Status shuts their doors

[Linus27]

I agree, it is a very sad day, Status basses are incredible and if the right one came available then I would be very tempted. I think however, I have missed the boat but I can still admire and appreciate them and enjoy my fretless Status neck on my PJ.

[martthebass]

I was lucky to get one of the last CW basses with graphite that Rob made. I’d just finished my immunotherapy and decided to treat myself with the purchase with some money my mum had left me (she passed unexpectedly just before I got my diagnosis so it was a tough time). I called on the off chance and Rob said he was just finishing off a CW with white LEDS and the guy who’d ordered it couldn’t take it for some reason so it ended up with me. I know we all say we have a bass we’d never sell but this one really does hit that category for me. I gig it rarely but it always puts a smile on my face. I hope Rob and Dawn enjoy their well deserved retirement.

[Kiwi]

On 15/03/2025 at 17:57, Beedster said:

Interested in two points, firstly why do they have to be 'not too stiff', and in what way were the neck over-designed? 

I see where you're going with this - it seems potentially contradictory.  I should probably clarify that it depends on construction and fingerboard material.

Not too stiff because an overly stiff neck and phenolic fingerboard creates a very brittle sounding instrument.  I've played early to mid nineties Status Empathy and Modulus Quantum basses with this quality.  For extra context, other bass makers like Ken Smith aim for a neck that is just stiff enough because it introduces some warmth into the lower mid range and tames the highs a little.

Overdesigned means designed far beyond what is needed to resist string tension.  That could mean the number of layers of weave used (typically more than three layers), the orientation of the weave in selected locations and the choice of unecessariy thick fingerboard material.

Purely based on observation alone, in the late 70's necks seemed over designed.   Super rigid but also very easy to fret dress and achieve incredibly low action. The problems with aftermarket Modulus necks in the early to mid eighties were apparently due to Geoff Gould delegating the mixing of phenolic resin while he was off setting up Modulus operations and the person responsible not paying sufficient attention.  It was why Alembic ditched graphite necks as an option. 

However, I've played early 90's Modulus basses with floppy necks too - just had a 92 Quantum 5 pass through my hands for set up and restoration with a neck that wasn't stiff enough to resist string tension and there was no way to set the bass up with reasonable action.  I've also owned a 94 with a neck that was brittle and a 96 with a banana neck. And a 96 Sonic Hammer that was just fabulous in action and sound.  QC seems a little inconsistent to say the least.  Ironically the  Modulus basses with flexible necks sounded great - really growly and warm. 

 

On 15/03/2025 at 20:25, Grassie said:

The expense probably comes from the disposal of waste from the manufacturing processes.

I would suggest it's the amount of manual labour required.  The moulds are made by hand and the necks are fabricated by hand. 

[crazycloud]

1 hour ago, Kiwi said:

Not too stiff because an overly stiff neck and phenolic fingerboard creates a very brittle sounding instrument.

Don't buy this theory myself as neither my XL2 or my S2000 sound brittle.

 

1 hour ago, Kiwi said:

I would suggest it's the amount of manual labour required.  The moulds are made by hand and the necks are fabricated by hand. 

Agreed. The waste isn't much worse than plain old FG and there are a lot of boat (some of which fab the CF sub assemblies locally) and surfboard fabricators around here as well as too many hippie types who complain about anything they deem 'not-organic'.

[Beedster]

3 hours ago, Kiwi said:

I see where you're going with this - it seems potentially contradictory.  I should probably clarify that it depends on construction and fingerboard material.

Not too stiff because an overly stiff neck and phenolic fingerboard creates a very brittle sounding instrument.  I've played early to mid nineties Status Empathy and Modulus Quantum basses with this quality.  For extra context, other bass makers like Ken Smith aim for a neck that is just stiff enough because it introduces some warmth into the lower mid range and tames the highs a little.

Overdesigned means designed far beyond what is needed to resist string tension.  That could mean the number of layers of weave used (typically more than three layers), the orientation of the weave in selected locations and the choice of unecessariy thick fingerboard material.

Purely based on observation alone, in the late 70's necks seemed over designed.   Super rigid but also very easy to fret dress and achieve incredibly low action. The problems with aftermarket Modulus necks in the early to mid eighties were apparently due to Geoff Gould delegating the mixing of phenolic resin while he was off setting up Modulus operations and the person responsible not paying sufficient attention.  It was why Alembic ditched graphite necks as an option. 

However, I've played early 90's Modulus basses with floppy necks too - just had a 92 Quantum 5 pass through my hands for set up and restoration with a neck that wasn't stiff enough to resist string tension and there was no way to set the bass up with reasonable action.  I've also owned a 94 with a neck that was brittle and a 96 with a banana neck. And a 96 Sonic Hammer that was just fabulous in action and sound.  QC seems a little inconsistent to say the least.  Ironically the  Modulus basses with flexible necks sounded great - really growly and warm. 

 

I would suggest it's the amount of manual labour required.  The moulds are made by hand and the necks are fabricated by hand. 

 

Many thanks mate, that's really interesting. I was an early adopter of carbon/graphite as a cyclist in the 80's and we became quickly aware that there was good carbon and less good carbon, most critically with wheels where some give/reduced stiffness, although initially counterintuitive as carbon was being used to increase stiffness, was required to stop them failing catastrophically, which was not good for either the rider or on occasion other riders as snapped carbon was an extremely sharp thing to land on in a crash (I know from experience and still have a 3cm scar to prove it, which was one of the reasons I moved back to traditional spoked wheels until around 10-years later when the manufacturers had sorted out the stiffness/safety issues) 👍

[Russ]

On 17/03/2025 at 11:20, HeadlessBassist said:

- quote removed -

It's the end of an era.  I'd love to see someone else take it on, but I'm kinda at a loss to think of who could do it justice. I also suspect Status prices on the used market are going to have a "Wal" moment, and go through the roof. 

 

I am curious about what the sales were like of their wooden-necked "relaunch"-era instruments from the past couple of years. Were they selling everything they could make, or was it a case of "no graphite neck, no Status" for some? 

Edited March 20 by Russ
Was asked to remove quote

[mikebass456]

18 minutes ago, Russ said:

I am curious about what the sales were like of their wooden-necked "relaunch"-era instruments from the past couple of years. Were they selling everything they could make, or was it a case of "no graphite neck, no Status" for some? 

The all wood Washburn Status headless copies seem to be commanding decent prices when they come up, so I can't see why a full wooden original Status wouldn't do the same (no headless ones to compare though, unless I'm mistaken.......)

I had a Washburn originally before upgrading to my Energy 5.

I got the Washburn second hand in the early 90's, and wanted to replace the mangled pickup screws in it, so I rang Status direct.  I actually got to speak to Rob in person, who was happy to send replacement screws FOC, despite it only being a Washburn.  Brilliant guy, brilliant company, brilliant instruments.....🤘❤️ 

[Bass Direct]

I just spoke with Dawn at Status and they are NOT closed at all, she let me know that they are currently not taking new orders but are still up and running for strings/parts/cases/their knowledge etc...

 

 

[Russ]

Hypothetically, if another company was to take over production of Status instruments, who should it be? Obviously they'd have to be British, or, at the very least, European, with some pedigree in high-end instruments and preferably some experience in working with composites. 

 

I can't actually think of anyone who'd meet all these criteria.

 

Almost all guitar companies in the UK are small operations, and there aren't that many on the continent either. Maybe Warwick? Or, on the composites site, someone like Aristides from the Netherlands? 

[Beedster]

3 minutes ago, Russ said:

Hypothetically, if another company was to take over production of Status instruments, who should it be? Obviously they'd have to be British, or, at the very least, European, with some pedigree in high-end instruments and preferably some experience in working with composites. 

 

I can't actually think of anyone who'd meet all these criteria.

 

Almost all guitar companies in the UK are small operations, and there aren't that many on the continent either. Maybe Warwick? Or, on the composites site, someone like Aristides from the Netherlands? 

Martin Simms?

[Russ]

17 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Martin Simms?

Yes, definitely. They have the experience and obviously worked a lot with Status, but didn't Sims downsize his operation significantly a couple of years back, when he shuttered Enfield? 

Edited March 18 by Russ
Typo

[Killerfridge]

41 minutes ago, Bass Direct said:

I just spoke with Dawn at Status and they are NOT closed at all, she let me know that they are currently not taking new orders but are still up and running for strings/parts/cases/their knowledge etc...

 

 

I fear your actual insider knowledge is going to get lost here! Interested to know if it's "not currently taking orders" or "not taking any more orders ever"

[Bass Direct]

3 minutes ago, Killerfridge said:

I fear your actual insider knowledge is going to get lost here! Interested to know if it's "not currently taking orders" or "not taking any more orders ever"

I am just repeating what I have been told, pretty much word for word

[BigRedX]

30 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Martin Simms?

 

I got the impression that Simms were moving away from instrument production when Enfield finished. Also unless I am mistaken, all the graphite parts for Enfield basses were made by Gus Guitars who use a completely different construction method to Status.

[Russ]

3 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

I got the impression that Simms were moving away from instrument production when Enfield finished. Also unless I am mistaken, all the graphite parts for Enfield basses were made by Gus Guitars who use a completely different construction method to Status.

Yep. Gus uses a graphite wrap over a wood neck, rather than a full graphite neck, and that's what some of the Enfields had. 

 

I'm also curious as to the "state of the art" in composite instrument construction, and if it's moved on since the heyday of Status, Modulus, etc. I mentioned them earlier, but Aristides seem to be doing some interesting stuff with composites - not sure what their "Arium" material is (I suspect some kind of stabilised fibreglass), but it's apparently a lot more stable than wood, and they seem to be selling a lot of instruments... 

[LeftyJ]

27 minutes ago, Russ said:

I mentioned them earlier, but Aristides seem to be doing some interesting stuff with composites - not sure what their "Arium" material is (I suspect some kind of stabilised fibreglass), but it's apparently a lot more stable than wood, and they seem to be selling a lot of instruments... 

 

The bio on their site is quite ambiguous about it, but the concept was in fact designed by this guy, who founded Catalyst Guitars. He called the material he came up with "SoundCompound", which was cast around a carbon graphite base structure. Aristides' bio doesn't mention a previous company using it, and only names "a team of Dutch scientists at Delft Technical University", but Catalyst were a pretty cool company. Their designs were more traditional than what Aristides does, but the technical concept was definitely very cool: Catalyst Instruments est 1996. – Jedistar

[HeadlessBassist]

8 hours ago, Russ said:

It's the end of an era.  I'd love to see someone else take it on, but I'm kinda at a loss to think of who could do it justice. I also suspect Status prices on the used market are going to have a "Wal" moment, and go through the roof. 

 

I am curious about what the sales were like of their wooden-necked "relaunch"-era instruments from the past couple of years. Were they selling everything they could make, or was it a case of "no graphite neck, no Status" for some? 

 

I was hoping to try out one of the new post-graphite basses (S-23 series), but there are now only a couple of stock instruments left. Apparently they made somewhere between 120 & 130 in total if the # numbers on the website actually correlate with production quantities.. There's one review knocking around on YouTube, and the owner seems highly complimentary. It sounds good too. 

[BlueMoon]

18 hours ago, Russ said:

I also suspect Status prices on the used market are going to have a "Wal" moment, and go through the roof. 

Might well happen. When Mike Pedulla closed his shop rather than selling the business, the second-hand asking prices of the classic Pedulla basses did increase significantly. No sign of any levelling on those asking prices.......so hang on to that Status bass(es).

[Eric_Wombat]

13 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

I was hoping to try out one of the new post-graphite basses (S-23 series), but there are now only a couple of stock instruments left. Apparently they made somewhere between 120 & 130 in total if the # numbers on the website actually correlate with production quantities.. There's one review knocking around on YouTube, and the owner seems highly complimentary. It sounds good too. 

 

I was lucky enough to get S23 #127, the black one on the website.  Not sure where you are, but if it's anywhere near Cornwall or Bedfordshire you're welcome to try mine. 

[martthebass]

1 hour ago, Eric_Wombat said:

 

I was lucky enough to get S23 #127, the black one on the website.  Not sure where you are, but if it's anywhere near Cornwall or Bedfordshire you're welcome to try mine. 

Sure I saw something on YT where a guy had both the CW1 and the newer all-wood CW2 and played them against each other.  Sorry, it was the S2 classic vs the S23.

 

 

[LowB_FTW]

All this talk about Status prices increasing is not good for my long held desire to own a 5-String T-Bass. 😢

 

Mark

[LeftyJ]

19 hours ago, martthebass said:

Sure I saw something on YT where a guy had both the CW1 and the newer all-wood CW2 and played them against each other.  Sorry, it was the S2 classic vs the S23.

 

That's @lowregisterhead of this parish  

@woodyratm mentioned having both a CW1 and CW2 and talked about doing a comparison video, so you're probably not crazy.

Edited March 20 by LeftyJ

[Kiwi]

On 18/03/2025 at 14:15, crazycloud said:

Don't buy this theory myself as neither my XL2 or my S2000 sound brittle.

What makes you think its a theory?

[crazycloud]

2 hours ago, Kiwi said:

What makes you think its a theory?

Experience.

[bassfan]

I still love mine. Started gigging it again after a little break with the Sadowsky. Such a comfy bass to play and sounds awesome.