Well I guess I'm not sure. But I'm sure he's not all by himself. He's probably got a few shop workers. But maybe not.
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Modulus Mob
- Thread starter rockstarbassist
- Start date
Dude that's so beautiful. I'm eager to hear how you like it! Great investment!This one!!
Great call on the cocobolo!
I've recently played some of the Gould basses at Corner Music in Nashville and they are pretty amazing. Like the Modulus basses they had incredible clarity and a HUGE sounding low B.
Would love to hear some clips once you get that bass. Enjoy!
Would love to hear some clips once you get that bass. Enjoy!
Good man, took one for the team!!! Anxious to hear your thoughts and see your pics. Congrats!
Played nothing but modulus for over 5 years and then sold them in a fit of rage due to customer service.
Missing the graphite and a new Gould will be arriving tomorrow. Second Gould I've owned and they are the kittens mittens.
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Missing the graphite and a new Gould will be arriving tomorrow. Second Gould I've owned and they are the kittens mittens.
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I have been playing Modulus for 17 years now. This just seemed like a logical step. My first Moddy I bought through Anderson at Modulus. A VJ4. Wish I would have known. I would have done things way differently.. I have really grown to trust and revere these basses. Picking up the GGi5 should just improve my stance on them. Would love to get a new Q5, but they are twice as much. Why buy a copy when I can buy the original for less money. Still will not be parting with the rest of my modulus'. Well except for the fretless. I still want to get my Genesis V fretless a new home and find a Quantum 5'er fretless to replace it
I saw Geoff mention a year or two back that G. Gould Music is a part-time thing for him; his "real job" these days is teaching high school chemistry.
Don't really know for sure, but from what I've seen I would bet that he does most of the work himself. Wouldn't be surprised if he sends stuff out for final paint/finishing work to someone like Pat Wilkins. That's a pretty common work flow for a lot of small/boutique builders - I know Lull and Sadowsky both do this. Getting paint really right is a quite chore unless that's what you do day in and day out. It's a PIA (and expensive) to set up and maintain a really good quality paint setup when you're only using it for one or two guitars a week.
As a side note, does anyone know what production numbers are running out of Modulus these days? I know that just the 2 guys are working on them at Planet bass (IIRC) and I am pretty sure that setup and manufacture of these graphite necks take time. How many are they putting out? 15 or 20 a year??
A bit more than I thought... That's very cool though. I don't know why I like that info, but I do!!
All graphite, all the time! Do you even use your non graphite basses? It seems like they must feel abandoned.
I do actually. I pull them out for practices and odd ball gigs all the time. As a matter of fact I have my 1968 Kay KB2 sitting out in the stand. I was playing it last night!! Wonderful little bass. Such different characteristics than my Mod's. I also interchange my Modulus Genesis 5 Fretless for my Peavey T-20FL fretless for our acoustic gigs. They are such completely different animals and yet they achieve the same result. That Mwah for miles!!
Ah, that makes sense. Yea, I was basically assuming he had to be getting some of the work done by someone else. I assumed the necks were all him.
So essentially I was right, he's on a similar level to Joe Perman and the current Modulus company. Which still begs the question I asked before: how can Geoff afford to keep that price range constant when Modulus claims that they had to adjust their prices (by approximately a 200% increase) for inflation and cost of raw materials etc... It makes me think that Tony and Joe are being a bit disingenuous about their profit margin.
That modulus case on e-bay that was $300 is now down to $125 + shipping.. Getting a bit more in the reasonable area.. just an fyi
I think perhaps the biggest difference between the two companies is that Geoff seems to be doing it more as a labor of love than anything. I'm pretty sure he's not losing money, but he doesn't seem to have any desire to get bigger and go full time with it.
As far as Modulus goes, I think the goal there is to get a bit bigger than that; once you're talking about just a few full-time employees, you're easily looking at $10K plus in monthly payroll, building expenses, etc......
I kinda see the situation as G. Gould basses being an extremely good deal, and Modulus being probably a little on the high end of pricing. But not terribly out of line with other boutique brands these days.
That seems like an astute observation re: where to place G.Gould vs Modulus on the economic spectrum ...but, unless Modulus has made some serious improvements to their QC and carpentry skills in recent years, the notion that they are a "boutique" brand rings false for me. Their necks have always been a thing of beauty, and go a long way towards justifying their relatively high price. But their woodworking precision has never been on par with a brand like (off the top of my head) Alembic, Fodera, Smith, Tobias, or Spector.
The flea bass is their bread and butter
sorta hard to say though given that they only make bodies out of wood (and occasionally fretboards)
never seen a mod that didnt have very low tolerances in the neck pocket
sorta hard to say though given that they only make bodies out of wood (and occasionally fretboards)
never seen a mod that didnt have very low tolerances in the neck pocket
Ditto. I've never been anything but impressed with a moddy body (nailed it). Their attention to detail, use of quality exotic woods and stain/finishing jobs are all on par with the likes of Sadowsky, high end Spectors, and the like.
