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SOMEONE BUILD ME MY IDEAL BASS!

C

chriscisme

Dec 20, 2005
20
0
#1
Hey All,

Im a left handed bassist searching for the holy grail. The retail market selection is VERY sparse, so im looking towards luthiers to help me build one.

Specs

- 5-6 string
- Preferably Bartolinis

trying to get a look like a carvin/lecompte bass.

anyone out there who i can go into more detail with let me know.

thanks
 
#8
roberthabraken said:
+1 on both remarks.. raw material of a 5 string easily gets you up to 1200 dollars on the retail market

find build threads of builders that suit your style and PM them
Click to expand...

Builders generally aren't paying retail price for hardware, sometimes electronics, and it all matters where you live and what you want for wood. In my experience the material cost for a bass is more like $300-600 on average not that it can't go as high as you want!

And to the OP, support your local luthier! Ask around music stores, and musicians on your scene and you'll find one within driving distance for sure.
 
#12
tehbassist said:
Builders generally aren't paying retail price for hardware, sometimes electronics, and it all matters where you live and what you want for wood. In my experience the material cost for a bass is more like $300-600 on average not that it can't go as high as you want!

And to the OP, support your local luthier! Ask around music stores, and musicians on your scene and you'll find one within driving distance for sure.
Click to expand...


The truth of the matter is the end product is only as good as the quality of the products and craftsmanship it's made from.
 
#14
tehbassist said:
Builders generally aren't paying retail price for hardware, sometimes electronics, and it all matters where you live and what you want for wood. In my experience the material cost for a bass is more like $300-600 on average not that it can't go as high as you want!

And to the OP, support your local luthier! Ask around music stores, and musicians on your scene and you'll find one within driving distance for sure.
Click to expand...

Just so there isn't any confusion, I just speced and bought materials for a customer, the specs were;

5 string neck through Single Cut,
Wenge and purpleheart neck, Mac ebony fretboard 26 fret
Walnut body with a very good grade top
Bartolini pickups, Aguilar OBP3, and black hipshot hardware
Cost to me for all materials, hardware, and electronics?
$929, and that includes shipping and Case

People do not get what it costs just for the materials to build a bass, then the amount of time in doing all of the wood milling and prep before you can start building. Then the 50-60 hours of build and finish time.
You can buy parts from the parts manufacturers, parts off ebay, and build a parts bass cheap, but for most small builders to build an instrument for under 2K can sometimes be tough. When they get into the $3500+ range it starts getting to be a different world of business model.

This is just so you have an understanding that we as builders don't make a lot on instruments after time, materials, and overhead.

As for Builders, Check out these TB'ers:
Regenerate Guitar works(Rodent here on TB)
FBB Custom
Drake Custom
Grantbass
Rickett Custom
BassCycle

All could be capable of building what you want, but price is a different story
 
#16
tehbassist said:
Builders generally aren't paying retail price for hardware, sometimes electronics, and it all matters where you live and what you want for wood. In my experience the material cost for a bass is more like $300-600 on average not that it can't go as high as you want!

And to the OP, support your local luthier! Ask around music stores, and musicians on your scene and you'll find one within driving distance for sure.
Click to expand...

The retail prices were for reference. I'm not a professional builder and that's what I have to pay. Also, in my country things are a bit more expensive then in the US. If you look at MusicLogic's post, you see that I'm not far off. Building a quality bass for $300 is impossible, let alone an 'ideal' bass. And if you'd assume you could to it for $600, you have $900 left in the OP's budget. If you would be able to finish the instrument in 60 hours, that would be $15 per hour, minus the cost for maintaining your equipment, electricity etc. But since a five string is probably going to cost more in parts and there's more involved than only parts I think you'd be making one for free...

Musiclogic said:
People do not get what it costs just for the materials to build a bass, then the amount of time in doing all of the wood milling and prep before you can start building. Then the 50-60 hours of build and finish time
Click to expand...

+1
 
#19
roberthabraken said:
The retail prices were for reference. I'm not a professional builder and that's what I have to pay. Also, in my country things are a bit more expensive then in the US. If you look at MusicLogic's post, you see that I'm not far off. Building a quality bass for $300 is impossible, let alone an 'ideal' bass. And if you'd assume you could to it for $600, you have $900 left in the OP's budget. If you would be able to finish the instrument in 60 hours, that would be $15 per hour, minus the cost for maintaining your equipment, electricity etc. But since a five string is probably going to cost more in parts and there's more involved than only parts I think you'd be making one for free...
Click to expand...

I'm just in the process of building something for a family member and in Australia things are also more exy than the US. However, I could put all the hardware/timber together for about AU$300. However, that is chinese hardware and pickups. I don't think that's a drama since everything we buy for under $1k retail has all this hardware anyway, but for something custom with name brand hardware and electronics, the price will literally be 10 times the price of the chinese stuff...before shipping.

P.s. The AU$300 is BEFORE any labour.
 

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