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SBL: When is a bass maker no longer boutique?

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#61
Dr. Cheese said:
I think many boutique makers now mainly license their designs. Frankly, I like that they do since I do not have the discretionary income for a true boutique bass, but I am very happy designs by Sadowsky, MTD, Spector, and Lakland, can be had a various price points.
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A good design, is a good design. All the woodworking and craftsmanship in the world means nothing without a good design. Is it any wonder that these designs would seamlessly transfer to the mass production market with the proper attention to materials and execution? It's intellectual property; why shouldn't they profit from it?

And in any case, those large build flows are not considered to be boutique by most consumers. The USA builds are, due to the greater number of customizations available, and the limited availability that are the result of longer build times and processes. That the lower-price, mass production market creates a revenue stream that enables these builders to focus on what they do best shouldn't bother anyone in the least. (I know I certainly don't give a rat's arse. ;))
 
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#62
Seems like people like to overreact to a little bit of swearing and 2 guys just chatting about the tools of their profession. I don't think they made this to video to be taken all that seriously. They're just to guys chatting about their experiences with boutique basses and which ones are there favourites. I listened through the whole thing in the background at work and visually watched for a few parts. The part where Scott asked Ian to narrow it down to 5 favourites was pretty funny. And also when Scott mentioned F Bass as one of his favourites and holds up the Olinto in his lap (seeing as he most often is holding an F Bass I found it amusing).
 
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#66
How do y'all even watch something like this. I couldn't get past two minutes of them yapping about nothing.

Since I've been heavily involved in online teaching, many years ago I read a study showing that people's attention span for things like lectures, online videos, church sermons, whatever, is about twenty minutes. After that, it goes downhill fast. Effective presentations take this into account and get to the point as quickly as possible, make the point, and get out.

I have no idea what they said about boutiques, but It hardly matters. If you are dropping big coin on a bass, it pays to know how it's built and by whom. Once you have that information, you can call it boutique if it makes you feel good...or not. Doesn't matter once the bass is in your hands. It;s either a quality instrument or it isn't.
 
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#67
N4860 said:
Seems like people like to overreact to a little bit of swearing and 2 guys just chatting about the tools of their profession. I don't think they made this to video to be taken all that seriously. They're just to guys chatting about their experiences with boutique basses and which ones are there favourites. I listened through the whole thing in the background at work and visually watched for a few parts. The part where Scott asked Ian to narrow it down to 5 favourites was pretty funny. And also when Scott mentioned F Bass as one of his favourites and holds up the Olinto in his lap (seeing as he most often is holding an F Bass I found it amusing).
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The profanity has become a common theme on SBL.

If profanity doesn’t bother you, have at it. That doesn’t mean everyone wants to hear it. If they don’t that doesn’t mean they are overreacting. It simply means I don’t have to listen if I don’t want to and that I would caution anyone with a young student that might tune in to try to learn something about bass . Isnt the name of the channel Scott’s Bass Lessons?
 
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#68
I guarantee this would not be 4 pages of bickering about the semantics of swear words if it wasn’t an SBL video. It could’ve been any other YouTube channel with Tarantino style dialog and no one would’ve mentioned it.

What do people get so salty about Scott and Ian? I can only chalk it up to a hatred of success.
 
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#71
poochiecheeks said:
A lot of the information in their long form podcast videos is quite simplified and or geared towards beginners or entry level players, especially to push their paid lesson thing. Interesting that they would use any language like that and alienate a large part of who their videos are geared for...
SBL is a fraction of what it was years ago when it was just Scott giving real advice and experience, and at this point is nothing more than concentrated cringe like 90% of music youtube channels are now
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I agree, SBL is very much geared towards beginners
It's also overly gear oriented. Is it me?
Or does it seem most of their gear videos are inspired by threads right here on TB?

The biggest problem I have with SBL is the intimidating manor in which they present relatively simple material.
Its like Guitar World magazine come to life, over hyping the material and original artist..
The presenters act as if they can barely play the material because of how "nearly impossible" it is to play. (eg. D Dorian triads ascending or just palm-muting anything).

To me, it come off a little somthing like: "Hey there you Labradoodles! We're ice cold, seasoned pros and just barely able play this stuff. So you better pay us to help sort it out if you want a chance:rolleyes:

I do see more to inspire owning great basses than being a great bass player.
More educationally focused channels unfortunately get the big view #'s...
Federico Malaman, Damien Erskine, Ray Brown ect...
Also wouldn't be a bit surprised if Scott where a vintage/high-end bass dealer?
 
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#72
My take? The topic doesn't merit the length of the discussion, so I'll watch when I'll get the flu. I will probably be entertained, but I will also be stoned.

SBL is definitely full of academically good material; would be students should know that.
 
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#73
Dr. Cheese said:


This is a long video and I am not going to watch all of it, but it raises some good questions. I think many boutique makers now mainly license their designs. Frankly, I like that they do since I do not have the discretionary income for a true boutique bass, but I am very happy designs by Sadowsky, MTD, Spector, and Lakland, can be had a various price points.
Click to expand...


I am happy that I have stellar versions of a Precision 5 and a Jazz 5 and am no longer looking. Things are getting expensive out there.
 
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#78
thmsjordan said:
I am happy that I have stellar versions of a Precision 5 and a Jazz 5 and am no longer looking. Things are getting expensive out there.
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I am happy with my moderately priced imports. My gear history is sort of backwards. When I was young and single, I went credit card crazy buying boutiques without knowing the notes on the fingerboard. Eventually, I had to pay off a ton of credit card debt, and I learned to look for bang for the buck instruments. At this point, I want to work for being a literate musician for the rest of my life. I would much rather impress with what I play than what I own.
 
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