Which is why I said non-EBMM dealers. Maybe it is a feature which only appeals to the working class? Gibson could sell 100 Les Pauls with some new dumb feature in that time, why don’t bassists have the same disposable income?
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19mm EBMM 5 string: fact / fiction?
- Thread starter dickfitts
- Start date
Of course, he wanted to show you that if you want to do it, come with the money, instead of responding, "2 weeks is a bit short, but we'll come up with the money, then follow up with you, deal?"..instead there was no real serious movement to get this done, and the whole excersize and discussion, like now is pointless....
I think what it boils down to is there are groups of people on internet forums that think that because they all want something that the whole world wants it. So what follows is thread after thread saying..."why doesn't EBMM offer this??? They are losing so much potential money!" Just check the forum archives and you will find them. But those people that claim the only thing keeping them from buying is that specific spec largely don't actually ever convert to real sales. If in fact this spec is a hot issue and so many people would be buying them if it was available then getting the requested amount of people in that amount of time should have been no issue.
No targeting by me. And Sterling Ball was up front about his tooling costs. Geschaft ist Geschaft (umlauts omitted)
I searched and found the old post.
You did NOT have to pay for the full instrument up front. you only needed to put 1/2 down, and the remaining 1/2 when the basses were done.
Anyone that's ordered a Musicman knows its at least 3 month to 4 month wait for a normal production bass. The Dargies, we waited about a year to be built.
So for a 19mm to happen, time to build the tooling would have added more time than the normal 3-4. There was No reason that bass players who wanted this coudn't come up with that kind of cash: so $950-1000 down, and 950-1000 in 4-6 months.
You did NOT have to pay for the full instrument up front. you only needed to put 1/2 down, and the remaining 1/2 when the basses were done.
Anyone that's ordered a Musicman knows its at least 3 month to 4 month wait for a normal production bass. The Dargies, we waited about a year to be built.
So for a 19mm to happen, time to build the tooling would have added more time than the normal 3-4. There was No reason that bass players who wanted this coudn't come up with that kind of cash: so $950-1000 down, and 950-1000 in 4-6 months.
There was no real advertising for this, it was mainly word of mouth via the EBMM and TB forums. And again: the ONLY color choice was black: I mean seriously, what's up with that? Sorry, but that does NOT count as a serious attempt to sell 19mm fivers.
Instead of saying "Hey everyone, I'm already selling plenty of narrow fivers and don't believe a 19mm option would provide enough ROI", Sterling constructed an experiment designed to fail in order to prove his utterly preposterous claim that there was no real demand for wide five. That is complete fantasy. Perhaps narrow is more popular overall, but many, many manufacturers offer a 19mm option, and some only offer 19mm.
Says the guy pictured with a black and maple bass in his avatar!
(chuckle-chuckle! I'm just ribbing you!)
I get it on the color choice. But it was also explained back then, in order for the pilot to work, the run had to be made in one color to keep the costs of the pilot at minimum. He said if the model sold and would become a regular model, then the color choices would be expanded.
Obviously folks were mad at the only color choice, but was what it took for the pilot to get off the ground, and the collector in me looked at as you're actually getting a pre-production 'proto' model, and stuff like that always holds its value.
I was onboard back then and was willing to do it because I was buying every LE they were putting out those days.
Emphasis mine. This, IMO, is the main factor (and, if I'm not mistaken, only the two of you have brought it up in this thread): it is not that hard not to find a hundred potential buyers willing to pony up the monies at short notice, if you offer a Model T colour palette, prevent the dealer network from getting involved, and let hardly any word out!
My guess is they advertised/announced at the main location where they were hearing requests...the forums. If the dealers aren't asking for them then why would they go to them?
I dont see how you have have enough business savy to control the parameters, but not enough to be on point. Trust, he's running a successful business...im confident he knows what he's talking about...
Ok, but from the perspective of the "offer", it was designed to fail. Fortunately they have the 70's design and the guitar side.
It's a niche (read expensive) market, but there are some wide spaced 5s available. i.e. Warwick offer a broad neck (20mm spacing) option on their Customshop basses. https://shop.warwick.de/media/pdf/3...Warwick-20Bridge-20T-20B-3dm3UuAnq8FQ16nn.pdf
That he didn't want to do it? How many bands can sell 125 preorders of a $2k-ish bass in 2 weeks?
Hi,
try Mensinger (Public Peace). They built custom basses. I got a 24 fret 5-string with 19 mm string spacing for ~ 1600 €.
Basses
try Mensinger (Public Peace). They built custom basses. I got a 24 fret 5-string with 19 mm string spacing for ~ 1600 €.
Basses
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Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present the Gamechanger.
