Bobthedog

I am looking to buy a new bass at the weekend and whilst I have always disliked reliced basses, I have fallen for a Sandberg "Masterpiece" VS5. This is the one I hope to try (I will also be trying a Dingwall AB1 5/3 and a Roscoe Century Standard Plus V - either as "matching" playability with my current small collection): The issue is that this is identically the same wood, electronics etc as the non reliced version just £ 1,000 more 😱. I know nothing of Sandberg basses; are they typically good value for money? Would I get any of that extra back if I was to sell it some time in the future? What say you?

1. The auction has ended and 2. It must be unique.

The hooky bit goes on the wellington boots. Sheep already have the loops. Ah! Wrong forum. I was thinking this was being asked on Ovinechat.

I suggest thinking long and hard before swapping your missus for something based on ideas on this forum.

Were Millie Vanilli named after the song Just one Cornetto ( Yes, I know - O Sole Mio)?

She was very good as Basil’s wife I thought. I play a five string: my 10-15 min warm up is mostly arpeggios across two octaves and then moving from minor to major scales on each string, again over two octaves. After that onto the choon of the week (I am not a gigging player but am slowly building my own set list for that eventual gig covering blues / metal / rock and jazz in each set!). Not sure why I posted that but I have.

For What it's Worth: Buffalo Springfield For What it's Worth: Liam Gallagher

Hamburger bridge pick up? Surely he means Quarter Pounders.

I am not sure I understand this reference? I am talking specifically about Fodera here. Lost me on this one. Anyhoo I am out of the thread now, before it becomes heated,

I am sorry but if they say they make 400 a year, I tend to believe them. Yes, they may be building up an exclusivity image but, there appear to be too many assumptions here. I also do not believe strings, master classes, brand name (who do they actually license to?) and servicing are going to make a material difference. Guitars are rarely serviced and strings are not a weekly purchase. I am happy to accept these numbers if you can show evidence, but like my figures, this seems like optimistic speculation.

According to the article posted by Hellzero they make 350-400 a year in total.

I totally agree with you, on all your points. I was merely responding to Hellzero's post which suggested (at least the way I read it) that the average price was around $35k. My original calculations used $9k as an average but the revenues would not work based on an average NY state craftsmen's income.

I am not sure where those revenue numbers come from as I cannot see that in the article. In fact from a google search I cannot see any revenue figures on line for Fodera (one article suggested they make $15k gross revenue per employee but gave no detail or when that was). You have have some access to a private companies' accounts, I do not, however. Based the numbers above it would suggest an average retail price of $35,666 per guitar, which is nonsense. So either they make revenue elsewhere, or those number are wrong. What I can see in that article is that they make between 350-400 guitars a year and I would suggest (with no stats to support this assumption) an average price of, let's say, $15k per guitar (they will not sell that many $30k guitars compared to the ones at $8k). That brings the gross revenues down to $6.0m a year (at 400 guitars) or $25k per month per employee (still higher than the $15k I saw online above). Irrespective of any of this, the average craftsman's salary in NY is $88k per year (May 2018). If we take the UK average of employer costs are 3 x salary, Fodera's costs per year would need to be $5.28m. Well done Fodera and long may you stay in business. Not that any of this has relevance to me, If I knew what I wanted from a custom bass guitar, Fodera could deliver it and in my mind it was better than I could find elsewhere, I would buy one. I am certainly not going to get upset at their margins if I was happy.

Ignore - copyrighted photo

My tutor is a guy named Jamie. I think he actually does guitar for the juniors either there or Oxford.

Welcome Scarfey from 13 miles away. I believe my bass tutor is one of the tutors there too.

Tuning? Was he not the chap that broke the enigma code? I always wondered what those shiny things were on the head of the bass. I usually put my chewing gum on them. In response to Aphook's post, I have always liked the shriek approach and in fact just putting 4! into google search would have given you the answer too.

This may have been said earlier in the thread but I see this hostility always increase during the winters on many forums from photography to motorbiking to bass to cycling. People cannot get outside so much, it's dark from mid afternoon, for some musicians gigs generally slow down and we are all trapped inside our boxes. It is not surprising; sad, but not surprising that we behave more like caged animals rather than human beings.

I had a very mild heart attack in 2001 and was in hospital for four weeks. When I was discharged I was told to take it easy for a short while but otherwise carry on as usual. On my first day after discharge I decided to buy some new hifi speakers. I managed to get them home but upon trying to site them, it triggered a massive arythmia. I was back in hospital for another four weeks and to this day am on medication to control the heart rate. Please speak to your cardio, not a bunch of nice if not medically qualified bass musicians. Cardio may no play bass but they know about lifting weights.

Thank you. I am using a Barefaced Big Twin II and a Markbass CMD121P combo for those quieter moments.

Just eMailed him for a quote and availability at weekends.

Frank, thank you and he certainly sounds promising. I will contact him, meanwhile if there is anyone closer, happy to listen.

Although I have been (sort of) playing for a few years now, I still have never done a set up on a bass. Is there anyone within a reasonable driving distance of Buckingham who is more than capable and willing to do a set up (truss rod, neck relief, string height and intonation etc) on my Dingwall Combustion 5 whilst teaching me what to do at the same time? I will pay the commercial rate, however, it must be someone who is more able to do it, rather than someone who is just prepared to have a go please. I am happy to do strings but have never played with any other adjustments. I bought the bass on BC well over a year ago, however, have hardly touched it as it is too low for me but I do not want to sell it. I will drive to you, but it would have to be either at a weekend or late evening during the week. No fixed time frame, but preferably in the near future too.

I love the Blue Rock but it is perhaps a little too modern alongside my Roscoe bass. I may move it on if the WD-800 does the business.

I am looking to get one in Feb, subject to a successful test drive. This is still cheaper than my Glock Blue Rock and therefore could be a relative bargain!