The best bass builder.

[LukeFRC]

2 minutes ago, roonjuice said:

I own many of the names mentioned above. When I went for a total custom build, I went round the houses with a good few of the bespoke builders listed above. I settled on alpher, and in my eyes it was the right decision.

Plus Chris is an amazing guy. 

[roonjuice]

A lovely lovely man:)

[4000]

23 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Then I went to the Manchester Bass day and actually got some hands-on time with a whole load of Shuker basses. Unfortunately the whole experience was just one big anti-climax. There was nothing in the feel of any of the Shuker basses, that I tried, that spoke to me at all. They all looked fantastic, but in my hands they might as well be averagely set-up Squiers. So I crossed Shuker off my list and went on looking.

 

I experienced exactly the same thing, twice. And the same with every Fodera I've played save one, which I thought was ok. Whereas the first Everson I played felt lovely, as did the first Sei (and many more afterwards).  

[4000]

20 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I think a lot of the time Basschat members have an over-protective feeling towards instruments and also that the value of an instrument matters to others.

IME if an instrument is going to get stolen, it will happen whether it is a sub £100 Fender copy or a high end bass costing several thousands. The value is almost certainly irrelevant to the person stealing it. They simply won't know what it is worth.

10-15 years ago when I was buying a lot of instruments and was the musician who seemingly had a different bass at every gig, the one that caught all the punter's eyes was not the Gus or the Pedulla or the Overwater or the Sei - each worth several thousand pounds - but a Traben Phoenix with it's bling fingerboard inlays and over the top flame shape chrome bridge which had cost me the grand total of £300 including shipping and import from the US.

Also in 40 years of gigging I've never seen a guitar or bass receive anything worse than surface damage at a gig unless it was being deliberately being abused by the person playing it. Guitars and basses are resilient things. It takes a lot to damage one.

Of all the many basses that I've had, at all price points, the only ones that have garnered any attention from casual punters are the Rickenbackers. I usually get "Ooh a Rickenbacker! (or two)" at most gigs. I blame the Beatles. ;-) Everything else, from Squier to Alembic via Wal and several dozen other things, nothing, nada, zilch. One musician once asked if my Warwick Dolphin was an Alembic. However nobody identified the actual Alembics. ;-) The only other bass that drew any vague interest - still limited - was my first Jaydee, which had a Saturn 12th fret inlay and tailpiece. That got "ooh, Saturn!" from about 3 people.  ;-)

[jacko]

50 minutes ago, 4000 said:

. One musician once asked if my Warwick Dolphin was an Alembic. However nobody identified the actual Alembics

I once had a bass player ask me if my alembics were Warwicks and he seemed most disappointed when i told him what they were. 

[jazzyvee]

On ‎25‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 16:17, jacko said:

Yes. Since 1996 I've only taken Alembic basses to gigs. Hasn't made any difference to me or the band what kind of music is being played from folk thru country to out and out metal. (never played any jazz fusion but I do like to listen to it.)

Similar situation to me, I've only gigged with a non alembic bass once since I bought mine in 2002 and that ranges from big festivals like boomtown and bestival, isle of wight festivals and a local pub with a handful of punters. I've played a bit of Jazz fusion Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea etc stuff and they work great for that too as well as reggae. 

[ped]

1 minute ago, jazzyvee said:

Similar situation to me, I've only gigged with a non alembic bass once since I bought mine in 2002 and that ranges from big festivals like boomtown and bestival, isle of wight festivals and a local pub with a handful of punters. I've played a bit of Jazz fusion Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea etc stuff and they work great for that too as well as reggae. 

Mine was way too heavy! Mind you it was a six string Elan. Sounded nice though 👍🏼 

[molan]

Interesting thread - not least because I came across it when searching to see if there were any ‘interesting’ basses for sale. I rarely scroll through the listings but always search for a couple of specific brands. 

I am lucky enough to have owned or played just about every one of the ‘exotic’ brands here plus some lovely vintage instruments as well. 

I think the only one mentioned I haven’t tried is a Carl Thompson. 

I still have far too many basses but there’s a wall next to my desk in my little studio which tends to be home to the ones I enjoy playing most. It currently has on it:

Ritter Cora x2

Fodera Monarch

Sei J

Atelier Z J

Lakland US J

Sadowsky NYC J

Fender CS P

Fender Vintage J

These days the only things I ever take out on gigs are one of the Ritters or the Sei (sometimes the Sadowsky). These also happen to be the only two I ever search for and the ones that lead me to this thread!

With so much to choose from in terms of tonality, looks, weight etc. I find that my main choices come down to a simple matter of playability.

The Ritters are just the easiest to work with and allow me to play more fluently. They sound quite different to each other but I’m sure no-one I ever play to could hear the difference.

The Sei comes very, very close to the Ritters and has some useful LEDs for dark stages. 

If I have a gig where something like the Ritters or Sei might look a bit too ‘flash’ I will take the Sadowsky. It’s just a great gigging bass and always sounds good plus it matches the others for weight.

For the odd bit of late night noodling I’ll drag the Fodera out and the Fenders get some time just because I like stroking them, lol.

There’s no ‘best’ for me here but Jens, Martin and Roger are three of the nicest people I’ve met in the business and all show amazing passion - albeit in very different ways.

If I ever had to keep just one bass it would be my white Ritter Cora. If I was going to commission a new build then I’d go to Martin.

 

[4000]

12 minutes ago, molan said:

There’s no ‘best’ for me here but Jens, Martin and Roger are three of the nicest people I’ve met in the business and all show amazing passion - albeit in very different ways.

If I was going to commission a new build then I’d go to Martin.

 

Can't speak for the others but Martin is one of the nicest guys I know, period, and would/will be my luthier of choice for my next build, finances allowing.