London bass guitar show 2018

[EBS_freak]

1 hour ago, charic said:

You don't see much from GB these days. I've only played a few but they have a great sound

Bernie is very much still going and very busy with builds. He's got something in the works apparently! Funnily enough I only spoke to him this morning - he wants his website renewing as he feels it no longer represents the stuff that he is doing - and he was wondering whether he should have exhibited at the show or not!

[EBS_freak]

28 minutes ago, Andy said:

I had a Rumour until recently and miss it already - it was a joy to play with a unique tone  

 

Yes! The GB electronics are certainly something that make Bernie's instruments sound unique!

[pbasspecial]

Took my boy with me again yesterday.  He had a great time and really wanted me to buy him a s/s Mustang.  Maybe next year

Had a lovely chat again with Chris Childs who I met with at a Thunder gig in Frankfurt about 5 weeks ago.  Top bloke and was really impressed by his fretless playing in the masterclass.  He even let me play his bass but unfortunately has one too many strings for me! Saw Snow Owl on his recommendation and he was amazing.  Really good energy from him. Gave me some useful tips for my envelope filter too.

Had a nice chat with Mark Gooday from Ashdown and he is exactly like he is in his promo videos. Passionate about his company, cars and grandchildren. Good guy. 

 

[EBS_freak]

There was a bass that Alan from ACG was displaying with some mad top. I was meant to take a photo of it but forgot to go back to the stand to do so. Was good to see that row of independent luthiers represented at the show. I had taken some time out from going to the show as it was beginning to do my head in - although I have to say that the changes in the layout has done wonders in terms of improvement I feel.

[CameronJ]

Either of these beauties perchance?

[lownote]

I went a couple of years ago, and yesterday.  The difference, primarily due to Scott Devine's influence,  was astonishing. 

First time I took in a couple of a couple of big time stars  doing their thing.  The rest of it was just a cacophony of plank spankers trying to impress - who?

This time Scott's workshops alone were amazing.  I only had Sunday afternoon, thanks to British Rail.  But in that time I got to hear and see and question Scott and his band, Rich Brown and Henrik Linder.  I also saw Phil Mann, Mark Smith and Steve Lawson. And I know Bobby Vega, Yolanda Charles and Garry Willis were there too. Most of those were only there because of SD.

That's amazing - and IMHO gives the thing a focus you could achieve in no other way.  

Edited March 5, 2018 by lownote12

[EBS_freak]

7 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

Either of these beauties perchance?

 

Yeah - nuts colours! 

[CameronJ]

6 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Yeah - nuts colours! 

Truly! Alan’s basses look even better in the flesh

[AidanB]

Sunday was my first time at the LBS. It was a very enjoyable and strangely relaxed day, despite the occasional bass amp cacophony but then what would you expect at a bass show?!

Highlights for me were the Scott's Bass Lessons sessions, especially Scott's impromptu band - great musicians all of them. Bobby Vega's bass playing is unique and *very* funky and his stories entertaining. Peter Hook's session was also interesting, funny and grounded, with a bit of a kick up the pants to get on and make music with what you've got. It was also good to chat to some of the people on the stalls, just a very helpful friendly bunch of people.

A real surprise was to have a go on the Safron 'Iris' acoustic bass. I've never played a fretless, let alone a double bass but found it amazingly easy to play pretty much in tune and hear a real double bass sound, at least to my ears. Brilliant!

I will definitely go again, the seminars, masterclasses and performances made it much more than just an exhibition show. Thanks to all the contributors and organisers.

[prowla]

3 hours ago, Andy said:

I had a Rumour until recently and miss it already - it was a joy to play with a unique tone  

 

That was by Bananarama, right?

[prowla]

8 hours ago, police squad said:

I went yesterday and Guy Pratt's dismissal of flat wound strings REALLY made me chuckle. I went home and listened to Like a prayer by Madonna and I'd always thought t was a sequenced bass line and also to Jimmy Nail's 'ain't no doubt'

I couldn't take Mo Foster at all. I don't really listen to a lot of Jazz but they were reading and the first number was a bit loose in places, like they hadn't played it before and I left during his 2nd number. I realise that he's done a lot of stuff but not for me.

Gear wise, there was a nice Muruscahwwwzzeeeee (what ever) on bass direct's stand. A white Elwood with a white fingerboard.

I don't understand these singlecut things, they all look a bit ridiculous to me. Enfield basses look good and I said hi to Nick.

Always good to see Jason Howe.

Would have stopped at the BC stand but I always seemed to be going somewhere, to a master class or the loo or coffee.

I met Mo Foster in the 80s after a Jeff Beck gig (on the There & Back tour) and he also played on Michael Schenker's 1st album (same rhythm section as on the JB album, with Simon Philips).

[seashell]

Another amazing show. So many amazing and inspirational people to meet in such a short time. Highlight for me, once again, has to be Jah Wobble. I think I am slightly in love with this man. Actually got to meet him this time and got a signed DVD. A scholar and a poet. 'The bass has no natural predators in the world of musical instruments'. Love it! I shall quote that often! :-) 

 

 

[EBS_freak]

Umm. I don't really get that quote. Perhaps he's operating on a different level to me... 

[Floyd Pepper]

I toyed with the idea of not going yesterday for the first time in years but I’m so glad I made the effort.

Really enjoyed Bobby Vega, Snow Owl and Guy Pratt was entertaining.

As for the exhibitors, huge respect to Steve @Chownybass for getting there in the face of multiple challenges - Hope the van gets sorted! In fact, hats off to all those that put the effort in and support the event (although Eich / Darkglass (not sure which one), I didn’t visit your stands as every time I went past, it was up to 11 - very off-putting)

Had a really nice chat with the Music For All Charity which I was really interested in

I thought the layout was better and I’m afraid to say, no selfies this year!

[Andy]

15 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Umm. I don't really get that quote. Perhaps he's operating on a different level to me... 

it's an 80's thing  

 

seriously though would be great to see GB back there next year. I 'heard a rumour' (see what I did there!) that he has something new in the pipeline. 

I also bumped into Paul Herman from Wal on the weekend ...... would love to see a Wal stand at the show (but I guess with such a full order book it wouldn't make sense?)

[Sibob]

12 minutes ago, Andy said:

 

I also bumped into Paul Herman from Wal on the weekend ...... would love to see a Wal stand at the show (but I guess with such a full order book it wouldn't make sense?)

You'd perhaps like to think that supporting and engaging with the community had some value?!

Fingers crossed

Si

[seashell]

1 hour ago, EBS_freak said:

Umm. I don't really get that quote. Perhaps he's operating on a different level to me... 

I think he just meant it’s the king of the beasts. If a guitar is an antelope, the bass is the lion and nothing preys on it. You had to be there really.

[G-77]

all my photos are on my facebook page and shared to the Basschat page,  if you are not on facebook, you can still see them via this link,

Saturday

 

[G-77]

and sunday 

 

[charic]

15 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

Bernie is very much still going and very busy with builds. He's got something in the works apparently! Funnily enough I only spoke to him this morning - he wants his website renewing as he feels it no longer represents the stuff that he is doing - and he was wondering whether he should have exhibited at the show or not!

Maybe I should get in touch with him  a site for a bass

I think Bernie could do well at LBGS, there were a lot of OTT luthier show off pieces (understandably and I enjoy that) but I think what I would like to see from more exhibitors would be an example of a show off piece, mid range and a low end (by their standards) instruments 

[Silvia Bluejay]

54 minutes ago, charic said:

...what I would like to see from more exhibitors would be an example of a show off piece, mid range and a low end (by their standards) instruments 

Makes sense in theory, but probably not easy in practice, unless the company is relatively large. If the company is just one luthier, or a handful of luthiers, who do almost everything by hand, the prices of their instruments will be boutique. To offer a cheaper range they'll need to decide to have the components shipped in from, say, the Far East, get a dedicated person to assemble them in their workshop, do the QA and sell them at a lower price. That leads to a different business model, so it has to be a conscious, calculated decision not every luthier is happy to take.

Edit: and perhaps then they'll start having even cheaper models built from scratch in the Far East, etc. That shifts the focus from low-volume, hand-made to a larger, more mass-produced business, and will need a restructuring and the influx of exclusively business-minded people into the company.

Edited March 6, 2018 by Silvia Bluejay

[charic]

18 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Makes sense in theory, but probably not easy in practice, unless the company is relatively large. If the company is just one luthier, or a handful of luthiers, who do almost everything by hand, the prices of their instruments will be boutique. To offer a cheaper range they'll need to decide to have the components shipped in from, say, the Far East, get a dedicated person to assemble them in their workshop, do the QA and sell them at a lower price. That leads to a different business model, so it has to be a conscious, calculated decision not every luthier is happy to take.

Edit: and perhaps then they'll start having even cheaper models built from scratch in the Far East, etc. That shifts the focus from low-volume, hand-made to a larger, more mass-produced business, and will need a restructuring and the influx of exclusively business-minded people into the company.

Oh yeah, I know they won't be "cheap" but using Shuker as an example.  His entry level instruments seem to be priced around £1700 where as some lines start at £3000+

There were quite a few luthiers where their cheapest offering was over £5k, I'm not suggesting they offshoot into budget instruments but seeing what the baseline is can actually be quite helpful (as well as demonstrating what extra you get for their more pricey instruments)

[BigRedX]

If, like most luthiers your USP is making unique hand-crafted instruments with meticulous attention to detail, why would you want to dilute that with a budget line?

Like it or not if you are a one-man operation making something that doesn't owe a large part of its inspiration to the designs of Leo Fender and you want to do it absolutely right, then you are going to find it difficult to come in under £3000 these days.

Otherwise you are basically saying that the instrument doesn't matter and then we'd all be fine playing £200 Squiers.

[OutSpoon]

Look at it this way... you charge like £150 for an average gig right? Which is maybe 3-5 hours work (including travel etc.). So 2x gigs in a day would net you £300. Let's call that your 'day rate'. Materials to make a nice bass, a fancy top, hipshot hardware, some decent pickups, fingerboard, frets etc. can easily cost £800 and upwards (I know because I am commissioning a bass right now). So, how many days do you think it will take a craftsman to make a bass? 2 weeks maybe? That's £3,000 in day-rate alone. 

Look at it another way, if you bought a 'hand-made' bass that took 2 days to build, you'd be like 'wha?' it only took 2 days. Hmmm...  that's what you would get for £1,500. 2 days work and some average materials. 

In my opinion. I'm saying, hey, handmade things made by craftsmen with beautiful materials are time-consuming and expensive. 

Most lutiers are in the business because they love making things by hand. They can't crank out 10x instruments a day, and they don't even want to. In my opinion. :-) 

[EBS_freak]

51 minutes ago, OutSpoon said:

Look at it this way... you charge like £150 for an average gig right? Which is maybe 3-5 hours work (including travel etc.). So 2x gigs in a day would net you £300. Let's call that your 'day rate'. Materials to make a nice bass, a fancy top, hipshot hardware, some decent pickups, fingerboard, frets etc. can easily cost £800 and upwards (I know because I am commissioning a bass right now). So, how many days do you think it will take a craftsman to make a bass? 2 weeks maybe? That's £3,000 in day-rate alone. 

Look at it another way, if you bought a 'hand-made' bass that took 2 days to build, you'd be like 'wha?' it only took 2 days. Hmmm...  that's what you would get for £1,500. 2 days work and some average materials. 

In my opinion. I'm saying, hey, handmade things made by craftsmen with beautiful materials are time-consuming and expensive. 

Most lutiers are in the business because they love making things by hand. They can't crank out 10x instruments a day, and they don't even want to. In my opinion. :-) 

In reality, most independent luthiers aren't hitting minimum wage - but what they don't earn in money, they have a job which many, love doing. Its interesting to see how many luthiers have come out of the rat race as they realised that they were ultimately unfulfilled doing the 9 to 5.