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Who's Your Favorite Custom Builder???
- Thread starter capnsandwich
- Start date
Alembic
Alembic
Alembic
Im surprised no ones mentioned them. Im pretty sure they must be the most expensive and people seem to have to wait forever to get one so I guess that means they buy them by truckloads.
Alembic
Alembic
Im surprised no ones mentioned them. Im pretty sure they must be the most expensive and people seem to have to wait forever to get one so I guess that means they buy them by truckloads.
Many great builders around today... I know I could be happy stuff from over a dozen guys. My favorite builder is hands down Fred Bolton of Bee Basses... if I custom order any other basses in my life, he will always be choice #1 to build them.
That said, I will never replace the fretless 6 Chris Benavente built me. His necks are some of the best for my hands... I just prefer the style of Fred's work and the Delano pickups he uses better.
That said, I will never replace the fretless 6 Chris Benavente built me. His necks are some of the best for my hands... I just prefer the style of Fred's work and the Delano pickups he uses better.
Michale Dolan--the man's a genius with finishes and woodworking
Jack Read--amazing work, pity he had to "retire" and go back to the corporatc world
Jack Read--amazing work, pity he had to "retire" and go back to the corporatc world
Matt Friedman made my first GREAT bass. Alas that he has retired.
Now my favourites are Conklin and Benavente.
And although I have never tried a Bee Bass, I must mention Fred Bolton - an amazingly nice person.
Now my favourites are Conklin and Benavente.
And although I have never tried a Bee Bass, I must mention Fred Bolton - an amazingly nice person.
Okay, so I'll mention them.
BASSES I OWN OR HAVE OWNED
1: Alembic Probably the first truly custom builder and still the measuring stick for most. You just need to go to their Custom Of The Month page and see the thought, philosophy, and process that goes into making each custom Alembic exactly what the customer asked for and then some. Mica Wickersham and Susan Wickersham are wonderful to work with. Ron Wickersham is the wizard behind all the electronics. I've owned a total of 6 Alembics, one of which I custom ordered in 2000 and still have as my main player. The quality of materials and construction are amazing. The electronics are superb.
2: Tie Roscoe / Devon I didn't really feel the Roscoe vibe until I played around with one of Vic's at Tom Bowlus' 1st GTG. I really wanted to take it home with me. After I sold my Hanewinckel fretless and needed a fretless, I contacted Gard. He was very insightful in walking me through my options to get the type of sound I wanted. My Roscoe is modest when measured to other Roscoes in the Roscoe Club thread here, but it is still an amazingly well constructed instrument and plays like a dream.
4: Hanewinckel I had two of these and sold them ONLY because they were both 6ers and I've given up on that dream. Just 4s and 5s for me. Nonetheless, IF (and that's a BIG IF) I'm in the market for another 5 string, Hanewinckel, Roscoe, Callowhill, and Valenti are on my short list. The neck profile on my Hanewinckels was the best I had ever experience. So much so that when I had my Marchlewski built, I measured every aspect of the 6 string neck and sent that info to Jake Marchlewski and told him to duplicate that in a 5 string. Which brings me to.....
5: Marchlewski Jake was able to give me almost exactly what I asked for. In a couple cases to a fault. He took Wolfehollow's superbly beautiful 4 string design and crafted my 5 string from that. As I mentioned above, he was able to duplicate the neck I so loved on my Hanewinckels. I also specified 18 V Bart electronics and an adjustable nut. He provided both. The nut has a bit of an overhang on the treble side, but that is mainly because I was unforgiving on the neck dimensions and the Warwick nut was made to fit Warwick basses, so I accepted the compromise. The other thing was after a couple months I noticed that the batteries were heating up the small electronics cavity, so I sent it back to Jake to swap out for a 9V package that fit better.
Here's a photo of some of my favorite luthiers' work. Left to right we have Roscoe, Alembic, Alembic, Marchlewski, & Devon. The one on the floor is one of my own creations (or at least "assemblies")
Link Removed
BASSES I'VE PLAYED BUT NEVER OWNED
1: MTD (specifically 535) Just a beautiful, nice playing, warm sounding bass. And it's Michael Tobias, which says a lot.
2: Valenti) The more I see of these, the more I like. Everything I've heard and read from owners is off the charts satisfaction. I am concerned, though, that several of them keep changing hands. Don't know what to make of that.
NEVER PLAYED OR OWNED
Callowhill Sorta like Valenti in being a custom J-Bass builder, although he also has his own designs. I'd be most interested in a J(unk) 5. I particularly like that he does some of my favorite aesthetic treatmens, like 24 fret blocked & bound necks.
Peace,
James
I really like Tom Clement's work. Plus he's GREAT to work with. i can't stress that enough. he emailed me everyday while he was building and shipping the basses, and even after to make sure it made it ok. not to mention they're very affordable. i'm kinda surprised no one has mentioned him on here yet. Kudos to Tommy Boy! 
Yeah, that bass looks like it could blow some socks off. Nice looking bass, mighty nice.
I feel you on Acacia basses. I played ModulusAcacia's redwood Acacia and I loved every part of that bass. Too bad I didn't know about him until after he had retired. I would love one built just like that one I played at the Cincy GTG.
Pete Skjold
Carey Nordstrand
Mike Tobias
Roger Sadowsky
Acknowledging that there are a lot of great luthiers these days making killer basses, these are my tip-top 4. Not to downgrade anybody else, 'cause I've played some really great basses from other makers too.
This list, though, is based on the fact that of the 70-80 basses I've acquired over the last 10 years or so, these guys are the creators of the only instruments that made the cut as keepers in my stash. The rest have moved on (except for one Lull-upgraded Yamaha BBN5A that I'll make ya a deal on if you're interested).
Carey Nordstrand
Mike Tobias
Roger Sadowsky
Acknowledging that there are a lot of great luthiers these days making killer basses, these are my tip-top 4. Not to downgrade anybody else, 'cause I've played some really great basses from other makers too.
This list, though, is based on the fact that of the 70-80 basses I've acquired over the last 10 years or so, these guys are the creators of the only instruments that made the cut as keepers in my stash. The rest have moved on (except for one Lull-upgraded Yamaha BBN5A that I'll make ya a deal on if you're interested
).rockstarbassist
Inactive
For my own playing, Mike T. pwns the rest.
I'd love a Ritter and a CT someday. Bud would be high on the list, as would Pete.
I'd love a Ritter and a CT someday. Bud would be high on the list, as would Pete.
