Paulhauser

Thank you, it was a very interesting read!

12 hours ago, therealting said:

@Paulhauser No news sadly. Worse still, I realised a while later that my Bravewood ‘56 Precision was also taken.

The Super J is the one I’d really like back.

Apparently only about 2% of burglaries are solved in the UK. Thanks for checking in though.

I always liked that pic of the J and P together. This is such a special bass that I'm sure it will turn up some time. 

Basses come and go but my small Spector collection keeps growing.

It's just that I use them for almost all my live gigs and recordings, too. 

@therealting any news on this? 

IIRC that is to be used as an alternative rear strap placement for Dunlop system. 

5 hours ago, The59Sound said:

Act confused all you want but to me the Bongo was a vastly superior bass - straight trade too. 

I think the MM Bongo is a great bass although I would not think it is superior to the Euros but to each their own. 

I have a Euro5 with the Tonepump 2.0 and it is a great recording bass and I never had any problem dialing in the preamp or getting a nice sound out of it.

The hot output was an issue with earlier TPs but the TP2 has an internal trimpot that adjusts the level of the output signal so that can be set to a desired level, too.

This news just came in:

http://mmrmagazine.com/featured/korg-usa-inc-acquires-spector-bass-company/?fbclid=IwAR28-ZzSkwAWRw7UdQtCo0ZHwmrTEyegy_qsrAon0_3k5mQTPqUgvkwCJuU

I'm proud owner of several US and Euro basses and they are my main basses for a long time. I'm sure this move is good for Stuart Spector in terms of retirement and I'm curious what this will bring to the brand.... fortunately I pretty much have all the Spectors I've ever wanted (well, almost) so I don't have much to worry. Also they keep the custom shop so who knows and I guess will extend the Czech and Korean lines so this might be good in the end for the players.

What do you think?

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

Are they really only making 300-400 instruments a year when they're selling the standard models through a dealer network? Or are they making 300-400 of the upper echelon instruments and rather a lot more standards?

I don't know as I was replying to a specific subject and those numbers were assumptions made in a previous post by somebody else. But to me 300-400 seems a good ballpark figure. Certainly they don't make thousands a year

2 hours ago, Bobthedog said:

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.

Just one thing: I think the average selling prices of Fodera basses are a lot less than what you suggest. 

They make quite a lot of standard models which are less expensive, they sell most of them (and quite a lot of the custom ones, too) through dealers so they are making a lot less than the 'street price' of the instruments. 

I actually don't think that they are making super money tbh but I do think they are a more solid operating business than in the years before Jason joined the team. 

Can't and won't comment on the calculations but strictly from a business point of view I think that as long as they have a clientele that is happy and satisfied by what they are getting and are willing to pay for it then the business will be all good. And in this day and age I'm happy for all small to mid size business that can survive - especially so for one that produces bass guitars and very high quality ones, too 

@cetera pretty much nailed it. 

I'm using Spectors almost exclusively live and in studio for the last 10-11 years. (Euro5 and NS-5XLs)

What I really like about my Spectors and Spectors in general are three things:

- they suit me ergonomically. The sleek undersized body sits well both sit down or stand up position and the bass hangs balanced and the same position stand up as it does when I play sit down. No need to use any of my nahds/fingers to keep it in position.

- the sound is very easy to work with both live and studio. I don't use any pedals, the eq is flat on my amp (or preamp/DI if I'm going direct) and on the bass as well and the sound cuts through even in a dense mix.

- the community of the Spector players is awesome, said facebook page is great and also the way Spector and PJ  Rubal treat customers is top notch.

There is a constant and quite stable market for used Spector Euro basses so you don't risk much if you buy one used. Good luck!

On 09/01/2019 at 14:57, ead said:

Haha.  Took a major gamble late last year and decided to sell my much loved Euro LX in order to acquire one of these when one popped up in my price range.

Do you already have it? If so, how do you like it?

I was on the fence about these but decided against as I don't use 4 string basses. 

13 hours ago, ead said:

NBD with Spector content expected next week.  Overly excited for a man of my age.

Any clues? 🙂

This is most probably from 2002, based on the serial number. 

Have you checked the electronics? Chances are it has the Aguilar OBP1 i/o the TonePump that was introduced 2003ish.

These are killer basses, whoever gets this will not be disappointed!

Congrats! An SR5 is on my list, too!

Lovely looking DR Neons, they lit up especially well under UV stage lighting. I use the same color on my Spector and the only problem is they go dead sounding pretty quick (so I use that bass only for the gigs)

On 05/12/2018 at 07:30, FinnDave said:

Exactly that - the 1006 is a great bass (especially with the East pre amp in it) but since my bike accident (3 years ago today) I am far less able to tolerate weight while standing, and the band I'm in do long sets. The 1206 is nearly 2 lbs lighter than the 1006. The 1006 is definitely the better bass of the two, but my injuries are done healing, so this is as good as I'm going to get now.

Actually my SR5006 is a bit heavier than my 3006. I don't have the exact data in my mind now but the 3006 is around 3.6-7ish kgs while the 5006 is around 4.3-4.4 IIRC.

Must be the titanium rods and maybe the wengé top and back in the 5006 as most of the other specs are pretty same (neck dimensions, mahogany body etc.)

I own an SR3006 and an SR5006 and they are the most comfortable 6 strings I've ever had. 

Just curious: what is making you selling the 1006? I had a 1005 and was a great bass even if a bit heavy. 

I was marveling at this pic the other day as you have posted it in an other thread. Will keep an eye for it and I hope you will get it back. Good luck!

It's here:

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/spector-bass-pantera/953804128-74-4413

VB after the price means more or less that you can make an offer, the price is not fixed. 

Good luck!

(just for the record I have nothing to with the ad or with the seller)

They are extremely well made instruments especially for the money.  

I think they originally have EMG HZs in them. The one I had a few years back had EMG DCs in it, probably a previous owner upgraded it and sounded wicked. 

Balance is one thing to keep in mind, due to the body shape and the resulting position of the strap buttons it tends to be neck heavy and mine always wnated to go to a horizontal position. 

Which is probably not a issue for some but it certainly was for me (I wear bass quite high as it is obvious if looking at my profile pic)

Actually I've just seen one 5ver for sale in Germany in the coveted holoflash color. 

For a while I have used an EBS Fafner II head with two EBS Proline 410 cabs

Nowadays I use a Prolude Brick head and two 115 cabs. Sounds even better than that above and weights a lot less, transports a lot easier. 

1 hour ago, TheGreek said:

Clearly a man of taste...EBS too..what's under the amp cover?

That is a cab cover, there are two 115 cabs from a local maker that I use and I strore them one the EBS for the time being. Prolude KO is the name and they kick donkey, lightweight, punchy and killer sounding 15"'s, totally made my rethink my gig setup. No more 2x 410 I'm afraid.... 🙂

Nice to see some familiar faces here 🙂

My gang:

45 minutes ago, Rollin Thunder said:

did not know this, i have a spector with twin soapbars assumed they where humbucker types, may take the covers of to have a look. If its true that is kind of  disappointing or not, depends what we you look at it, as they do sound good.

For my knowledge Spector uses EMG 35/40/45 DS's and TW's as a default in their US, Euro and some of the Legend line so practically if there is a soapbar shaped EMG in your Spector that will either a DC (silver EMG logo) or a TW (red lettering) Lately they started using the X series version of these, too. 

That is a steal.

FYI EMG HZ pickups are passive pickups. 

Spector has done some double P's on their US models NS-2 and NS-5.

Also worth mentioning that EMG offers P's in soapbar housing, like the 35P or 40P5
I have a bass that I've put two of these in so that is technically a double P