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The Bass Gallery


saibuster
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I took my Kubicki in for Martin to set up once before a particularly big gig (for me anyway!). I gave him a very tight deadline as I wanted the bass back quickly to practice on beforehand as it was my only bass at the time.

He called me the day after I took it in to say that he'd recommend a different gauge and make of string to the ones I'd specified as the Kubicki had a seriously narrow neck and he thought a set of DR's (can't remember which ones) would just work much better on it.

He even gave them to me at the same price as the cheaper ones I'd asked for as he was convinced it would make a difference.

He was 100% right and the bass came back in perfectly set up state and was sooo much nicer than when it went in. He asked me to call after the gig to let him know how I got on as well (which I did).

Can't speak highly enough of him and his levels of service ;)

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I heart the Gallery, I don't think I could live without them! Er, and any comments along the lines of "they won't be around for more than a couple of years" are massively out of place, I was in there today and I've genuinely never seen it busier, within ten minutes Alex had sold a bass for approx £1200, sold a strap, some pedal connectors to me and had another two guys queueing up... I think the Gallery will be here for many years to come sir, ;)

M

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[quote name='urb' post='416366' date='Feb 21 2009, 08:57 PM']I heart the Gallery, I don't think I could live without them! Er, and any comments along the lines of "they won't be around for more than a couple of years" are massively out of place, I was in there today and I've genuinely never seen it busier, within ten minutes Alex had sold a bass for approx £1200, sold a strap, some pedal connectors to me and had another two guys queueing up... I think the Gallery will be here for many years to come sir, :P

M[/quote]

I hope they'll be around for years, don't suppose my bank manager feels the same way though !. ;)

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I had them build me a bass years ago, and everytime I phoned for 5 years after Martin greeted me by name on the phone. I went down and left my wife in Camden market - she got bored and followed me to the Gallery. Martin made her a coffee sat her down in a corner. She loves it there too ;) They no longer get my business because I have a OCD level of checking the for sale forums here, but if I need to buy new then it's to them I go.

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The Gallery is to this decade what the Wapping Bass Centre was to the eighties...If they weren't there, a lot of London bass players would find it much harder to buy and sell equipment, and find the things and expertise they need than they do now.

From time to time in a shop dealing with specialist equipment and set-up, theres just a miscommunication between members of staff which means something doesn't get done. It's a bit crap, but no one means for it to happen and it's often no one's fault really.

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[quote name='urb' post='416366' date='Feb 21 2009, 08:57 PM']I heart the Gallery, I don't think I could live without them! Er, and any comments along the lines of "they won't be around for more than a couple of years" are massively out of place, I was in there today and I've genuinely never seen it busier, within ten minutes Alex had sold a bass for approx £1200, sold a strap, some pedal connectors to me and had another two guys queueing up... I think the Gallery will be here for many years to come sir, ;)

M[/quote]

Indeedy, one of them being me. Was picking up two of my 'wicks which were in for repairs. Needless to say they've done a lovely job on both.

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  • 12 years later...
On 20/02/2009 at 03:27, thisnameistaken said:

[quote name='Musky' post='414934' date='Feb 20 2009, 01:18 AM']good customer service is all about how they react when things do go wrong.[/quote]

+1

I write bespoke code for a living, which practically never works properly first time. Key skills: Humility, a sense of humour, and dropping everything the very minute someone calls you about code that is needed right now and isn't working properly.

My customers know the score, they know I provide as good a service as they'll find anywhere, and I'm nice.

I did have my fender Ultra set up by Martin and a Sadowsky pre amp fitted. The bass& treble controls do not match or properly or  fit so I’m told by a few people that have had a pre amp fitted ! & when I had a closer look recently the concentric controls stand proud of the body and are a very poor fit ! I was told that the concentric controls that Martin fitted are not correct for this pre amp and should not of been fitted this way ! I’m not happy but I didn’t check closely until recently . 

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image.jpeg.8a4c18d8c040751ec5bde2e005b9a53f.jpeg

 

All joking apart, how long ago are we talking this work was done? Weeks, months, years? Did you supply the parts and they just fitted them etc… If this has been done in recent times I’d suggest picking back up with them, although (and not excusing any lack of good workmanship that may be evident), I also wouldn’t accept any bass back after work being done until I had fully checked it and been 100% happy.

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3 hours ago, RedEarth said:

I did have my fender Ultra set up by Martin and a Sadowsky pre amp fitted. The bass& treble controls do not match or properly or  fit so I’m told by a few people that have had a pre amp fitted ! & when I had a closer look recently the concentric controls stand proud of the body and are a very poor fit ! I was told that the concentric controls that Martin fitted are not correct for this pre amp and should not of been fitted this way ! I’m not happy but I didn’t check closely until recently . 

A preamp can have any control setup and knobs used as long as the values of the potentiometers are the same. 

In short I kinda would trust the gallery more than your “few people” - esp if you didn’t notice yourself!

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7 hours ago, gareth said:

I understand @Cairobillgot Martin to instal an ebony Fretless board on his stingray and couldn’t be more pleased with the result

Once had a new truss rod fitted on a neck thru Warwick which they did an excellent job with. They’ve also done a fret dress on a P bass that transformed the instrument. 
 

It’s worth taking back in and pointing out what you believe to be wrong to get their opinion.

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18 hours ago, gareth said:

I understand @Cairobillgot Martin to instal an ebony Fretless board on his stingray and couldn’t be more pleased with the result


Indeed - I'm absolutely over the moon with the work they did. Extraordinary job. Looks incredible, feels like a veeery expensive bass and sounds wonderful. 

They even managed to preserve the tricky little plastic sleeve on the truss and the dot locations at the interface between the board and the neck (now replaced with luminlay...a very nice touch). In addition you can't feel the join. An impressive achievement given that the original gloss finish on the neck is untouched....luthier witchcraft if you ask me!

IMG_0406.thumb.jpg.418a2bb9a912c3f169b8f4acd1971229.jpg
IMG_0343-1.thumb.jpg.bc3938c69c86f2c5393a15f18c8c974c.jpg
IMG_0344.thumb.jpg.7fe7b910399952783df5421fc9dd00c5.jpg

Edited by Cairobill
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I would like to add to above praise.  Camden Town is nearly local to me, I live, work and rehearse in North London, so the Bass Gallery is quite convenient.

 

Martin has done a fair bit of work for me over the last couple of years: set ups, pick up replacement, shielding and, recently, replacing fret marker dots with Luminlay dots.

 

Occasionally I have had to chase them about work I've asked them to do because they haven't called to let me know its finished but the work itself has so far been flawless.

 

I feel lucky to have them around.

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23 hours ago, RedEarth said:

I did have my fender Ultra set up by Martin and a Sadowsky pre amp fitted. The bass& treble controls do not match or properly or  fit so I’m told by a few people that have had a pre amp fitted ! & when I had a closer look recently the concentric controls stand proud of the body and are a very poor fit ! I was told that the concentric controls that Martin fitted are not correct for this pre amp and should not of been fitted this way ! I’m not happy but I didn’t check closely until recently . 

Are you posting this because you have been back the Gallery to ask them to resolve the situation and they have refused to?

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On 27/12/2021 at 12:28, RedEarth said:

I did have my fender Ultra set up by Martin and a Sadowsky pre amp fitted. The bass& treble controls do not match or properly or  fit so I’m told by a few people that have had a pre amp fitted ! & when I had a closer look recently the concentric controls stand proud of the body and are a very poor fit ! I was told that the concentric controls that Martin fitted are not correct for this pre amp and should not of been fitted this way ! I’m not happy but I didn’t check closely until recently . 

Surely, aren't the concentric controls are part of the pre-amp? If so, I imagine the knobs and controls will have been supplied by Sadowsky as part of the kit. So, unless you asked them to alter the kit when fitting it, haven't you got what you paid for?

 

What did The Gallery say when you asked them about it? Surely, you will have asked because it would be rude not to give them opportunity to deal with it in private before you complain in public.

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I feel the words, beware someone with just one post complaining, coming on. Not to say that there isn’t a genuine grievance here, albeit delayed, but we have seen this before.

 

For my part, any work I’ve had done at The Gallery has been top notch and very reasonably priced. When they defretted my EB USA SUB, the end result was nothing short of stellar.

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On 27/12/2021 at 12:28, RedEarth said:

I did have my fender Ultra set up by Martin and a Sadowsky pre amp fitted. The bass& treble controls do not match or properly or  fit so I’m told by a few people that have had a pre amp fitted ! & when I had a closer look recently the concentric controls stand proud of the body and are a very poor fit ! I was told that the concentric controls that Martin fitted are not correct for this pre amp and should not of been fitted this way ! I’m not happy but I didn’t check closely until recently . 

So have you spoken to the gallery about your problem and has anything been sorted? 

I've never been to the bass gallery but never heard anything bad about them in fact I'd like to go there sometime 

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