I worked at a place that, for a while, had the theory that it didn’t matter if you knew anything about the process or area you were managing as long as you knew how to manage… Didn’t work out well.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
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.
Inside The Secret Underground Laboratory
- Thread starter Bruce Johnson
- Start date
I worked at a place that, for a while, had the theory that it didn’t matter if you knew anything about the process or area you were managing as long as you knew how to manage… Didn’t work out well.
Yep. We all have those issues. At least those of us working in an overly large organization.
Escaping that is part of why I follow the Secret Underground Laboratory.
It’s how I would work, if I could, an example of what’s possible for when I can retire and work independently at whatever it is that we do.
But in the meantime it’s an escape and an education and great entertainment to be able to watch The Secret Underground Luthiers at work and play in their little piece of bass making paradise.
Escaping that is part of why I follow the Secret Underground Laboratory.
It’s how I would work, if I could, an example of what’s possible for when I can retire and work independently at whatever it is that we do.
But in the meantime it’s an escape and an education and great entertainment to be able to watch The Secret Underground Luthiers at work and play in their little piece of bass making paradise.
It's part of why I left the Architecture firm to start a new journey here. They were merging with another large firm, making one giant firm, and it was clearly becoming too "corporate" for me. So I shifted gears and now do foodservice design and consulting for a much smaller firm where I fit in way better. 
In my corporate years, I worked under a lot of different Project Managers, some very good ones, some very bad ones, and many in between. I got to appreciate the skills needed. And I got to be a project manager myself several times. I was a bad one; not the job for me.
Good managers don't really need to have a deep understanding of the technical side of what they are managing. Having too much technical knowledge can lead to bad management. That was my problem.
A manager's job is to get the overall project completed, within the schedule and budget given to them by their bosses, and an acceptable quality level. The best managers are very good at constant communication with all of the people under their control. The engineers, shop workers, secretaries, and janitors all trust them and are free to talk to them. They provide tips about problems coming up, long in advance, that might slow things down. If the problem sounds realistic, the good manager gets the right people together and stands back. Let them argue out what to do to prevent the problem, then quietly approve their decision. Bad managers go off and decide what to do themselves, then surprise their people with their decision.
That's what a Manager does. A constant stream of talking to everyone, getting them to identify and solve problems before they grow, having them make the decisions (and get the credit). Then the Manager sits in front of his boss with a smile and reports that his project is on schedule and on budget. And the boss smiles. The best Managers seem like they don't do much of anything all day, except chat with all their people and commend them for doing a good job. And report to the boss. But they are doing a difficult and critical job.
Like I said, I have a lot of respect for good Managers. Because their job is not as easy as it looks. I know from experience.
Good managers don't really need to have a deep understanding of the technical side of what they are managing. Having too much technical knowledge can lead to bad management. That was my problem.
A manager's job is to get the overall project completed, within the schedule and budget given to them by their bosses, and an acceptable quality level. The best managers are very good at constant communication with all of the people under their control. The engineers, shop workers, secretaries, and janitors all trust them and are free to talk to them. They provide tips about problems coming up, long in advance, that might slow things down. If the problem sounds realistic, the good manager gets the right people together and stands back. Let them argue out what to do to prevent the problem, then quietly approve their decision. Bad managers go off and decide what to do themselves, then surprise their people with their decision.
That's what a Manager does. A constant stream of talking to everyone, getting them to identify and solve problems before they grow, having them make the decisions (and get the credit). Then the Manager sits in front of his boss with a smile and reports that his project is on schedule and on budget. And the boss smiles. The best Managers seem like they don't do much of anything all day, except chat with all their people and commend them for doing a good job. And report to the boss. But they are doing a difficult and critical job.
Like I said, I have a lot of respect for good Managers. Because their job is not as easy as it looks. I know from experience.
Absolutely, sir. Our service department manager where I currently work is a good ‘un and she has my respect and loyalty.
I do okay at managing a small project with a small crew, or just myself and a helper. I do great at managing a project I'm doing alone. I do good at all the logistics and technical side of any project. But, like Bruce says, I couldn't do both the physical work and manage a large scale project. I'd have to do one or the other and I think I'd be better at doing my part of the work and collaborating with my peers and let someone else sit in the Manager's chair. It's not an easy job,....if done well. Unfortunately, where I work, there's a lot of wiggle room for management to get away with being terrible at it.
I can take it.Don't hate me @RichterScale, I couldn't help it.
When it comes to work, I can lock it down.
For some reason, when it comes to my own stuff, I'm a hot mess.
I'm working on it, but at this point, I wouldn't set the bar too high.
I have decided that being a hot mess and having too many projects going at the same time is simply a symptom of improvement, creativity, and curiosity. Inconvenient but a positive thing in the long run.
It’s either that or I’m a scatterbrained slob with a short attention span trying to do multiple projects in almost enough space to do one.
Same thing. Different words.
I hope.
It’s either that or I’m a scatterbrained slob with a short attention span trying to do multiple projects in almost enough space to do one.
Same thing. Different words.
I hope.
Oh yeah, I have zero room to talk.
I've got a guitar build going, a couple cutting boards I'm building for my tattoo artist, I decided now would be a good time to turn a Christmas ornament for someone I've never met, I really need to get to making ornaments for my family, I started building a greenhouse and now need to build planter boxes for it, and I started mapping out plans for a cat wall in my house. Plus, instead of doing any of those things, I spent all day Sunday trying to make my own sausage from scratch for the first time in my life.
I'm sure I'll come up with a few more projects to throw on the pile. If I was @RichterScale I'd be like -
A few more pictures came in of me at that Art event. Amusing.
Here's me discussing the shape of the volute on #060's headstock with my buddy Cliff. His expression is great! Cliff is one of our tenants here in the Lab, a successful pro artist and all-around craftsman and tinkerer. And he also occasionally plays some bass.
Me talking about 'ol #001, the prototype AMB-2. I built it in 2012, and it has a long musical history. It's been out on loan with maybe a dozen good bassists, been on a few tours, recorded several albums, etc. I've played about a hundred gigs with it myself. It's a sweetheart bass that I'll keep forever.
Describing the design of the AMB-2 body. This is a poplar one for #018, which my customer Ed is waiting very patiently for.
Showing the top and back set of a walnut AMB-2 body, done with my Big Green Pin Router.
My grey hair has now grown down to my shoulder blades. I keep it tied back in a pony tail these days. I'm going for that "retired bass player from some '70's southern rock band" look.
Here's me discussing the shape of the volute on #060's headstock with my buddy Cliff. His expression is great! Cliff is one of our tenants here in the Lab, a successful pro artist and all-around craftsman and tinkerer. And he also occasionally plays some bass.
Me talking about 'ol #001, the prototype AMB-2. I built it in 2012, and it has a long musical history. It's been out on loan with maybe a dozen good bassists, been on a few tours, recorded several albums, etc. I've played about a hundred gigs with it myself. It's a sweetheart bass that I'll keep forever.
Describing the design of the AMB-2 body. This is a poplar one for #018, which my customer Ed is waiting very patiently for.
Showing the top and back set of a walnut AMB-2 body, done with my Big Green Pin Router.
My grey hair has now grown down to my shoulder blades. I keep it tied back in a pony tail these days. I'm going for that "retired bass player from some '70's southern rock band" look.
Last edited:
My grey hair is equally long Bruce, but I refuse to tie it back, even when it gets caught in creeper wheels under the race car.
Great pics. I'd love to know what the Art Commission thought of your presentation and where they plan to go with this. It sure would be cool to see something come out of it. Props to you for donating your time.
Great pics. I'd love to know what the Art Commission thought of your presentation and where they plan to go with this. It sure would be cool to see something come out of it. Props to you for donating your time.
Well, they thought my presentation was great. I was some interesting entertainment at a fund raiser. The artists in the audience didn't know I existed, and were surprised at the technical sophistication of my work. The Commission would be happy to have me come back again and help them raise more money.
I'm not sure that I will. I mentioned above that I asked them directly what they plan to do, and just got vague answers about "raising awareness" and "educating the public" about local artists. Okay, right. Well, I don't need their help promoting me to the Ventura County public. I do my own advertising and marketing and I have all the customers I can handle. And I think all the local artists and craftsmen should be doing the same thing. Finding customers by their own methods. That's part of the job of being an independent artist/craftsperson. Why should they need or want an organization to form up, whose purpose is to get taxpayer money and private donations to "promote" their work to an audience that probably aren't real customers? Are the Artists too timid and sensitive to handle their own business? Is it just an ego thing, seeing their work promoted by an Art Commission?
If they were going to hold meetings, with education and help on running a business, marketing, etc., okay, I could support that. But they should be doing the marketing and promotion themselves, not having a Commission do it for them.
I realize that will make some people mad, who have good intentions and are trying to support the artist community. But the best way to help them is to teach them to fish for themselves.
I wouldn't want there to be a Ventura County Luthiers Commission, dedicated to promoting local Luthiers! To me, that would almost be an insult.
Last edited:
Jeremy filled me in some more about the game behind these County Art Commissions. He and his "lil' lady" Amelia have worked and fought directly with them.
It's all about extracting corporate donations with the money flowing to Gov't Approved charity organizations. There is a group of large companies who make big money in Ventura County. And they have large amounts of money in their annual budgets dedicated to be given to local charities. Often these charity budgets are part of deals with the local politicians in exchange for permits, zoning changes, incentives to bring in businesses, etc. Sometimes these charity budgets are part of a court ordered resolution for some past unpleasantness. It's graft, but it's all legal and open.
The job of the County Art Commission is to pull in some of that corporate money, using a slice of it to help "promote" the local art community. They ask the local artists to come together and donate pieces of their art and/or their time and hold a Charity Event. The pieces of art are auctioned off...For Charity! The best pieces are bought at high prices by the corporations, fulfilling their mission of Supporting The Community! The lesser pieces are bought by local wealthy people to Support The Local Artist Community, and Support Approved Charities. That makes them feel good and improves their Social Standing.
The artists get some publicity and a little heart-shaped pin and many warm assurances that they are good people. And invitations to do this more often. That's the support.
Almost all of the money raised goes to the Gov't Approved Charity Organizations. Which almost always have the word Children in the name. It pays the salaries of the people who work at these organizations. Some of them do actual good things to help the community. Others mostly do Organizing to find other ways to get donations. To hire more people. To do more organizing. It's all about paying all those people with a steady stream of donated money.
The same thing goes on with musicians and the organized charity concerts. I've participated in many of those. The musicians donate their time and skill, and get some exposure and Social Standing points. The audience buying tickets and corporate sponsors are the donors. And the money pays for jobs at these Approved Charity Organizations.
I'm not saying that this is all a bad thing. But it does have a bit of a foul odor. Artists and musicians are being used.
Let's get back to talking about underground shops and cool machines and building basses!
It's all about extracting corporate donations with the money flowing to Gov't Approved charity organizations. There is a group of large companies who make big money in Ventura County. And they have large amounts of money in their annual budgets dedicated to be given to local charities. Often these charity budgets are part of deals with the local politicians in exchange for permits, zoning changes, incentives to bring in businesses, etc. Sometimes these charity budgets are part of a court ordered resolution for some past unpleasantness. It's graft, but it's all legal and open.
The job of the County Art Commission is to pull in some of that corporate money, using a slice of it to help "promote" the local art community. They ask the local artists to come together and donate pieces of their art and/or their time and hold a Charity Event. The pieces of art are auctioned off...For Charity! The best pieces are bought at high prices by the corporations, fulfilling their mission of Supporting The Community! The lesser pieces are bought by local wealthy people to Support The Local Artist Community, and Support Approved Charities. That makes them feel good and improves their Social Standing.
The artists get some publicity and a little heart-shaped pin and many warm assurances that they are good people. And invitations to do this more often. That's the support.
Almost all of the money raised goes to the Gov't Approved Charity Organizations. Which almost always have the word Children in the name. It pays the salaries of the people who work at these organizations. Some of them do actual good things to help the community. Others mostly do Organizing to find other ways to get donations. To hire more people. To do more organizing. It's all about paying all those people with a steady stream of donated money.
The same thing goes on with musicians and the organized charity concerts. I've participated in many of those. The musicians donate their time and skill, and get some exposure and Social Standing points. The audience buying tickets and corporate sponsors are the donors. And the money pays for jobs at these Approved Charity Organizations.
I'm not saying that this is all a bad thing. But it does have a bit of a foul odor. Artists and musicians are being used.
Let's get back to talking about underground shops and cool machines and building basses!
Hey @Bruce Johnson , just thought I'd let you know that some of the pages on your website aren't working.
Of the links I tried clicking, these ones aren't working. There may be more, but this is what I clicked on that brought up a 404 Error.
Of the links I tried clicking, these ones aren't working. There may be more, but this is what I clicked on that brought up a 404 Error.
- AMB-2 Scroll Bass product page
- Instruments in stock
- In The Works
- Building Scroll Basses... Pickups
Hey NKBassman;
Oh yeah, I know.....It's been like that for about 12 years or so....I'm in the process of building up a whole new web site at ScrollBass.com. But, it's not open to the public yet. Not a priority, unfortunately. I really don't need advertising right now.
I'm currently not taking any new orders for basses, because I'm so far booked up. I'm struggling trying to complete a big batch of orders for customers that have been waiting 2-3 years. I'm going to get them done before I open up taking orders again.
While the pricing is actually more affordable than I thought it would be, unfortunately I'm in no position to be placing an order anyway. Just figured I'd take a look around.
I was kind of curious if there was anything particularly special going on with the pickups? I saw some video clips with Juan Perez demoing some of your basses and loved the tone.
