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Zon basses - is everything OK ?

#282
Hey all, apologies for not responding sooner. At this point, it is what it is. 34 scale at current price or I can convert to 32 for $500. I'm in for so much already I might as well go the little bit further and hope it turns out to be the keeper I thought it was going to be.
 
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#284
Rumblefisher said:
Hey all, apologies for not responding sooner. At this point, it is what it is. 34 scale at current price or I can convert to 32 for $500. I'm in for so much already I might as well go the little bit further and hope it turns out to be the keeper I thought it was going to be.
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I hope the 500 bucks Zon is making off of you is worth the acres of bad PR its costing them.
 
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#286
Wow, eff those guys. I would probably also pony up the extra $500 at this point, if the build were that specific and important to me, but what absolute dee-bags the folks at Zon are! Despite, what I'm sure are friendly enough chats with Joe when discussing the nuts and bolts of the bass building, that doesn't remotely make up for them choosing to basically extort folks for as much as they can get away with.

Not that I want to see a small company go out of business, but these kinds of practices make me really super disappointed in Zon, and I am very happy there is a thread here which will hopefully steer MANY prospective buyers away from this particular dumpster fire of a company to one that at least tries to care about their customers. I understand that the pandemic has messed a lot of stuff up, but customer service does not have to be one of the casualties
 
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#287
sloppy_phil said:
Not that I want to see a small company go out of business, but these kinds of practices make me really super disappointed in Zon, and I am very happy there is a thread here which will hopefully steer MANY prospective buyers away from this particular dumpster fire of a company to one that at least tries to care about their customers.
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Perhaps bad pub will slow things down just enough so that Zon finds the time to get caught up on every one of the overdue builds... but not so slow that it breaks them. I suppose that would be a classic case of tightrope walking.

sloppy_phil said:
I understand that the pandemic has messed a lot of stuff up, but customer service does not have to be one of the casualties
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Pandemic worsened a pre-existing condition, I'm sorry to say.
 
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#288
Jefus said:
I place my order with Joe today at his shop in Livermore. When I asked what the lead time was for my bass (Sonus-8, no crazy customizations) he said it would be about 12 months. That's more than the 8-9 months I was expecting after reading around Talkbass, but I'm fine with it. He was very cool about the pickups/preamp I wanted and said I'd provide to them. He said he'd do something to make up the difference done he wasn't providing the electronics.

Overall it was very cool to meet up with him like that. I'll report back add I hear any news.
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Was there anyone else working at the shop when you visited? Did you see any basses in progress?
 
#289
question for any serious builders out there, especially since I don't know how Zon basses are made; what on earth justifies a $1,000 materials upcharge, much less $500, just for a scale change? if we were talking about a one-piece flamed koa body, sure. but the only sizable piece we're looking at is a new neck (plus the little bits, of course.) what the hell is going into these things? is he buying all his parts retail?
 
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#290
Apolicious said:
question for any serious builders out there, especially since I don't know how Zon basses are made; what on earth justifies a $1,000 materials upcharge, much less $500, just for a scale change? if we were talking about a one-piece flamed koa body, sure. but the only sizable piece we're looking at is a new neck (plus the little bits, of course.) what the hell is going into these things? is he buying all his parts retail?
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Zon basses feature carbon fiber necks which require different construction methods (arguably more complex and costly in terms of the equipment required to make them when compared to traditional wood necks). Not saying he should be charging the extra money as he could probably sell the neck (if it's even made at this point) on another bass.
 
#291
JuanB said:
Zon basses feature carbon fiber necks which require different construction methods (arguably more complex and costly in terms of the equipment required to make them when compared to traditional wood necks). Not saying he should be charging the extra money as he could probably sell the neck (if it's even made at this point) on another bass.
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This. And it's not like each neck is hand made one at a time for each bass. They are made from a mold so every one is literally identical. He could use use the neck on another bass.
 
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#292
JuanB said:
Zon basses feature carbon fiber necks which require different construction methods (arguably more complex and costly in terms of the equipment required to make them when compared to traditional wood necks). Not saying he should be charging the extra money as he could probably sell the neck (if it's even made at this point) on another bass.
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that's what I thought. from what I also understand, the markup on carbon fiber is outrageous, so it shouldn't be THAT much wholesale. it would seem to me that Zon is trying to charge materials for both necks, plus possibly labor/production costs. I'm sure Zon doesn't want to lose money on materials (if he would at all) but at this point he needs to resolve the issue, even if it eats into his margins a bit. and, as others have pointed out, the original neck doesn't appear to be particularly exotic. he can just toss it on a stack of blanks (every luthier has one) and wait.

that being said, I don't know what other materials may go into their necks, so that's another variable I don't know.

but I'm just armchair quarterbacking here. obviously my knowledge is severely lacking and I have no idea what's actually going on.
 
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#293
Apolicious said:
that's what I thought. from what I also understand, the markup on carbon fiber is outrageous, so it shouldn't be THAT much wholesale. it would seem to me that Zon is trying to charge materials for both necks, plus possibly labor/production costs. I'm sure Zon doesn't want to lose money on materials (if he would at all) but at this point he needs to resolve the issue, even if it eats into his margins a bit. and, as others have pointed out, the original neck doesn't appear to be particularly exotic. he can just toss it on a stack of blanks (every luthier has one) and wait.

that being said, I don't know what other materials may go into their necks, so that's another variable I don't know.

but I'm just armchair quarterbacking here. obviously my knowledge is severely lacking and I have no idea what's actually going on.
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I think that's the problem. I don't think anyone here knows exactly what's going on in the shop. Their communication is lacking and has apparently been that way for a long time. Unless you're potentially going to be placing a deposit.
 
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#294
I can't believe you've done this to me. I thought surely by the time I read all the way through this thread there would be a resolution. And now I'm supposed to wait around to see what happens? How long is that supposed to take!?!

Seriously though, I'm on the edge of my seat for you pal!
 
#295
Danksalot said:
I can't believe you've done this to me. I thought surely by the time I read all the way through this thread there would be a resolution. And now I'm supposed to wait around to see what happens? How long is that supposed to take!?!

Seriously though, I'm on the edge of my seat for you pal!
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Some of us have been waiting 6 years to find out if we will get a bass...
 
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