music123.com "how real are they" ???

[guillermo]

Hi:
Christmass is just at the corner and I'm planing on buying a bass for myself (and a guitar for my son).
I went on line a made some e-mail/telephone contacts with a number of places that sell basses, one of my choices is the
Shen SB150 sold by music123.com, but just before proceeding I want to get a sense from you guys about two things:

- The quality of the bass itself
- The level of customer/service satisfaction one can expect
from www.music123.com (very important), they claim shipping is in $40 dollar range to canada, can this be true, what about custom fees once the bass gets here? anybody knows

In the past I've ordered parts for my previous bass from urbbob and I know from other people that soing bussines with uptonbass is also a 0% risk endeavour.
What about Nick Lloyd (Cincinnati) who also offers the SB150 for a bit more but professionally setup ?



Thanks a lot
Guillermo

[sibass89]

I think if you want the Shen, that you would be better of going to Nick Lloyd. He's done setup work on my bass bass and he does a phenomenal job. It is definately worth it to just go for the extra money and get the bass profesionally setup, because you'll find yourself spending more money trying to fix the setup.

[relacey]

Is that $40 shipping a estimate from a human or from the on-line ordering system? When I was bass shopping, I placed an order from Music123 for an Englehart and once I placed the order the shipping was considerably higher than the estimate. Fortunately, the bass was back ordered and I stumbled onto TBDB. After reading all the newbie links and the various forums, I canceled the Engle and ordered a bass from Upton. I could have bought a laminate from Upton for what I would have spent on the Engle plus setup, but I splurged and got the hybrid instead. Definitely the smartest thing I've done in 2006.

I have bought non-double-bass items (drums, cymbals, trumpet, amps) from Music123, Musician's Friend, and Zzounds and customer service at all three has been good although I've never had any real issues to deal with.

[CamMcIntyre]

I'd buy the bass from Nick-from what i've heard, his setup work is impeccable. He's also a member here.

[Chasarms]

I bought an Engelhardt from Music123 five years ago. They were easy enough to deal with. If your idea of customer service is "enter my CC # into the web form and a truck shows up with the bass some days later" then I think you will be satisfied.

They are pretty much a musiciansfriend clone. In no way bad, but "customer service" is not what comes to my mind when it comes to e-tailers.

I didn't know they did Shens. That's actually a little disappointing to me for some reason. That said, I have a Shen 180, which is the same bass as the 150 but with a little prettier wood, and it has been very good to me. I think you'll find Shen has a excellent reputation here at TBDB.

However, as for the Engelhardt and Music123, I would agree that you should stay clear of them when buying a DB. The Engelhardt showed up on a freight truck, and it was obvious that it had never been removed from the factory packing. It may have even been drop shipped.

A double bass is all about set up. And it takes someone with some skill and experience to do it. A reputable luthier considers this part of the sale and the bass will be absolutely playable and enjoyable right from the start.

I think if you consider that a reputable luthier is going to offer a bass that includes but is not limited to:

A properly cambered fingerboard
A properly fitted bridge with adjusters
A correctly fitted nut
A correctly fitted soundpost
Your choice (within reason) of strings

And the fact that overall build of the bass will be reviewed by a professional set of eyes and known to be in general good order before it even sees your door.

All of the above is essential to your beginning bass playing experience. If you look into what it will cost to have it done after the fact, I think you'll see that buying from a luthier is actually is a good value.

I am all but certain that the Music123 price plus the walk-in-the-shop-unannounced price for the above-mentioned services will be greater than buying it from a luthier in the first place.

And, you have the foundation for a relationship for future needs. A bass is like a car, it will need maintenance from time to time.

[Chasarms]

Originally Posted by CamMcIntyre

I'd buy the bass from Nick-from what i've heard, his setup work is impeccable. He's also a member here.

I can certainly vouch for that!!

[Maaaven]

Consider the two cases;

1- You work with local supplier to get and set up
the bass you want, develop a good relationship
by patronizing his business

2 - Give your money to an e-tailer then haul it
into a shop and ask them to make it right, them
knowing they could have gotten you the bass and
made a smallish profit.

If I was in that business, I would be more likley
to go the extra mile on set-up for customer # one.
Will the e-tailer steer you away from bad deals and
into good? The local shop has local reputation that
they have to protect. The e-tailer does not.

[Martin Sheridan]

I absolutely couldn't agree more that set up is extremely important. You could own a 100 thousand dollar bass and not be happy if you couldn't play it. But with any commercially produced bass you will find that they are not all equal in quality. I supposed that's true even with the hand made stuff. Whatever you do, don't buy it without playing it first and making sure that you like both the set up and the sound quality. That's what is comes down too.

[JimmyM]

I wish it were that easy. There are precious few uprights in my area of the country (central Florida), and most of the ones here are at Sam Ash, so the pickings are very slim. So I found it impossible to play a bass before I bought, so I did a ton of research and picked Upton. I have been extremely happy since. It wasn't the ideal way to buy a bass, and I wouldn't do it if I was buying an expensive carved bass, but for buying a plywood bass it worked out great.

[John Sprague]

Hey Guillermo,
I should probably chime in here with some info that may be useful. We sell two models thru Music123, in order to get basses out to some folks who are nowhere near a luthier. They were brought online before Nick started shipping to long distance folks, and before we were working with Uptons. That said, without sounding like I'm favoring anyone, I will say that these two dealers have demanding specifications, and tend to get the cream of the crop. They both upgrade various parts. Nick has even done his part in suggesting various changes to the product over the years, helping us to become better all the time. i.e. our bass bag is good because Nick kept after us about it. There are a few dealers of ours who have done this quite a bit, they're our ear to the ground, so to speak.

I don't send crap to Music123 by any means, but I would say you can expect a difference when dealing with the more set-up focused shops. The set-ups for 123 are basic, one-size-fits-all jobs.

[bilco]

I don't think I would buy an upright sight unseen from any online music supplier, but I thought I would chime in about music123.com.

My son just bought all kinds of effects pedals, pedal board, Sansamp, etc. for his 5 string Yamaha EB from them. The delivery was prompt and everything was in great condition. He was satisfied. I have had good dealings with musiciansfriend as well.

I just think I would rather get an upright bass from someone who specializes in them and will put love and care into setting it up before shipping it out.

Bill Colbert

[ZombieGhosTrain]

They just declared bankruptcy too...guitar center is looking to bid on it and its parent company.

[uptonbass]

[robgrow]

Press Release

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.--Guitar Center today announced that it has signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire substantially all the assets of The Woodwind & The Brasswind under section 363 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Under the terms of the agreement, Guitar Center will acquire The Woodwind & The Brasswind’s inventory of band and orchestra and combo instruments, accounts receivable, trade names and certain other intangible assets. The transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including bankruptcy court approval, and is also subject to overbid at a bankruptcy auction expected to be held in January 2007.

Marty Albertson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Guitar Center, said, “The acquisition of assets of The Woodwind & The Brasswind, including the Woodwind and Brasswind and Music123 websites, will enable us to further expand the already strong combo instrument business at Musician’s Friend as well as build out our direct response band and orchestra business. We are excited about the opportunity to broaden our customer base and continue the growth of our direct response business.”

The Woodwind & The Brasswind filed for bankruptcy protection in Indiana on November 21, 2006. The proposed asset acquisition agreement was entered into by the Musician’s Friend subsidiary of Guitar Center. Under the agreement, only very limited trade obligations and other pre-petition liabilities of The Woodwind & The Brasswind are being assumed.

About Guitar Center

Guitar Center is the leading United States retailer of guitars, amplifiers, percussion instruments, keyboards and pro-audio and recording equipment. Our retail store subsidiary presently operates more than 195 Guitar Center stores across the United States. In addition, our Music & Arts division operates more than 90 stores specializing in band instruments for sale and rental, serving teachers, band directors, college professors and students. We are also the largest direct response retailer of musical instruments in the United States through our wholly owned subsidiary, Musician’s Friend, Inc., and its catalog and website, www.musiciansfriend.com. More information on Guitar Center can be found by visiting the Company’s web site at www.guitarcenter.com.

Source: Guitar Center

[CamMcIntyre]

I had no idea that WWBW filed for bankruptcy. They had quite a collection and a killer store.