London bass guitar show 2018

[Happy Jack]

1 hour ago, EBS_freak said:

Hofner. But that's for all the people that want to play at being Macca I guess.

Not necessarily so. How about Alice Cooper?

 

[Silvia Bluejay]

9 minutes ago, MoJoKe said:

Steve did a great job getting there.

I was with Markbass for the weekend, I live on the Devon Somerset border in the Blackdown hills, and it took me 6 1/2 hours just to dig my van out of the snow and frozen rain, and get it onto the A303...  a total of 50m max....   I then had a 4 1/2 hour drive nearly being run off the road into the snow by a Richard in a Range Rover Vogue...  I made it for the whole show...  wheres my pat on the back?

 

It was great to see you on both days, Kevin. And we left with such a huge amout of MB GAS we didn't need to use the train to go home, we just floated!  

[Happy Jack]

Just now, Silvia Bluejay said:

And we left with such a huge amount of MB GAS ...

Actually, it was Mark Audio GAS, not Mark Bass! 

[Wolverinebass]

7 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Brex....

:-p

If you were Aguilar and you could price it that high and it still sells... you'd slash the prices...?

True. That which cannot be named.

On a serious level though, how many are they going to sell at those prices? How did we get to the point where that was even remotely okay? Naturally if one could get away with it you'd continue, but it's still way too expensive. I find it funny that people moaned about Alex putting his prices up but yet they're nowhere close to this nonsense and nobody seems to bat an eye.

[Silvia Bluejay]

6 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Actually, it was Mark Audio GAS, not Mark Bass! 

Nit-picking.

And a pat on the back to @skelf too, who was there all weekend.

[EBS_freak]

9 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

True. That which cannot be named.

On a serious level though, how many are they going to sell at those prices? How did we get to the point where that was even remotely okay? Naturally if one could get away with it you'd continue, but it's still way too expensive. I find it funny that people moaned about Alex putting his prices up but yet they're nowhere close to this nonsense and nobody seems to bat an eye.

They probably do bat an eye - it's just that the Aguilar name is nowhere near as prevalent as the Barefaced name round these parts.

Edited March 6, 2018 by EBS_freak

[police squad]

I must admit, I did look at the prices of pickups on the aguilar stand and was horrified. Then I saw someone on the stand coming towards me, so I ran away

Edited March 6, 2018 by police squad

[EBS_freak]

2 hours ago, police squad said:

I must admit, I did look at the prices of pickups on the aguilar stand and was horrified. Then I saw someone on the stand coming towards me, so I ran away

Yeah - but they are made of unicorn poo!

[Gillett Guitars]

I've been following the 'reasons to exhibit' strand with some interest.  We were there because Gillett is a relatively new brand and we need the exposure.  Yes it's hard work (especially when it involves shifting a ton of snow before you start) and, yes, it's expensive (£thousands all in).  So, would we still be there if we didn't need to generate more business?  Probably yes - because it's just so much fun!  The real buzz for me was listening to the variety of music played on our basses on our stand (thanks largely to our resident ace keyboard player Paul Quinn).  At one end of the spectrum we had Yolanda Charles' half-hour jam late on Sunday; at the other end was the 14-year-old autistic lad who's been playing bass for 7 months and it's making life more enjoyable for the whole family.  Loved every minute of it!

Scrumpymike

[EBS_freak]

Just now, Gillett Guitars said:

I've been following the 'reasons to exhibit' strand with some interest.  We were there because Gillett is a relatively new brand and we need the exposure.  Yes it's hard work (especially when it involves shifting a ton of snow before you start) and, yes, it's expensive (£thousands all in).  So, would we still be there if we didn't need to generate more business?  Probably yes - because it's just so much fun!  The real buzz for me was listening to the variety of music played on our basses on our stand (thanks largely to our resident ace keyboard player Paul Quinn).  At one end of the spectrum we had Yolanda Charles' half-hour jam late on Sunday; at the other end was the 14-year-old autistic lad who's been playing bass for 7 months and it's making life more enjoyable for the whole family.  Loved every minute of it!

Scrumpymike

Everybody has their reasons for being there - all valid of course!

[CameronJ]

3 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

Let's be fair, at £1760 for a 4x10 and (if memory serves) almost £900 for a 1x12, I'm pretty sure Aguilar can afford to be there. 

What I thought was especially funny was that if you walked 2 stands along, Peavey were selling their 4x10 for £350. Five times better? I doubt it is, but that pricing is tonto. Nobody with any sanity will pay that much. Aguilar are now having a laugh.

I contemplated having a chat with Dave Boonshoft on Sunday but thought better of it as I suspected I’d struggle to control the urge to make some snarky comments on Aguilar’s current prices...

Especially after being relatively unimpressed by the SL112s I had just played through 

[EBS_freak]

15 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

I contemplated having a chat with Dave Boonshoft on Sunday but thought better of it as I suspected I’d struggle to control the urge to make some snarky comments on Aguilar’s current prices...

Especially after being relatively unimpressed by the SL112s I had just played through 

And to think that speaker inside costs all of about £50 trade.

[CameronJ]

Just now, EBS_freak said:

And to think that speaker inside costs all of about £50 trade.

That comes as zero surprise to me, sadly.

[skelf]

4 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Nit-picking.

And a pat on the back to @skelf too, who was there all weekend.

Would that be a left handed pat.

 

[Silvia Bluejay]

Yes!! Look at that image carefully

[LukeFRC]

7 hours ago, TRBboy said:

This is pretty much where I'm at....  .  Would love to ditch the rat race and build basses, even if i don't earn as much! I'm an ex carpenter so have skills... but I've never made a bass before.... making and fretting the neck, i wouldn't be sure where to learn those skills.... confident i could do the rest competently. 

If anyone has any advice I'm all ears! 

make yourself one, start a build thread on here... its only going to be a hobby to begin with but you'll get to learn your trade... then while you're learning do your research and work out a) what folk want to pay for and what they don't and b) what your speciality/brand will be. Do you want to offer a range of high end instruments, but a lot of Fender-type a-la Shuker or Overwater, or do you want to do some amazing tops like Alpher (good social media marketing), or what? Different markets for different approaches. 

6 hours ago, skelf said:

With regard to a hand built budget line. I have tried this twice the Graft Series and the Standard Series. My thinking was that it would open up the possibility of a hand built instrument at a price point that would allow players to have this option and dip a toe in the hand built world. They were dropped because no one was interested in them. On top of that I think I damaged my brand by doing them in that there is a section of the market that assumes a lower priced hand built bass has something wrong with it or is cheap because it is crap. This I feel has done me no good in trying to get where I want to be.

I was going to put you forward as an example of someone who tried the 'budget' range idea. FWIW some of the standard series basses you made looked amazing.  I don't think you damaged your brand but probably were spending time on something that wasn't helping you build the brand you wanted. The mindset of someone who wants an ACG Uber bass is probably very different to someone who wants a standard series. 

[skelf]

Very true on both counts.

[EBS_freak]

I think the challenge of having a more affordable line is certainly a challenge - so much to think about in terms of perception of the instrument, impact on the value of existing instruments and their potential resale rate, the perception of the brand itself etc. I'm not really sure who has managed to do it properly - I remember Fodera and their line of more affordable bases (I think they were made in Japan?) - and I for one was thinking - well, they are certainly cheaper but they aren't a Fodera. But then again, I don't really get the Fodera thing anyway. Lakland are the only brand that I can think of where they have managed to do it... maybe Sadowsky... I don't think people perceive the Skyline and Metro series as lesser instruments than the full fat models. Mind you, I'm guessing that they shift a lot more of these series of instruments than the top series... whereas the smaller luthier probably wants those figures the other way around. Difficult one.

[Sibob]

4 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

"I think the challenge of having a more affordable line is certainly a challenge..."

Hehe

Si

[EBS_freak]

1 minute ago, Sibob said:

Hehe

Si

A challenge of challenging proportions nonetheless.

 

[Sibob]

It's taken me 4 days, but thought I'd offer my feelings on the 2018 show.

As ever, was particularly excited, and so when I thought I might not make it because of the snow, I spent a good day talking about roads and their condition to Mrs Sibob......needless to say she was bored by it lol.
I beat the snowy roads (in no way to the same extent as some peoples treacherous journeys) and got to the show on Saturday about 11:45..........

.......just as Bobby Vega was finishing his masterclass 

I had my bass with me, for no other reason than I had a gig after the show, but was fun excuse to show a few people my US Lakland 44-94 (passive P/J, think it's the only one they've made in that config) with La Bella Gold Flats. But essentially meant that I stuck to my historical behaviour of not picking up a bass at LBGS. It's not really through choice, but more because I'm very happy with what I have currently, and I always find myself chatting and catching up with everyone, not leaving any time to add to the noise. That said, if Jake's Serek basses had arrived on the Saturday as planned, I would have had another go on those (after my NAMM testing), so was gutted the weather scuppered that. Glad they arrived on the Sunday for him though, they're really very cool....I can see one of those in my future!! (ie I've priced it up with him lol).

I enjoyed the layout this year from a functional perspective, I do like open plan, you can see around the place a little easier, however I did feel that the two extra internal rooms dissipated the overall noise better than open plan.
Fewer booths than last year, which was sad to see, but hopefully the fact that this year seems to have garnered an overall positive reaction, they'll be back. I fully appreciate that a show like this is probably a PITA to attend, but I'd also like to think that engaging and supporting the UK bass community is high on a number of brands agendas, whether they 'need' the orders or not. Of course, the onus is also on Future to try and facilitate that as well.
Booths that would be great to see back next year who were absent this year, including but not limited to: Barefaced, Status, COG, GB, Shuker, Strings & Things.
Yes it would be great to have 'bigger brands' there and not just UK boutique, but I think these are largely catered for by retailer & distributor booths, was a shame to see no Strings & Things this year!

Had a really interesting chat with Rob Elrick about neck wood preparing and construction, very friendly and knowledgable man, always good to see him at NAMM, so it's a pleasure we can host him at LBGS! Beautiful basses! If I ever went down the route of purchasing a Fodera again.......I'd likely ditch it and buy an Elrick lol.
Had some good chats with Alan @ ACG, I have a bass on order, so was enquiring how it was coming and fawning over the Salace SC 6 he had on show.
Great seeing the Markbass UK guys, I've been using Markbass heads for probably 6 or 7 years now, and I think a LM Nano will be added soon too!

Managed to catch Mr Vega in the SBL room after missing his masterclass, just an incredible player, lovely person and deserved bass royalty as a result!

Other than that, LBGS was primarily, as it always has been for me, a wonderful opportunity to catch up with some lovely lovely people that I don't get to see as often as I'd like. It's a fantastic place to meet, catch up whilst also being inspired and humbled in equal measure.
Long may it live!

See you next year! 

Si

Edited March 7, 2018 by Sibob

[CliveT]

On 06/03/2018 at 11:40, police squad said:

someone asked whether he uses them and he just laughed. He said only guitarists that own a bass would bother with flatwounds as they know nothing about bass. Something along those lines.

He uses bass centre stadium elites, has done for years. It just made me laugh, there's so much love for flats these days (even I'm thinking about a set) but an old pro, just uses rounds and has no interest in changing.

He just cracked me up

I was watching the Pompeii DVD and thought this sounded like flats........... My bad !!

 

[pbasspecial]

Had a rehearsal last night and used Snow Owl's settings from the LBGS. Sounded fantastic, so I sent him a message this morning telling him so.  Got a lovely reply back 20 mins ago. Top, top fella!

[Phil Mann]

Thank you to everyone that came down to to say hi at the SBL Masterclass stage - it was an incredible (and somewhat overwhelming) weekend.  

The masterclasses were awesome (Bobby, Rich and Mo were outrageous!), and i enjoyed checking out some of the stands in the little time I had away from the boss!

After this years show, I'm going to try and make a point of heading down to some of the bass bashes, so please keep me in the loop as to when and where they're happening!

It was so lovely to meet so many faces, chat equipment, lessons and progress!

Thanks to all those involved...

Phil.x 

[CameronJ]

1 hour ago, Phil Mann said:

Thank you to everyone that came down to to say hi at the SBL Masterclass stage - it was an incredible (and somewhat overwhelming) weekend.  

The masterclasses were awesome (Bobby, Rich and Mo were outrageous!), and i enjoyed checking out some of the stands in the little time I had away from the boss!

After this years show, I'm going to try and make a point of heading down to some of the bass bashes, so please keep me in the loop as to when and where they're happening!

It was so lovely to meet so many faces, chat equipment, lessons and progress!

Thanks to all those involved...

Phil.x 

Have to say that you and the whole SBL team really nailed it. Made my LBGS experience truly memorable and inspiring. Massive thanks to you guys for putting all that work in!