Ernie Ball may as well be boutique now.

[Dr. Cheese]

Ernie Ball Music Man Unveils Ball Family Reserve Bongo 6HH Bass in Grabber Green

Even base model Stingrays are over $2000, the Family Reserve Bongo in the link is $3,349. Unlike Fender or Ibanez, there are no cheaper basses labeled Music Man.

 

[jd56hawk]

Glad I've never been a big fan.
Probably went a bit crazy when I spent $1,500 for my L2000...even though I will buy another G&L...but that's my limit.

 

[MattZilla]

A gallon of milk yoosta cost me just a buck twelve. It all must be all organic free range curated by bearded smelly brooklynites and transported in glass trailers nowadays considerin it caint be gotten fer less than two seventy three!

 

[InternetAlias]

I see absolutely no reason why I'd buy a $2000 musicman when there's a $700 ibanez that's better. I like their aesthetic, but they really aren't made of gold and platinum.

 

[scuzzy]

I love the look of that green-ish bongo 6HH. Classy.

Their prices are very high, but they make great quality, and their electronics aren't cheap.

 

[InternetAlias]

I love the look of that green-ish bongo 6HH. Classy.

Their prices are very high, but they make great quality, and their electronics aren't cheap.

Non-cheap (quality wise) electronics are still super cheap (financially) to manufacture, however. If they're marking their price up way higher due to electronics, it's actually kind of hilarious. Buy a $100 android phone. It has electronics that are way more expensive to create and put together, not to mention processors, memories and ultra tiny capacitors and resistors with low tolerances.

Oh but MM electronics are not cheap... so they're worth $500? In reality, all electronics used on guitars are super cheap and very simple, compared to basically anything. It's just that the Chinese managed to make super super super cheap electronics that are also not good enough in quality for their purpose, which means, very bad microphonic pickups, noisy premps because they cheaped out on everything. Compared to them, companies like MM (and yes, Ibanez) can very cheaply produce very high end electronics for their products (and those high end components still have parts cheaper than a $100 android phone, and tolerances higher than a $100 android phone).

 

[JakobT]

Music Man instruments are produced in the USA, of near-boutique quality, and Sterling Ball pays his workers a living wage. That's where the money goes, and that's fine by me.

 

[johnson79]

In 1993 I paid $550 for a brand new Fender American Standard Jazz. Now they're $1000 more. I agree, $2k is a lot of money. I wish my wages increased at the same rate as that!

*I thought it was 95, but now that I think more it was 1993 or 94, when I was in HS. It was a Boner bass, so whenever they were still new.

 

[InternetAlias]

Music Man instruments are produced in the USA, of near-boutique quality, and Sterling Ball pays his workers a living wage. That's where the money goes, and that's fine by me.

Well, I guess, if you live in the USA. I cannot relate to that at all, because $2000 would be more than 6 average salaries in Serbia No instrument is worth all earnings of half the year of one's life. Considering how people are paid in these parts, a handmade boutique bass goes for about 300-400e at the low end.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Just like Ric (or any other company), the owners can run their business as they like. Either it'll work or it won't.

 

[Dluxe]

That's why I only own USA made basses. I own a 1978 Sting Ray Bass and a 1992 Sting Ray 5.

 

[JakobT]

Well, I guess, if you live in the USA. I cannot relate to that at all, because $2000 would be more than 6 average salaries in Serbia No instrument is worth all earnings of half the year of one's life. Considering how people are paid in these parts, a handmade boutique bass goes for about 300-400e at the low end.

Of course the cost of labour varies from country to country, and the salaries in Serbia being what they are, it would be a good reason to buy local. There are also plenty of manufacturers who produce their instruments in low-cost countries in order to hit more affordable price points. Since Musicman choose to produce their high-quality instruments in the US where labour is expensive, and pay their workers well, the product will naturally be expensive also. But that doesn't mean that the price is unreasonable.

 

[Luigir]

The price seems to be in line with Fender custom shop and Warwick masteebuilt.

 

[Gorn]

I see absolutely no reason why I'd buy a $2000 musicman when there's a $700 ibanez that's better. I like their aesthetic, but they really aren't made of gold and platinum.

Well, I guess, if you live in the USA. I cannot relate to that at all, because $2000 would be more than 6 average salaries in Serbia No instrument is worth all earnings of half the year of one's life. Considering how people are paid in these parts, a handmade boutique bass goes for about 300-400e at the low end.

I'm not sure I follow your math here. I'm not disparaging anyone for what they live on and I acknowledge salary differences and cost of living around the world, but isn't a $700 bass also unattainabley expensive if $2000 is more than what 6 people make?

 

[Acoop]

$2,000 isn't that much for the consistant quality that they produce and evertime I pick one up I feel the quality which remindes me of even more expensive instruments. ... Takes a long time to know the difference. ...

 

[gln1955]

A Fender Elite Jazz is ~$2,000. That seems to be where the really nice USA made stuff falls.

There are tons of other options that are less expensive, so something for everyone. MM seem to be doing OK.

 

[Gizmot]

I've written about this before, but around the first of the year, I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a Caprice bass. At the time, these had a MAP of $1,649.00. Then, with no notice, Ernie Ball raised the price of this bass to $2,249.00 - an increase of nearly 27%! They raised the price of their other basses by similar amounts.

I could understand a typical inflation-related price bump of 3 to 5 percent, but 27%! As the OP infers, this puts these instruments into an entirely different price class and puts them bumper-to-bumper against some audacious competition.

It hasn't been long enough yet to gauge whether Ernie Ball's strategy will work out - or not.

 

[Warpeg]

Whenever these 'X brand of bass is expensive' threads pop up, I defer back to my usual supply and demand explanation. Specifically, Sterling Ball and is marketing team have more than likely done a ton of market and internal operations research as an input to their pricing plan. They believe that their distributors (and retailers) will successfully buy and sell their products at this price point. They believe they will turn a profit at this price point. They believe that they have a large enough target market for this price point.

 

[InternetAlias]

I'm not sure I follow your math here. I'm not disparaging anyone for what they live on and I acknowledge salary differences and cost of living around the world, but isn't a $700 bass also unattainabley expensive if $2000 is more than what 6 people make?

Do realize that $700 is almost 3 times less than $2000. And obviously a $2000 instrument will not be three times better of an instrument. That's just not how quality-to-price ratio operates in almost anything, there'll be diminishing returns. But considering the state of the industry, I'm pretty sure that if one cannot service their instruments themselves, about $700 is the the best spot to get basically a perfect, still cost effective to some extent, instrument out of the box, that needs no additional work whatsoever, if you go the route of Ibanez or Yamaha, for example. If you can service and upgrade your instruments by your own tools, skill and knowledge, then you can polish a much worse instrument to a much higher level. Unless it has obvious structural flaws of some sort, obviously, but most modern instruments just don't. Even Chinese quality control has gone up drastically over the years.

My time is apparently worth less than the time of people who make instruments in the US, so buying cheaper instruments and upgrading them myself brings way more value than investing into super expensive instruments where I'd pay for additional QC done in the first world country, which I can just correct for myself given a bit of time.

 

[MVE]

Whenever these 'X brand of bass is expensive' threads pop up, I defer back to my usual supply and demand explanation. Specifically, Sterling Ball and is marketing team have more than likely done a ton of market and internal operations research as an input to their pricing plan. They believe that their distributors (and retailers) will successfully buy and sell their products at this price point. They believe they will turn a profit at this price point. They believe that they have a large enough target market for this price point.

I'm pretty sure most everyone here already understands the basics of supply and demand. It doesn't mean we can't talk about it and discuss whether we, as consumers, feel those price points are reasonable.