• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Valenti

#62
PilbaraBass said:
Nino,

don't sweat it, man. Just sit back, relax, be quiet and let your work speak for you...LOUD AND CLEAR! :)
Click to expand...

+1

Nobody is asking you to like Valenti's Peter.:hmm:

Go start your own line of basses. Send the parts in the box with a 20 page instruction manual. Show the world how easy building basses can be.

It pays to pay extra to have it set up professionally. If something goes wrong, there's always talkbass.
 
#63
It is true that pretty much anyone can build a bass out of parts.

It is not true, however, that anyone can build an exceptional bass out of parts. There is a certain amount of skill involved. This skill is normally acquired from having built basses for a long period of time. If you think that you are one of those people who have the skill it takes to make a bass that truly "sings," then more power to you. Having neither the time nor inclination to put together a number of basses myself until I get really good at it, I'll leave it to others.

Personally, I'll be getting my J- and P- basses from builders like Sadowsky, Valenti, and Lakland.
 
#64
PilbaraBass said:
Nino,

don't sweat it, man. Just sit back, relax, be quiet and let your work speak for you...LOUD AND CLEAR! :)
Click to expand...

+1

Nino's posts frequently on TB and is a class act. His post are informative and he refrains from critizing other luthiers he offers insight on creating basses. I look forward to one day owning one of his instruments.
 
#66
Guys, I think what Peter Parker is saying is true--Nino said it was true, too. To put together a bass from already-made components requires nothing but mechanical aptitude, appropriate tools, and knowledge that can be found for free, anywhere.

Oh, and dedication, patience, perseverance, passion, and heaps and stacks and mountains of TIME.

Most intelligent bass players who know the difference between a band saw and a coping saw could build a good J from good finished parts, if they took the time and effort to really study up, ask the right questions, get the right answers, and get all the details right. Most of those players could then go into business doing so, if they really had the drive and the passion to succeed.

The hurdle here is not some sort of "magic" involved in bolting parts together and doing a setup. It's that time, effort, passion, dedication, and attention to detail that makes the difference between having some beautiful parts that sound okay together, and having lots of amazing musical instruments.

Peace
policy
 
#67
mrbungle said:
But IMHO without the builder picking out the good woods, having an influence on the neck profile, and doing proper setup with fret job and cutting the nut, it's not luthiery and should be advertised as a kit bass.
Click to expand...
I never advertized my basses as anything other than basses built using Warmoth or USACG parts. I never EVER called myself a luthier. What is your point here?

I asked USACG and Warmoth to pick out the lightest possible bodies. Does that count as me picking "good woods"?

I moved to USACG because they are more accepting to doing different neck radii, neck thicknesses, etc. Can't that be considered having influence on neck shape?

I cut all the nuts on my basses. A few early ones has graphtech precut nuts but I prefer to cut the nuts myself.

IME, Warmoth and USACG frets are excellent and I've only had to do some minor leveling/re-crowning to a few necks.

I'll put my set up against anyone.

Again, what's your point? Again, I never EVER called myself a luthier.
 
#68
Guys I didn't say I didn't like Valenti's, I'm sure they're nice. Warmoth and USCG make quality parts. The pics of the basses I've built are lost in a dead computer. I'm working on 3 basses now that I will be glad to post pics of when I'm done. They are very far from a Wish bass. I've not said anywhere that I build a better bass than Nino or anyone else for that matter. I merely stated that I find the job of bolting together and setting up a bass very easy and maybe wrongly assumed most people were smart enough to learn how to do it themselves if they were so inclined. i know not everyone wants to do it but there is just too much voodoo in this whole set-up issue. To get a bass to play well, the most important factors is a true neck and fingerboard, that has properly installed and leveled frets. That's the hard part. On the quality parts basses, that work is alreay done before the end builder receives it. All that is left is to slot the nut, which I've already described and is easy, then adjust the truss rod and the bridge saddles. If you know how to turn a screw, you can make these adjustments. Wiring electronics: the diagrams sent with all the major pre's are very detailed and easy to follow. Your soldering might not be great but it's not hard to make solid if not a pretty joint. The great thing about what Nino is doing is that he's doing the work for you. Nothing wrong with that. I restring people's guitar's everyday not becasue they can't just because they don't want to.
 
#69
i have never played a sadowsky or a valenti, but i think that a valenti can sound like a sadowsky if it's constructed the same way ( bolt on), uses the same woods, and most importantly the same electronics, especially if its active. same quality hardware of course too. just an example, why do jazz, p and stingrays sound so different? can only be the electronics cos all the rest is the same.

valenti's and sadowsky's might feel different, as the body and neck shapes are different, but none of them will be better. also bear in mind that no bass sounds exactly like another, no matter who made them.
 
#71
Peter Parker said:
wrongly assumed most people were smart enough to learn how to do it themselves if they were so inclined
Click to expand...

I consider myself to be a very smart person, but I'm a total clutz when it comes to working with my hands. :)

Anyway, if you can build basses and achieve results close to Sadowsky, I think it is you that is not giving yourself enough credit.

But talk is cheap, as they say - we'll look forward to checking out your work! :)
 
#73
policyvote said:
To put together a bass from already-made components requires nothing but mechanical aptitude, appropriate tools, and knowledge that can be found for free, anywhere.

Oh, and dedication, patience, perseverance, passion, and heaps and stacks and mountains of TIME.policy
Click to expand...

And if a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its ass a hopp'n...

HAHAHA. Gotta love 'raising arizona.'
 
#74
jokerjkny said:
policy,

its great that you're trying to peace the divide, but IMHO, dont put validation to the crass nature of what peter's saying. he hasnt even touched one of nino's instruments, and yet feels the need to use him as an example and judge his work.
Click to expand...

Where did I ever judge Nino's work? I never said it was bad and in fact said it he probably puts out a nice instrument. To say it would be easy to build quality instruments in this manner is not to say it's a bad thing, nor is it a put down. If an instrument is hard to build does that make it good? If it's easy does that make it bad? No. SAy if Nino and I both build a bass using the same parts and come up with an instrument judged by everyone to be equal. If Nino say's it was a hard build and I say it was any easy one does that make me better? No, because in the end the basses are equal no matter how each of us feel the difficulty level is. You guys are reading my comments as slams and I've said numerous time that that's not where I'm coming from. You guys seem to be a little too sensitive. It's OK if I find it easy to bolt a bass together and set it up. It's OK if I feel most could do the same and get great results. That in no way is putting Nino or his basses down. Guys, it doesn't have to be hard to be good.
 
#75
KoskoArts said:
To be honest, I was pretty disappointed to find out Sadowsky's are parts basses.
Click to expand...

You can't really think of a Sadowsky as a "parts bass" because, excepting a few parts like tuners which the vast majority of most bass builders don't make for themselves, all the parts that make up a Sadowsky are custom spec'd out parts that aren't available to the general public.

As far as the outsourcing goes, If Sadowsky can get the quality he wants without the overhead why should anyone have a problem with that? Who knows, if Sadowsky had to buy a bunch of CNC routers, train people to use the stuff, and lease a bigger shop in NYC (which is not cheap), he may have never even got his line of basses off the ground.

Since this thread is about Nino's basses, here's my spin on the subject. I would much rather buy one of his than assemble my own from aftermarket stuff for several reasons.

I am 100% sure I can bolt together some parts and have them work, what I'm not sure about is that I will be happy with the results.

If I'm not happy with the bass I put together I can't return the parts and I'm taking a huge hit on what I paid for those parts by selling the bass or parting it out. Valenti's basses are going to have a much better resale because he is establishing a reputation even if it is little known outside of talkbass.

Also, Nino from his experience in making those basses knows what parts sources have the best quality stuff, and will be able to provide some good subjective input on what the sum of those parts is going to sound like.

Not to mention he does good work. I've never played one, but just seeing web photos of the wiring, I know he would do a good job.
:bassist:
 
#78
mrbungle said:
Well, it is easy. Anybody with basic tools and understanding can build a kit bass in few hours, unless the parts are unfinished. Still, I see why somebody would want to pay for somebody experienced doing it and having quality product with good solder joints.

But IMHO without the builder picking out the good woods, having an influence on the neck profile, and doing proper setup with fret job and cutting the nut, it's not luthiery and should be advertised as a kit bass.
Click to expand...
You are, in essence, comparing a kit bass to a Valenti/Sadowsky/Lakland et al, which is just foolish :rolleyes:

I have built kit basses and they were, as I've previously stated, sub-standard. Yes, bolting the neck to the body is easy, screwing the bridge into a pre-drilled hole is easy, seating a pick-up into a cavity is easy, etc, etc .... making that series of tasks sound and play like a Valenti/Sadowsky/Lakland et al is not at all easy, and is likely nearly impossible for the huge majority of us.

Hey, if you can do it, go for it .... the market is active enough to support a few more "kit bass" assemblers ..... :(
 
#79
RunngDog said:
What I can't figure out is what all this has to do with the OP's question: do Valenti's sound like Sadowsky's? Seems like the whole thread is been diverted along the way.
Click to expand...
+1

I will add this however.

Folks seem to forget that when you buy certain products (like Custom Basses -- even those assembled from parts), what you are really paying the premium for is the TIME and EXPERTISE of the craftsman.

I ran a website design business full time for several years and still design sites from time to time. To do this, I use software that anyone could buy from their local Best Buy. You could even build a basic website from the templates that come with that software. Yet, my clients chose not to do that -- they chose to pay me to do it because I had the:

1) Time to perform the project.
2) The expertise (honed over a great deal of separate client engagements) to do it to their specs.

I'm sure that as a reasonably intelligent fellow, I could probably order the necessary parts from Warmoth or USACG and then put them together and come up with a playable instrument.

The trouble is, I don't have the expertise to know exactly how seat the pickups for ultimate sound or how to crimp the connections "just so" to make sure they stay connected or the exact amount of shielding foil to make sure the bass doesn't hum. This is stuff that Nino, and Roger, and Lee Barker, and other professionals have learned the old-fashioned way -- with a lot of sweat and frustration. With my busy life, I also don't have time to learn.

The time factor is actually the most important. The older we get, the less disposable time we have and most folks are wiling to trade time for money. That's why you hire professionals to do work for you that you don't have time to do. And that's where custom builders earn their money. They have the ability to create something that delivers a value that is greater than the sum of the parts.

IMO, they're worth every penny.
 
#80
pointbass said:
You are, in essence, comparing a kit bass to a Valenti/Sadowsky/Lakland et al, which is just foolish :rolleyes:

I have built kit basses and they were, as I've previously stated, sub-standard. Yes, bolting the neck to the body is easy, screwing the bridge into a pre-drilled hole is easy, seating a pick-up into a cavity is easy, etc, etc .... making that series of tasks sound and play like a Valenti/Sadowsky/Lakland et al is not at all easy, and is likely nearly impossible for the huge majority of us.

Hey, if you can do it, go for it .... the market is active enough to support a few more "kit bass" assemblers ..... :(
Click to expand...

What other task do you suppose would be near impossible? What do attribute tone and playability to?
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back