As you may know, last year G&L decided to offer a premium service to accommodate weight requests. I was really excited when they did because that's a serious benefit to a lot of folks. Folks with physical issues or even just a strong personal preference would happily pay a little bit more to know they'd end up with a bass in their desired weight range.
Unfortunately, this has turned into a nightmare on my end. Folks who happily pay a premium to hit a certain weight target are rightly not very excited about accepting a bass that is even slightly over the target. I would say G&L is making a genuine effort to hit the targets, but they are not to the point where they will start over if an instrument ends up a couple ounces overweight. They're of the mindset that close enough is good enough. Fair and reasonable positions on both sides of the fence, but unfortunately they're also diametrically opposed.
So I've been stuck in the middle with customers agonizing over whether to accept a bass that's heavier than they want and G&L saying "c'mon, we got it real close." What's a nice dealer like me to do? I'm not going to foist a bass on somebody who doesn't want it, and I'm not going to return a bass to G&L over a couple of ounces. So I've been having the pleasure of tying up my money in an instrument that would have been a sure sale if things had gone according to plan.
Given what has turned out to be the lose-lose nature of this, I'm just going to remove myself from the situation. I will work my tail off to satisfy the existing orders with this service involved, but I won't be accepting any more special orders with weight requests.
If you need a bass with a certain weight, I can help satisfy you a few ways. First, on my website I post the weights of all the basses that I have in stock. Second, I regularly share the weight information that G&L provides on their "Available List". Third, if you absolutely have to have a light bass with a specific set of features: Empress is the way to go for the body wood. Outside of that, I'm unable to make any guarantees.
A sincere thanks to everyone who has gone down this bumpy road with me over the past few months. You've all been troopers about it, and I really do appreciate your patience and understanding along the way.
Unfortunately, this has turned into a nightmare on my end. Folks who happily pay a premium to hit a certain weight target are rightly not very excited about accepting a bass that is even slightly over the target. I would say G&L is making a genuine effort to hit the targets, but they are not to the point where they will start over if an instrument ends up a couple ounces overweight. They're of the mindset that close enough is good enough. Fair and reasonable positions on both sides of the fence, but unfortunately they're also diametrically opposed.
So I've been stuck in the middle with customers agonizing over whether to accept a bass that's heavier than they want and G&L saying "c'mon, we got it real close." What's a nice dealer like me to do? I'm not going to foist a bass on somebody who doesn't want it, and I'm not going to return a bass to G&L over a couple of ounces. So I've been having the pleasure of tying up my money in an instrument that would have been a sure sale if things had gone according to plan.
Given what has turned out to be the lose-lose nature of this, I'm just going to remove myself from the situation. I will work my tail off to satisfy the existing orders with this service involved, but I won't be accepting any more special orders with weight requests.
If you need a bass with a certain weight, I can help satisfy you a few ways. First, on my website I post the weights of all the basses that I have in stock. Second, I regularly share the weight information that G&L provides on their "Available List". Third, if you absolutely have to have a light bass with a specific set of features: Empress is the way to go for the body wood. Outside of that, I'm unable to make any guarantees.
A sincere thanks to everyone who has gone down this bumpy road with me over the past few months. You've all been troopers about it, and I really do appreciate your patience and understanding along the way.
