Ian McFly

I asked Adrian, and he confirmed that they'd (logically) remove VAT for any order for the UK, which means you'd pay VAT upon receipt. Plus shipping for UK is now 20/30 euros.

Went for groceries today... got haggis, neeps & tatties and whisky sauce for tomorrow night! Been living in Scotland almost 7 years, never celebrated Burns night though , will be the first time!

This! We’re going to live with Covid most likely forever, so we need to adapt our lifestyles to it. Life WILL have to resume. Hopefully vaccine will decrease the risks of catching it and dying.... but in reality, it’ll still kill some fragile people. Just like the flu does. I was reading an article from a scientist who said that yes, Covid will still kill, but if the number of deaths per year can reach a number similar to flu deaths, then the society will “accept” it and life will get back to a sort of normality.

Scaremongering.... it’s known that one dose is not enough, otherwise they wouldn’t recommend two! So claiming “oh it’s not efficient, people are still getting sick” is pure scaremongering. It might be facts, I’m not disputing that, but that is to be expected. Full (-ish) immunity is expected weeks after two jabs. We’re only a few we’re after the first jab, of course there’s a risk... but claiming “it’s not as effective as though initially” is misleading.

That's two years from now. We're not even a year into this pandemic (at least here) and we've made massive progress already. Not enough, but still progress. SURELY, things will have improve before January 2023. That's the most pessimistic (and unrealistic) thing I've read. I'm no scientist, but maybe, a year from now is more realistic than two,

I have a SUB Ray4 made in Indonesia. The building quality isn't bad at all, the neck and frets are nicely done for a £350 bass. The only "issue" with this instrument is that the neck wood feel kind of cheap in the hand, you can tell it's not premium maple, but that's normal for the price after all. Also, I don't know if it's due to the construction or the basswood body, but it doesn't "resonate" as well as my alder basses, when playing unplugged. I guess that for more expensive indonesian made basses, if the woods are a bit better, then the building quality can certainly be trusted.

Sarcasm?

Well that’s more what I see coming too. It’ll take time, and we’ll have to learn how to live with it. Plus, they will hopefully find more medication that treats severe cases.

Oh thanks Dr Newfoundfreedom I know we’ll have to learn to live with it. But to what extent?!! Surely, what we all love doing needs to come back. With stricter/improved measures, yes, but you can’t expect humans to give up going out or going to a gig....

Oh man, I’m desperate to play live again. And go to gigs....

I don’t know if a guy called OllyW is here, but he posted on the Ernie Ball forum about the price increase and got roasted by the admin with stupid arguments. Yeah, there’s fees, import and shipping cost, blah blah blah... but it has always been the case and I genuinely don’t see what suddenly happened to create more cost for these instruments. No, they’re simply increasing their margin here in the UK, using the increase in the US as an excuse to do the same, just in a silly and ludicrous fashion... We’re not stupid, we’ve all seen what they did there, and surely, any smart bassist won’t spend 3 grand on an industrial bass like the Stingray. For 3 grand, I’m going custom, dude.

Ok, so there’s no end in sight then?! Even if we vaccinate all the vulnerable, he’s implying that 1/ it might not be efficient 2/ it might only last 5 months Are we ever going to get back to a kind of normal life then?! With shops, bars, restaurants, gigs, family gatherings?!!!

Sold my Damnation Audio MBD-1 to Antonio a while ago. Prompt payment, good communication, everything was perfect from a seller standpoint. Cheers!

Yeah, sorry for the off-topic, but I used to find convenient their return policy.... I tried out a few pedals and returned them thanks to that. Now, it's too much hassle to claim VAT back.

Yeah, and then you order, happy as Larry, only to be asked to pay for 20% of the price upon reception....

Thomann's prices are now shown without VAT, mind.

Yeah, considering $100-200 is £75-145 too...

Well, thing is... how can they expect to be high demand for those "limited" supplies, especially at these prices? I understand they want to make up for the fact they will sell less, so then need to hike prices. But this is beyond ridiculous here. How can the same model go from £2099 to £2749??? And, what next? Things improve after COVID, EBMM can spew more Stingrays out of their production line, so more supply... what will S&T do? Decrease prices? That never happens. You don't want to upset people who paid high price. So you keep the same price, with more supply... but not necessary more demand. Since EBMM's prices in the US have "reasonably" increased (still too much IMO), S&T's greediness will seriously harm EBMM. I can't imagine them having the same demand as usual. Never....

I posted this on Talkbass Well, I was gonna get a Special 4HH, thinking it would be roughly £2200 tops. Not getting one anymore at this actual price. They’ve lost me as a customer. Now, you could be like “who cares”, and think they’ll still have loads of customers to buy their instruments.... fact is: they won’t. It’s 2021, we’re in the middle of a freaking pandemic, and some of the most impacted people are musicians. What we love to do, which is playing music for audiences, cannot happen. Some of us (not me) do that for a living. There’s no job in that field at the moment. So, how can you justify a 43% price increase on an instrument which has NOT evolved since last year (except new colors)? What has changed in their building process and costs, to justify that increase? Consequently, how can you expect severely impacted musicians, who have no idea when live music (or even practice) will resume, to swallow up a 43% price increase when.... well it’s the same instruments as last year!!!! Again I don’t consider a new color as innovation. So yeah, they won’t have my money, but they won’t have a lot of people’s either, because it’s the worst time in years to be forking out 3 grand on an instrument. Again; had they been more reasonably priced, I would have made the effort probably. But I cannot accept the idea of spending 3 grand on a kind of mass-produced instrument that gives me ZERO customisable options. For the price of one Stingray, I can get two fully customised to my specs Maruszczyk basses. Not mass produced in Poland. Or even, a Valenti bass, with great advice from Nino himself, and options available to choose from. And that leaves me with another grand to go on a nice holiday when it’s doable to do so. Yes. I’m frigging annoyed at this policy of ramping up prices like mad. I know they’re not a charity and their aim is to make money. But not to that ridiculous extent.

I had been GASing form a Caprice years ago... unfortunately I can't afford a bass "now" so I'll have to pass on it.

Ok, so it's not to do with Brexit as apparently the import duty has gone down. Also, the dollar/pound change rate has changed in a year... but not the way it should to explain that increase. Indeed, a year ago, a $2200 Stingray would be £1692 (I know, it's not how it works but all I'm doing here is a simple rate calculation). Now, January 2021, the same $2200 Stingray should be £1605. So prices shouldn't have gone up in that regard. BUT, let's take into consideration the US price increase. OK, so let's take the exact same model: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StRay4HESC--ernie-ball-music-man-stingray-special-bass-guitar-smoked-chrome-with-ebony-fingerboard https://www.andertons.co.uk/music-man-stingray-special-smoked-chrome-roasted-maple-ebony-black-headstock-black-pg-black-hardware If you take the american price, $2,399, it translates to £1,750. It is actually sold £2,899 !!! Yes, I understand you've got to add import taxes, shipping, etc.... but still! That's a staggering difference. And I also know that most USA states add their own tax on top of the price so it's not an actual reflection, but that changes from state to state, plus some states don't even have a tax on goods.... Anyways, I'm just stunned....

Fact is, EBMM won’t get my money (boohoo haha), I was super keen to get a Stingray Special 4HH as I want a GOOD, solid 4 string for years to come (I already have that in 5 string with my Maruszczyk, but my two 4 strings are “ok” basses, not fantastic quality). Now, I refuse to spend 2800+ for a Stingray. Heck, I paid £1400 (instead of £1800) for a brand new Sterling 4H (the US one) back in 2016... well, my friend works for a music shop in the UK so got me a good deal, but still... we’re talking double the price now! (Why on earth did I sell that Sterling?! ) Anyway, moving on from the Stingray realm and sound, I’ll get back to what I love the most, in the bass world: Jazz-like basses. I’m either gonna get Nino Valenti to build me a nice 4-string Jazz, that would still be way cheaper (even with shipping and taxes) than an EBMM and I get to choose my specs. Or, if money’s a bit more difficult, maybe another Maruszczyk, this time as a 4-string Jazz (love my 5-string Jazz from them)

If you’re talking about the multi-coloured Iroquai bass, one of my best mates back home had one made... stunning bass, but it cost him something like 6000€ ten years ago.... paint job was amazing though (but not perfect, some details were a bit meh).

Like this https://www.thomann.de/gb/warwick_masterbuilt_streamer_stageii_4.htm Not even a custom shop bass... and that's without VAT!

Good shout mentioning Warwick. I've had 4 Custom Warwicks in the past (as in 10+ years ago), when they were affordable (-ish). Since then, prices have become absolutely ridiculous, and I genuinely wonder how they manage to survive as a company. I NEVER see any famous bands play Warwicks anymore...