My opinion is to make this in the US and sell it for 1800 dollars. Entry level 9v preamp US stingray. Indonesia does make Laklands that are held in high regards though. Don't let Praxis make these and they might be awesome.
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Music Man Session Series
- Thread starter Albert Ross
- Start date
EBMM had to discontinue a simple passive line of Caprice and Cutlass models due to losing money on each one sold at $1700, and had to raise prices around $500 overnight, resulting in the line being axed. This was several years back. There is no way they can produce this bass In the USA at that price. Too many used USA models on the market. My advice is to buy one asap before they continue to increase in value. Nothing Is going back to pre Covid era prices.
Makes me feel good about my $600 EBMM SUB. But in all seriousness, I'm sure they'll be great basses, I'm just not sure how they can possibly be better than the Sire Z7 when you factor price.
Not to be political, just economic view / opinion from my foxhole: (TLDR: EB-MM made in California probably costs 10-20% higher that many other [US] states, that cost is passed along to the consumer.
- I think you hit on a big piece of the large price increase... California vs other states. See below with links (Not gospel, but probably close enough) I'm seeing CA corporate taxes ~7.5% higher than TX. Additionally there is a massive minimum wage gap and an 11% average blue collar annual salary gap.
- Overall US inflation (costs for materials and durable goods)
- Economies of scale. They probably just do not have the #s to offset the import/export variance. New generation # crunchers and Sr Managers will not let them rob "Profits" from the import side to offset higher costs from the MIA side
- Some companies are more than happy to sell smaller quantities at higher prices and make the same bottom line versus higher quantities to reduce per unit costs
- There has got to be a little "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday"... Like high end cars, take the Mustang Darkhorse... It's in the magazines, TV etc. Do they really expect to make a significant amount off them? No, but they help get you in the showroom where they really want to sell you a mass-produced $40k v6
California:
- Minimum wage: $16.90/hr
- As of Mar 29, 2026, the average annual pay for a Blue Collar Worker in California is $52,330 a year.
- "For businesses, California imposes a corporate tax rate of 8.84%. This rate, along with other business-related taxes, requires careful planning and strategy."
Texas:
- Minimum wage: $7.25/hr
- As of Mar 29, 2026, the average annual pay for a Blue Collar Worker in Texas is $46,997 a year
- ilo corporate taxes, Texas has a "Franchise" fee[tax] that varies from 0.375 - 0.75%
Well, MusicMan is probably well aware that people are willing to spend $1,500 on a Fender MIM, so...
I hope these have better QC than most other brand's Cortek made stuff, something akin to Lakland. To those saying Indoensian made stuff is overall top notch, I disagree. You'll find plenty of sub-par QC on guitar forums about high end stuff from that factory such as Ibanez Premium, Strandberg and even PRS SE's having unacceptable issues (these are all the highest tier Cortek make). Unless you're willing to go as far as Lakland and do fret work, install electronics and inspect everything in a higher tier factory, there will probably be issues.
This is a bad move IMO, the logo is going to devalue their brand image. Everything with a MusicMan logo was indicative buying a top tier USA factory instrument, akin to custom shop quality. Now less informed buyers will have to sleuth around to find out whether they are buying the 'good stuff' like with Fender. There's a reason Gibson, Suhr and Rickenbacker don't sell imports with their name on the headstock. SBMM already created untold confusion with their brand (see Sterling, SUB branding confusion).
This is a bad move IMO, the logo is going to devalue their brand image. Everything with a MusicMan logo was indicative buying a top tier USA factory instrument, akin to custom shop quality. Now less informed buyers will have to sleuth around to find out whether they are buying the 'good stuff' like with Fender. There's a reason Gibson, Suhr and Rickenbacker don't sell imports with their name on the headstock. SBMM already created untold confusion with their brand (see Sterling, SUB branding confusion).
John Suhr has talked about this before on The Gear Page forum, he said something along the lines of moving to a cheaper state doesn't make as much sense financially as some on forums suggest - Southern Cali is the Mecca of guitar building, with all the top guitar factories in the area such as Fender, MusicMan, Suhr, Carvin, Taylor, Wildwood, LSL, Anderson (plus many others), there must be something attractive for those companies to stay. The only large factories not in CA seem to be Martin, Gibson and PRS. Much of the small shop guys (Sadowsky, MTD, Fodera, Spector) are in NY which is equally expensive.
