Ideas about fancy material bass necks?

[Jeffrey Z]

13 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

Being at Uni is a great time to explore new ideas and it’s a great idea to do your research!

 

The bass market is small, and those that would buy parts a fraction of that. Of those people, half will want a cheap product. The other half will want a brand name.

 

Building guitars is a labour of love for most people (even Fender and Gibson sometimes lose money!), so the chances of creating a viable business that can compete with the Far East are very small indeed.

 

If you offer something genuinely unique you may find a market, but it’s unlikely.

 

I’d look for another market to disrupt!

 

 

Thanks for you suggestions! Im not going to produce any of the necks, I just happened to know people that builds that (outside uk) with much cheaper price than warmth and uk&Europe based luthier, their built quality is not the best but slightly better then current fender Mexico necks. Being honest with you, I love bass and my bands but I also want to make some money through this industry. I'll dig in more, thanks!

[Jeffrey Z]

5 hours ago, Beer of the Bass said:

Headstock shapes might cause some difficulty - alternative shapes can be hard to sell as there's a perception that a Fender style instrument with a different headstock shape signals "cheap". I think Warmoth have some form of licensing arrangement to use the Fender headstock, and smaller luthiers might slip under the radar (also those from countries where trade protections are harder to enforce), but otherwise your options would be to try and get people to accept an alternative shape, or await the cease & desist letter.

Yea the law&copy right side is what I'm concerning as well. The producer of the necks has been under the radar for really long, one major reason is that because they are in Asia, where Fender wouldn't spend all the money and resource just to sue them. To be honest most of their product is just ripoffs and much cheaper then Fender... Where people only need to spend couple hundred pounds to get a same looking neck as these special custom shop necks.

[Dan Dare]

12 hours ago, Hellzero said:

I'm trying the best I can, but I really don't understand what you're saying as it's the opposite of my point of view, but is exactly yours, or maybe you're a songwriter or a poet?

 

I'll have a pint of whatever you're been drinking.

[LukeFRC]

9 hours ago, Jeffrey Z said:

Yea the law&copy right side is what I'm concerning as well. The producer of the necks has been under the radar for really long, one major reason is that because they are in Asia, where Fender wouldn't spend all the money and resource just to sue them. To be honest most of their product is just ripoffs and much cheaper then Fender... Where people only need to spend couple hundred pounds to get a same looking neck as these special custom shop necks.

300-600 will get you a Korean made sire or bass collection bass - a whole bass. So that’s what you are kinda going against.

 

I think the problem is that you might not be solving a problem people have - that kinda money gets you a whole bass if you want and people who don’t really want to spend money won’t pay for fancy 

then at the top end people who want high end stuff and fancy woods etc will probably be able to afford John shukers prices (of equivalent) and have the reliability and reassurance of a known name 

[LeftyJ]

I voted no. Not because I'm opposed to the idea of a of buying a replacement neck for a bass or for a new build, but I would never buy one separately. I wouldn't buy one as an upgrade of an existing instrument - only if my old neck was damaged or broken beyond repair and if the original manufacturer wouldn't supply me a new one, be it under warranty or at a charge. And I'm also no home luthier, building bitsa's in my attic - nor would I be looking for such an expensive neck if I was, because 90% of the fun in building bitsa's is to make something nice and decent out of affordable or even cheap parts. I'd either buy from a supplier that can get me the whole package (including a body) or use parts of an existing bass to start from. To me, the neck would be the defining feature both in determining the basis to start from and the end result.

[Nicko]

11 hours ago, Jeffrey Z said:

their built quality is not the best but slightly better then current fender Mexico necks.

Oh dear.  Surely the price you are suggesting is for a premium product, not for a slight improvement in quality.  A Fender Mex P to J neck conversion is around £330 and that includes a premium for having "Fender Precision Bass" scrawled on the headstock.

[LeftyJ]

On 18/04/2023 at 19:35, Dan Dare said:

Interestingly, Stradivari is reckoned to have used ordinary lumber he bought from local timber merchants to build instruments. If it was good enough for him... 

 

I saw a clinic by Paul Reed Smith once, who told the audience he'd had the privilege once to hold TWO Stradivari violins at the same time. Interestingly, from the grain pattern and flame he was able to tell they were both made from the same tree 

[LowB_FTW]

I can kinda see the benefit in asking a question like this.

I see Warmoth mentioned a lot for custom necks, so I went and priced one up for myself

Neck = $377

Shipping = $140

Total = $517

Converted to GBP = £413

The above prices don't include any hardware other than frets and comes unfinished - the cheapest finish is $105

That total puts the price firmly within the range that the OP was stating, so it's not totally outside the realm of possibility that this could be a viable business opportunity.

 

Mark

[itu]

I'd be interested in the manufacturing country. If it is the big C, no. If Japan or even S. Korea, then maybe.

 

European luthiers are so numerous that you can get a custom neck from the east side for a very attractive price, even from local guys. Why should I choose Asian?

Edited April 25, 2023 by itu

[tegs07]

4 hours ago, LowB_FTW said:

I can kinda see the benefit in asking a question like this.

I see Warmoth mentioned a lot for custom necks, so I went and priced one up for myself

Neck = $377

Shipping = $140

Total = $517

Converted to GBP = £413

The above prices don't include any hardware other than frets and comes unfinished - the cheapest finish is $105

That total puts the price firmly within the range that the OP was stating, so it's not totally outside the realm of possibility that this could be a viable business opportunity.

 

Mark

Taxes and import fees from the USA can be shocking. I have underestimated these in the past.

[Jeffrey Z]

On 25/04/2023 at 07:15, tegs07 said:

Taxes and import fees from the USA can be shocking. I have underestimated these in the past.

I decided that this might be a stupid idea for me to do as a student, I recently bought a collaboration alpha omega with a Japan anime company, the shipping + tax cost almost 30% of the effect it self.... its crazy

[Jeffrey Z]

On 25/04/2023 at 06:53, itu said:

I'd be interested in the manufacturing country. If it is the big C, no. If Japan or even S. Korea, then maybe.

 

European luthiers are so numerous that you can get a custom neck from the east side for a very attractive price, even from local guys. Why should I choose Asian?

I was thinking to be a retailer role, not sure where the necks are produced but I think something like Korea or Indonesia? Cuz China is only known for producing some squire long time ago

[Jeffrey Z]

On 25/04/2023 at 03:02, LowB_FTW said:

I can kinda see the benefit in asking a question like this.

I see Warmoth mentioned a lot for custom necks, so I went and priced one up for myself

Neck = $377

Shipping = $140

Total = $517

Converted to GBP = £413

The above prices don't include any hardware other than frets and comes unfinished - the cheapest finish is $105

That total puts the price firmly within the range that the OP was stating, so it's not totally outside the realm of possibility that this could be a viable business opportunity.

 

Mark

Thanks mark, my old target product was flame and Birdseye maple etc.. as these has higher profit margins, but I've decided not going to do it, Im just gonna stay at home and be a lazy uni student just like all my friends haha

[Beedster]

What an odd thread?

[Boodang]

At that price I'd get my local luthier to make me a neck..... and that's what I've done recently. Custom 61 spec jazz neck with carbon stringers. Very specific and not something a generic manufacturer could produce. 

[nilorius]

If i had the situation with no bass on board. I would wright down the necrolog of all my basses before and tried to invent the best custom shop bass, so at that situation i would buy it, but it is 1 % that it will happen.

[Old Horse Murphy]