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Has TB moved on from Lakland?

#42
NortyFiner said:
This. Being just a hobbyist, and at my current stage and situation of life, I can't justify spending multiple mortgage payments on a bass.
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Same here. I was lucky to find an older hand made Bacchus from a local TB'er about a year ago for a great deal, but I'd never be able to afford a new version of this instrument from their Japanese builders today given my current station in life.

TortoiseBass said:
At the moment Sadowsky is getting a lot of praise, don’t know much about Sadowsky’s. Also the Sandbergs are gaining traction, personally, I’m loving the look of the California but not the price :laugh:
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Sandberg's got a hold on me, too. No many builders are making 4-strings with that sort of in-between neck width of 39.5mm at the nut (about 1 9/16"). Narrow Jazz necks (1.5" nut width) just aren't thrilling me anymore and every time I look up one thing or another about these Sandy's, I can't find any reason to gripe about them.

My COVID buy was one of Sandberg's Electra Jazz basses - their TT. VERY good build, terrific details (zero fret, 3-D bridge, active/passive, etc.), and this isn't even one their premium models. So having played one of these sort of "imports", I can't even poo-poo the $1,000-$1,400 prices I see on a lot of their used basses from Germany. These cats ain't screwin' around :wideyed:

The other brand that seems to have landed a pretty hardcore group of devotees is Reverend. I wouldn't be at all surprised to have one follow me home someday down the road after a brief introduction.
 
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#44
I’m still very much in the Lakland Skyline camp. Then again, I’ve had mine for about 10 years. Really, I like the way their 5 strings are laid out (string spacing, neck profile, etc.). Well made too. Just needed to make it a little more interesting with a new pickguard.
IMG_0082.jpg
 
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#46
ModulusQ5-122 said:
Hey guys, I’ve just recently become active again on Tb after many years. Boy it seems things have changed in the bass world. When I first started to be very active here about 10 years ago it seemed that Lakland got a ton of love, (me too, Lakland fan here). But now there are so many other bass brands that quite honestly I’d never even heard of before until starting to browse around the threads again recently.

So I guess the point of this thread is....What’s the bass brand craze that everyone seems to be into these days?

BTW I still love all my Laklands, but always down for trying new bass brands that people really like.
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Fender
 
#48
Nothing truly good 'moves' on. It gets repackaged, re-named, re-painted, re-displayed and in many cases despite not being 'talked about' is loved, owned and used daily. 'Talk Bass' culture is its own thing. The revolving cyclical groups of voices that hype certain brands at certain times is small % of players and has very limited influence outside of Talk Bass. Play the long game it's far more satisfying and the gear is always consistently great!
 
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#49
I don't see many post mentioning Basses in the league of American Lakeland for any reason [Thinking about buying, comparisons etc.]

Many of those threads bring out and are littered with the 'Squire Boy's and similar; calling such who try Elitist, Snobs and Stupid since Squires and other 'inexpensive' imports are just as good and in some cases blow away those overpriced monstrosity's:)

Try Clubs there must be a Lakeland one and many other elitist club types also.

Like in amps Mesa is hot now but most posters stick to Club or Just 1 established thread because the 'Rumble Boy's' are always lurking. Just a Tip don't ask about American Fender or Markbass; GK, MIM Fender along with brand name imports are fine; except Lakeland [still elitist]
 
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#51
It's not that Lākland has less of a presence here, IMO, but rather the fact that there are many many more new TB members who don't play Lakland or perhaps simply cannot afford them- hence the rise in presence of brands like Sire and a couple of super-cheap Chinese made instruments that people seem to love for some reason.

I should add that in the last 5-10 years I've noticed that A LOT more people have said things to me like "whoa, is that a Lakland?" or "I've always wanted to check out Laklands" or "You play Laklands? I heard those are awesome." When I take my basses out at the studio everyone is usually psyched to see Laklands. Point is, non bass players in the industry acknowledge Lakland in much the same way as the do vintage Fenders.
 
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#52
two fingers said:
I don't think it's just Lakland. I think we've moved away from bass companies making a huge splash in general these days. There's no top of the heap bass right now.

@agedhorse and @Al Kraft are making sure that there's an AMP company that makes a big splash about every 6 months. :D
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@agedhorse is the visionary and engineering genius that makes it happen, @Chef and I just get to help out a little. It's both fun and a tad humbling watching him work. :)
 
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#58
Smooth_bass88 said:
It's not that Lākland has less of a presence here, IMO, but rather the fact that there are many many more new TB members who don't play Lakland or perhaps simply cannot afford them- hence the rise in presence of brands like Sire and a couple of super-cheap Chinese made instruments that people seem to love for some reason.

I should add that in the last 5-10 years I've noticed that A LOT more people have said things to me like "whoa, is that a Lakland?" or "I've always wanted to check out Laklands" or "You play Laklands? I heard those are awesome." When I take my basses out at the studio everyone is usually psyched to see Laklands. Point is, non bass players in the industry acknowledge Lakland in much the same way as the do vintage Fenders.
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Count me as one of these folks.

Make no mistake: At some point, I plan on a teal sunburst 44-94 with a maple fingerboard. I see a Skyline with the Chi-Sonics in my future sooner though (I want to get one and refin it in shell pink with a mint pickguard).

I also like the idea of a 44-60, but they seem pricey. I am not saying they are too much, but I would like to play one first.

If I saw a bassist with one of these 3 Laklands mentioned above, it would be fantastic to play it.
 
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