Help me plan for my future

[page]

I wasnt sure where to put this. In my high school , to graduate , you have do a "senior project" , a big project involving what you want to do after highschool. Well, I , obviously want to do something involving music, preferably bass. Well I thought about making a bass. Im only a sophmore, two more years to plan this, but I really wanna do it. I know nothing about making them, or whats on the inside etc... So can any of you tell me what I should know before attempting to build a bass??

Also , Id like to build them proffessionaly ,so , could anyone tell me about the business , how hard it is to be successful and stuff???

Thanks a million

[superbassman2000]

try talking to the luthiers in TB's luthier forum...there are many talented (and professional) luthiers who can point you in the right direction.

but from what i gathered from reading the luthiers forum, its pretty hard to be very successful, and you really need to do it for the love of instrument building.
i am not questioning your desire, just telling you what i've heard...

[Aaron Saunders]

To be successful, it can be...incredibly difficult. Dan Lakin, owner of Lakland basses, only turned a profit for the first time in 2004. He makes incredible basses, basically popularised, if not pioneered the MM/J pickup config (did anyone do this before him?) and even got a lot of help from his dad financially before making a name for himself. Lakland also seemed to really go for the big-luthier-boots. I mean, George Furlanetto (FBasses,) Chris Stambaugh of Stambaugh Designs, etc. etc., all of those small luthiers -- they're just that. Small. Lakland seemed to kind of...skip that part. So it really depends on what you want to have. Laklands are all over the country, and their korean-made Skyline series bring the Lakland name and quality at a lower price bracket, and they're all over the continent. It took Dan Lakin...what, over a decade at least to get to this point? I would doubt if it took people like Chris Benavente or George Furlanetto any less time or effort to get where they are now. Figure out your scope, and if you've got the heart, the means, and the skill, go for the gold, dude.

[Adam Barkley]

Originally Posted by page

I wasnt sure where to put this. In my high school , to graduate , you have do a "senior project" , a big project involving what you want to do after highschool. Well, I , obviously want to do something involving music, preferably bass. Well I thought about making a bass. Im only a sophmore, two more years to plan this, but I really wanna do it. I know nothing about making them, or whats on the inside etc... So can any of you tell me what I should know before attempting to build a bass??

Also , Id like to build them proffessionaly ,so , could anyone tell me about the business , how hard it is to be successful and stuff???

Thanks a million

Don't want to take the steam out of your balloon, but when I did mine (2002-3) everybody's project had to have a community impact. I think your product would have to be something else. Maybe raise money for the music program, get Mobro to donate instruments, plan a benefit dinner, visit a middle school and give a presentation on music*, etc.

I can say almost without a doubt that your Senior Project teacher will not let you simply build a bass for a personal project. Sorry.

For example, I went through four different product "pitches" before mine would even agree that the idea was passable. I went from, blueprints of a future renovation NWR High(could do that as you need to be a licensed architect to do a project of that scope), helping at a Habitat for Humanities home (not related enough to my topic), a handicapped access ramp for a deck that another senior had built the year before (school wouldn't fund that), to finally strengthening and staining said rickety, sun-bleached deck.

I spent over 50 hours working on that freaking deck and part of the materials had to be bought with personal money. With basically nothing to show for it, other than one highly professional looking portfolio detailing all the work that I did all year.

Do not expect a fun year.

*If there was absolutely no way to do a project (somebody's project was on brain cancer of some sort), then they would give 3-4 45 minute presentations to different classes around the school. I imagine that would suck majorly.