That seems like an entirely reasonable suggestion. I was mostly reacting to the large number of posts whining about the delays and about the 30th anniversary bass.
[edit:]
.. and I see that ANOTHER of those posts appeared as I was typing this one! Jeesh! Fodera could have a 10-year wait for basses, and Vinny would STILL deserve to take time to eat, to sleep, to go out and do whatever he wants to do, to take a vacation, whatever he wants! To whine that he took some time for something other than working on those delayed projects is simply childish. And it is also very disrespectful because it's as if the people complaining about that 1 project think that Vinny is their slave, that they own him, or that he is a machine.
Agreed in parts.
I guess it may have been a simple case of "interesting timing" as the lead time issue is heard of more and more, there appears a bass that wasn't an on order instrument. "Bad business" is the first thing I thaught. Making yourselve a bass just comes across entirely different than going on vacation in this particular instance.
It's appearance which seems part of it all.
My initial post was never meant as a complaint(I am on no waiting list).
I merely noticed something and wrote it.
On the disrespect I am on the fence.
I think you are right in saying that people should not think that the fodera crew are their slaves, I also don't think many are thinking that.
I just recon that they are thinking "where the .... is my bass that I spent all that money on and that's now very overdue?".
I agree that it may come across as disrespect in some cases but think that people might be forgiven for harsh words as it can't be easy being on that waiting list .Just as much as I think the fodera crew might be forgiven for getting swamped and not keeping up as much as one should as they seem to be doing something about it now. Not everyone is a gifted business man( thinking appropriate pricing is part of that).
Respect is however something one earns and doesn't come for free.
I can not say that having people wait years beyond a promised lead time or not answering calls and e-mails etc(as some have mentioned) is all that respectful either.
Intended or not.
At the end I just think people are getting anxcious and wonder where all their money's gone.
As to my bass(since you mentioned it);
All my instruments apart from an ashbory are custom instruments.
They took the time they took to be built ( no more than one and a half year so far) and I'm cool with that.
The luthier always picks up the phone and always keeps me up to date.
He's made 5 basses for me over the last 16 years and is a good friend.
Sorry for the long post
To equate eating and sleeping with building a spec 'vanity' bass doesn't really make sense, and building that vanity bass when you have all those missed deadlines is amazingly poor judgement. It's the missed promised deadlines, not the absolute time of the wait that is the issue. If everyone was told 3 years, and it took three years, then Vinnie could do whatever he wants and no one would care. You seem to not realize that most of these guys were promised a bass in 9 to 12 months.
