Jones Basses

[Dr. Cheese]

Jones-Basses

Welcome to Jones Basses, handmade bass guitars from the heart of the New Forest, England.

www.jonesbasses.com

This is a British maker whose basses look a lot like Ken Smith basses. They sound like Smiths too. The kicker is that the prices sort of low for this sort of bass, $4,900-$5,600.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

 

[Dr. Cheese]

 

[LowEndLobster]

Mr Jones is a liar. I had a custom one ordered a couple of years ago. Custom specs that he agreed to. The bass arrived and was HORRIBLE. The neck angle was wrong (confirmed by luthier w plek) which made it impossible to setup. The fit and finish was Mr. Magoo level bad. I told him about the issues after the analysis and said i wanted to return it. He agreed to give me a full refund, then has a tantrum when he received the bass back saying "you changed your mind on the bass, i changed my mind on your refund." After a LOT of arguing he gave me a partial refund but scammed me out of $700. This was before I publicly came out and was in my hiatus, so i never ended up making any content on it and decided not to mention it because I didn't want to out myself and honestly the whole thing made me so upset.... I might just make one now though warning people. The personality of mr Jones is reflected in his craftsmanship or lack thereof.

Here's everything wrong with the bass including pictures.

-nut cut too wide where it was poking out of both sides of the neck.
-nut area was incredible sloppy
-truss rod access channel was sloppy
-truss rod cover holes drilled multiple times
-the pickups were epoxied into place with one dab in each corner, they had to be yanked out hard
-he used epoxy to give the pickup holes a shape and create spots for the screw holes.
-used pickup rings to hide the poopy pickup routes
-neck angle was way off making the action incredibly high and impossible to lower
-blamed these issues on being new to building but refused to fix the instrument
-lied about giving me a refund and didn’t refund $700 after agreeing to a full refund and back tracking

Also Johnny Dibble removed his review of a Jones bass from his channel because of what happened.

Avoid Jones at all costs.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Mr Jones is a liar. I had a custom one ordered a couple of years ago. Custom specs that he agreed to. The bass arrived and was HORRIBLE. The neck angle was wrong (confirmed by luthier w plek) which made it impossible to setup. The fit and finish was Mr. Magoo level bad. I told him about the issues after the analysis and said i wanted to return it. He agreed to give me a full refund, then has a tantrum when he received the bass back saying "you changed your mind on the bass, i changed my mind on your refund." After a LOT of arguing he gave me a partial refund but scammed me out of $700. This was before I publicly came out and was in my hiatus, so i never ended up making any content on it and decided not to mention it because I didn't want to out myself and honestly the whole thing made me so upset.... I might just make one now though warning people. The personality of mr Jones is reflected in his craftsmanship or lack thereof.

Here's everything wrong with the bass including pictures.

-nut cut too wide where it was poking out of both sides of the neck.
-nut area was incredible sloppy
-truss rod access channel was sloppy
-truss rod cover holes drilled multiple times
-the pickups were epoxied into place with one dab in each corner, they had to be yanked out hard
-he used epoxy to give the pickup holes a shape and create spots for the screw holes.
-used pickup rings to hide the poopy pickup routes
-neck angle was way off making the action incredibly high and impossible to lower
-blamed these issues on being new to building but refused to fix the instrument
-lied about giving me a refund and didn’t refund $700 after agreeing to a full refund and back tracking

View attachment 7407635View attachment 7407636View attachment 7407637View attachment 7407638View attachment 7407639

Also Johnny Dibble removed his review of a Jones bass from his channel because of what happened.

Avoid Jones at all costs.

Thanks Lobster! I guess this bass is off of my list.

 

[UNICORN BASS]

All i can say is, WOW! Not in a good way, that is awful.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Sometimes it seems for more reasons than one , it’s best to get the real deal and except no substitute .

 

[Thumpin6string]

[The kicker is that the prices sort of low for this sort of bass, $4,900-$5,600.

$5K is low? As a builder and a refinisher, I see nothing that can make a bass that expensive. They must be charging ridiculous labor rates of $100+/hour. Unless you are whittling it with a pocketknife, the hours don't justify $5K up to $15K+ for an electric bass IMHO. Even worse, if the builder is a flake or crook.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

$5K is low? As a builder and a refinisher, I see nothing that can make a bass that expensive. They must be charging ridiculous labor rates of $100+/hour. Unless you are whittling it with a pocketknife, the hours don't justify $5K up to $15K+ for an electric bass IMHO. Even worse, if the builder is a flake or crook.

I agree, a luthier who is not well known and who does not have lots of demand and back orders generally does not charge much past $4K in today’s market. The Jones prices only look cheap in relation to current Ken Smith prices.

 

[Root 5]

Mr Jones is a liar. I had a custom one ordered a couple of years ago. Custom specs that he agreed to. The bass arrived and was HORRIBLE. The neck angle was wrong (confirmed by luthier w plek) which made it impossible to setup. The fit and finish was Mr. Magoo level bad. I told him about the issues after the analysis and said i wanted to return it. He agreed to give me a full refund, then has a tantrum when he received the bass back saying "you changed your mind on the bass, i changed my mind on your refund." After a LOT of arguing he gave me a partial refund but scammed me out of $700. This was before I publicly came out and was in my hiatus, so i never ended up making any content on it and decided not to mention it because I didn't want to out myself and honestly the whole thing made me so upset.... I might just make one now though warning people. The personality of mr Jones is reflected in his craftsmanship or lack thereof.

Here's everything wrong with the bass including pictures.

-nut cut too wide where it was poking out of both sides of the neck.
-nut area was incredible sloppy
-truss rod access channel was sloppy
-truss rod cover holes drilled multiple times
-the pickups were epoxied into place with one dab in each corner, they had to be yanked out hard
-he used epoxy to give the pickup holes a shape and create spots for the screw holes.
-used pickup rings to hide the poopy pickup routes
-neck angle was way off making the action incredibly high and impossible to lower
-blamed these issues on being new to building but refused to fix the instrument
-lied about giving me a refund and didn’t refund $700 after agreeing to a full refund and back tracking

View attachment 7407635View attachment 7407636View attachment 7407637View attachment 7407638View attachment 7407639

Also Johnny Dibble removed his review of a Jones bass from his channel because of what happened.

Avoid Jones at all costs.

I’ve wondered about him because his instruments are almost carbon copy Ken Smith basses.

 

[Root 5]

$5K is low? As a builder and a refinisher, I see nothing that can make a bass that expensive. They must be charging ridiculous labor rates of $100+/hour. Unless you are whittling it with a pocketknife, the hours don't justify $5K up to $15K+ for an electric bass IMHO. Even worse, if the builder is a flake or crook.

I agree. There just isn’t enough work to be done for a solid body bass guitar to be $15,000! It’s gouging.

 

[Thumpin6string]

I agree. There just isn’t enough work to be done for a solid body bass guitar to be $15,000! It’s gouging.

I agree, a luthier who is not well known and who does not have lots of demand and generally does not charge much past $4K in today’s market. The Jones prices only look cheap in relation to current Ken Smith prices.

It is getting hard to fathom the exorbitant inflated pricing of everything. It doesn't seem that long ago that you could buy an Alembic, Ken Smith, Zon, Roscoe and other high end basses for $2K-$3K. A high end Ibanez was under a grand and now they are $2k-$3K. Sign of our times, I guess.

 

[AngelCrusher]

An easy sign of a red flag for me is when every shill YT channel suddenly starts talking about a small, independent bass brand. You just have to sit and ask yourself - how much is the bass worth if the maker is going to send a bunch of discounted or free models to 10+ people? If it's a 5k bass, are they really going to drop 50k in marketing on it?

Not all these channels are shills but a lot of them are. Props to the Lobster who appears to purchase the instruments and review them. But most of these channels are just out there trying to GAS you up now, and it's ridiculous. I was doing some searches on a few different small brands and it's like an epidemic of sales and shilling now on my YT feed.

And a lot of these channels are hacks who can't even gain stage a DI. Some metal guy was pounding on his dingwall copy and the sound was complete ass because he was clipping the input. So then he says "just wait until I run it through my distortion plugin"...

I also agree that $5k is not low at all. You can negotiate a used Smith for 5-6k. I'd much rather have the real thing.

 

[carsonchilders]

The red flag for me years ago was they were so similar to Ken Smith that he was putting the Smith logo on his basses.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

It is getting hard to fathom the exorbitant inflated pricing of everything. It doesn't seem that long ago that you could buy an Alembic, Ken Smith, Zon, Roscoe and other high end basses for $2K-$3K. A high end Ibanez was under a grand and now they are $2k-$3K. Sign of our times, I guess.

I paid slightly over $2.2K for a six string Smith in 1995. Prior to that, I had a SSD (Stuart Spector Design) five for $1.8k. I could go on, but you probably get my point. For perspective, I had a brand new BMW 318i that was $23K after taxes. Just last year, I overheard a conversation at my church where a well off retired man said he paid $97K for an electric BMW.

My point is that a time where a half gallon of orange juice is $7 and feeding a family at MacDonalds can run $40-$65, we should not be surprised that bass prices have gone up too.

 

[Thumpin6string]

I paid slightly over $2.2K for a six string Smith in 1995. Prior to that, I had a SSD (Stuart Spector Design) five for $1.8k. I could go, but probably get my point. For perspective, I had a brand new BMW 318i that $23K after taxes. Just last year, I overheard a conversation at my church where a well off retired men said he paid $97K for an electric BMW.

My point is that a time where a half gallon of orange juice is $7 and feeding a family at MacDonalds can $40-$65, we should be surprised that bass prices have gone up too.

Yes, so true. Too bad wages don't go up as much as prices do. The orange juice is a great example. 3 years ago, I was paying $2.99/gallon. Now it is $7-$9/gallon. Prices on most things have doubled in the past 5-6 years. Well at least eggs and gas prices are down. I'll be able to afford to drive to the store to get eggs.

 

[Bass Viking]

My point is that a time where a half gallon of orange juice is $7 and feeding a family at MacDonalds can $40-$65, we should be surprised that bass prices have gone up too.

Yes, so true. Too bad wages don't go up as much as prices do. The orange juice is a great example. 3 years ago, I was paying $2.99/gallon. Now it is $7-$9/gallon. Prices on most things have doubled in the past 5-6 years. Well at least eggs and gas prices are down. I'll be able to afford to drive to the store to get eggs.

Yes, orange juice prices soared during lockdown. At first I switched from Tropicana to a cheaper house brand. Now I squeeze my own, costs more but definitely worth it.

 

[nonohmic]

Mr Jones is a liar. I had a custom one ordered a couple of years ago. Custom specs that he agreed to. The bass arrived and was HORRIBLE. The neck angle was wrong (confirmed by luthier w plek) which made it impossible to setup. The fit and finish was Mr. Magoo level bad. I told him about the issues after the analysis and said i wanted to return it. He agreed to give me a full refund, then has a tantrum when he received the bass back saying "you changed your mind on the bass, i changed my mind on your refund." After a LOT of arguing he gave me a partial refund but scammed me out of $700. This was before I publicly came out and was in my hiatus, so i never ended up making any content on it and decided not to mention it because I didn't want to out myself and honestly the whole thing made me so upset.... I might just make one now though warning people. The personality of mr Jones is reflected in his craftsmanship or lack thereof.

Here's everything wrong with the bass including pictures.

-nut cut too wide where it was poking out of both sides of the neck.
-nut area was incredible sloppy
-truss rod access channel was sloppy
-truss rod cover holes drilled multiple times
-the pickups were epoxied into place with one dab in each corner, they had to be yanked out hard
-he used epoxy to give the pickup holes a shape and create spots for the screw holes.
-used pickup rings to hide the poopy pickup routes
-neck angle was way off making the action incredibly high and impossible to lower
-blamed these issues on being new to building but refused to fix the instrument
-lied about giving me a refund and didn’t refund $700 after agreeing to a full refund and back tracking

View attachment 7407635View attachment 7407636View attachment 7407637View attachment 7407638View attachment 7407639

Also Johnny Dibble removed his review of a Jones bass from his channel because of what happened.

Avoid Jones at all costs.

Bwahaha. Relentless.

Awesome.

Didn't this guy get a cease and desist from Ken Smith too?

 

[Bass Viking]

Avoid Jones at all costs.

Thanks for warning us Lobster. We need to know about these shysters.

I really hate when people post about bad experiences but won’t out the builder. I’ve seen it happen more than once!

 

[carsonchilders]

You learn a lot from skimming the "support small bass builders" Facebook group every now and then...