BassApprentice Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Here's a question for those of you who have commissioned/owned custom made basses. Since there are so many luthiers making incredible instruments around the world, how did you choose? A lot of them do tweaks on the classics and some do very individual shapes and styles. When you commissioned yours what was it that drew you to that particular luthier? Since you never really get to try and fully custom bass before it's built it's a bit of a gamble. Was it the body shapes? A specific feature of that bass? The reputation or recommendation from someone for that luthier? The price? I'm not in the market for a custom bass (no where near enough coppers in the piggy bank) just a question that's been on my mind recently Look forward to hearing what made you take the plunge and enter the waiting room! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Interesting, in a few minutes I'm off to Cream City Music to pick up my 1951 reissue MIJ Fender P Bass. I got a call from Ron indicating he completed my set up. The guy is great, heard about him through my bass teacher. Cream City is a fantastic top notch provider of up scale new and vintage guitars, basses and amps. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 I've never been in the position to order a custom bass. I'm quite intrigued by the extended range instruments made by Letts basses though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 I ordered one from Sei having looked at the market and not been overly impressed with the offerings. MP told me..and showed me, that he would make a far better bass for the money, which at that time was about £1500. He was correct and altho now his prices are nearly double..and his lead time around a year, I'd still go there for a custom bass. His build and his workmanship make sure you end up with a unqiue personal custom bass which really works. Altho he will fine tune his designs with thing like neck profile etc etc ... he has been doing it for long enough to know and advise what works. The biggest single mistake in my book is picking unknown combination woods, but since all are active... this is less of a problem. However, I think the bass HAS to work passively as well, and by that I mean it should great passive and not HAVE to rely of the Elecs 'saving' it..which it probably wont 100% IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Vincent Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Never needed or wanted a custom made instrument, but I've had more than a few repairs done. I chose my luthier because she's really really good and lives just up the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Jon Shuker did an incredibly good price putting a fretless board on a previous bass (not sure why I chose him for that - reputation, and quote probably), so when I wanted something that wasn't available off the shelf he seemed like the obvious choice. Glad that I did, and one day I'll get him to do the next one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 I went with Maruszczyk. I have gone through a basses that have been good but not quite right for me, and often it is down to the neck. I loved the sound of the ACG but the neck is really not for me, and there aren't really many options there. It is hard to get options on necks. Then I almost bought a Flea Jazz bass, which would have been fairly stupid as it has a string missing. They are almost £1k for a mexican bass with clear quality issues, but I do love the neck on the Geddy Lee jazz (in dimensions). Ultimately the necks that work for me are the Ibanez 5 string necks, so when I saw that you could customise the neck of the Maruszczyk I was fairly sold on the idea. it remains to be seen if if is a good idea, as if I don't like it it is quite a large loss on something custom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skelf Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Had you ordered a bass from scratch then there are neck options but a stock bass is all ready done so that limits the options. On the particular bass you bought the neck was unusual in that is was fairly chunky as I pointed out at the time so not representative of the usual neck dimensions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 [quote name='skelf' timestamp='1475094498' post='3143083'] On the particular bass you bought the neck was unusual in that is was fairly chunky as I pointed out at the time so not representative of the usual neck dimensions. [/quote] Oh yes, I am aware of that, and I have played several other of your basses so I am aware of what they are like normally, although again bigger than I usually go for, but my options where limited by my finances. I have no issues with having that bass off you, I loved it, I gigged it, but I was never going to get comfortable with the neck, so I moved it on to someone who could. It was a shame as without a doubt it had the nicest sound (from the neck pickup) of any bass I had, your pickups are wonderful (In fact the bass was beautiful). If I could I would go for a bass from scratch, but I am just not at a place I can justify it, sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The-Ox Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Gareth Ishmael for me. His Precisions are out of this world and unmatched when it comes to my tastes in my opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkandrew Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Are "Luther built" basses any better than those produced by larger manufacturers? I wouldn't necessarily expect a guy in a backstreet garage to build a better car than a well known manuacturer in a multimillion pound factory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1475262983' post='3144604'] Are "Luther built" basses any better than those produced by larger manufacturers? I wouldn't necessarily expect a guy in a backstreet garage to build a better car than a well known manuacturer in a multimillion pound factory. [/quote] My thoughts exactly. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Picked up my 1951 MIJ Fender P from Ron yesterday. Remember, I dropped it face down on to asphalt during tear down. Nothing was damaged except for a big ding. Ron cleaned up all the asphalt, put a new set of strings on it and tweaked the intonation. Cost me $61.00. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1475262983' post='3144604'] Are "Luther built" basses any better than those produced by larger manufacturers? I wouldn't necessarily expect a guy in a backstreet garage to build a better car than a well known manuacturer in a multimillion pound factory. [/quote] Why do people always skew these sort of statements one way? Why compare them against a back street garage rather than a well equipped workshop with experienced craftsmen (women, my last repair was done by a lady luthier a few weeks ago)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1475263937' post='3144609'] Why do people always skew these sort of statements one way? Why compare them against a back street garage rather than a well equipped workshop with experienced craftsmen (women, my last repair was done by a lady luthier a few weeks ago)? [/quote] What, you're expecting a measured discussion ? Naaah....we want a nice argument by the end of the page 1. It's the Basschat way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1475262983' post='3144604'] Are "Luther built" basses any better than those produced by larger manufacturers? I wouldn't necessarily expect a guy in a backstreet garage to build a better car than a well known manuacturer in a multimillion pound factory. [/quote] If a worker in a car factory makes a mistake you get a Friday afternoon car that's never out of the workshop, or a guitar with a damaged finish, twisted neck, sharp frets, crackly pickups or a list as we might see on these hallowed pages; the manufacturer might get a few dodgy reviews but sells so many that they don't much care until you get events like the Toyota or Volkwagen problems. A place near me has paid off half of it's staff entirely because of the one of those issues - they were a supplier and demand plunged. If a luthier makes a bollox of a guitar it damages his personal reputation, he loses that income and his business potentially fails. John Birch guitars, which I have a fair bit of experience with was at it's peak when they had John "JayDee" Diggins working there. I also know two other guys who worked there, left and are still building and luthiering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassApprentice Posted September 30, 2016 Author Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1475262983' post='3144604'] Are "Luther built" basses any better than those produced by larger manufacturers? I wouldn't necessarily expect a guy in a backstreet garage to build a better car than a well known manuacturer in a multimillion pound factory. [/quote] Oh that's a can of worms opened right there. The only way that statement is reasonable is if you are looking at accuracy, even then that's insulting to the people who dedicated hours to making sure the instruments are as close to perfect as possible. A single person or small group with limited resources may not be as accurate as a highly expensive CNC machine when it comes to cutting very small margins. Otherwise the amount of care and dedication put into these instruments will always outweigh a model that's been churned out in its thousands for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkandrew Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1475263937' post='3144609'] Why do people always skew these sort of statements one way? Why compare them against a back street garage rather than a well equipped workshop with experienced craftsmen (women, my last repair was done by a lady luthier a few weeks ago)? [/quote] It wasn't actually meant to be that incendiary ... I am genuinely asking if a one person operation, ie. a luthier, really does produce a better product than one that has the backing of a considerable R&D budget and state of the art production facilities. As for my analogy of cars ... a lot of people love and enthuse about British sports cars, they are undoubtedly things of great beauty, but if I was going on a 1000+ mile trip across Europe I'd rather take a VW Golf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CokeyW Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 I knew nothing about independent luthiers until I joined Basschat, it has a lot to answer for. I decided I could never order a bass having never tried anything made by that luthier, too much of a leap of faith. So...I bought an Everson fretless on here at a great price which looked beautiful to me and only lived a few miles up the road so I could try it. In 30 seconds I knew I had to have it. Buoyed by this I then bought an ACG fretted, untried, based purely on the hype here. Again at a great price. The ACG is a fabulous bass but I've never played anything nearly as good as the Everson. So I finally ordered my fretted bass from Paul last month. I may keep the ACG, I will keep my Fender Jazz Roadworn as it plays like an old friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1475267806' post='3144674'] It wasn't actually meant to be that incendiary ... I am genuinely asking if a one person operation, ie. a luthier, really does produce a better product than one that has the backing of a considerable R&D budget and state of the art production facilities. As for my analogy of cars ... a lot of people love and enthuse about British sports cars, they are undoubtedly things of great beauty, but if I was going on a 1000+ mile trip across Europe I'd rather take a VW Golf. [/quote] Ultimately they are just lumps of wood bolted together with mainly generic hardware screwed on, the guy with his name on the headstock is likely to spend more time and effort getting it right than a Cort factory worker working to feed his family in korea. The best bet is a sort of mass produced custom imo, if the luthier builds a random bass with funny pickup spacing and crap hardware because it's what the customer wants it will be crap but a luthier that has a sort of base model design that the customer works around then everyone wins and the builder has done things like the body cut, neck pocket and headstock/tuner layout many times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1475267806' post='3144674'] It wasn't actually meant to be that incendiary ... I am genuinely asking if a one person operation, ie. a luthier, really does produce a better product than one that has the backing of a considerable R&D budget and state of the art production facilities. As for my analogy of cars ... a lot of people love and enthuse about British sports cars, they are undoubtedly things of great beauty, but if I was going on a 1000+ mile trip across Europe I'd rather take a VW Golf. [/quote] The trouble (for me) with this analogy is that the craftsmanship in a car is limited to things like upholstery and any veneer finishing. And yes, I would expect a small garage to produce this better than somewhere like the Mini factory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 I chose Alpher for my 50th birthday bass because of their growing reputation and that no one has had a bad word to say about them, theyre reasonably local to me and I liked the fact that everything was my choice from woods to number of strings to electrics, Chris helped steer me in any way he could and the personal service is second to none. The fact that mine is the first ever Cobia 5 string is also quite cool, I certainly didnt want just another P or J clone! What I got, as far as Im concerned is a playable work of art. Oh yeah and Chris and Al are really top blokes as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1475262983' post='3144604'] Are "Luther built" basses any better than those produced by larger manufacturers? I wouldn't necessarily expect a guy in a backstreet garage to build a better car than a well known manuacturer in a multimillion pound factory. [/quote] And if you want exactly what the manufacturer in the multimillion pound factory produces, yes that is fine. But guitars aren't built like cars, they are a lot more human based and made of wood. If you take a 100 pieces of (well produced) metal and cut them the same way, you will have 100 identical pieces of metal. If you take 100 pieces of wood and cut them the same way, you won't, some will be better for guitars than others. If you are a company like fender, you buy a load of wood and your accountants say 'you can get 100 jazz bodies out of that load of wood'. Then go and have a look at the facebook page of ACG, Alpher or one of the other luthiers, there will be posts of 'oh look at this wood, this is going to make a perfect body with the grain going this way'. So yes, you are right, I would always by a car from a large company. This isn't a car website! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1475263937' post='3144609'] my last repair was done by a lady luthier a few weeks ago [/quote] I had to read that twice. I was wondering why you were going to a lazy luthier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LayDownThaFunk Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 I chose Fodera/Ritter/Wal/Sei/Enfield/Gus/ACG/Marzucockinmypants/Status/Shuker because I couldn't get that sound from a Fender. Or my technique is way off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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