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By Mike Ippersiel
So what’s the big deal about boutique basses?
Perhaps this is something that you’ve thought to yourself as you’ve looked at high resolution images of handmade or highly customized basses that cost $3,000 and up.
Are they worth more than triple what you can spend to pick up a decent bass off the shelf at your local music store?Do all those exotic woods do anything besides look, well…exotic? Are they really just over-priced pieces of furniture fashioned into the shape of a bass guitar?
Yes and no.
You see, any particular bass guitar is going to be worth more or less money from one person to another. Some instrument collectors will pay outrageous sums of money for rare instruments because they happened to be owned or even were only played a few times by someone famous like Paul McCartney or Jaco Pastorius.
Others may pay to have a bass guitar built by hand that many may feel is either ugly, or even unplayable. It’s true that one man’s trash is another
man’s treasure!
For me, it was the price tag that really put boutique basses on a pedestal for me.
Here I was, a modest rock bassist playing covers and original music who was happy to go home after a gig with $100 bucks in his pocket – what right did I have to daydream about a high-end custom bass guitar? The ‘realistic’ side of me said that I could own a bass like that ‘one day’ when I ‘made it’.
While there is a market for boutique bass guitars that look like furniture and that span 5, 6, 7, 8 strings and beyond, a significant chunk of the high end bass guitar market is devoted to what I’ll call ‘modern vintage’ instruments.
Luthiers like Sadowsky, Mike Lull and Alleva-Coppolo (just to name a few) offer modern takes on the classic Fender Jazz bass guitar – that cost several times more than it would cost to just pickup up an actual Fender bass yourself.
So why pay more for a ‘copy’ than buying the original bass from the actual manufacturer?
The reality is that the art of creating a bass guitar has changed dramatically in the last few decades.
Basses are now mass produced and outsourced to overseas operations all in the effort to keep them as affordable as possible. While this is great for the typical musician, the professionals and perfectionists among us have often lamented that many of the instruments just don’t feel or sound as good as the basses made back in the 60s and 70s.
Part of the reason for this could be using inferior woods, rushing the manufacturing process and not allowing even the quality woods to age sufficiently.
Perhaps in an effort to trim back costs to compete in the global market place, wages were reduced to the point where it’s not as economically viable for master craftsman and women to be employed at some of the bigger name companies?
Whatever the reason, the best advice I’ve heard and often repeated when it comes time to buy a new instrument – especially one that’s mass produced by one of the more popular brands out there – is to play as many as you can and let your hands and your ears tell you which one to buy.
In a perfect world, you should be able to just walk into a store and pick the model you like the best and get it in your preferred colour and walk out. You wouldn’t worry about another bass sounding better because they’d all sound the same right? However, even among the most reputable manufacturers the consistency may fluctuate from bass to bass.
With Fenders I’ve heard of some people exclaiming that Made in Mexico basses were as good or better than Made in America basses – but you’ll only find that gem of a great sounding bass at a more affordable price if you’re willing to hunt for it. So again the advice, play every bass you can get your hands on, play every bass in the store and buy the one that sounds and feels the best to you.
Do you see where I’m going with this?Advantages of using a luthier?
Time is a huge factor behind why many people are more than happy to pony up the big bucks for a modern take on a vintage classic. They can chat with the luthier about what they’re looking for and get it made to order – the finish, the string spacing, the woods, the hardware – whatever.
Compared to hitting every music store in every neighbouring city within an hour’s drive; or camping out on Ebay or classified ads sites waiting for a certain vintage bass to come up for sale, the amount of time saved can be tremendous…and we all know that time is money right?
Plus, who’s to say that when you finally do find that vintage Fender that you’ve been pining over for years that you won’t pick it up and find the dreaded ‘dead spot’ after plunking a few notes?
Going the custom route alleviates a lot of those difficulties; many of the luthiers have exceptional warranties to go with the instrument. After all, it’s their name on the headstock and they want to make sure every customer is going to speak highly of their products and customer service.
Then again…
Boutique basses aren’t really about a particular style of music, or the status of the player – you don’t have to be a celebrity to own these high end basses (and I’d argue that the vast majority of owners are nowhere near famous)– the instrument just needs to offer that something that you can’t easily find elsewhere to make it worth the cost.
For some, it’s a replica of a vintage bass guitar that they always loved but could never find. For others, a boutique bass is where they get to tailor things like the weight, the neck shape and depth or the number of strings that the mass produced versions just can’t do in an economical fashion. Still others want the best of traditional styling and a 20 fret fingerboard along with modern features like a low b string and active electronics.
Whatever your reason, boutique basses are worth a closer look whether you find modern instruments lacking or covet extremely rare vintage bass guitars that are in short supply.
In the end you might find the biggest pain is not how much the custom basses cost, but the agony of waiting for your boutique bass to be built!
You can learn more about boutique bass guitars and more by visiting http://bassguitarrocks.com/how-do-i-buy-a-custom-boutique-bass-guitar
– thanks for reading!
Legendary, unique and historic. This is Eddie Van Halens guitar pedal board that he used on the 2007-2008 Van Halen Tour.
In January 2011 Vintage and Rare visited the NAMM show in Anaheim, California. As the guitarfreaks we are, we of course had to visit Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd, downtown Los Angeles. In the front window sat Eddie Van Halens guitar pedal board from the 2007-2008 Van Halen Tour.
This famous pedal board marks the sold-out tour where David Lee Roth for the first time in 23 years performed with Van Halen.
– It is an outstanding piece of hardware and a must-see for guitar-freaks all over the world. It is always interesting to see how the master guitarplayers put together their rigs. As a huge fan of Eddie Van Halen and his unique sound and groundbreaking playingstyle and technique it is great to see up close.
– We hope you will enjoy these pictures. Should you have pictures of the amprig please contact us, as we would like to show it on this blog as well.
By Mike Ippersiel
So what’s the big deal about boutique basses? Perhaps this is something that you’ve thought to yourself as you’ve looked at high resolution images of handmade or highly customized basses that cost $3,000 and up.
Are they worth more than triple what you can spend to pick up a decent bass off the shelf at your local music store? Do all those exotic woods do anything besides look, well…exotic? Are they really just over-priced pieces of furniture fashioned into the shape of a bass guitar?
Yes and no.
You see, any particular bass guitar is going to be worth more or less money from one person to another. Some instrument collectors will pay outrageous sums of money for rare instruments because they happened to be owned or even were only played a few times by someone famous like Paul McCartney or Jaco Pastorius.
Others may pay to have a bass guitar built by hand that many may feel is either ugly, or even unplayable. It’s true that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure! For me, it was the price tag that really put boutique basses on a pedestal for me.
Here I was, a modest rock bassist playing covers and original music who was happy to go home after a gig with $100 bucks in his pocket – what right did I have to daydream about a high-end custom bass guitar? The ‘realistic’ side of me said that I could own a bass like that ‘one day’ when I ‘made it’.
While there is a market for boutique bass guitars that look like furniture and that span 5, 6, 7, 8 strings and beyond, a significant chunk of the high end bass guitar market is devoted to what I’ll call ‘modern vintage’ instruments.
Luthiers like Sadowsky, Mike Lull and Alleva-Coppolo (just to name a few) offer modern takes on the classic Fender Jazz bass guitar – that cost several times more than it would cost to just pickup up an actual Fender bass yourself.
So why pay more for a ‘copy’ than buying the original bass from the actual manufacturer?
The reality is that the art of creating a bass guitar has changed dramatically in the last few decades.
Basses are now mass produced and outsourced to overseas operations all in the effort to keep them as affordable as possible. While this is great for the typical musician, the professionals and perfectionists among us have often lamented that many of the instruments just don’t feel or sound as good as the basses made back in the 60s and 70s.
Part of the reason for this could be using inferior woods, rushing the manufacturing process and not allowing even the quality woods to age sufficiently.
Perhaps in an effort to trim back costs to compete in the global market place, wages were reduced to the point where it’s not as economically viable for master craftsman and women to be employed at some of the bigger name companies?
Whatever the reason, the best advice I’ve heard and often repeated when it comes time to buy a new instrument – especially one that’s mass produced by one of the more popular brands out there – is to play as many as you can and let your hands and your ears tell you which one to buy.
In a perfect world, you should be able to just walk into a store and pick the model you like the best and get it in your preferred colour and walk out.
You wouldn’t worry about another bass sounding better because they’d all sound the same right?
However, even among the most reputable manufacturers the consistency may fluctuate from bass to bass.
With Fenders I’ve heard of some people exclaiming that Made in Mexico basses were as good or better than Made in America basses – but you’ll only find that gem of a great sounding bass at a more affordable price if you’re willing to hunt for it. So again the advice, play every bass you can get your hands on, play every bass in the store and buy the one that sounds and feels the best to you.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Advantages of using a luthier?
Time is a huge factor behind why many people are more than happy to pony up the big bucks for a modern take on a vintage classic. They can chat with the luthier about what they’re looking for and get it made to order – the finish, the string spacing, the woods, the hardware – whatever.
Compared to hitting every music store in every neighbouring city within an hour’s drive; or camping out on Ebay or classified ads sites waiting for a certain vintage bass to come up for sale, the amount of time saved can be tremendous…and we all know that time is money right?
Plus, who’s to say that when you finally do find that vintage Fender that you’ve been pining over for years that you won’t pick it up and find the dreaded ‘dead spot’ after plunking a few notes?
Going the custom route alleviates a lot of those difficulties; many of the luthiers have exceptional warranties to go with the instrument. After all, it’s their name on the headstock and they want to make sure every customer is going to speak highly of their products and customer service.
Then again…
Boutique basses aren’t really about a particular style of music, or the status of the player – you don’t have to be a celebrity to own these high end basses (and I’d argue that the vast majority of owners are nowhere near famous)– the instrument just needs to offer that something that you can’t easily find elsewhere to make it worth the cost.
For some, it’s a replica of a vintage bass guitar that they always loved but could never find. For others, a boutique bass is where they get to tailor things like the weight, the neck shape and depth or the number of strings that the mass produced versions just can’t do in an economical fashion. Still others want the best of traditional styling and a 20 fret fingerboard along with modern features like a low b string and active electronics.
Whatever your reason, boutique basses are worth a closer look whether you find modern instruments lacking or covet extremely rare vintage bass guitars that are in short supply.
In the end you might find the biggest pain is not how much the custom basses cost, but the agony of waiting for your boutique bass to be built!
You can learn more about boutique bass guitars and more by visiting http://bassguitarrocks.com/how-do-i-buy-a-custom-boutique-bass-guitar
– thanks for reading!
Next one up in our series of interviews with luthiers is Juha Ruokangas, who for the last 16 years has been an increasingly inspiring player on the guitar building-scene. Vintageandrare.com had a chat with Juha about the qualities of their unique wood and Ruokangas way of advertising for themselves.
Juha Ruokangas – Photo by Ruokangas.com
1. Hello Juha, and thanks for wanting to talk to us! What made you enter the business?
As a teen I was supposed to become a rockstar – what else! My musician career didn’t pick up the way I hoped so I was kind of drifting around for a couple of years. This was in the beginning of 1990′s – no internet or even cellphones yet invented. I had been repairing guitars a bit since I was a young guy but it just never occurred to me that this could be a profession – until I accidentally heard about this small school in Finland where you can learn to be a luthier / guitarmaker. I applied and got in – and I knew immediately that I had found my true calling. This is my labor of love, truly. And now more than ever I feel I’m on the right path, as the company has grown to a very comfortable size, we’re 5 persons all together and everyone of us enjoys what we’re doing.
2. How did you come up with the idea for your very clever online guitar builder?
I started making guitars for a living in 1995, and I noticed very soon that one of the biggest problems was how to communicate with the customer about all possible options we can offer – and once the option lists were presented, in many cases the result was that the customer was literally paralyzed – so many options, how can the customer be sure to pick the right combination when there’s no chance to even see how it will look like. So I did like everybody else, kept building guitars, and my early website photo galleries grew slowly bigger. And of course I noticed that players are ordering guitars many times on basis what they saw in the galleries – and this was bugging me, cause I knew they would order a wider variety of colors and other specs – if they just knew that they could! So I started a huge website project in 2002 with a great graphics designer and he built me the Mark I of the guitar builder. It was nowhere near as complex a system as what we have now, but it did give us a head start. Now we have the Mark II guitar builder online and it works beautifully. We even published a little iPhone app guitar builder sort of as a teaser of the fully blooded system on our website.
3. How was the first guitar you ever made?
I was told by my teachers that a good start in learning this profession is to learn building what’s already out there. That way you learn the basics, the existing techniques, constructions etc. So I started with a strat replica. I’ve built quite a few of various kinds of replicas in the early days of my career. Stratocasters, Telecasters, Les Pauls etc.
4. Which instrument has made you most proud?
There are so many. Every one of them still feels quite special to me, but of course every now and then there’s something that’s pops out. I’m very proud of the first Unicorn guitar I built. Not only the guitar, but the whole documentation of the design process in the YouTube videos we made. It enabled me to show in detail why my guitars are special. I hadn’t realized the power of videos before that really. Nowadays we do a lot of videos, it’s a great way to be transparent to the clientele.
Ruokangas HQ – Photo from Ruokangas.com
5. What has been your biggest challenge?
I would say that the whole process of starting the business and striving to be the best I ever can – now there’s a big challenge! I’m such a hopeless, romantic idealist that sometimes it drives everybody at the shop crazy. I love to finetune endlessly the whole concept of what ‘Ruokangas Guitars’ is about – and sometimes this happens at the expense of forgetting that we need to sell guitars all the time to survive financially!
6. What made you pick the Arctic Birch for some of your guitars? What is it’s features?
This was a coincidence. I got a piece of beautifully flamed birch from a friend and it was laying around at the shop for quite a while. Then I ended up using the piece on one of the Duke guitars 1999. I completely fell in love with the tone and the unique looks – flamed but not in the same way as maple. Since then I’ve come a long way. The birch we use is quite difficult to find since it’s not such an organized business as revolves around maple in the North America. I can’t call any wood broker for AAA flamed birch tops. I need to go to the sawmills, pick the trees standing up and so on – all totally from scratch. The use of Finnish Arctic Birch has become our most distinct trademark on the market, and I’m really proud of it. Structurally, Finnish Arctic birch is very close to maple. The weight and color are similar to maple as well. The flamed figuration is usually “wilder” than maple. I prefer the birch tone over maple, especially when used in a combination with our other trademark wood, the Spanish Cedar.
The raucous Ruokangas rockers – Photo by www.ruokangas.com
7. Do you feel it as an advantage having so vast amounts of beautiful timber close at hand, being Finnish?
I feel really proud of being able to offer some domestic wood species in my guitars. In some ways it’s an advantage, but also a challenge, knowing how conservative the business is. It’s not so easy to break through with a non-traditional material in this business. I’ve worked on it for nearly 16 years now and only during the last few years I feel the work has started to pay off, as the guitar enthusiasts have seen me around long enough doing what I do.
8. What is your favourite stage of manufacturing a guitar?
The devil is in the details. I love working on the intricate details and to make everything perfect. I don’t mean necessarily an inlay work or anything as striking as that. It could be just the fretboard edge, fret end, nut bone – or whatever detail. Building guitars can be a very “therapeutic” profession – you start building a guitar, and one day not in the too distant future you get it ready – it’s a very rewarding process mentally.
Juha and his work – Photo by www.ruokangas.com
9. What are your ambitions on behalf of Ruokangas?
It’s interesting that even though Emma (my wife) and I work together in the company, we also share our hobbies – so we’re basically never apart! 🙂 We’re both music enthusiasts – we have a rock band called Tadalang – I play the guitar and Emma sings. My brother plays the bass and we have also another guitarist and of course drums. We’re gigging locally and having fun. I love motorbikes too. Rest of the time is more or less family stuff, nice and cosy.
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