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Frustration on my JERZY DROZD build. Please help me.
- Thread starter benchpress11782
- Start date
Alembic. Best Service I have ever seen.
I have heard good things
Just never had a desire for an Alembic
There is a crayon in the box for everyone!! Alembic is a business run the way it should be.....does not even matter if they built the bass for you. if you own an Alembic you are part of the family and they treat you like it.
That's awesome. That is the same way Fodera is. I am by no means a big shot and they treat me like one.
I get that it can take a long time for these custom builds...I have a Wal...and even though mine is used, i had the electronics in for a checkup recently. That alone took a month. They are a small shop where they do everything but the tuners so it sounds similar to what Jerzy's shop does. They can be slow and a new build would be around 2 years, but they do communicate. And I think that is what the OP's main gripe is.
Luthie Time. In Canada they have a thing called Newfie Time. At TB we should have Luthie Time. The calendar gets stretched in Luthie Time. There are 6 weeks per month, 8 days per week. Start your math from there.
I have ordered three custom basses in my time, Alembic, Roscoe, and Marchlewski. All of them came in later than the original time quote. All were awesome when received. The Roscoe was closest to coming in on time. But it is also the one where I selected a pre-cut body. A lot of the time for Alembic and Marchlewski was on wood selection, cutting and shaping, treating and finishing the body. Even so, the Alembic took the shortest time (about 8 months).
This is also the case with Alembic. They design and make everything except the tuners and manage the wood from boards. I am pretty sure they do the hardware in batches, knowing what they have in front of them, and that helps.
Bottom line is, luthiers want you to be enthused about their product and it works on both ends of the time-scale. They will and often do over-promise on delivery time. They really do want to get you your bass in the time they quote, but they also want to over-deliver on the quality of your final product. And they want to over-deliver on the quality of every final product that is ahead of you in the production schedule. So it is possible (likely?) that schedule slip on every bass in front of yours is impacting the timing of your bass. By the time I ordered my last custom, the Roscoe, I had conditioned myself to set it and forget it. I did communicate with Gard from time to time, but not because I was getting anxious or feeling ignored. It was mainly stuff like "what sorta strings should I use to get X sound?" and other mundane questions. A couple times he emailed to say "we're running a bit behind because..."
If I ever order another custom, I will add at least 2 - 3 months to what ever the luthier tells me at deposit time.
Hope this helps ease the nerves a bit.
Peace,
James
I have ordered three custom basses in my time, Alembic, Roscoe, and Marchlewski. All of them came in later than the original time quote. All were awesome when received. The Roscoe was closest to coming in on time. But it is also the one where I selected a pre-cut body. A lot of the time for Alembic and Marchlewski was on wood selection, cutting and shaping, treating and finishing the body. Even so, the Alembic took the shortest time (about 8 months).
This is also the case with Alembic. They design and make everything except the tuners and manage the wood from boards. I am pretty sure they do the hardware in batches, knowing what they have in front of them, and that helps.
Bottom line is, luthiers want you to be enthused about their product and it works on both ends of the time-scale. They will and often do over-promise on delivery time. They really do want to get you your bass in the time they quote, but they also want to over-deliver on the quality of your final product. And they want to over-deliver on the quality of every final product that is ahead of you in the production schedule. So it is possible (likely?) that schedule slip on every bass in front of yours is impacting the timing of your bass. By the time I ordered my last custom, the Roscoe, I had conditioned myself to set it and forget it. I did communicate with Gard from time to time, but not because I was getting anxious or feeling ignored. It was mainly stuff like "what sorta strings should I use to get X sound?" and other mundane questions. A couple times he emailed to say "we're running a bit behind because..."
If I ever order another custom, I will add at least 2 - 3 months to what ever the luthier tells me at deposit time.
Hope this helps ease the nerves a bit.
Peace,
James
Thanks James. Don't ppl that order custom basses want to know what top they would like on it when they put order in? I don't get it. I agree that I left it blank on order form but how would I know without seeing samples? Am I wrong?
Never ordered a custom build but it shouldn't be up to me to "do my homework" so that I know that when I am told six months that's a lie and I'm looking at more like two years. The guy just wanted honesty and communication. Why should a crafts person (who may build beautiful instruments) not be held to the same standard as everyone else.
Depends. Had you had conversation with them about what species you wanted or was it totally left up in the air? When I ordered my Marchlewski, we discussed the top and back being Amboyna Burl, because I had seen an awesome bass with Amboyna Burl. He started building the body even before I had chosen the board for the top and back. And then, mid-build, I reversed the pieces designated to be the top and back, because leaving the one piece for the top would have required cutting out a figure in the wood that I wanted to preserve.
The little "alien head" would have been routed out for the pickups if it was on the top.
Point is, there was work getting done without knowing the specific details of the top and back. Now, if you hadn't even discussed whether it was maple or walnut or myrtle or whatever, that would be concerning, but not a show-stopper and not an indication that there were not working on the core and/or the neck.
drool x 1000Depends. Had you had conversation with them about what species you wanted or was it totally left up in the air? When I ordered my Marchlewski, we discussed the top and back being Amboyna Burl, because I had seen an awesome bass with Amboyna Burl. He started building the body even before I had chosen the board for the top and back. And then, mid-build, I reversed the pieces designated to be the top and back, because leaving the one piece for the top would have required cutting out a figure in the wood that I wanted to preserve.
The little "alien head" would have been routed out for the pickups if it was on the top.
Point is, there was work getting done without knowing the specific details of the top and back. Now, if you hadn't even discussed whether it was maple or walnut or myrtle or whatever, that would be concerning, but not a show-stopper and not an indication that there were not working on the core and/or the neck.
I've already picked the top for my New York Bass Works Cremona and I don't plan on pulling the trigger for this bass for about another 6 months.
Never discussed anything on the top. Just said that I wanted one. Didn't know if I chose redwood that they would just choose any piece. Wanted to see sample.Depends. Had you had conversation with them about what species you wanted or was it totally left up in the air? When I ordered my Marchlewski, we discussed the top and back being Amboyna Burl, because I had seen an awesome bass with Amboyna Burl. He started building the body even before I had chosen the board for the top and back. And then, mid-build, I reversed the pieces designated to be the top and back, because leaving the one piece for the top would have required cutting out a figure in the wood that I wanted to preserve.
The little "alien head" would have been routed out for the pickups if it was on the top.
Point is, there was work getting done without knowing the specific details of the top and back. Now, if you hadn't even discussed whether it was maple or walnut or myrtle or whatever, that would be concerning, but not a show-stopper and not an indication that there were not working on the core and/or the neck.
It's the difference between 'how it ought to be' and the real world. With the internet there is no excuse for not doing your homework. I just did a google search and it took about two minutes to see what the real wait time is.
I won't argue that there isn't some responsibility on the part of the purchaser.
But if there was some honesty, that gives me the option to spend my money elsewhere if I am not willing to wait 2+ years.
This thread has definitely taught me where my money won't be going (if I ever happen to have a few thousand $$$ kicking around.) Ultimately it is still bad business practice that other self-employed professionals would not be able to get away with and I refuse to blame the guy who took the word of the builder at face value and treat the builder like they walk on water.
Fair, but an optimistic incorrect schedule forecast isn't really justification for throwing the builder under the bus, either. Let's all just simmer down a bit and see how the renewed communications works out. I'm assuming JD hasn't gotten back on the top because he simply hasn't reached that point yet, doesn't mean nothing's happening.
