I purchased my current double bass from Volker Nahrmann, owner of the Nahrmann Bass Shop in Billerica, Mass. If you want to see what I bought, here it is ( http://www.talkbass.com/threads/the-quest-is-over.1098625/ ). I had my single greatest instrument-buying experience in his shop. Instead of making a laundry list of reasons why, I'm going to tell the story of my experience and let it speak for itself. I know this looks long, but it's worth your time to read, and even more worth your time to go to this man's shop.
When we pulled in the driveway, the appearance of the building was the first striking thing. The building is simply gorgeous... I mean, you can see what it looks like at http://www.nahrmannbass.com/ , but to see the building in person was more impressive than I expected. You simply have to see it. I found out later on that he built the building specifically for his business and that it's one of only a handful of bass shops that actually started life as a bass shop. He was glowing when he was telling me and my parents all about it. It was clear that he's extremely proud of his business and that he's living his dream.
We walked through the front door and up the big, wide staircase to the showroom floor. I've been in church halls that are smaller. The ceiling went up and up with big rafters and lots of gorgeous windows letting light in from all sides. But, the most impressive thing about the room was the number of basses in it. There are easily 40 basses in his shop. I mean, the room is roughly 40' by 100', and there were no spaces on the walls that didn't have a bass occupying them. Nothing I have said is an exaggeration. I played 9 excellent basses that were all in my price range.
Volker was extremely pleasant to do business with. He took me around the showroom and told me about some of the basses and was generous with letting me play his interments, even if they were way over my budget. He would bring a bass over for me to try and while I was trying it, he would go and get the next bass, we'd trade and do it all again. When I finally picked my bass, he adjusted the bridge for me and let me pick from two or three used cases. He showed abundant concern for my happiness and took extra steps to help me stay within my budget. He invited my parents and me into his luthier shop to look around and chat with him while he worked on lowering the bridge. I payed, we said our thank you's and goodbye's, and we went to Salem to enjoy the afternoon.
This is the most important part of my experience.
When we got to our hotel room, just before 8:00 pm, I took the bass out of the case to tune it up and check on it. I made an excruciating discovery that the clover head on the D string tuner was severely bent, and it snapped off the peg and into my hand when I tried to tune. I figured I must have hit it on something when putting the bass into our vehicle. This was the first time this had ever happened to me, and although it's not the biggest deal, I was very upset that it happened, especially to my new bass. I did not want to bring the bass back to Maine like that because I don't have the tools to work on such a repair and it's four hours from here to the nearest luthier. It was a minor miracle that our hotel was in Billerica, literally 5 minutes from Nahrmann. So I called Volker, explained to him what happened and he invited me back to his shop. We arrived at 8:30 or so and he worked on it for around 30 minutes and reseated the clover head. Volker invited me to his shop on no more than a moment's notice and took an hour of his time, late at night, to help me out even though he was traveling out of state early the following morning. He hadn't brought up the cost of the repair, even when the bass was repaired and back in the case. When I asked, he insisted that it was on him. He said, "Your good will is more important to me than your money," helped me make sure to put the bass in the car safely, and went to bed.
Visiting him and his shop is worth your time, your gas and every last cent of your money.
The end.
When we pulled in the driveway, the appearance of the building was the first striking thing. The building is simply gorgeous... I mean, you can see what it looks like at http://www.nahrmannbass.com/ , but to see the building in person was more impressive than I expected. You simply have to see it. I found out later on that he built the building specifically for his business and that it's one of only a handful of bass shops that actually started life as a bass shop. He was glowing when he was telling me and my parents all about it. It was clear that he's extremely proud of his business and that he's living his dream.
We walked through the front door and up the big, wide staircase to the showroom floor. I've been in church halls that are smaller. The ceiling went up and up with big rafters and lots of gorgeous windows letting light in from all sides. But, the most impressive thing about the room was the number of basses in it. There are easily 40 basses in his shop. I mean, the room is roughly 40' by 100', and there were no spaces on the walls that didn't have a bass occupying them. Nothing I have said is an exaggeration. I played 9 excellent basses that were all in my price range.
Volker was extremely pleasant to do business with. He took me around the showroom and told me about some of the basses and was generous with letting me play his interments, even if they were way over my budget. He would bring a bass over for me to try and while I was trying it, he would go and get the next bass, we'd trade and do it all again. When I finally picked my bass, he adjusted the bridge for me and let me pick from two or three used cases. He showed abundant concern for my happiness and took extra steps to help me stay within my budget. He invited my parents and me into his luthier shop to look around and chat with him while he worked on lowering the bridge. I payed, we said our thank you's and goodbye's, and we went to Salem to enjoy the afternoon.
This is the most important part of my experience.
When we got to our hotel room, just before 8:00 pm, I took the bass out of the case to tune it up and check on it. I made an excruciating discovery that the clover head on the D string tuner was severely bent, and it snapped off the peg and into my hand when I tried to tune. I figured I must have hit it on something when putting the bass into our vehicle. This was the first time this had ever happened to me, and although it's not the biggest deal, I was very upset that it happened, especially to my new bass. I did not want to bring the bass back to Maine like that because I don't have the tools to work on such a repair and it's four hours from here to the nearest luthier. It was a minor miracle that our hotel was in Billerica, literally 5 minutes from Nahrmann. So I called Volker, explained to him what happened and he invited me back to his shop. We arrived at 8:30 or so and he worked on it for around 30 minutes and reseated the clover head. Volker invited me to his shop on no more than a moment's notice and took an hour of his time, late at night, to help me out even though he was traveling out of state early the following morning. He hadn't brought up the cost of the repair, even when the bass was repaired and back in the case. When I asked, he insisted that it was on him. He said, "Your good will is more important to me than your money," helped me make sure to put the bass in the car safely, and went to bed.
Visiting him and his shop is worth your time, your gas and every last cent of your money.
The end.
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