Another thing you could do......ask him for references......customers who have purchased builds from him before. If this is his first...ask him for a return policy before buying.
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Thoughts on buying cheaper custom basses?
- Thread starter starrtwo
- Start date
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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I doubt he's a luthier. Its most likely just a parts bass. Cheap parts bass, assembled, to sell.
One indicator would be if there is a name on the headstock of a particular company / builder. This is a one-off parts bass.
Thanks for all of the helpful responses guys. I'm gonna pass on this bass!
One indicator that it's not a smokin' deal - the link is posted on a bass site and it's still there. However, that test has a few drawbacks.
Which isn't a bad thing but they shouldn't say its a BA when it isn't.....
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I have no problem with buying parts basses if they're what I like. Hard pass on this one, especially with such little info on the neck.
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That neck, particularly the fretboard and headstock end TR access, looks suspiciously like a Chinese Squier Affinity neck I had several years ago.
There's a lot of grey area whenever you talk about "parts basses" or "custom builds". Custom doesn't necessarily mean better, it just means it's not what's on the production floor, it's what you want.
Parts bass is a very ill defined term. If what you mean is someone takes parts that someone else makes as a starting point, then literally everything made by Fender, including in their Custom shop, is a parts bass.
So...the difference? If a hack puts it together, it's a parts bass, and if someone who knows what they're doing puts it together, then it's a custom build. This sounds reasonable, but it's still very subjective as to who qualifies as a custom builder.
The trouble with a custom build is if it doesn't turn out that what you specified is your dream bass, well, it's almost certainly nobody else's either. Does that make it a "parts bass"?
Parts bass is a very ill defined term. If what you mean is someone takes parts that someone else makes as a starting point, then literally everything made by Fender, including in their Custom shop, is a parts bass.
So...the difference? If a hack puts it together, it's a parts bass, and if someone who knows what they're doing puts it together, then it's a custom build. This sounds reasonable, but it's still very subjective as to who qualifies as a custom builder.
The trouble with a custom build is if it doesn't turn out that what you specified is your dream bass, well, it's almost certainly nobody else's either. Does that make it a "parts bass"?
custom bass is just another word for "parts bass" in this case....it looks nice tho..But i imagine you could get the real deal for that price i think...Or have fun in building one of your own
Many instruments made in the Fender custom shop by the master builders aren't an assembly of parts from the factory floor, even if the wood is in the same shapes. The pieces of wood for the body and neck are selected specifically for that one instrument. Often the pickups are individually wound for that instrument. That's not a parts bass.
Anything with a commercially available neck and body is a parts bass.
A custom build that isn't what you wanted it to be is a used one-off.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
It's a parts bass, not a custom luthier
I would want to know the brand of the neck and body. Might be a good deal, might not.
I would want to know the brand of the neck and body. Might be a good deal, might not.
A lot of Fender production instruments are made with necks and bodies that you can buy, so those are parts basses? Actually, I would agree - Leo's intent was to design something that almost anyone can build, and make a decent instrument - P'as and J's are the AK47's of musical instruments. But I would also posit that the necks and bodies for their Custom shop instruments are made on the same machines, running the same programs as production parts - the act of a human choosing one of those necks or bodies makes it special, and now the bass is not a parts bass? Or is it a few less or more turns on the pickup's coil (which is what happened in production randomly in Fender's early years). This stuff is very far from black and white.
I would agree that a Mighty Mite neck is a commercially available neck, but when you get to someone like Warmoth, they have more options with specialty woods and other options than Fender has in their Custom Shop. Would you call that "commercially available"? Many of their necks and bodies are more Custom that what's in Fender's Custom shop.
My point is that it's pretty much impossible to define the terms here well enough to draw any sort of definitive line. One person's "homemade parts bass" is, depending on your definitions, someone else's "Ultra boutique custom instrument".
Leo's intent was to design something that could be built efficiently and inexpensively, and have modular parts that could be replaced instead of repaired. He established that in a number of interviews. Not to design something anyone could build.
It really is easy to draw the line. Mass production vs individual construction and design is easy to distinguish. Ordering premade necks and bodies vs building them to a customer's specifications is easy to distinguish.
Warmoth might seem like a grey area, but in the end they're Subway sandwiches. You can have anything you want, as long as it's already on the menu.
The problem is when people automatically assume custom means better or more expensive.
To get more on topic, I have a Krappy Guitars 2 string neck through Iceman bass that was made for me from raw materials, where I specified the pickup location, number of strings and was the first person to request that shape from the company. The bridge, tailpiece and pickup were hand made by the same person who glued up the boards and cut out the body. It's the most fun instrument I own, but it also cost $110, and is pretty much the quality you'd expect for that price.
Looks like a parts bass with a cheap (inexpensive) finish.
One thing to consider when purchasing a "parts bass"…Unless the seller is offering some kind of warranty or guarantee for the parts and workmanship, and will still be around to honor it, all the assembled parts have become "used", and should be valued as such.
One thing to consider when purchasing a "parts bass"…Unless the seller is offering some kind of warranty or guarantee for the parts and workmanship, and will still be around to honor it, all the assembled parts have become "used", and should be valued as such.
IMO, if it's a fender it's a parts bass anyway. and if you change out anything on it to your liking, then it's a custom bass. Pretty simple, really...
Smooth_bass88
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