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Canada sucks for musicians. Here's proof.

#101
Not to play a broken record, This is why I now build my own instruments. Although right now, Hammersmith is on my radar for me to get my prestigious bass.

That said, Australians have two prominent vendors who sell nice kits. Pitbull, and Guitarkitworld.com

The options from the latter is tantalizing. Apparently, I can order a kit with faux mother-of-pearl block inlays, tortie guard (don't need it, got one, hee hee) different kinds of woods for both the neck and body... the mind is reeling...

And lefty if I want too.... Invalid Link Removed
 
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#102
Oh, and here's a kit from Pitbull that has me intrigued, and hoping there might be a lefty version available someday.

Invalid Link Removed

TLB-4-001.jpg

Hmmm.... I think I'd put a reverse split-P just a bit closer to the neck from the sweet spot, put a traditional tele bridge, make this string-through, and paint the body surf green and keep the neck in a light oak tint.

That all said, there are two Canadian vendors who sell kits on e-bay. I should hit them up to see if they could get these kits (their other guitars seem to come from the same factory that makes the Pitbull ones). This one in particular might be popular.
 
#103
onosson said:
A few points...

-In my opinion, we Canadians get a lot of value for our high taxes. Personally I think it's a great deal.

-If you're unhappy with the current exchange rates, there are a lot of people and institutions you could blame aside from the Canadian state.

-L&M is a great company that we are lucky to have in Canada. I've always experienced great customer service, including warrantied repairs, available pretty much nationwide. Great for touring musicians.

-Used instruments are readily available and, at least where I live, prices are highly competitive.

There are certainly negative aspects to the industry, but I think it's far from the case that "Canada sucks for musicians". But what do I know... I've only made my living as a Canadian musician for a couple decades ;)
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Agreed on all points here.

corndog said:
they only take the exchange rate into consideration when the CDN$ drops. Prices in Canada never go down when our dollar is on par or is higher than the US dollar..
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onosson said:
I haven't found that to be true myself - I recall prices on many things dropping a few years ago when we were at or close to par. The problem is, historically, being on par is a rare situation, and right now we are barely recovering from the worst exchange rate with USD in over 10 years
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Yeah, Canadian prices did drop significantly on lots of stuff during the years when the dollar was high prior to the current slump. I noticed it particularly on music gear and mountain bikes/parts, except for tires for some reason. I bought a high end US made mountain bike in 2011 at my LBS and prices were just about even, excluding sales tax. My LBS gives me a decent discount so that easily made up for the taxes. Same for basses and stuff. L&M's prices were totally competitive with MF or Sweetwater until the dollar tanked, at least on the stuff I'm interested in. Exchange is killing us now though, for sure.

We pay extra for just about everything out here because everything has to be shipped via container ship or air. Produce is twice as expensive here as it is in say, Ottawa (I spend a lot of time there, hence the comparison) and it's just getting worse with the exchange rate.


SanDiegoHarry said:
So how much does a guy from the great white north get dinged if he buys an amp used on TB classifies? Is there a duty you have to pay? Is it huge?
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This has been said before but it depends on the country of manufacture. If it's made in the US (or Canada) there are no duties, just sales tax.
 
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#115
We do indeed get screwed up here in Canada. Less selection and U.S. made basses are like buying a good used car these days. The new U.S. made basses from Fender, Ernie Ball, Rickenbacker etc are all about $1500 theses days and thats just for the basic U.S. models. If you want the deluxe versions, expect to pay anywhere between $500 to a $1000 more. It's the sad reality of living in Canada in 2018.
 
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#116
This thread is now obsolete. Are you still complaining about how living in Canada is so expensive? Do you still want to cross the border and go down to the States in order to save money? Is public health still that bad in our country? Nobody imagined how the wolrd situation would change only a few years later. That’s funny actually.
 
#119
Fonkamex said:
This thread is now obsolete. Are you still complaining about how living in Canada is so expensive? Do you still want to cross the border and go down to the States in order to save money? Is public health still that bad in our country? Nobody imagined how the wolrd situation would change only a few years later. That’s funny actually.
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Ironically enough this thread was obsolete, no posts in a year and a half, until you brought it back.
 
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