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Is it wrong for bass builders to charge for certain options?

Kwesi

Kwesi

Sep 19, 2007
8,150
161
35
USA; Mitchellville, Maryland
#1
I don't mean huge corporations but the smaller outfits. It just doesn't seem quite right to me to charge for options like letfy basses of fretless basses. I know next to nothing about building basses but is a lefty really that more difficult to build? Is a fretless bass really any harder to design? My guy says no but who am I? I wanna hear what you guys have to say!
 
#4
Kwesi said:
I don't mean huge corporations but the smaller outfits. It just doesn't seem quite right to me to charge for options like letfy basses of fretless basses. I know next to nothing about building basses but is a lefty really that more difficult to build? Is a fretless bass really any harder to design? My guy says no but who am I? I wanna hear what you guys have to say!
Click to expand...

Not sure on the fretless basses but on the lefties, it is actually a much bigger task.

Here is what Sterling Ball had to say about them on his website when asked why more companies don't make more left handed models and why they are sometimes more expensive.

"Yes they are substantially more expensive...

First off the parts that cant be flipped are drawn and manufactured in very small quantities and we dont even come close to maging a margin on them...The minimum quantities that you have to buy cost more and are still more than you need so you have cash tied up in it.

A good rule of thumb is the more you can make the more your cost efficiencies
kick in"
 
#5
pasta4lnch said:
I dont think it's for difficulty but more the cost of doing something different. changing templates etc.

fwiw I always thought it amazing Warwick doesn't charge for all that stuff . . . I guess I'm just used to seeing an upcharge for anything different . . .
Click to expand...

That's because Warwick figured out the most expensive combination of options possible for each model and set that as their base price :D

In all seriousness, I have no idea why they don't, but I feel like luthiers won't charge what people won't pay for.
 
#9
The demand for lefty basses is a lot lower than for righties. Any manufacturer has the potential to sell all right handed stock due to the demand and presence of a large enough market. Lefty parts and basses have a much lower demand. Like Jay was saying, you have to order a minimum quantity of parts, and there probably isn't enough of a market to go through that minimum quantity, thus a higher charge on lefty parts to cover the cost of storing unused lefty parts instead of (from a financial perspective) more useful righty parts. That's for larger manufacturers. I'd imagine this model affects smaller builders, since the precedent has already been set.
 
#10
As for lefty basses, if you can build and use templates for right-handed instruments then you can do the same for lefties. I could see how STOCKING lefty parts would create more overhead thus costing more, given the lower demand for lefty parts.

My experience with this sort of thing started when I was going to order a Warmoth neck. Don't get me wrong, their a great company with excellent products, but I don't think it is right to charge extra for NOT drilling the heel of the neck or for drilling a 15mm hole for tuners instead of the standard (no charge) 17.4mm.
 
#11
They do it because they can. I cannot say it's bad business ethics, many other products, such as cars, for example, often have hefty price hikes on options. Granted extra bells and whistles do cost them more to make and you gotta pay for extra work to install some of them.
Being a left hander who plays righty (I gotta get around to joining that group) I do have empathy for lefties who often cannot find a color scheme, options, or even aquire left handed bass to begin with. That is, unless you pay extra. Thee was a time the only color you could get in a lefty bass was black, and you could forget about a fretless one. It still is pretty much that way.
 
#12
If making lefty insturments is so much more expensive, how is it that Carvin and G&L can sell everything they make lefty for no extra charge - that includes all colors, options, pickup combos etc. I think it's a matter of niche marketing, some manufacturers cater to lefties and some don't. I'm lefty so I buy from the companies that cater to me.
 
#13
Mmm..Yeah,I guese that for lefty basses its quite ok...But don't need to add too much!

But for fretless?
LOL-if you got fretless,they have less work to do..So why do I need to pay more,if they do less?
Thats maybe the only reason why I find Clement basses cool minded.
(Fretless is freeee,and fretted is +$100 and more).
 
#15
Kwesi said:
Forgive me if I sound dense, Jay, but what parts of a bass can't be flipped around? The only thing I can think of are the tuners and pickgaurd and I don't remember them costing a significant amount more than the righties, if any.
Click to expand...

I will be honest with you, I have never built a guitar or bass from scratch so I don't really know for sure all that is involved but I have heard from several manufacturers that it is pretty involved. I believe it also has something to do with having the machines that make the bodies and neck, stop what they are doing and basically make the same thing is a reverse pattern which basically really slows down the whole plants daily progress.

While I don't know exact numbers, out of every 100 basses made, it is my understanding that only about 3 to 5 would need to be made left handed. Obviously for numbers that small, that really is quite a bit of a cost just for 3 to 5% of your market and for the parts needed that are reversed, you occur a higher cost of up too double the cost.
 
#17
I'm ambidexterous, and when I first started playing it was so much more comfortable to flip my rt handed Jazz bass upside down and play it left handed. I got razzed by a few musicians asking me if I was trying to be a bass hendrix. I was clueless to what they were saying. Then one guy said if you learn to play it right handed, you'll have many more options available to you later.

Well, it was as akward as kissing your sister to play rt handed at first, but I got the hang of it and I'm really glad I did.

Along the way I noticed that many companies offered basses left handed for no charge or a small charge. Either way, playing right handed has had many advantages in gear availability.

Should it be an extra charge...? well, it does require some different manufacturing so maybe so. Is it fair? it might not feel that way for the player sometimes.
 
#20
Kwesi said:
In the case of companies like Musicman the bodies are CNC'd so it's not like there's any more work to be done besides the initial template which was probably made eons ago.
Click to expand...
When you make series of 5 lefty necks and 100 righty necks, each lefty costs more to make. Same for pickguards, bridges and everything else.
It's economy 101, not rocket science.
 

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