A refreshingly honest take on artist signature models from Janek Gwizdala

[Gwilym]

4 hours ago, nilorius said:

Everybody asks for money, don't denie it.

...but he didn't ask for money (or did I miss that bit?) and it's not what I understand as a "traditional" crowd funding model. He gets revenue from advertising which I guess is driven by likes and subscriptions.

 

 

[Chris2112]

In fairness to Janek, he may be trying to make money through YouTube but his latest video, about a few items of gear that would be very useful to every bassist, is genuinely worth a watch and very interesting. If he is going to make more quality content, great! I've subscribed and I hope he can do well off his efforts. 

[DTB]

There is a slightly different angle to ownership of signature models. 
On the strength of a Tim Pierce video of a comparison of a 57 strat and a PRS silver sky I bought one. It wasn’t until after buying it I realised it was a signature guitar. 
Turns out Mayer is my build and likes a chunky neck and low output pickups. 
I’m not even sure I spelt his name right. Lol

To be fair I do like some of his music but I wouldn’t have bought his guitar on the strength of that. Clapton is another story though…

[visog]

The reply to the charge of crowd-funding a Wal...

 

 

[EBS_freak]

Over an hour? What’s the York notes looking like?

 

or does the title cover it?

[Cato]

I can't see what the issue is.

 

I'm sure he's not the first youtuber whose planned to buy themselves nice things with whatever money they can make on their channels.

[wateroftyne]

Jesus.. he’s managed to get another hour out of it. Can someone tl:dr it for me, please?

[EBS_freak]

55 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Jesus.. he’s managed to get another hour out of it. Can someone tl:dr it for me, please?

[EBS_freak]

I'm buzzing through it at x2 in the background. Jeez, there's so so so so much filler. Who sits through this?

[EBS_freak]

Notes 

 

12 minutes in and he's still talking about the fact that people are largely anonymous and have different views, some positive and some negative.

13 minutes in and now he's talking about monetising the channel and getting subscribers.

17 minutes... still talking about monetising the channel and repeating the last video.

 

Nope. This is dross. I can't even cope with it a x2. It's just inane nonsense filler.

Edited January 30, 2023 by EBS_freak

[oldslapper]

19 hours ago, Cato said:

I can't see what the issue is.

 

I'm sure he's not the first youtuber whose planned to buy themselves nice things with whatever money they can make on their channels.

I don’t think that’s an issue. As you said loads of people do it, some people are millionaires from making YouTube videos, 99% of which I have no interest in. 
 

My disappointment was the title of the video. It led me to believe that he would talk about his spat with some other bassist who I’ve never heard of and have more details over his relationship with the butterfly branded bass manufacturer.

But if he’d titled it “please like and subscribe so I can buy a Wal” then I would imagine there would be less views? 
Am I imagining the parting statement which indicated the L, S & C would help him buy the bass of his dreams?  
 

Good luck to the fella though. I have to generally save up to buy stuff I need. If I could get others to pay for a STROMAB PS600 I’d be all over it 😎 

The online world is one I’m not familiar with, so maybe this is how things are done. Hope he gets his Wal, they look very nice. I remember watching Alan Spenner play his with Kokomo down at Dingwalls back in the early 80’s. Great sound. 

[funkgod]

On 19/01/2023 at 17:37, oldslapper said:

Well that was underwhelming.  Thought he set it up for some juicy goss…
 

 

Basically he wants crowd funding for a Wal. 

agreed.... my message to Janek...

if you want a wal go and order one like everyone else.

and if your getting one just because your chan gets 1m, what happens if it does not ?

" im not getting one now because of you lot" ?

you cant want one that bad anyway, ( edited... prob abit abrupt)

get ya own cash out and get in the que if you want one. simple.

 

sorry...... did that sound like words? just thinking out loud.

Edited January 31, 2023 by funkgod

[Ralf1e]

14 minutes ago, funkgod said:

agreed.... my message to Janek...

if you want a wal go and order one like everyone else.

and if your getting one just because your chan gets 1m, what happens if it does not ?

" im not getting one now because of you lot" ?

you cant want one that bad anyway, getting a feebee on your name, yuck

get ya own cash out and get in the que if you want one.

 

sorry...... did that sound like words? just thinking out loud.

My next door neighbor was the guitar tech at the local music store to where they are made knew them. Massively skilled man! ex aircraft engineer.

He apparently made 8 string basses for a local company. I know who they were. You can guess. And if they name him in denial they are in the poo.

Edited January 31, 2023 by Ralf1e

[LeftyJ]

F Bass just posted this on Facebook a couple of hours ago:

 

 

It's Janek's new custom neck-through VF5 and I think it's stunning! 

[thebassist]

12 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

F Bass just posted this on Facebook a couple of hours ago:

 

 

It's Janek's new custom neck-through VF5 and I think it's stunning! 

Add some recessed Dunlop strap holders, an Ebony ramp, make it a sixer. Perfect.

Edited February 11, 2023 by thebassist

[spacecowboy]

Well I’ve never really been aware of this bloke until now but after watching that I can’t help but think he’s just desperate to stay relevant to who ever cares enough to listen. 
 

My dog also growled at him and he’s an excellent judge of character so…

[visog]

On 30/01/2023 at 16:41, EBS_freak said:

Who sits through this?

Me in the gym - good workout fodder

[visog]

12 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

F Bass just posted this on Facebook a couple of hours ago:

 

 

It's Janek's new custom neck-through VF5 and I think it's stunning! 

That's a looker. F Bass are having a moment with Scott SBL Devine getting a signature too. Guess creator endorsements are more important than artist endorsements these days?

Edited February 11, 2023 by visog

[EBS_freak]

I dunno. The marlowedk signature was short lived love.

 

How many people will buy a Scott or Janek bass because of them?

 

I bought a Nathan East signature cos it’s a killer bass. Nothing to do with Nathan although I do really dig on his playing. I wish it didn’t have the East inlay on the 12 fret.

[EBS_freak]

3 hours ago, visog said:

Me in the gym - good workout fodder

And what was your take on it?

[visog]

5 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

And what was your take on it?

Erm, thank you for asking @EBS_freak - that's very polite for the internet. So I think Matt might have wanted to another signature artist to go with a different form factor. The AJ is quite different for example. Let's face it, despite their phenomenal talent as players, they're probably not making a particularly good living so any income stream, like a signature model commission, is probably highly prized and an overlap a perceived incursion into the  signature space responded to with some wariness. I do think Matt Garrison created a 'thing': 4-finger technique + ramp (arguably a Gary WIllis innovation) + a 5-string high 'C' = Matt's thing. For the record, I'm all in with it having seen him in a tiny club in Manchester tearing it up with Gary Husband and Randy Brecker! Yes, quite a line up. So along comes Janek who puts his name to an ostensibly similar model. Does it matter? Probably a bit to Matt although I don't suppose there was any intent from Janek to plagiarise Matt's bass, Janek I think just liked similar features and was offered a commission.

 

Re. crowd funding for a Wal - again Janek did not say that was his intention - but! In reaching his viewer goals, he would earn enough to afford a Wal and go ahead and get one and probably film it for his channel, so not an explicit crowd-funding campaign but resulting in a similar result. So there you go... That's my take and it's the rough and tumble of being a creator and making yourself the centre of attention.

 

I'd end with a perspective of Janek as an artist and record of his which is wonderful: see below

 

[EBS_freak]

And it took that long to get that out? All seems a bit playground. Also - I wasn’t aware that the high C was anybody’s thing?

 

I hope that Janek gets to his goal. Getting YouTube to work is pretty hard - but for me, he’s going to have to be far more engaging!

 

[EBS_freak]

18 hours ago, visog said:

Erm, thank you for asking @EBS_freak - that's very polite for the internet. So I think Matt might have wanted to another signature artist to go with a different form factor. The AJ is quite different for example. Let's face it, despite their phenomenal talent as players, they're probably not making a particularly good living so any income stream, like a signature model commission, is probably highly prized and an overlap a perceived incursion into the  signature space responded to with some wariness. I do think Matt Garrison created a 'thing': 4-finger technique + ramp (arguably a Gary WIllis innovation) + a 5-string high 'C' = Matt's thing. For the record, I'm all in with it having seen him in a tiny club in Manchester tearing it up with Gary Husband and Randy Brecker! Yes, quite a line up. So along comes Janek who puts his name to an ostensibly similar model. Does it matter? Probably a bit to Matt although I don't suppose there was any intent from Janek to plagiarise Matt's bass, Janek I think just liked similar features and was offered a commission.

 

 

Hmm, looking into the Garrison vs Janek signatures, there really isn't any discernible difference between the two at first glance. It would seem that all the Garrison esque changes have been incorporated... so yeah, if there is a kickback, I can see Matt being p1ssed. I've never really thought about it because it's not likely to be the sort of thing that would ever be something that I'd need to consider. Fodera designs I guess are a bit more specialised I guess... but looking through a different lens, all these Fender Jazz bass signatures... how different are they to each other... really? I mean, they are all kinda the same with just a few notable exceptions (e.g. the Marcus one)

[tauzero]

On 19/01/2023 at 18:52, Burns-bass said:

Ahh, I wondered what this is all about. I must admit I have no idea who Matt Garrison is.

 

The teacher in South Park.

 

I had a look at the list of artists on the F Bass website. Janek Gwizdala isn't on there, but Chelsea Gwizdala is. As it's quite an unusual surname, I wondered if she's his wife, sister, or alter ego. And why aren't F Bass prouder of him? The video does imply that he hasn't left F Bass (yet).

[tauzero]

On 24/01/2023 at 15:27, Chris2112 said:

Fodera were ahead of the game on this. They gave signature models to friends and local players. Remember the Lincoln Goines signature? He is a good player but I would never have heard of him were it not for his name being on the Fodera website. Again, I'm not saying that you have to be Geddy Lee before you get a signature bass but it has to have some authenticity, as in an actual demand for it. 

 

JG said he wanted a standard series signature bass so it would be more affordable. I looked at the Fodera website and all their Standard series are $1000. Well, that does look like the Squier of the boutique bass world, until you read more closely and find that that's just the deposit and they're actually $5500 plus shipping.