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A New "Wish" Competitor?

having handled more than a few low quality instruments the following terms have come out of my head over the years.

"Musical Hindenburg"
"The Caliber of Craftmanship that wins wars for the opposite side"
"The Type of guitar that you don't mind seeing Pete Townshend beat against the stage"
"Beautiful Kindling"
"Gear for those who want "Lyon by Washburn quality," but don't want to have any of the fine playability"


Something bastardized from the FX show 'Archer"
"The Dane Cook of Bass guitars"

And something stolen from Blackadder
"About as impressive as Stumpy O'Leg McNolegs personal best at the Market-Harbor Marathon"

and one more

"Not good"
 
having handled more than a few low quality instruments the following terms have come out of my head over the years.

"Musical Hindenburg"
"The Caliber of Craftmanship that wins wars for the opposite side"
"The Type of guitar that you don't mind seeing Pete Townshend beat against the stage"
"Beautiful Kindling"
"Gear for those who want "Lyon by Washburn quality," but don't want to have any of the fine playability"


Something bastardized from the FX show 'Archer"
"The Dane Cook of Bass guitars"

And something stolen from Blackadder
"About as impressive as Stumpy O'Leg McNolegs personal best at the Market-Harbor Marathon"

and one more

"Not good"

add these to your list:

"I build basses that I see on line that are priced outrageously I do a close replica of them but yet not a copy. I love to do this and sell them at a cost that I would like to pay."

"I know when I wanted a bass that was custom made it was around $1500.00 and now that I make them I find out that their is such a mark up it is un real."

"So remember The bass is a custom bass and for the prices that I charge There is nowhere else that can do the same."

Sounds like some of the cheap Chinese bass eBay sales-speak! It is interesting that he has some much positive feedback.
 
add these to your list:

"I build basses that I see on line that are priced outrageously I do a close replica of them but yet not a copy. I love to do this and sell them at a cost that I would like to pay."

"I know when I wanted a bass that was custom made it was around $1500.00 and now that I make them I find out that their is such a mark up it is un real."

"So remember The bass is a custom bass and for the prices that I charge There is nowhere else that can do the same."

Sounds like some of the cheap Chinese bass eBay sales-speak! It is interesting that he has some much positive feedback.

Not sure how that correlates to my post but I do have one message from a guy selling some no-name Peoples republic made resonator bass. It was along the same lines as yours.

"The guitars are made for us in China; we have them leave off any brand names or model numbers in order to keep the costs low for you. This is a nice players guitar. It could use a setup to play at its best, but out of the box it does very well. Our warehouse manager has been a player for over 15 years and only purchases instruments that he would personally play. Hope this helps.

- muzikutopia"

a slight shred of honesty in there but still, marketing at it's finest [sic]
 
Well folks, I spoke with Tom and decided to review his ebay feedback again. Almost all of the feedback says things like "great quality", "superb craftsmanship", or "will buy again". The buyer that had a problem with the fingerboard actually returned the bass broken with a perfectly fine fingerboard. Tom did the necessary repairs and sold it that week at a local shop. The buyer that had the broken neck actually declined to pay for shipping insurance, so that's his mistake. I'm not gonna jump on the band wagon and start slamming this guy. Like I said before, he and his wife have been nothing but nice and very communicative. I'm gonna wait, get my bass, post some pics, and tell y'all how it plays.
 
Well folks, I spoke with Tom and decided to review his ebay feedback again. Almost all of the feedback says things like "great quality", "superb craftsmanship", or "will buy again".

Best of luck, I'm finding this hard to reconcile with the monstrosity that FL Knifemaker received. I have no idea how that thing could have been made by someone who understands what "superb craftsmanship" in a bass means. You did see how that nut was attached, no?
 
Not sure how that correlates to my post

Those are actual quotes at the bottom of the eBay auctions for these basses.

I had to laugh at those and not in a mean way, but these are not very positive selling messages from anyone with a bit of knowledge of building. It just surprises me that if he's got all this positive feedback that he's sending out turds, even if it only once in a blue moon.


The buyer that had the broken neck actually declined to pay for shipping insurance, so that's his mistake. I'm not gonna jump on the band wagon and start slamming this guy....

Shipping insurance is worth squat if the bass is improperly packed. Not saying it was, but not necessarily the buyers fault, particularly if two basses are packed together. I know I'd ask for them to be packed separately if I knew someone was going to pack them together.

I hope your bass works out for you.
 
The individual bridges look as if there was several attempts to mount/move them. The intonation is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY off. My son plugged it in for about 30 seconds. The buzzing and hum was unbearable.

Maybe the fretwork will be visible in this photo. Come on TB, cut us a break on the photo crunching :mad:


Looks like his frets are unintentionally like this:

tt_formula1_lay.jpg


So I am inquiring with this masterful bass maker about a fretless acoustic bass. Depending on the cost, I might go ahead and do it despite the 6 pages of reasons not to

It's just so dang cheap!

I can't imagine what would make you want to do that. It's not cheap, it's a waste. You will be out $200 (it seems). An acoustic bass is infinitely harder to make than an electric. There are bracing issues that are not going to be properly addressed by this guy. The amount of tension on a 6 string is insane and I won't be surprised if something of his build quality snaps in half after being tuned up. How many 6 string acoustic basses do you see out there? Not many. And there is physical reason.

The guy IS selling his instruments for very cheap. So, to expect much is not the way to go. But I don't think FL is expecting too much, especially given the guy's postive description of the item. The cracked fretboard is a bit much. To be honest, I'm not sure why FL didn't get his money back from the guy, other than the fact that the guy has that AS-IS caveat on his auction. I don't think FL is bashing this guy. I think he's providing a more than fair assessment of the instrument.
 
Sounds like you have had a lot of problems with this guy. If I was you I would have contacted the seller before trashing him. That's only the right thing to do.

I'd normally agree with you, but I think FLKnifeman is only looking out for the others, particularly as it's obvious most folks know very little about the basses or the builder. These basses had generated a lot of interest and if FL'shis advice stops someone else jumping in for a bargain bass and ending up with knife handles then that's fine in my book - a community service if you like.

Now at least, there are a few of us cheap bass lovers that will go slightly slower and I'll certainly be looking forward to seeing how the bass stepswork4me turns out rather than rush in with a BIN right now.
 
...other than the fact that the guy has that AS-IS caveat on his auction....

That only works if you've described the crack. 'As Is' where is does not cover something that's not fit for the use intended. No of course the lawsuit arguing that is going to cost somewhat more than the $200.

However, any decent builder is going to take a return on the turd FL.. got. Although I'd have thought a decent builder isn't going to send a bass like that out in the first place. Just 'cause it's cheap is not an excuse!

I think FL.. said he didn't have time to deal with this, which is possibly why he's not gone that route.
 
I'd normally agree with you, but I think FLKnifeman is only looking out for the others, particularly as it's obvious most folks know very little about the basses or the builder. These basses had generated a lot of interest and if FL'shis advice stops someone else jumping in for a bargain bass and ending up with knife handles then that's fine in my book - a community service if you like.

Now at least, there are a few of us cheap bass lovers that will go slightly slower and I'll certainly be looking forward to seeing how the bass stepswork4me turns out rather than rush in with a BIN right now.

I'm going to hold off on posting eBay feedback. I couldn't even get the guy to reply with shipping info or a tracking number. I realized and mentioned early on in this thread that buying this bass was a gamble. I gambled and lost, not a BIG deal. I lose everytime I go to Vegas as well :) Many here where interested in seeing the bass and hearing my feedback, I've done that. Time to move on. I need to finish my Iceman. This bass is shipping out to another TB member here that wants to have some fun with it. All is good AFAIC.
 
The buyer that had the broken neck actually declined to pay for shipping insurance, so that's his mistake.

This is one of my big pet peeves with eBay sellers. Despite their claims otherwise, it's eBay and Paypal policy that it's ALWAYS the SELLER'S responsibility to get the item to you in the condition described. Shipping insurance is to protect the SELLER not the BUYER. Sellers buy it, and in all cases I've seen, only the seller can initiate a claim if shipping damage occurred.

Now, in the course of business, the seller can pass the cost of insurance on to the buyer by building it into the item's price or S&H fee, but if the seller made the insurance optional and the buyer didn't buy it, it's still the SELLER'S problem if the item is damaged in shipping. Any auction that states otherwise, as common as they are, is wrong.

On a related note, sellers should always use a tracking # if the item is worth more than they're willing to lose, because it's their only defense against a buyer who claims they never received the item.

Back on topic... I'm the one who's getting FL's bass. I took him up on his offer yesterday. As bad as this bass may be, his offer was very generous and I appreciate it much. I am a new player and this will give me something on which to learn maintenance & setup. Unless I suddenly gain the ability to perform miracles, it will probably be turned into a mosaic art piece and hung on the wall. :) When I get it, I'll post about my experiences.
 
Those are actual quotes at the bottom of the eBay auctions for these basses.

I had to laugh at those and not in a mean way, but these are not very positive selling messages from anyone with a bit of knowledge of building. It just surprises me that if he's got all this positive feedback that he's sending out turds, even if it only once in a blue moon.




Shipping insurance is worth squat if the bass is improperly packed. Not saying it was, but not necessarily the buyers fault, particularly if two basses are packed together. I know I'd ask for them to be packed separately if I knew someone was going to pack them together.

I hope your bass works out for you.

ahh gotcha.

and yes, it looks as if this guy is harnessing the power of the naive bass buyer by looks alone. I remember my first Affinity p-bass, buzz and hum all day long, didn't know the difference between it and a few others that I manhandled on the GC sales floor, never even looked at the Warwicks or this one Carvin they had there, mostly cause at the time I thought that wood grain was for "old folks" and the Black P was on sale. Black = Cool in my head apparently

Now my eyes look for wood grain over paint, mostly.
 

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