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Relationship with your luthier/manufacturer
- Thread starter Quentin Hunt
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Are you insinuating that it's hard for a builder to tell me which of their products is best for what I'm looking for? Dealers make money and typically use their biased opinions to make sales. I'm not asking Fender about Gallien-Krueger here, I'm trying to ask someone about their own product.
I hope you're not dull enough to take the word "relationship" as me trying to take people on a dinner date. Are you the type of person that gives the cashier the stinkeye when they ask you how your day is, or do you try to connect and make at least a tiny bit of conversation with them? Cashiers have to say "hello" to tens or hundreds of people a day; it's their paycheck.
I believe Larry Hartke still publishes his own personal phone number (used to do that in full page guitar mag ads) and I know he sometimes visits these forums to reply to discussions on Hartke gear.
He seems quite the character and that sort of thing is almost unheard of in a company his size. I'm a fan of his and a proud owner of some of his cabs.
I've never spoken with him personally though. I figure any guy that crazy probably has enough on his plate without me bugging him. I already like his cabs and understand how to use them. I don't have any valid questions.
He seems quite the character and that sort of thing is almost unheard of in a company his size. I'm a fan of his and a proud owner of some of his cabs.
I've never spoken with him personally though. I figure any guy that crazy probably has enough on his plate without me bugging him. I already like his cabs and understand how to use them. I don't have any valid questions.
Well, I dunno. Now that you mention it... Are there any hot single female bass gear manufacturers out there?
- Sep 9, 2007
- 5,309
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- Endorsing Artist: Eventide, GHS Strings, G&L Guitars, NS Design, Tsunami Cables
Actually, yes. This is where a social media person/inside sales can help, because that's their job, which allows the builder to build their product. But, a lot of small builders don't have that ability and try to handle as much of it as they can.
I get about a dozen emails a day from customers that are asking that exact thing; what's the best string for my guitar, what's the best gauge for me, etc..? All of these are questions that I really can't answer with a definite, because it's so varied. Arguably, you can use whatever piece of equipment in any setting. GK is a good example of that, as they are known for a very specific, rock tone, but you've also got some major jazz guys using the same rig in a completely different setting.
It all started when I was about to pull the trigger on Smith bass that was awsome. I went down to a local bass shop and started to try out basses, a lot of basses. I was looking for a comfortable neck and a good B string.
Ready to buy the Smith I pulled of the stand this discrete looking bass just give it a spin. The neck blew my mind. Ok, let´s plug it in. I always look for a clean amp and I plugged it in a Mark Bass Solid State amp. The way the wood was vibrating and transmitted to the pick-ups was incredible. The B string was mind blowing. Guess what I went home without the Smith and started to investigate this new to me brand of basses. Adamovic Basses. After a short time I phoned up the shop and told them I´ll pass by to buy the bass.
Nikola Adamovic is one of the best luthiers out there, his knowledge about woods is awsome, he´s like an ambulant wood data base. But not only this, he really knows how to combine them together in order to obtain the desired tone. He replies even if I have stupid questions about woods, buildings....etc. He is really a great guy to deal with.
Later on, he built me my Adamovic Halo 5 strings with olive top (the one in my avatar) and now he´s building me an Eclipse fretless.
I´ve met him at his shop when I went down to pick-up my bass and visited his shop too. All the basses are 100% handmade and he explained me all the proccess. Great experience!!
Ready to buy the Smith I pulled of the stand this discrete looking bass just give it a spin. The neck blew my mind. Ok, let´s plug it in. I always look for a clean amp and I plugged it in a Mark Bass Solid State amp. The way the wood was vibrating and transmitted to the pick-ups was incredible. The B string was mind blowing. Guess what I went home without the Smith and started to investigate this new to me brand of basses. Adamovic Basses. After a short time I phoned up the shop and told them I´ll pass by to buy the bass.
Nikola Adamovic is one of the best luthiers out there, his knowledge about woods is awsome, he´s like an ambulant wood data base. But not only this, he really knows how to combine them together in order to obtain the desired tone. He replies even if I have stupid questions about woods, buildings....etc. He is really a great guy to deal with.
Later on, he built me my Adamovic Halo 5 strings with olive top (the one in my avatar) and now he´s building me an Eclipse fretless.
I´ve met him at his shop when I went down to pick-up my bass and visited his shop too. All the basses are 100% handmade and he explained me all the proccess. Great experience!!
I like to get to know the people who build my basses and amps. I've met pretty much all the builders of the custom basses I own or have owned. To a person, they're all very sociable people.
I've experience great service from a small cab builder on the other side of the world from me, but 5 hours between emails is asking a lot when each person at that small shop might be juggling 2 or 3 roles in the business.
Luthiers and manufacturers shouldn't be put together. I have completely different expectations from them.
Manufacturers should be able to answer simple technical questions. I just make sure the info can't be found elsewhere before I buy. They should also be helpful for troubleshooting, once again for stuff that isn't in the manual.
Most of the questions I answer on TB could be solved by a 30 second Google search. Manufacturers, small or big don't have time to do this.
A luthier touches up, builds and modifies my essential tools. I often have an unusual taste for my projects.
He has to understand my concepts and be in tune with my vision of the instrument.
This doesn't work with everyone and to me it is a prerequisite to any serious work.
Manufacturers should be able to answer simple technical questions. I just make sure the info can't be found elsewhere before I buy. They should also be helpful for troubleshooting, once again for stuff that isn't in the manual.
Most of the questions I answer on TB could be solved by a 30 second Google search. Manufacturers, small or big don't have time to do this.
A luthier touches up, builds and modifies my essential tools. I often have an unusual taste for my projects.
He has to understand my concepts and be in tune with my vision of the instrument.
This doesn't work with everyone and to me it is a prerequisite to any serious work.
I really believe in mojo between the maker, player and instrument. In most cases I've talked to and met (if possible) the person that made my gear.
Amazing gear is sometimes being made by jerks and other times by awesome human beings. I prefer to support the awesome human beings.
Amazing gear is sometimes being made by jerks and other times by awesome human beings. I prefer to support the awesome human beings.
Alright, to the people giving me crap, this exchange was on facebook and it has a system where you can see when people have seen your messages and it gives you a timestamp. I realize the people are busy building things, but if they have social media with a messaging service that tells me that they read my message, I KNOW when I'm being ignored rather than just making petty assumptions. I wrote this in frustration at the time I posted it, so my lack of telling everyone how I knew I was being ignored is my bad.
If the person needs to put me through to a dealer to tell me about their product then I say this as a crude statement: Why would I give someone money that can't tell me how their passion and hard work makes them unique from any other builder?
If the person needs to put me through to a dealer to tell me about their product then I say this as a crude statement: Why would I give someone money that can't tell me how their passion and hard work makes them unique from any other builder?
I spent about 15 minutes getting feedback from RAG last year and didn't know it until the end of the conversation. I was emailing back and forth and thought I was talking with a customer service rep. At the end of the conversation I asked the person to give my thanks to RAG for his input into the item in question. He just wrote back 'you're welcome' and the sig changed to RAG.
When I did get a reply it was to my second question and they didn't say anything about my first question, and when I asked my first question again I was sent a list of dealers. There was a good time lapse between replies too, so I wasn't trying to be unreasonable with expecting at-this-moment replies. I've had people give me a time and date to talk, as I talk to a lot of people all over the world.
This person didn't have a negative connotation, but it was clear that they wanted me to get the information from a salesperson instead. As a retail salesperson, I know the game and that's why I don't like talking to salespeople.
This person didn't have a negative connotation, but it was clear that they wanted me to get the information from a salesperson instead. As a retail salesperson, I know the game and that's why I don't like talking to salespeople.
Some people are intuitive enough to know their strengths and weakness. Maybe the builder in question isn't much of a people person, and was giving you a list of trusted retailers to better handle your laundry list of questions. You know, the people that ultimately get paid to deal with clients......
Well, that's where the original questions lie, am I reasonable for trying to build a bridge (even minor) between myself and the person building musical equipment, or should I suck it up and accept that I'll only get a dealer's perspective on a product?
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