2009, 01:38 PM']I think its probably true. However, this may just be a population thing. More guitars sold + more guitarists means that a smaller percentage of people buying unusual instruments results in a greater number of buyers. Manufacturers seem much more able to try new things with guitars and generate enough sales to survive the experiment.[/quote] This is a good example of the evolutionary theory of design that pervades here on basschat - a greater population produces more anomalies and variants!

[quote name='BigRedX' post='460538' date='Apr 12 2009, 01:15 PM']Places like GAK simply don't see that side of the bass buying market. If you are interested in instruments that aren't simply Fenders or their clones then I learned a long, long time ago that shops like GAK simply didn't stock the things I wanted to try. It used to be worth popping in every month or so to see if they had picked up anything unusual in p/x but now eBay has killed that off.[/quote] I remember an old secondhand guitar shop in Ipswich (run by a guy called Ivan) back in the 70's. It was a delight because you never knew what would be there when you visited - and of course you could pick the instrument up and [i]play[/i] it - rather than just look at it on a screen.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='461003' date='Apr 13 2009, 08:31 AM']I don't see guitarists being particularly adventurous - It's usually Strat, Tele or Les Paul.[/quote] Well the shop had flying V's, and and crazy axes covered in flames - compared to a giant wall of Fenders for the humble, conservative © bass player. Oh, hang on a minute ... that [i]does[/i] sound conservative on behalf of the guitarists!

[quote name='51m0n' post='460924' date='Apr 13 2009, 12:45 AM']GAK is a weird old shop. In short I dont think bassists are conservative (nothing like the way guitarists are) but the shops are extremely conservative![/quote] A-HA!

As some of you may know I've got a [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=38531"]bass build[/url] going on at the moment and I've quite naturally been fantasizing in my own self-deluded way about a nation of bass players all enjoying the benefits a mass-produced version of the [i]Spoombung[/i] bass might bring. Yesterday I was in Brighton ( on a little Easter break) and in the GAK store I overhead a conversation between the shop assistant in the bass section and a customer. The customer was looking for some unusual bass (couldn't quite catch the model) which was obviously issued some years ago. The shop assistant replied "Yes, that was a wonderful bass but just too unusual for our customers who tend to want the same old stuff year in, year out. We couldn't sell them. Bass players are [b]VERY conservative[/b] in their requirements and unfortunately we have to cater for their [b]conservative outlook[/b]". That seems rather worrying for anybody with a new bass design... if you know what I mean. So my question to you is; is it worth spending thousands designing a bass (that looks like an upside down octupus) for mass production given [b]bass players appear to be VERY, VERY, VERY CONSERVATIVE?[/b]

Saw them with the Dirty Projectors at the Scala. Thought they were fantastic. Got to talk to the 'big-haired drummer'... who either couldn't hear me very well or wasn't in control of his faculties.

Where's PINK on your list?

Great Stuff.

[quote name='steve' post='459112' date='Apr 10 2009, 10:39 AM']Here's the first pic from Alan of the neck blank. Check out the flame on the sycamore and the maple B)[/quote] That looks like perfection. I think you should just stop right there and not bother with the rest of it.

I bring you more news from a windowless workshop in windy Witham. Bolts. Yes bolts. And holes too. Wanna see 'em? Of course you do: I can't help thinking the bass looks like some kind of sad, beached, marine creature groping in the sand in these pics.

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='453854' date='Apr 4 2009, 08:49 AM']Coming along nicely, although I really only pop in for the Essex refresh. I lie, this is my Essex (just to show the other side of the County).[/quote] Oh, c'mon now. You've just cut and pasted those scenes from nearby Suffolk!

lovely looking neck on that bass. I've never played a Shuker. Are they any good?

[quote name='7string' post='452730' date='Apr 2 2009, 08:49 PM']Great to see the progress on is unusual bass [/quote] How are you getting on with that monster Alan built you?