fender custom shop

[Gums]

The difference is that you bass isn't gonna be built on a production line, it's probably gonna be the same parts, but a whole lot better put together, the nicer you want to make an instrument the more it costs, usually along the lines of an exponential curve, since the things you need to fix to make it better get smaller and smaller, and the benefits of the changes you make get smaller and smaller, and the changes takes more and more time. Point of diminishing returns is kinda what you set with your budget.

There's a guy here with a CS jazz that's really neat, can't remember his name though, need to check it out.

Oh, I'm definitely aware of that. Sucks though. But it's as if Mutt and Jeff work out front on the main production line while the A-team works out back with the "good stuff". There is some bit of truth to that. I still believe, however, that in the "big scheme of things" that Master Built is really cost prohibitive to us average Nine-to-Five goobers so as to discourage their shop from being completely inundated with back orders. If a differentiating paint scheme were just an additional 3 or 4 hundred dollars or so, Joe Six Pack would have to wait a lot longer than six months to get his beloved custom built bass. That, or FMIC would have to triple the number of people working in their Custom Shop. Money from consumers isn't flowing that freely and as a result, or maybe because of this, a company doesn't wish to invest that amount of capital into such an endeavor. Lotta risk involved. Master Built, I believe, is marketed towards the person that makes his or her professional living playing music or those individuals that indulge in a hobby where money can be indescriminately spent. More power to 'em! I envy those individuals.