Custom Basses

[cahir231]

What are the pros/cons of custom-made basses?

Obviously a pro would be the ability to choose what your instrument is made of, its scale, etc. abilities to specify.

Contrast this with pre-made, store-sold basses. Before I go off and spend time and money trying to construct my dream custom bass, what benefits can I get from pre-made basses that I can't get from a custom bass?

Note: Most custom basses I've seen have been priced for $5000-6000 or less. Some (not all) of the sites I've perused through on my search are Link Removed, Link Removed, Bass Guitars - Bass Guitars, and Hanewinckel Guitars.

In case anyone is wondering, I plan on becoming a very proficient, very serious player (heh, I like to THINK I'm already reasonably serious), so unless money limits me, I would like to get the best possible instrument (without being pointlessly extravagant...eventually and inevitably, the price of some basses surpass their merits).

In addition to this, I would like to immerse myself (and I AM immersing myself currently) in multiple musical styles. I am more or less a musical universalist, so I appreciate (if not love) most everything out there (with a few notable exceptions). That being said, I would be looking for a bass with versatility and adaptability for jazz, rock, blues, metal, etc., encompassing techniques such as fingerstyle, pick, slap, and tapping.

Also, I'm not extremely experienced at all of this "shopping for the right bass" stuff, so if some of my inquiries appear to be naive...well, I'm learning as I go.

 

[Jason P Bass]

If I were you, I would not consider a custom made bass at this time. In order to get a custom bass that you like, you need to know what you love/hate, and it seems like you're not entirely sure about this. (Because if you knew what you wanted, you probably wouldn't be asking...)

For example, do you want 34" or 35" or some more exotic scale length?

Do you like a 15" radius? 12" radius? Compound radius fretboard?

What neck shape? Thick? Thin? Asymetric?

Pickups wired in parallel? Series? Switchable?

If you're at a loss with these options, it's probably not time to get a custom bass.

Just my opinion

 

[bongomania]

^^^ Agreed completely. I bought my first fully-custom bass without knowing everything I "should have" known, and the results were disappointing. And the resale on a custom bass is horrifyingly bad--you can lose up to 3/4 of what you paid.

I would strongly advise buying used basses, trying them for a while, making note of what you like and dislike about each, and sticking with at least one of them for a year or a few years, just to develop comfort and a consistent reference point for looking at other basses.

Down the road, all this will inform you about what makes a good custom bass for you.

 

[Slowgypsy]

Actually, I think there is no correct answer. If you can comfortably afford a custom build, the process is amazingly educational in ways that are different from just playing as many instruments as you can.

I recently took delivery of a custom build. I've played for many, many years. I own many pro grade instruments, and I've played all of them quite a bit. And yet, the process of going through this custom build taught me an enormous amount, mainly by highlighting all the things I thought I knew well but discovered I didn't know as well as I thought.

If I've learned one "big" thing from going through my personal build, it's this... Think long and hard about what you want this special instrument to be that you don't already have. And what you want it to be can involve many things. Tone, comfort, feel, looks, beauty, etc. For me, I tried to make this instrument an expression of where I am at this moment in my musical life.

Also, I found it helpful to be aware that custom instruments, just like their stock counterparts, are dynamic things. And they can be changed and altered to make them better for you. Just because it's custom doesn't mean it has to arrive at your doorstep and never be tampered with.

Ultimately though it does come down to $. If it's comfortably affordable then I'd think seriously about going that route. But if the $ is tight and your expectations of the results require perfection and nothing less, perhaps it's best to wait just a bit.

It's fun thinking about though

 

[prd004]

I agree with Jason. Get a real solid bass in the $1000-$1500 range witch these days are very fine instuments. Hone you skills, gain your experience and consider the high dollar instrument a few years down the road (at least).

Your taste and desires in instruments will be constantly evolving

 

[ehque]

In order to get a custom bass that you like, you need to know what you love/hate.

+1.

If you have an opinion on the scale length, pickup choice, electronics, nut width, string count, string spacing, neck profile, fretboard radius and the number of frets that you want to have, then it's a good choice, since few if any basses out there will conform to all of them.

If on the other hand you're a bit meh on many of the above options, try and look for off-the-shelf basses that appeal to you, and find out WHAT it is about them that appeals to you. You can slowly fill in the specs for your custom bass later.