Skol303 Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I've recently been having a chat with Drew from Manchester Bass Lounge (for once not actually buying something. I know... sacrilege!). ...and he dropped into the parlay some exciting news that he's soon to be re-branding as 'The Great British Bass Lounge' with a new website. The November issue of Bass Guitar is running a feature on it... but you heard it here first! A Basschat scoop In Drew's own words: "I have been keeping the name under wraps until the Scottish Referendum outcome. A yes vote would have meant going back to the drawing board with the name and logo...! The name reflects my growing involvement and love of British basses and British manufacturing. Other companies are busy importing a lot of expensive stuff from around the world and seem quite oblivious to the talent here. I will never see the justification in a 7 or 8 grand price tag on a bass...as a player or retailer." Drew isn't one to blow his own trumpet, so I thought I'd share the news with you all myself. He's a thoroughly nice chap and I wish him well in this venture (my Mancunian favouritism notwithstanding ). I'll post up details of the new website once it goes live. For the time being you can have a browse here: www.manchesterbasslounge.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visog Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I like the idea of a pro-UK builder but the current stock doesn't reflect this yet. More Shukers,Overwaters, Enfields, Wals, Statii and GBs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I'm a regular visitor to his website. Not yet made a purchase but I suspect it's only a matter of time. Thanks for the heads up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 [quote name='visog' timestamp='1412106721' post='2565772'] I like the idea of a pro-UK builder but the current stock doesn't reflect this yet. [/quote] Indeed. But bear in mind his new business hasn't been launched... so we'll have to wait and see. I don't think he's planning on stocking 'only' UK basses... just more of them Should be an interesting venture and we certainly need more retailers supporting British luthiers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 [quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1412107347' post='2565781'] I'm a regular visitor to his website. Not yet made a purchase but I suspect it's only a matter of time. Thanks for the heads up [/quote] No probs Gary Yeah I'm a regular lurker on the current website. Must. Resist. GAS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr zed Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Hopefully not to be confused with The Great British Bake Off - maybe Drew is planning to provide buns as we peruse his bass stocks! I'm partial to a nice vanilla slice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin8708 Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Will this patriotism be carried through to the amps and cabs section ? Always fancied a nice British built valve amp . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skej21 Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 (edited) I met Drew a while back now and he seemed like a classy, knowledgable guy and was great to chat bass with for a while. I would not have pictured him as the type that resorts to having a petty dig at competitors with more exclusive, imported brands just because of a different outlook on their business model. The music retail industry is small enough without the few bass shops trying to fight against each other too! Just accept you have different philosophies and sell yourself rather than trying to belittle others. The biggest problem I see is that when I (or any bassist) want to spend a lot of money on a custom instrument, and decide to go British, it's not difficult to pick up the phone or jump in the car and consult/see their goods easily with the builder in their workshop. I don't really need a shop to do that for me. If I want a custom bass importing on my behalf or to try something that's not easily accessible in the UK before committing to ordering, it becomes much more important to have a shop where I can do that. It's a nice idea to go for a 'British-centric' store but not sure if its too niche within an already VERY niche section of a shrinking area of retail... You just have to look at how many Fender and Gibson dealers are shrinking/vanishing to see where it's headed. Good luck Drew! Edited October 2, 2014 by skej21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesTun Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Nice idea. However remember what happened to The Bass Centre. That was extremely patriotic in the sense of the brands that are used (Status, Trace Elliot, Wal). I guess though that the Bass Centre wasn't exclusively British brands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 It's not quite a BC exclusive... He's been posting about this on FB for ages :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlfer Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I will certainly be much more tempted if he get's his website where it shows current stock. Every time I go on it I seem to come onto pages which list stock going back months and more. The appointment, one to one, is not really something that I am comfortable with, so to tempt me, it would be something specific I wanted to go and try. I can't suss what he has in stock at this moment. Good luck, I have heard great things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckinthepod Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I bought my Overwater/Tanglewood from Drew at Manchester Bass Lounge. Ranks as one of the best shopping experiences I've had. Free reign on a room full of basses, one on one service and advice. He's a good guy, I wish him all the best with the rebrand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Descendent Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 We have so many incredible British luthiers, Drew sees them as being unsung and undercredited (sites like Basschat & Talkbass being the exception) and wants to promote them to the wider bass playing audience. MBL is (GBBL will be also) a dealer for non-British brands (Sandberg, Tokai, G&L, Markbass, Gallien-Krueger, PJB) as new products and the pre-owned basses that come in will not be limited to just British builders. It'll be very similar to MBL as it exists now and Drew's customer service certainly won't change - it's just the focus is quality British stock and craftsmanship. Hope that clears things up a bit! Karlfer - I'm responsible for updating the MBL website, and I've just done the rebrand and website for The Great British Bass Lounge too. Everything on the site is usually as the stock is in the Bass Lounge. There are some basses that have been there for a while simply because they've not been sold yet. I do cock up every now and again and leave the odd one or two on by mistake but 99% of the time the website is an accurate representation of the Bass Lounge stock. Apologies if it appears otherwise. Feel free to message me if you'd like any more info. Cheers. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 (edited) I bought my T-40 from Drew and he delivered it to my house himself to try with no commitment from me expected. I think his prices may be a little high at times but definitely provided a great service to me. Edited October 3, 2014 by Machines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlfer Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 [quote name='Descendent' timestamp='1412339678' post='2567980'] We have so many incredible British luthiers, Drew sees them as being unsung and undercredited (sites like Basschat & Talkbass being the exception) and wants to promote them to the wider bass playing audience. MBL is (GBBL will be also) a dealer for non-British brands (Sandberg, Tokai, G&L, Markbass, Gallien-Krueger, PJB) as new products and the pre-owned basses that come in will not be limited to just British builders. It'll be very similar to MBL as it exists now and Drew's customer service certainly won't change - it's just the focus is quality British stock and craftsmanship. Hope that clears things up a bit! Karlfer - I'm responsible for updating the MBL website, and I've just done the rebrand and website for The Great British Bass Lounge too. Everything on the site is usually as the stock is in the Bass Lounge. There are some basses that have been there for a while simply because they've not been sold yet. I do cock up every now and again and leave the odd one or two on by mistake but 99% of the time the website is an accurate representation of the Bass Lounge stock. Apologies if it appears otherwise. Feel free to message me if you'd like any more info. Cheers. Tom [/quote] Thanks for explaining that Tom. Certain other bass retailers have stuff on their site that is long gone. Whenever I go onto your site the first one I find is an Aria fretless from November last year, so I just assumed I was not finding the up to date site. So, if that's the case, I'd best think about reducing my La Cabronita so I can book time to come and try one of the Sterlings Good luck, I think I may be booking some time soon, and thanks again for explaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 [quote name='visog' timestamp='1412106721' post='2565772'] I like the idea of a pro-UK builder but the current stock doesn't reflect this yet. More Shukers,Overwaters, Enfields, Wals, Statii and GBs![/quote] Y'know...Not naming names at all, but one of those companies owes one of the others some money for the supply of facing wood. They know who they are and I hope they see this message, feel a little guilty and do the right thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edstraker123 Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 The Mensinger Cazpars I have are certainly the best value basses I have ever bought so hopefully the bass lounge will also stock some interesting and good value for money foreign guitars as well as those from the British luthiers. When the GAS strikes and we go bass shopping it's nice to find something a bit different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 [quote name='skej21' timestamp='1412203009' post='2566817'] I met Drew a while back now and he seemed like a classy, knowledgable guy and was great to chat bass with for a while. I would not have pictured him as the type that resorts to having a petty dig at competitors with more exclusive, imported brands just because of a different outlook on their business model. The music retail industry is small enough without the few bass shops trying to fight against each other too! Just accept you have different philosophies and sell yourself rather than trying to belittle others. The biggest problem I see is that when I (or any bassist) want to spend a lot of money on a custom instrument, and decide to go British, it's not difficult to pick up the phone or jump in the car and consult/see their goods easily with the builder in their workshop. I don't really need a shop to do that for me. If I want a custom bass importing on my behalf or to try something that's not easily accessible in the UK before committing to ordering, it becomes much more important to have a shop where I can do that. It's a nice idea to go for a 'British-centric' store but not sure if its too niche within an already VERY niche section of a shrinking area of retail... You just have to look at how many Fender and Gibson dealers are shrinking/vanishing to see where it's headed. Good luck Drew! [/quote] It's a hard thing to explain without using comparisons though. There are certain US based brands that have an exceedingly good reputation and sell at prices that reflect that reputation. They have a load of musicians in their city and country wide using their products, they have talkbass where generally people on it are very supportive of US made things, and their country is massive. We're on a small island, are dour and tend towards being just slightly critical of some of our UK builders, we don't have many manufacturers linked closely with a recording/pro circuit like the US does and until the last 5 years or so we had a stupidly strong pound meaning home built things were expensive comparatively. Now the pound isn't as strong and I was surprised a while back when I had half an idea to get a bass built and approached overwater, ACG, Alpher and Status and all of them got back to me and were talking about custom basses with a starting price lower (status was a wee bit higher) than a mass produced new USA Fender.... I think you're right, maybe the wording wasn't the wisest but "you can get top top quality basses, crafted in the UK, for comparatively lower prices than the equivalent US based makers" is something worth saying. [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1412367552' post='2568395'] Y'know...Not naming names at all, but one of those companies owes one of the others some money for the supply of facing wood. They know who they are and I hope they see this message, feel a little guilty and do the right thing. [/quote] wow. a bit OT and don't know how I'm supposed to respond to that one, theres a story there, but prob best not told..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1412376832' post='2568514'] wow. a bit OT and don't know how I'm supposed to respond to that one, theres a story there, but prob best not told..... [/quote] Thank you for your opinion. You're not supposed to respond at all...you are free at all times to step away from the computer and find something else to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Descendent Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 GBBL is open for business! http://greatbritishbasslounge.com/ Any feedback or comments are very welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 [quote name='Descendent' timestamp='1413290835' post='2576750'] GBBL is open for business! [url="http://greatbritishbasslounge.com/"]http://greatbritishbasslounge.com/[/url] Any feedback or comments are very welcome! [/quote] Very nice. Great layout and easy to navigate. The photography is superb. It makes me want to spend money... which is presumably the whole point! Good luck with the new venture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madshadows Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Just had a quick look, great looking site and some beautiful basses for sale This one is stunning [url="http://greatbritishbasslounge.com/product/gl-tribute-l-2000-carved-top/"]http://greatbritishbasslounge.com/product/gl-tribute-l-2000-carved-top/[/url] John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Descendent Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Thanks for the kind words guys! Those G&L Tributes are fantastic, the carved top L-2000s are Limited Editions I think. I've had my eye on that sunburst one as well! We've set up a new Facebook page too if anyone wants a shufty - https://www.facebook.com/greatbritishbasslounge All 'Likes' appreciated Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlfer Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 Just such a massive improvement on what went before. So much so I have a daily look in on the site and Faecesbook. That 70's P is getting more and more tempting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Descendent Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 [quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1413543154' post='2579292'] Just such a massive improvement on what went before. So much so I have a daily look in on the site and Faecesbook. That 70's P is getting more and more tempting [/quote] Thanks karlfer, that's great to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.