• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

If i had $8499...

#221
I'll likely never own a Fodera simply due to the price (my hometown-area-pride bass has actually gone to a used Guild Pilot), but if they want to charge what they feel they need to, that's up to them.

I don't think anyone has mentioned rent in Brooklyn in general, and how much that costs - I used to live not too far from where the Fodera shop is located.

nostatic said:
What exactly do you do for a living? Your attitude reminds me of some engineers I've known.
Click to expand...

I'm a software engineer, and this is not my attitude toward individual products. I know I tend to get pissed off when someone ruins something I worked hard on, regardless of whether it is now my responsibility or not. I also know other software engineers, electrical engineers and power engineers who don't have that attitude either. Please don't overgeneralize, nostatic.
 
#222
steubig said:
funny thing is, i've been to the fodera shop. they have lots of pics around the joint of people with their basses—and most of them aren't named victor, anthony or matthew. some of people like little old me. they actually listen to discs people send 'em of their basses on recordings . . .

i think that you have your attitude and it's not gonna be shaken. so be it.

i just don't think everyone is as cold-blooded as you think . . .
Click to expand...

Some are. Most aren't.

There is a great scene in the movie "the right stuff" where they are trying to find someone to attempt to break the sound barrier. One test pilot says he will do it...for 150,000 dollars...non negotiable. Chuck Yaeger, on the other hand, offers to do it for his current salary...which was 326 dollars a month. This is a stunt, by the way, that could have easily resulted in his death....and he was willing to try it for peanuts...why? because he had a love and passion for flying.

All through history we have seen evidence of people doing things for reasons other then profit. Just look at most military guys for an example of that. What does a 3 star general bring home compared to the CEO of a private company, for starters?

SMCD is wrong, and is inadvertently supporting those instrument makers who think like him...or, he is actually supporting them on purpose. I don't think he is trolling, though. Opinions are not trolling.
 
#223
I chafe at the notion that a bass is a "tool". I consider many brands (including Fender) to be pieces of art. But this notion that a builder puts love and tiny tears from personal heartbreak into an instrument is just going WAY off the deep end. You people are confusing craftsmanship with some kind of nutty new age philosophy. A guy in a wizard hat didn't make your bass. It was some guy with a band saw and a router.
 
#224
ggvicviper said:
I'm a software engineer, and this is not my attitude toward individual products. I know I tend to get pissed off when someone ruins something I worked hard on, regardless of whether it is now my responsibility or not. I also know other software engineers, electrical engineers and power engineers who don't have that attitude either. Please don't overgeneralize, nostatic.
Click to expand...

I said "some" - I don't think that is over-generalizing. I was trained in the hard sciences and currently am knee-deep in technology as well as the creative side of things. There are dogmatic types in every field. In particular though I've run across a number of engineers who trot out the same attitudes as smcd. They value "logic" above all else, and try to distill everything down to a math problem to solve. The problem is that approach amounts to a religion in and of itself, and fails to take into account the squishy side of life. It isn't the Heisenberg Certainty Principle. To quote two minds far deeper than mine:


The more I learn, the more I learn how little I know. -- Socrates

The more you know, the less you understand. -- Lao-Tse
 
#225
smcd said:
I chafe at the notion that a bass is a "tool". I consider many brands (including Fender) to be pieces of art. But this notion that a builder puts love and tiny tears from personal heartbreak into an instrument is just going WAY off the deep end. You people are confusing craftsmanship with some kind of nutty new age philosophy. A guy in a wizard hat didn't make your bass. It was some guy with a band saw and a router.
Click to expand...

How do you know what goes through the bass builders mind? Were you there as they were working?

I know because of a couple reasons: The end product is a thing of beauty. Beyond that, bass player magazine has been featuring a new bass builder each month. You get to read and find out what makes them tick...why they got into the trade, why they do what they do. it's pretty clear they LOVE doing what they do. In fact, some have even used those exact words. Are they lying, SMCD?
 
#226
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] said:
Share a picture of your Alembic instrument with the Club - we all love to see Alembics. Images will be archived here at our forum so you’ll always know where to find a picture of your Alembic instruments past and present (if applicable). Find the model of your Alembic instrument on the list below and start a new thread in that section where you may post your pictures and any instrument related stories - please include the serial number. Come on, don’t be shy!
Click to expand...
And I know from personal experience they ask for pictures to put in the instruments file if you did some modifications (they keep track/files of every instrument since '72)

If I had $8499 I would be about halfway to my next custom :p

That Fodera does look very nice, $8499 (minus possible a little dealer discount) is not that bad for a brand new one
 
#227
smcd said:
I chafe at the notion that a bass is a "tool". I consider many brands (including Fender) to be pieces of art. But this notion that a builder puts love and tiny tears from personal heartbreak into an instrument is just going WAY off the deep end. You people are confusing craftsmanship with some kind of nutty new age philosophy. A guy in a wizard hat didn't make your SX or Squier bass. It was some 13 year old chinese kid locked in a sweat shop with a band saw and a router.
Click to expand...

There. Fixed it for you.
 
#228
lucas vigor said:
How do you know what goes through the bass builders mind? Were you there as they were working?

I know because of a couple reasons: The end product is a thing of beauty. Beyond that, bass player magazine has been featuring a new bass builder each month. You get to read and find out what makes them tick...why they got into the trade, why they do what they do. it's pretty clear they LOVE doing what they do. In fact, some have even used those exact words. Are they lying, SMCD?
Click to expand...

Well, if you read it in Bass Player magazine, it must be true!


When someone is interviewed for BP magazine, there #1 thing on their mind is self promotion. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But just because someone says in BP mag that they tuck their basses in at night with little pink blankeys doesn't make it true.
 
#229
smcd said:
Well, if you read it in Bass Player magazine, it must be true!


When someone is interviewed for BP magazine, there #1 thing on their mind is self promotion. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But just because someone says in BP mag that they tuck their basses in at night with little pink blankeys doesn't make it true.
Click to expand...

I tend to believe a highly respected industry magazine's articles more then I believe some anonymous poster on talkbass ANY DAY.

Funny how you attribute all these supposed "kumbaya" emotions to the simple act of caring about the things a person builds with their own hands. That kind of tells me where your head is at. You probably use the word "tree hugger" and "bleeding heart" a lot when you are talking with your friends.
 
#230
mrhand_fasttimes.jpg


You're all a bunch of tree huggers and on the dope.
 
#232
smcd said:
Well, if you read it in Bass Player magazine, it must be true!


When someone is interviewed for BP magazine, there #1 thing on their mind is self promotion. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But just because someone says in BP mag that they tuck their basses in at night with little pink blankeys doesn't make it true.
Click to expand...

So you think that nowhere in the boutique bass building world out there, there isn't someone who has any sort of emotional tie to an individual product they sell.

Say that after the luthier sold the bass to a customer, the customer wanted to make a modification to it, screwed it up, and then sold it off to some music store at a cheap price because of the damage. The builder by chance comes across it and sees the damage done to it, and sees the price reduced to it.

You think there is no way that this would affect the luthier emotionally? To see something that you worked that hard on and that closely to be treated in that way? Are you absolutely sure?
 
#233
hey, I paid $7000 for a 9 year old Suburban with 89,000 miles on it in great condition. This was a great deal and I would still have $1500 in my pocket. This truck has been a workhorse and the band depends upon it. $8500 cars don't have to go "Boom"' if you know what you're doing.
 
#234
ya know. i haven't had to read bp to find this stuff out. i've actually had *real* conversations with some of these people that have been ongoing over the last 27 years—might as say, as opposed to people who *think* they know what other people's motivations are.

and at no time did they mention pink blankies.

seems to me that it's quite simple: not everyone operates in the way we think the world operates. our experiences don't mean that our perceptions are true. some might be more applicable on a case-by-case basis if they're from *real* interaction with *specific* people rather than being based on expectations or dogma.
 
#235
steubig said:
ya know. i haven't had to read bp to find this stuff out. i've actually had *real* conversations with some of these people that have been ongoing over the last 27 years—might as say, as opposed to people who *think* they know what other people's motivations are.
Click to expand...

nonsense. A friend of my cousin knew this guy who delivered a pizza to Ken Smith. I like totally know the story.
 
#236
smcd said:
A guy in a wizard hat didn't make your bass. It was some guy with a band saw and a router.
Click to expand...

I FedEx'd Chris Stambaugh a wizard hat to wear while making my basses. It was this one:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I think he's a pretty honest guy so when he tells me that he's wearing it I believe him.

We also traded homebrewing tips. In a moment of weakness he also revealed to me that he doesn't even like building instruments. He's just a masochist who wanted to make life difficult for himself.
 
#237
ggvicviper said:
So you think that nowhere in the boutique bass building world out there, there isn't someone who has any sort of emotional tie to an individual product they sell.
Click to expand...

I'm saying that no sane person has an emotional tie to an individual bass they sold. No way. Sure, mayyyyyyyyybe there's some guy out there in the Pyrenees that works with pixie dust and invisible goblins that has an emotional tie to each individual product he's made.

But I'm telling you guys - many of whom I suspect have never worked on a production environment - that these boutique builders don't have emotional ties to their product.
 
#239
smcd said:
No builder gives a crap about a bass that has shipped. None. Do you think they ask for photos from the customers? Updates on the health and well being of the bass over the years? Chistmas cards with the bass on Santa's lap? Please....
Click to expand...

Actually: my friends Toyota minivan broke its crank with 200k miles on it. It was towed to a dealship hundreds of miles from my friend's home.

Toyota fixed it for free. They said, "This doesn't happen to our cars".
Do they think about every car? LOL

The makers of my gear do remember what gear they've made and tweaked for me over the years.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back