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$3000 for a custom Korean-made ERB...?

#21
Gorn said:
What else can three thousand get you that's similar?
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As far as I know, the only other luthier/company at this price point is Prometeus Guitars in Italy. He's on here, Triad, and is a really nice guy, but Prometeus basses always end up looking a little...rough, to me. The finish he uses makes the basses often look like they just haven't been finished at all.

The thing I attached is the best looking Prometeus bass in my opinion. That one is crazy nice :)
 

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#22
sounds like a lot of money for what is probably a ' Cort ' ... large Korean factory that makes stuff for lots of folks ... and a few others i can't remember ...

so someone designs something ... then has it built by MIK factory ... that does not sound like a custom luthier type bass ..?

10 strings . ? maybe find a used Chapman type stick and restring it .?
 
#24
DavC said:
sounds like a lot of money for what is probably a ' Cort ' ... large Korean factory that makes stuff for lots of folks ... and a few others i can't remember ...

so someone designs something ... then has it built by MIK factory ... that does not sound like a custom luthier type bass ..?

10 strings . ? maybe find a used Chapman type stick and restring it .?
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It's most definitely not a Cort, mate. But yeah, WMI make lost of stuff for the budget lines of the huge brands like Schecter and ESP.

He designs it, sends it off to be built by MIK factory, gets it sent back to him so he can finish anything that needs finishing, set-it up, and re-string it. Not sure if the wiring is done by Mark, I'll ask him. It's still definitely custom, I can get anything I want on it.

Not joking (and not sure if I'm even allowed to tell people this), but remember the 24 string-bass, which was an 8-string bass with 3 courses? Well...RMI have designed a 36 STRING BASS for one of their longtime customers in the States, a 12-string bass with three courses. It's sounds insane! So yeah, it's definitely a fully customisable brand, just that it's made in Korea.
 
#26
Infiniti said:
Oh, no, I wasn't referring to resale value, I know that would plummet on an instrument like this (unless it was something crazy high-end like a Ritter or a Jerzy Drozd). I was referring to whether $3000 was worth it for me when the instruments comes with generic brand hardware.
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Not trying to be a PITA but "was worth it for me" this is a question only YOU can answer.
 
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#29
bearhart74 said:
Not trying to be a PITA but "was worth it for me" this is a question only YOU can answer.
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I know, it's just such a hard question to answer when I'm not able to play one. The sound clips I've heard are pretty darn good, and the thing is, there are so many different 'stock' pickup models.

I spoke to a guy who had a second-hand stock 10-string RMI and he said the pickups were pretty awful, but his were essentially two EMG 35 copies stuck next to each other under a large circular wood covering, in fact, that's a picture of his bass below :)
DSC01145for site.jpg
 
#30
Frampton said:
That sounds reasonable to me. You’ve got a custom design and one-off build. I think my only concern would be the sourcing of the wood.
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That's fair enough, yeah. The factory has a fairly limited selection of wood, annoyingly. The only top woods they could do were: flamed maple, spalted maple, Asian walnut, Poplar birdseye, Swamp ash, and Macasssar ebony.
 
#35
I’m wondering why it would be cheaper to make in Korea (my wife is Korean) as Korea has a similar standard of living as the UK. I guess the difference is Koreans work crazy long hours and don’t take any days off and also probably have very good CNC technology.
This won’t be a custom bass made by a luthier: it will be a CNC assembly job done by a low paid factory worker. Whether that makes a difference in quality is up for debate. I’m wondering what steps they take for deficiencies after it’s in the UK? None. It’s not like he’s going to ship it back to the factory or eat a $3000 instrument that nobody else is going to buy....
 
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