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New Ashdown bass guitars

#21
Why is it a diluted version? I guess I am just confused by that part. I haven't played one yet but the neck finish is the same as the last Korean Lakins and they were legit as good as the USA Laklands neck finish. So why am I choosing one of those over a Skyline? Lighter weight, better colors, alder body and a neck finish not commonly available on a bass under $1800. A Sire is a nice bass, the price is cheaper because it's made in a larger Chinese factory vs a small Korean one. This is the factory that makes Reverend so you can compare with their prices and also Duesenbergs which sell for WAY more than the Ashdown or Reverend. I won't tell anyone what is important to them or why they should choose anything. Get what you like. I for sure am way more interested in this than a Skyline or Sire based on what I posted above. The cheapest Fender USA Precision (without a Jazz pickup added) is $1450 so it's more expensive but I do agree that it makes it strong competition for any higher priced import. That said having played and owned the previous line of Lakin basses I can tell you that it was way closer to a USA Lakland than the Skyline and these are supposed to be the same quality and finish.
 
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#23
Dan reworked his business. The previous korean line he was selling is discontinued and he started with a high end custom USA line. There were some issues that killed the last run mainly people really hated the headstock so when he corrected that he just went full USA. He was going to keep it that way but Ashdown volunteered to basically run the business for the more affordable series branded with their name. The Ashdown line should be pretty much identical build wise to the previous line of basses. Long story short these are the same with a better headstock.
 
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#25
Johnny Alien said:
Dan reworked his business. The previous korean line he was selling is discontinued and he started with a high end custom USA line. There were some issues that killed the last run mainly people really hated the headstock so when he corrected that he just went full USA. He was going to keep it that way but Ashdown volunteered to basically run the business for the more affordable series branded with their name. The Ashdown line should be pretty much identical build wise to the previous line of basses. Long story short these are the same with a better headstock.
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Ah, that makes sense. I was interested in getting a D. Lakin P bass at one point (reviews were excellent), but getting these basses into Canada from Korea made it similar cost-wise as getting a US-made G&L (which is what I ultimately did).
 
#27
Johnny Alien said:
Why is it a diluted version? I guess I am just confused by that part. I haven't played one yet but the neck finish is the same as the last Korean Lakins and they were legit as good as the USA Laklands neck finish. So why am I choosing one of those over a Skyline? Lighter weight, better colors, alder body and a neck finish not commonly available on a bass under $1800. A Sire is a nice bass, the price is cheaper because it's made in a larger Chinese factory vs a small Korean one. This is the factory that makes Reverend so you can compare with their prices and also Duesenbergs which sell for WAY more than the Ashdown or Reverend. I won't tell anyone what is important to them or why they should choose anything. Get what you like. I for sure am way more interested in this than a Skyline or Sire based on what I posted above. The cheapest Fender USA Precision (without a Jazz pickup added) is $1450 so it's more expensive but I do agree that it makes it strong competition for any higher priced import. That said having played and owned the previous line of Lakin basses I can tell you that it was way closer to a USA Lakland than the Skyline and these are supposed to be the same quality and finish.
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Diluted was probably too strong of a word. I wasn't aware that Lakin had previously produced korean models I was only aware of the $3k+ handmade instruments. I'm really not a hater here, I'm just looking at this from a product perspective and trying to figure out what exactly they're trying to do (what's their target persona).

Reverend and Duesenberg have very unique designs and are clearly going after people who don't want that traditional look, an argument that you could make for The Low Rider and The Saint, but The Arc and The Grail look like pretty generic Fender style P & J basses. Why make those? I'm genuinely curious who on Talkbass is lining up to get one of these especially with a saturated used market, that easily puts this is MIA Fender, EBMM, and USA G&L territory.
 
#28
HELLonWHEELS said:
Diluted was probably too strong of a word. I wasn't aware that Lakin had previously produced korean models I was only aware of the $3k+ handmade instruments. I'm really not a hater here, I'm just looking at this from a product perspective and trying to figure out what exactly they're trying to do (what's their target persona).

Reverend and Duesenberg have very unique designs and are clearly going after people who don't want that traditional look, an argument that you could make for The Low Rider and The Saint, but The Arc and The Grail look like pretty generic Fender style P & J basses. Why make those? I'm genuinely curious who on Talkbass is lining up to get one of these especially with a saturated used market, that easily puts this is MIA Fender, EBMM, and USA G&L territory.
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I don't think you come off as a hater at all and honestly this is what companies have to address when breaking into the business with copies. I think lots of companies would love to do unique designs but most people are traditionalist and a majority of users want a P or J sound. Even the basses that are unique are usually unique in shape but not pickups or tones. The guitar side of the business isn't much different except Gibson has a bigger piece of the pie. I was a Lakland endorser for years and love those basses but don't really care for boutique prices. Skylines in my opinion are usually heavy and lack the magic of the USA line. The early Korean ones are killer but they lost it for me as time went on. The last Lakin line was honestly just ridiculously close to a USA Lakland at a fraction of the price. I haven't played one of these but they are built the same in the same factory so I assume they will be on that level. So the question becomes would you buy a USA Lakland quality instrument for 1/3 of the price that was built in Korea. For me it just works out.

Hard to compare it to used prices as that is not fair. When these are on the used market they will likely sell for much less than a USA Fender or EBMM. To me the Fender line doesn't get interesting and specs I like until you get to the reissue series and that's way more expensive.
 
#32
Bent77 said:
I’m still holding out for an NR with hummers. I’ve seen the Epis that are PJ, but didn’t wanna cut em up
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We're agitating for an Epiphone Non Reverse utilizing the hardware from the Vintage Pro..
 
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#34
HELLonWHEELS said:
To both these points; I don't mean to say that I think these instruments are going to be crap. I'm thinking about this relatively speaking, for example the Sire V7 starts at $600 is half the cost of the Ashdown Gail (899 pounds = ~$1200) or for the same cost you can get an American made Fender.

WHO are these basses for? At the $1000 price point what person chooses Ashdown over an equally priced MIA Fender/Lakland Skyline or at half the cost a Sire, Squire or G&L Tribute? How many Lakin fan boys are there that are looking to purchase a diluted version?
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What new american fender are you getting for 1200?
 
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#36
Kind of digging the maple fretboards with block inlays.. and the color selection + matching headstocks + hipshots.. but only one has a 5 string option. Idk.. if I was going to get a 5 string jazz I think I'd end up going with Schecter...at least then I get a 35" scale.
 
#40
It's going to be a couple of weeks until it gets to me but the one I ordered landed in the USA. Full report when it gets to me. Pumped to see how they got nice dark rosewood on the boards. Doesn't seem to be too common these days.

50192302858_9942b7ad30_k.jpg
 
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