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Custom? Frankenbass? PartsBass?

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#61
Personally i would love to learn how to build a neck from scratch....however the closest "school" that i know of is in Georgia andd costs about 1,200.00 to 1,500.00 a semester....i don't have that kind of money or time (Kids, work, school, mortage, 2 truck payments etc.)

i don't think a body would be that hard and eventually i will probably buy a blank and go there since i can't seem to get the attention of any builders to produce my ideas...

also teaching my 10 year old how to play the drums as he has shown intrest and some raw talent. It's nice to "Jam" with my son! at 10 he can already play Smoking in the Boys Room, Paranoid, Smash Alley, Crossfire, a few Kinks and Ramones tunes....
 
#62
savit260 said:
A bass that is put together with various parts and pieces, paricularly used pieces, is a parts bass in my opinion.

If you are an manufacturer building basses from parts sourced outside of your shop, then you could legitimatly call it a custom in my opinion, but for a shade tree type build with parts bought from various retailers.... Parts Bass.

Route that P out for a MM p/u and a Kahler Vibrato bridge or something like that, then I'd go the Frankenbass route.
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MarkTAW said:
I'd have to say it's a myrrhthread judging by the fact that it's turned into a holy war.
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Priceless!

savit260 said:
Maybe I'm totaly wrong here, but to me, a "Custom Built Bass" may or may not have parts sourced from other manufactureres, and is assembled, prepped, adjusted, and tweaked with the expressed purpose of being sold to a customer, who ordered the bass in that configuration, for a proffit.

A "Parts Bass" seems to me at least, to be something assembled from parts, bought from retailers, and then assembled by a person who doesn't do that for a living, or for profit, for ones own personal use.

I personaly seem to draw the line at does the person who built the instrument do it for profit, or is it for your own personal use?

If Nino builds one for himself , I veiw that as a "Custom Build". He's a pro.

If I build one for myself with the same parts, it's a "Parts Bass" (required IMO) ;)

Does that make sense?
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I don't see why there'd be a difference. With respect to what I'm sure is superior skill on Nino's part... you are doing the same things with your parts as he does with his. The end result in both cases is a bass that is unlike what you'd find on the wall at your local music store. It's the bass that's custom- the builder's primary occupation does not define this.

WarriorJoe7- I'm reminded of a very tall guy who put custom cabinets in his kitchen. He wanted to be able to put things on the countertops comfortably and not have to stoop all the time. The next person who buys that house will have custom cabinets in his kitchen. They weren't customized for the new buyer, but they're still custom.
 
#63
Hey Dave... I think you need to stop personally attacking me. Actually I KNOW you do. We are both entitled to our opinions. I don't appreciate you coming in here and MAKING STUFF UP about me then turning around and calling me snooty and saying that I need to feel like somebody. I haven't done any such thing to you. You are being warned. If you keep it up you will be banned. Other than that I am done with the thread. I have made my opinion known. I don't know where you get off saying that if a guy asks our opinion that we can't tell him what we think, so there. Any more personal shots at me and I will bring it to the attention of the moderators. I don't mind if anyone mentions anything I said or even disagrees, but your not going to get away with belittling me.

As for my honda analogy. I know you guys think the analogy is bad but really it was Reductio ad absurdum. I was taking the argument that you could offer to change one little thing and call it custom. I agree it is ridiculous.

The cabinet thing is a good if you say they are custom cabinets. But now let's call it a custom built house just because of the cabintes. That's what i am talking about.

DavidCertain said:
look, i am not a troll; i just came in here to help snake from getting confused by made up definitions from armchair bassists and luthiers. does the English language have to be this tough?

it's simple: "customize" means "to make custom." look it up.

nino knows what he's talking about, he's really in the industry as well obviously a very fine bassist if you've hit his links. he's qualified, over-qualified in fact, and i would find it hard to argue with him. and i think the two of us are in agreement as well as some others. but, in my opinion, joe keeps stirring the pot from a very questionable position.

once a custom bass, always a custom bass. to assert "that's cheating" to call a bass custom when it is resold is just an abomination of the English language. why does someone have to have such a negative and prohibitive, even snooty, attitude? to make himself feel like a somebody?

i still stand by my original assertion that snake is building a custom, hand built bass. if you want to belittle him or denegrate him, i just don't feel that this is very encouraging for a person who could become a positive contributor to the world of bass. it's out of line. i think we should encourage him. to tell him he's not allowed to call his bass custom, that there is some rule someone made up against it, is total hogwash.
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#64
joe, here's what i'm talking about: you write, "Hmmmm I've never built a bass but I've assembled and/or repaired WAY more than a few." what's the difference between building and assembling? oh, please don't answer that, i'm sure you have some more unique definitions. but to make matters worse, you also write to nino, "And I agree from a builder's perspective they are one and the same." now, since you admitted you've never built a bass, from what builder's perspective are you talking?" this is enough to make people's heads spin, and poor snake, build your custom hand built bass, and don't listen to this hair splitting. i just don't llike the way joe piously tries to marginalize snake's first creation. just my opinion.
 
#66
BS Dave... this is exactly what I am talking about. It's not me against snakeman! It's snakeman asking a question and me giving my opinion and why I think the way I do. Then you lying about me, belittling me, then doing it again when i've told you to stop once. So I am off to report to the mods. I already told you once... KNOCK IT OFF!
 
#67
I agree with Nino. It's not like the things that are customized are accessories, they are key to the functioning of the instrument, making it a custom instrument to me. You were really talking about accessories in your Honda Accord analogy WarriorJoe which in the context of basses would equate to strings. These along with things like paint could be custom (e.g. a custom paint job, custom built strings). All accessories that can easily be changed, like strings, do not contribute to a custom built instrument. I am not saying they are mutually exclusive though.

A custom instrument doesn't have to have everything completely different, just because a person wants say a mostly stock bass with a few tweaks doesn't make it not a custom instrument - it's still been built to his specifications and therefore custom.

Also "custom" status is not lost if the bass is sold/traded it may have been custom built for somebody else but it still is custom even if it wasn't for you. (+1 to Auriaprottu's kitchen analogy).
 
#72
joe, instead of threatening to snitch when i've done nothing wrong, maybe you could explain your builder's perspective when you said you'd never built a bass. this is not a personal attack, i just need some clarification of your position. the only response i got from you was a threat to snitch me out, a deflection.
 
#73
Dave thanks for sticking up for me but i don't really require it and as Joe pointed out i did ask for "Opinions" and thats all they are "opinions".....we all have them and we all think ours is better than the next guys...

I hope this thread does not get closed because of the back and forth

no need to beat a dead horse

Thanks WarriorJoe for you input...!

and thank for yours Dave...!

no can you guys agree to disagree please...

anyone else want to pipe up?
 
#74
Oh so I am so dumb that I can't imagine thinking from a builder's perspective about what the words "custom" and "customized" mean. Come on man, that's ridiculous. I can't believe you are even arguing this.

And there you go again calling me a snitch when you obviously won't stop bothering me. And this is not a personal attack? OK buddy whatever you say.

DavidCertain said:
joe, instead of threatening to snitch when i've done nothing wrong, maybe you could explain your builder's perspective when you said you'd never built a bass. this is not a personal attack, i just need some clarification of your position. the only response i got from you was a threat to snitch me out, a deflection.
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