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The Mike Lull Club Part 4

#3,101
It's cool to see a bunch of new Lulls getting ordered. My Lull business kind of went off a cliff a couple price increases back, so I've been assuming that they had priced themselves out of the market.

I'm curious - are you guys buying direct from Lull, or are you working through Mike's dealers?
 
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#3,102
In my case I ordered from Paul at Mike's shop. Though a few years ago I ordered a G&L bass from Rocket and thought the service was fantastic so I wouldn't hesitate to order from you again. In this case I just went off the contact info on the lull website. Maybe Rocket can open a franchise in MN? We are starved for cool bass gear here!
 
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#3,103
RocketMusic said:
It's cool to see a bunch of new Lulls getting ordered. My Lull business kind of went off a cliff a couple price increases back, so I've been assuming that they had priced themselves out of the market.

I'm curious - are you guys buying direct from Lull, or are you working through Mike's dealers?
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When I bought my first Lull in 2011, they were the best deal on the market. I paid $2,100 for a new V4, and that included a $200 up-charge for a quarter-sawn neck. $2,100 for a world-class, custom shop jazz bass is hard to beat. Lull's are still arguably the best Fender-style basses in the world, but the past few price increases have put any new Lull basses outside of my reach.
 
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#3,104
Yeah, I love my Lull P4. It's been my #1 for almost 5 years at this point, and nothing has come along to tempt me away from it. I own a few others, but they never make it out to gigs. Except my fretless G&L LB-100 on occasion.

I would love to get back to selling some Lulls, but I'm stuck at a chicken and egg point with it right now. I don't have much inventory, so sales are pretty much assured to be limited. But the long term lack of sales doesn't have me real excited about spending the money to acquire more inventory. Oy.

Anyway, it's been great to see new ones being ordered. That gives me hope for the viability of one of my favorite brands.
 
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#3,105
RocketMusic said:
Yeah, I love my Lull P4. It's been my #1 for almost 5 years at this point, and nothing has come along to tempt me away from it. I own a few others, but they never make it out to gigs. Except my fretless G&L LB-100 on occasion.

I would love to get back to selling some Lulls, but I'm stuck at a chicken and egg point with it right now. I don't have much inventory, so sales are pretty much assured to be limited. But the long term lack of sales doesn't have me real excited about spending the money to acquire more inventory. Oy.

Anyway, it's been great to see new ones being ordered. That gives me hope for the viability of one of my favorite brands.
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As much as I love Lulls, I think it's a very valid concern. My observation is that a big chunk of Lull sales are either custom ordered to the nth degree for geeks like us, or their prices seem to be cut/discounted in order to get them to move.

I have to admit I was really tempted by that Lake Placid Blue P4 too....really nice. I also love that black one you have in stock. If it had a J neck, I might have succumbed.

If I end up buying a custom P4, I'll make sure to order from you Rocket Man.
 
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#3,106
RocketMusic said:
It's cool to see a bunch of new Lulls getting ordered. My Lull business kind of went off a cliff a couple price increases back, so I've been assuming that they had priced themselves out of the market.

I'm curious - are you guys buying direct from Lull, or are you working through Mike's dealers?
Click to expand...

I've been ordering new basses direct from Mike since 2005. I've known him since the early 1990s but I couldn't afford his basses until 2004. Mike's shop is a 20 minute drive from my house and I've found that stopping by to talk about what I want to order gets me the best possible result - Mike gets a solid idea of what I'm thinking and he makes suggestions about wood choices or hardware or pickups that will get me what I want. Most of my orders had a number of custom features so ordering directly from Mike has worked best for me.

If I was going to use a dealer you know it would be you Greg, but I've been afraid to mess with a very successful method.
 
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#3,107
bdgotoh said:
I've been ordering new basses direct from Mike since 2005. I've known him since the early 1990s but I couldn't afford his basses until 2004. Mike's shop is a 20 minute drive from my house and I've found that stopping by to talk about what I want to order gets me the best possible result - Mike gets a solid idea of what I'm thinking and he makes suggestions about wood choices or hardware or pickups that will get me what I want. Most of my orders had a number of custom features so ordering directly from Mike has worked best for me.

If I was going to use a dealer you know it would be you Greg, but I've been afraid to mess with a very successful method.
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Man, I would be so in trouble if I lived that close to him. :)

My Mom lives about 30 minutes away from the Lull shop, so I get to visit Mike and Paul whenever I head out to see her. I always want to walk out with at least 5-6 basses.
 
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#3,108
RocketMusic said:
Man, I would be so in trouble if I lived that close to him. :)

My Mom lives about 30 minutes away from the Lull shop, so I get to visit Mike and Paul whenever I head out to see her. I always want to walk out with at least 5-6 basses.
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Yeah, that would be tough! I just got my (first?) Lull and am pretty darn impressed with it.
Try to imagine the dilemma I have been cursed with - I live an equally short easy drive from Fodera, Sadowsky, MTD, Spector, Veillette, and Martin Keith.
Case in point - some months back I went to the Sadowsky shop ONLY to drop off a guitar for a small upgrade.
But while I was waiting to speak with Roger, I couldn't resist playing everything that was hanging on the showroom wall. Sure enough, one of them was such a standout that I was unable to walk out of there without it, for fear that someone else would buy it.
 
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#3,109
I've heard that Sadowsky basses are 5% more if you buy direct vs. from a dealer. I wonder if that's true.

If Lull is serious about retaining a dealer network, I wonder if he should consider that too. My observation is that a lot of the dealers in Lull's dealer listings don't really carry their products in earnest. And those that have 4-5 pieces have had them for a while.

I think a lot of people are indeed priced out of the Lull market. But I the other issue is that if someone is paying $3k+ for a bass, they generally want specifications *exactly* to their preference.
 
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#3,110
CaptainWally said:
I've heard that Sadowsky basses are 5% more if you buy direct vs. from a dealer. I wonder if that's true.

If Lull is serious about retaining a dealer network, I wonder if he should consider that too. My observation is that a lot of the dealers in Lull's dealer listings don't really carry their products in earnest. And those that have 4-5 pieces have had them for a while.

I think a lot of people are indeed priced out of the Lull market. But I the other issue is that if someone is paying $3k+ for a bass, they generally want specifications *exactly* to their preference.
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That's how Mike Lull does it, too. 80% of List if you deal directly with him, 75% if you go through a dealer. It's a great way to avoid competing with your dealer network while still retaining the ability to sell directly to those folks who prefer to do that.
 
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#3,111
RocketMusic said:
That's how Mike Lull does it, too. 80% of List if you deal directly with him, 75% if you go through a dealer. It's a great way to avoid competing with your dealer network while still retaining the ability to sell directly to those folks who prefer to do that.
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Seems like a perfectly reasonable policy to me, since it's the difference between:
a) build it, ship it, and done
b) build it, answer questions, demo it, answer questions, demo it, demo it, tweak it to the buyer's taste, re-tweak it, and done

That's a big difference in the cost to the builder!

By the way, the mathematician in me has to point out that if your figures are correct, the difference between 75% of list and 80% of list does not amount to a 5% premium, it's a 6.67% premium.
 
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#3,112
xnewyorka said:
By the way, the mathematician in me has to point out that if your figures are correct, the difference between 75% of list and 80% of list does not amount to a 5% premium, it's a 6.67% premium.
Click to expand...

Indeed. The Electrical Engineer in me (who took way too much math way too many years ago) salutes you!
 
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#3,113
RocketMusic said:
Man, I would be so in trouble if I lived that close to him. :)
Click to expand...

Here's what trouble looks like, these pics are from 3 weeks ago. Only 4 of them were bought used!

Lull2019pickguard.jpg


Lull2019noguard.jpg
 
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