• 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.

Where do off-brand basses come from?

#25
Jean Rodriguez said:
In my eight years of playing both guitar and bass, I've noticed that the small music stores here in Puerto Rico mostly have some really weird branded guitars and basses. I'm talking about brands such as "London", "Firebrand" and even my own main bass which is an "AXL Player Deluxe". These are just the brands that I remember, I see so many weird branded copies at the mom and pop shops that I tend to forget the names. I've always asked myself "where do these instruments come from?". I know that they are all made in China, but I can never find a website or simple webpage about these weird off-brand copies. Also, how do these shop owners get these instruments in their shops in the first place? Again, I always see these in the small mom and pop shops. The big stores (we don't have Guitar Center or anything like that, but we do have big stores that carry all of the expensive name brands that we are used to) though having the good brands, they never seem to drive the smaller stores out of business. Oh my, I'm getting off topic. So yeah, the basic question is; where do these weird off-brand instruments come from and how do the owners of the small stores get them if there isn't even a webpage dedicated to them (as far as I know, at least).
Click to expand...

There is a factory in Cleveland Ohio that makes all off brand basses ... It is called the no-name bass company ... they sell their basses to China and then China sells them to the world for a profit. The big manufacturers then buy these basses and put their name on them and make a nice profit.

So all basses are the same.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bridgecables
#30
MrMerrey said:
There is a factory in South Korea that make the bulk of these copy guitars. A friend of mine's Dad used to run a music shop (before running a music became uneconomical) and he own branded a range of starter guitar kits himself. They are sold direct from the factory as unbranded guitars, he just did a logo and they stuck it on the headstock and shipped it out.

This is where all the guitar starter packs sold by department store mostly come from though I think the larger store go through a distributor.
Click to expand...

This happens in just about every market. ESP and Schecter basses have some very similar properties (current Schecter headstocks are the old ESP headstock, bodies are same/different paint, one is neck through and one is bolt on, but all the shaping on the bodies is the same.)

I worked at a snowboard shop and bought a sweatshirt that was $60 with an embroidered company logo on it, later at a friends silkscreen shop I saw the same sweatshirt in a wholesale catalog for $20 no logo.
 
#32
I believe there are a few manufacturing / assembly plants in Indonesia or China that make the majority of guitars. We would be surprised to see the brands and models being made side by side. Some people would really have their feelings hurt. I once serviced some equipment at a mattress manufacturing plant. I watched as they made mattresses, they had a large box with all different mattress brands patches. Same guys made the expensive mattresses next to the cheap ones. Well known ones to off-brand. Same tools, same effort, some of the same contents, just a different mattress and a different patch,,,
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: TheAnalogKid
#33
Iridescentone said:
They come from Offland. It's a well known fact.
Click to expand...

Biggbass said:
They all come from the other side of the planet
Click to expand...
The secret is out!They come from.......
images.duckduckgo.com.jpeout.jpe
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Imaginary Pony, Az_Rocker76 and pappabass
#34
"TB, where do off brand basses come from?"

Ah, it's time for the talk....Well you see, when a boy bass and a girl bass (probably from opposite sides of the tracks) somehow meet and fall in love (probably a May-December type passionate fling, yet hidden from their parents, in true Montague / Capulet fashion) .... they then eventually have unprotected "relations" (something about a trussrod slot and a truss wrench / nut)...

3-4 days later, voila! An off-brand bass is born. Will it be loved?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MrMerrey, Anachronism and Fingerpickingood
#35
There are a few dozen good OEM manufacturers that produce product for many different companies, at many different levels.

The small store cannot order enough quantity for a minimum order from a manufacturer. The MOQ could be a few hundred or few thousand units. The Distributor places the big order, warehouses the product, and sells to the smaller guys though their sales network. This is true for nearly any kind of product from auto parts to stationery products to chips and beer at your local liquor store.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JustForSport

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back