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

#43
Infiniti said:
Hi everyone,

I recently discovered Ramsay Musical Instruments, a UK-based company that makes crazy basses in conjunction with a South Korean manufacturer. Essentially, Mark Ramsay (the owner) designs the basses (with the customer, of course) and sends off the spec sheet and dimensions to the factory to get it made. He then sets it up at his place in the UK and sends it off to the customer.

It seems pretty darn good, and the prices are certainly very competitive, but my specs are as follows:

10-string bass (tuned F# to Eb)
Custom body shape (similar to Jean Baudin's 'Joust' but solidbody and without the tailpiece)
Fanned frets (36" to 32")
Chambered lightweight swamp ash body (stock)
Macassar Ebony fretboard (stock)
Ebonol (synthetic ebony, stock)
Maple and ebonol 5 piece neck (stock)
Korean hardware (stock)
Korean wood-covered pickups (stock)
Korean preamp (stock)

All of this, including shipping and import tax and a gig bag to the UK is round about $3000.

Whilst the ERB market is certainly specialist, it strikes me as a lot of money for a Korean-made bass with generic brand hardware and pickups.

What do you guys think? Is this a lot of money for the bass I'm getting? Do you have experiences with RMI? Are there any luthiers who'd be willing to build a ten-string for $3000?

Link Removed -- here's a link to RMI's website.
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Seems pretty normal to me considering the prices of custom made basses by well known brands and the cost of Korean production models vs models build in America or Germany for example.

Personally I wouldn’t put that much on a bass which I’d have trouble finding parts for or might not want to keep. I’d probably ask for things like four 5-string pickups (two on the lower 5 strings, two on the higher 5 strings) instead of one or two generic 10 string pickups. I’d also want the monorail style bridge setup. At least gives you the option to upgrade parts later if that’s all the bass needs also allows gives you additional wiring options like the ability to mute half the strings with a switch or have the high strings going to a guitar or keyboard amp with their own set of effects
 
#44
Nephilymbass said:
Seems pretty normal to me considering the prices of custom made basses by well known brands and the cost of Korean production models vs models build in America or Germany for example.

Personally I wouldn’t put that much on a bass which I’d have trouble finding parts for or might not want to keep. I’d probably ask for things like four 5-string pickups (two on the lower 5 strings, two on the higher 5 strings) instead of one or two generic 10 string pickups. I’d also want the monorail style bridge setup. At least gives you the option to upgrade parts later if that’s all the bass needs also allows gives you additional wiring options like the ability to mute half the strings with a switch or have the high strings going to a guitar or keyboard amp with their own set of effects
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Well, all ERB players have to take a leap of faith when ordering such large custom basses, and this is cheaper than most player's choices when it comes to 8+ string ERBs.

It's also got the monorail-style bridge set-up. In terms of the wiring options, that is actually an option, but I talked to an RMI 10-string owner and he said that he ended up gutting that electronic configuration because 'it wasn't too good'. Didn't explain why though.
 
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#45
Infiniti said:
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 :) View attachment 2831784
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I've seen this thing before, it doesn't look like a $3000 bass to me when you see what else you can get - I appreciate you're paying for the unique design but to me they do smell a bit of a load of cheap parts thrown together.

It might be putting the cat among the pidgeons somewhat, but I'm still waiting to hear someone really make some interesting music on one of these things.
 
#47
Mastodon2 said:
I've seen this thing before, it doesn't look like a $3000 bass to me when you see what else you can get - I appreciate you're paying for the unique design but to me they do smell a bit of a load of cheap parts thrown together.

It might be putting the cat among the pidgeons somewhat, but I'm still waiting to hear someone really make some interesting music on one of these things.
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Interesting?
 
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#49
Mastodon2 said:
I've seen this thing before, it doesn't look like a $3000 bass to me when you see what else you can get - I appreciate you're paying for the unique design but to me they do smell a bit of a load of cheap parts thrown together.

It might be putting the cat among the pidgeons somewhat, but I'm still waiting to hear someone really make some interesting music on one of these things.
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I'm curious - what makes it not look like a $3000 bass? I mean, I think out of all the RMI basses ever made, one with such a gorgeous top and finish is the most 'boutique' looking bass.
 
#50
@Infiniti
This is what a $4.5k bass looks like :laugh:
DSC_9122-1024x294.jpg
 
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#51
craigie said:
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.
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Aye...I think primarily a factory labor and (lack of) union deal difference with the local companies is where the numbers are crunched, as the quality of the completed musical instrument products can be quite high here as many have noted, clear across the board. I've lived in Korea for over 25 years, and although the expense that goes into factory labor work can certainly contrast from nation to nation, visitors taking a good look at the standard of living & cost of living will quickly negate thoughts of any financial extremes between here and the West.

Seoul for one is currently the Invalid Link Removed, but I've seen very little difference in commodities in other SK cities I've lived in as well. We may have very affordable health care, but when compared to what things cost in the States, gasoline on the average has been twice as costly ($1.70/liter not that long ago), and any trip to the supermarket for groceries will easily run you up to 50%+ more. Produce, meat, and all kinds of food items...it's insane how much we have to spend on food here, just to eat at home.

Back on topic, a few mass producers of bodies (and hardware) also do very decent semi-custom work for decent prices in their own retail custom shops. For example, Link Removed on a Willows Guitar (no affiliation) Hera 6-string, and messing about with my friend's Hera for an afternoon showed me what a wonderfully tonally flexible and excellent playing bass it was. I felt it was very much worth the $2700 he paid for it.
 
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#52
Have you tried contacting the RMI factory direct to get a price? If your contact is able to get basses made and shipped to him you may be able to do the same directly yourself and do the setup yourself.

A friend of mine was getting custom guitars built by a Chinese factory specifying hardware, colour etc. He was paying around $250 (Aussie Dollars) for the finished guitars in a hard case shipped to his door here in Australia.
 
#53
I have my doubts about a mainstream manufacturer doing a 10 string job, but if it is true I’d imagine they’d entrust it to only their most experienced workers, not someone just hired off the street. I think you’re right to be concerned about the pickups though. I have no clue about them, but I’d imagine there are no off the shelf 10 string pups. I therefore second the idea of them using 5 string pups p bass style. I have further doubts about you finding a luthier to do this job for you for the same or less. The cost of the wood alone is very high with ebony alone being very expensive per board foot.
 
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#58
BAG said:
Have you tried contacting the RMI factory direct to get a price? If your contact is able to get basses made and shipped to him you may be able to do the same directly yourself and do the setup yourself.

A friend of mine was getting custom guitars built by a Chinese factory specifying hardware, colour etc. He was paying around $250 (Aussie Dollars) for the finished guitars in a hard case shipped to his door here in Australia.
Click to expand...
The World Musical Instrument factory are really, really, really hard to get hold of. No idea why, there's only one unverified phone number linked to then online.

It's worth a shot trying. But at the same time, Mark gives them this super detailed design plan (like you might've seen earlier in the thread with the 8-string headless bass concept).
 

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