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Ampmaster Woodcraft Short Scale Bass

H

Heart_Reaper

Dec 8, 2024
15
11
63
Sarasota
#1
I have a story on this bass. Like many of you, I wanted a Serek, but they are very costly. Plus, I'm a lefty, so my options are only about 5% of right handers. (There should be a discrimination law). I Saw these on Reverb and wanted a left handed 5 string. I asked specifically where they were made, because I don't buy Foreign Crap that doesn't hold value. Being left handed, I never can try out anything at the music store. I have to buy it first. I was told in writing "North Hollywood California". So in August of this year I make the deal, $1810 total. Zelle'd them a $850 and Was told my American Made 5 String 30" scale Left Handed bass would be ready to ship in 4-8 weeks. Fast forward to Dec 7, 2024. (Just short of 4 Months later) Still No Bass, so I inquired again. I got the Reply, "Your Bass Is Finished" My heart Jumped! Oh Man, I'll get it before Christmas!! Then I read further. "Your bass is finished and currently on the way to us from Europe, Estimated time for arrival 2 to 2 1/2 weeks."
EUROPE!!! I immediately replied, "I was told the bass would be made in NoHo California, where was my bass made?"
No response yet. They Lied to me in writing! Don't know what to do at this point. They have $850 of my money on a special order FOREIGN made bass that was direct with The Amp Shop Bass Exchange. The bass pic is a flipped version of a right handed version of what I ordered.
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#3
Since it was misrepresented in writing, you could likely request a refund (and report it to Reverb) and Reverb would either hold them to it or cover in themselves if the company tried to dodge it. They are pretty good about that.

Earlier this year I bought a bass from a shop here in the US (on Reverb). It was supposedly in stock, but was not and turned out to be a "preorder." It wasn't listed as a preorder. I'm fairly patient, so I waited... and waited... and waited. I messaged them several times and every time the said "any day now." Meanwhile other shops are selling the same bass in stock. I finally ran out of patience and asked them if they could just substitute another bass they supposedly had in stock that was the same price. They said, "Sure, let me get the shipping guys started on that." Nothing happened. Several more messages... nothing happened. They kept telling me what I wanted to hear and did nothing. Finally, I got Reverb involved. After a few days Reverb told me that the shop was not responding and refunded my money (from Reverb--so they coved it themselves). Hopefully the penalized the shop (it is a shop that is quite well-known on Reverb--I won't list names, though).
 
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#13
I have heard these are pretty good short scales. Amp shop Bass Exchange is a well known shop in Hollywood. I also got the impression they were making them at the shop tho. It might be the same deal as the Nordstrand cat bass where the bodies and necks are made elsewhere, but they assemble them and do the finish work. The Hardware looks great as well. If I were in your position, I would just pick up the phone and call the shop.https://www.ampshopbassexchange.com/
 
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#14
For what it,s worth I have also been very frustrated shopping on Reverb and finding it difficult to tell if the actual item is in stock or if it is on order. They need to do better with that in general. I don't feel like they should be able to list something for sale that is not in their possession.
 
#15
I have had this suspicion that these are made in Ukraine by Valiant, because a lot of the specs are the same like location of truss rod adjustment, type of inlays, similarities in bridges and string trees. I haven't been able to confirm that though.

For what it's worth, I've tried to buy one and have it shipped to me directly from their factory in Europe. Since I also live in Europe, it'd be stupid if they had to ship it to the US first and then again to me and charge me with extra import costs. I got ghosted hard after asking if they could though.
 
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#16
It's possible they were manufactured by Iconic Guitars in California when they answered you. I don't know that Woodcraft guitars were ever made by Iconic, but they manufacture a fair number of brands. Iconic went through reorganization awhile ago after BC Rich failed to deliver payments due to Iconic. Just a guess on my part.
 
#18
Matt O said:
View attachment 7095273

There's your answer. Your bass was likely built in NoHo from imported parts. The seller told you the technical truth, but masked the origin of the parts. Semantics.
Click to expand...
Did they somehow have parts shipped to California, assemble the bass, then ship it to Europe for some reason, then have to wait for it to come back?
Heart_Reaper said:
"Your bass is finished and currently on the way to us from Europe, Estimated time for arrival 2 to 2 1/2 weeks."
Click to expand...
 
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#19
HaphAsSard said:
Did they somehow have parts shipped to California, assemble the bass, then ship it to Europe for some reason, then have to wait for it to come back?
Click to expand...
No, more likely the parts batch is done and on its way from whoever made them. The seller can make the claim it is built in the US as long as a certain amount of it is assembled here.

Shinola watches is company I remember getting spanked by the SEC for claiming their watches were made in Detroit, when all the were doing was putting a premade movement into a premade case. They now say built in Detroit. The seller of that bass made a point of using the word built, not made.
 
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