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Passive Music Man Basses Update

#21
I couldn't get behind the passive line-up of EBMMs. They seemed too pricey for what you were getting. For a passive PJ-esque bass (I know they sound a little different, but still...), $2200 is a bit much. If they could have offered them in the $700 to $1000 range, they would have moved serious units. Gibson did that with the new-ish USA made EB models in that price range. They weren't exactly big sellers, but Gibson's rep blows right now. I imagine something with the Musicman logo priced at like $799 would fly off the shelves. The company seems to maintain a ton of good will with bassists - at least up until the big price hike - and the chance to own a more utilitarian USA made bass by them at a practical price would open up a new market for them. Musicman would kill the competition in the price range, so long as they could afford to make a quality bass to compete.
 
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#23
FugaziBomb said:
I couldn't get behind the passive line-up of EBMMs. They seemed too pricey for what you were getting. For a passive PJ-esque bass (I know they sound a little different, but still...), $2200 is a bit much. If they could have offered them in the $700 to $1000 range, they would have moved serious units. Gibson did that with the new-ish USA made EB models in that price range. They weren't exactly big sellers, but Gibson's rep blows right now. I imagine something with the Musicman logo priced at like $799 would fly off the shelves. The company seems to maintain a ton of good will with bassists - at least up until the big price hike - and the chance to own a more utilitarian USA made bass by them at a practical price would open up a new market for them. Musicman would kill the competition in the price range, so long as they could afford to make a quality bass to compete.
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I don't think it's possible for EBMM to make instruments that cheap.
 
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#24
FugaziBomb said:
I couldn't get behind the passive line-up of EBMMs. They seemed too pricey for what you were getting. For a passive PJ-esque bass (I know they sound a little different, but still...), $2200 is a bit much. If they could have offered them in the $700 to $1000 range, they would have moved serious units. Gibson did that with the new-ish USA made EB models in that price range. They weren't exactly big sellers, but Gibson's rep blows right now. I imagine something with the Musicman logo priced at like $799 would fly off the shelves. The company seems to maintain a ton of good will with bassists - at least up until the big price hike - and the chance to own a more utilitarian USA made bass by them at a practical price would open up a new market for them. Musicman would kill the competition in the price range, so long as they could afford to make a quality bass to compete.
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So, somehow they would have to sell these at 1/2 to 2/3 the price of a Fender American Professional to succeed. Really?
 
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#26
Stevorebob said:
So, somehow they would have to sell these at 1/2 to 2/3 the price of a Fender American Professional to succeed. Really?
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I mean... Gibson did it with those EBs. I have one and it's pretty nice. It's right in line with what I expect from that price point, and it was USA made. I don't know how they did it, but they did. That mean's it can't be impossible.
 
#31
MultiScaleMale said:
I’d be shocked if they sold more than 50 EBs.
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Yeah, but Gibson's reputation is pretty poor these days. The argument could be made that their reputation has been marred by poor QC - the result of selling a USA made bass under a grand - but their QC on $1600+ instruments isn't great either. On the other hand, EBMM seem to have a pretty good grasp on QC and one would think they would have a better chance at properly scaling it down to be able to offer a quality USA made bass at a price point no one else is. Just an opinion of one guy based on zero experience designing, building, marketing, and selling musical instruments, so I might be wrong.
 
#32
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
Maybe there will be some on the used market . But I suspect those will dry up pretty quickly once Word gets out they are discontinued .
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I was thinking the same thing.
I just got a new Stingray and Fender P bass, so I don't think I can swing another bass without being kicked out of the house from the wife.... o'cruel world!

-ScottM
 
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#35
As far as a utilitarian sort of instrument at a relatively inexpensive price point, remember the original (USA) SUB instruments? Everyone eventually figured out what a killer deal those were but while they were in production, a LOT of people griped about the finish and the painted necks and "Those aren't really Stingrays" and that sort of thing. And so as time passed and the new ones didn't exactly fly off the shelves, it became obvious that while it COULD be done, if the sales numbers didn't justify the effort, the instruments had to go. I'm pretty sure EBMM was losing money on each one, so it made no sense to continue.

I mean, I would love for them to dominate the entry-level market, sure, that would be fun. But it just made more sense to license that stuff offshore and let someone else deal with it. Music Man instruments are not, let's face it, entry level priced or entry level quality. We're going to have to deal with reality.

Also, I wasn't trying to be mysterious at all. I just emailed Scott because I heard rumors and people talking about what was going on and I figured it was better to go to the source. He emailed me back and said, "Sorry to report that those will be discontinued" and that was that. I did say I wasn't going to send mine back.

Hah.
 
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#36
bovinehost said:
As far as a utilitarian sort of instrument at a relatively inexpensive price point, remember the original (USA) SUB instruments? Everyone eventually figured out what a killer deal those were
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But if they had a legit Musicman logo on them, it would have went a long way to entice buyers. I understand why they didn't, but a case can be made for the potential benefit of legitimizing them as part of the "Ernie Ball Musicman" brand.

bovinehost said:
but while they were in production, a LOT of people griped about the finish and the painted necks and "Those aren't really Stingrays" and that sort of thing.
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But the Cutlass and the Caprice were new models and were not bound the expectations of a Stingray or a Sterling.

bovinehost said:
I'm pretty sure EBMM was losing money on each one, so it made no sense to continue.
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Can't argue with that. It's too bad they couldn't have manufactured the Caprice in that 1k or under market, though. I really liked the idea behind them, but I can't justify that price tag where its at.
 
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#37
The title alone makes me think of the fernandes atlas 5x. that bass in particular is a passive musicman-styled bass. I use to own one. it was a pretty unique bass guitar. it was passive and has that musicman type sound. not to mention that it has a toggle switch for series, single, and parallel. fernandes is definitely under-rated when it comes to bass guitars.
 
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#38
I wish I could say I was surprised by this — but I’m not.

Let’s have a quick recap of what happened here - MusicMan introduces two new passive basses that are different enough from their core Stingray models and play well enough that they start getting some acclaim and actually sell. Then MusicMan raises the prices of these basses 27% and then discovers that they aren’t selling at these hyper inflated prices, so they discontinue them.

You don’t need an MBA to figure out that this strategy was flawed. They thought they could sell them for a lot more than what customers would spend.

I would have bought a Caprice a few months ago but I refused to pay the new price for one on principle alone. I’m still interested in buying one at a fair price and will keep an eye out for them.
 
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#39
Thanks for the update.

I’m glad I have a Caprice and a Cutlass. Both are fantastic. The Cutlass is my favorite bass these days.

This isn’t surprising news, though it still makes me sad. We’ve hashed out in the club thread how the price increase had likely doomed these.

I’m glad EBMM tried these. Win some, lose some...their new Stingray Special seems to be a smash hit.
 
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#40
Gizmot said:
I wish I could say I was surprised by this — but I’m not.

Let’s have a quick recap of what happened here - MusicMan introduces two new passive basses that are different enough from their core Stingray models and play well enough that they start getting some acclaim and actually sell. Then MusicMan raises the prices of these basses 27% and then discovers that they aren’t selling at these hyper inflated prices, so they discontinue them.

You don’t need an MBA to figure out that this strategy was flawed. They thought they could sell them for a lot more than what customers would spend.

I would have bought a Caprice a few months ago but I refused to pay the new price for one on principle alone. I’m still interested in buying one at a fair price and will keep an eye out for them.
Click to expand...

Not an MBA for sure but you might want to know what's going on behind the scenes in their business before passing judgement with no actual information.
 
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