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Fodera Imperial Elite 5-String Available!
- Thread starter Just Thumpin'
- Start date
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Fine. Since you OTOH have read the answers, help me out. Here are the questions I somehow missed the responses to:
Are they using those huge price increases to try to bring supply and demand back into line?
Are they outsourcing more stuff (which Ken heard through the grapevine might be happening)?
Who is building what? Is anything such as the Essence being outsourced?
Is Fodera giving hard completion dates?
jes askin. What did you read in response?
TIA
I understand that. I'm not sure if many of you even understand what I'm talking about. I'll try one last time
Let's say you have an exotic blank that ONE person orders a top from. Despite the fact that you see it's very nice wood, you don't have a specific order for another one. Should you cut one top and put the rest aside for who knows how long or should you instead cut as many as you can get from it WHILE YOU'RE CUTTING THE CUSTOMER'S TOP? What do the "only work on orders" folks think? If you "allow" them to do the extra tops, should they then shelve them?
If they're gluing that one top to a body blank, does it not make sense, WHILE THEY'RE IN THAT MODE OF PRODUCTION to do the same with those extra tops? If so, should they then shelve them?
And on to the next step and the next.
See the point yet? If they can expend a little more effort and make another instrument ALONG WITH ORDERS, they shouldn't because... ?
I think people are more focused on the ideal rather than the real world aspects of building.
Just curious... did anyone read it?
How dare you guys start a huge and bitter argument without me.
It's funny... I have people bothered with my POV because I don't agree with theirs. As if that's a no-no.
Oh wait... it is.
Again, did I say you? Did I say everyone who is complaining?
Nope.
Wow.
Its hard to believe you are not a "troller' here for the way you nuance the obvious...
"non- potential customerS complain" ..you did not direct it at "one". I WAS complaining- you were general....TA DA!
Still was/is and empty cop- out. I've read that before. Maybe not everyone's opinions should be taken on an equal basis on here IMO (including someone's opinion of my thoughts), but opinions shall cometh from the ether from non- deposited forum participants.
Its hard to believe you are not a "troller' here for the way you nuance the obvious...
"non- potential customerS complain" ..you did not direct it at "one". I WAS complaining- you were general....TA DA!
Still was/is and empty cop- out. I've read that before. Maybe not everyone's opinions should be taken on an equal basis on here IMO (including someone's opinion of my thoughts), but opinions shall cometh from the ether from non- deposited forum participants.
This is laughable at best. Because you refuse to read and comprehend exactly what was written, I must be a troll. I speak very specifically and if I meant everyone I would've said everyone. I know that would've helped you out considerably... but I didn't.
Hey, call it whatever you want, cop-out, bad business... I know that MANY on TB tend to have a rather myopic view of things and don't want anything presented that might affect that.
BTW Foderas cost too much. Let's get that one rolling... again.
If your read post by post, it's very plain to see where it started it's downward spiral
smakbass
Smakkin basses for 25 years..
I have also heard that Vinnie's process in making necks is MUCH more involved then other builders from what I understand necks are glued up early on and then let sit for a time before carving begins so the wood is settled for lack of a better term. So it could be he is just squeezing these in while waiting on his other orders. I cant imagine more than 4-5 of these essence basses going out over a year so out of 120 or so basses its not like its impacting it that much is it?
Gotta work...
Fodera will sell that bass.
The price is either reflective of the most efficient true cost of the time- consuming artistry on one man's shoulders...or the result of decisions made to suit the buisness strategy - for whatever reasons- of this company.
I think its a bit of both...others will make up their own minds and decide what to do.
No argument with what the market does and provides for Fodera, but I think it should be as efficient and fair as possible to the higher paying, longer waiting customers on their wait list.
Sincerely,
A non- deposited Fodera fan and forum participant.
Fodera will sell that bass.
The price is either reflective of the most efficient true cost of the time- consuming artistry on one man's shoulders...or the result of decisions made to suit the buisness strategy - for whatever reasons- of this company.
I think its a bit of both...others will make up their own minds and decide what to do.
No argument with what the market does and provides for Fodera, but I think it should be as efficient and fair as possible to the higher paying, longer waiting customers on their wait list.
Sincerely,
A non- deposited Fodera fan and forum participant.
It seems that many of you are forgetting that there is a waiting list for these instruments. It sometimes takes months or longer just to get to a customers bass order. Essentially you are waiting in line. Like Disneyland, only with a much better ride at the end.Vinnie says that in a good year that he can build roughly 120 basses by hand, which is already impressive, in the same breath he told me that he receives roughly 250 orders a year. That's more than twice as many than he can build, the waiting list goes up from there. The official wait time I believe is roughly 18 months now, that's the minimum wait not including extremely unusual custom options. Trust me I know, I am a friend of the Joey and Vinnie's and an "Fodera Artist" and I have been waiting for almost 2 years just like anyone else including all of the heavy hitters. I am willing to wait that long because I feel that their instruments are worth it in every way possible. Vinnie takes tone into account during every aspect of the instruments build process, sometime this means rebuilding things. In my case it meant filling hundreds of tiny,tiny pinholes in a burl top by hand, where most manufacturers would just epoxy the entire piece of wood, Vinnie wouldn't because it compromise the integrity of the woods tone. Now that's something that I can respect. If more builders would do this than there would be more great instruments, yes that would mean longer waits but you wouldn't see as many of those basses up for resale. Also people don't take real life events into consideration. When you are talking about one man (artist) building an instrument if he gets sick, or someone in his family gets sick (which has happened, God bless him) he must take time off to deal with that issue. Thus increasing the wait time. Another person may say "why not add more staff to build?" my answer is, that the unwillingness to compromise quality is what makes a Fodera, a Fodera and bringing more people in could compromise that. If you want a real wait time look into Bob Benedetto's beautiful instruments, it makes Fodera's look like millisecond and a fraction of the cost. If you are not willing to do the wait than these are simply not the basses for you. But I do know that they are the basses for me.!!!!!! Just take a look at the reward.
I know that Fodera lovers will pretty much accept whatever it takes to get their basses, but I think that routinely accepting more than twice as many custom orders than one can make in a year is bad business, and it at the heart of the Fodera backlog. I think that doing what Celinder did, laying off orders until catching up, makes good sense. I also think that a compromise for the future would be to sharply limit custom orders (30-50 yearly) while increasing production of standard models to maybe 200 a year. That way, Fodera would still be very exclusive but without hard feelings on the part of customers.
That can all tie into it. Does anyone care about specific moisture content? I'd bet Fodera does and it can take time to get where they want.
I'm not making excuses for anyone, I'm saying that MAYBE people should consider what they don't know about the process.
This is laughable at best. Because you refuse to read and comprehend exactly what was written, I must be a troll. I speak very specifically and if I meant everyone I would've said everyone. I know that would've helped you out considerably... but I didn't.
Hey, call it whatever you want, cop-out, bad business... I know that MANY on TB tend to have a rather myopic view of things and don't want anything presented that might affect that.
BTW Foderas cost too much. Let's get that one rolling... again.
ok sorry had to do one more for giggles...
Ok..... I get it now "OPTICS" do not exist *anywhere* in your thought process.
Carry on!
And lose a ton of business in the process.
There are people who don't have a problem with Fodera (and other builders) however long it takes. So they shouldn't be able to get in line because of the people who do have a problem?
Showing future business can also affect a company's ability to borrow if needed. Particularly confirmed orders with deposits. Anyone think about that?
Well said. If I were in that position....which I'm not, I'd probably want to stop taking orders once I hit 25-50% more orders than I could complete in a year. It sucks when you working a ton and not being to dig yourself out of it.
That being said, the fact that people still pay the high price and long wait is an obvious testament to the quality.
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