Quote from warwick custom shop

[Buslady7803]

Step one: buy used vette
Step two: gut it.
Step three: put what u want in it

$500 can get u a vette, spend a few
More for the stuff u want. Much cheaper

 

[Brad Johnson]

Is it just me, or do boutique basses seem overpriced for what they are? How on earth could it possibly cost so much to build bolt-neck instruments, even if you take the time to do everything right?

Here's where I have trouble. For $3,500+, you can be a pretty sweet boutique acoustic guitar from Collings, Santa Cruz, etc. These companies seem to turn out a comparable number of instruments to Lakland, Sadowsky, etc. etc.

And yet it is fanstastcially more complicated in every way to build an acoustic guitar than it is to build a bolt-neck bass that is basically a slab of wood. I've built both a mandolin and a Telecaster copy (the Tele from raw wood), and so I've seen a little of this myself.

I know that the boutique bass shops do a lot of little extras to make the instruments great -- basically, all the little corners that Fender has cut, the boutiques do right, and plus they integrate all the design advances made over the past 60 years.

But I just can't see how all that can add up to the same price as a good acoustic guitar. Sorry, I'll quit derailing the thread now. The original poster should probably just try to find a used one, or, better yet, take that cash to a local luthier and get a really great bass made just for him.

No offense...

I've seen the processes with several builders. The people who typically don't see the value are the ones who don't take into consideration everything that's involved. In the meantime, IRL that's exactly what any luthier has to do. Material costs, facilities costs, time, advertising, employment costs, the cost of gaining expertise, insurance, transportation, material disposal, shipping, bookkeeping, etc. And then most people seem to overlook the fact that despite all efforts problems can arise. And those costs are just as real.

I think my favorite thing is the folks who compare the cost of building a single instrument, often based on finding an abnormally low price on closeout parts, etc., at home and thinking that that should have a direct correlation with what it should cost a professional to do the same. If you really step back and look at the big picture it usually isn't hard to see at all.

BTW it isn't that hard to build an acoustic instrument once you know how. And if they haven't built electric basses they'd probably appreciate the challenges they'd face.

The quote from Warwick doesn't seem out of line to me, considering it's not a straight production instrument.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Get a Stambaugh or Cliff Bordwell. For the same price, you'll get a lot more bass.

Or possibly less. Here's why...

While I understand the sentiment, neither of them are building the bass in question. So...