Some weeks ago, we shared a survey to better understand the relationship between bassists and luthiers. 

If you didn't reply to it yet, you can find it here.

The goal of this blog post is to share with you some data we received and to see what solution we can find that helps both bassists and luthiers.

 

How many years have you been playing bass?

We can say that once you start playing bass, you can't quit! You will play forever and ever! 😈

 

How many basses do you have?

Only 6% have only 1 bass! 😮

All others have between 2 and 10 basses.

And 5% have between 10 and 15 basses.

Bassists are some crazy collectors! 

I think this image sums up well our life as bassist:

I don't know if you agree but in my case, this is exactly my reality. The only difference is that I also have a rabbit with the cat. 😅

 

How much do you play bass?

Well, bassists are quite addict! I hope your strings are still alive.

 

Do you prefer industrial or luthier basses? 

The majority of the bassists doesn't care if they have an industrial or luthier bass.

And that's quite sad for our dear luthiers. 

As you know, BassGears decided to promote handmade basses, so I invite you to read this article about the differences between handmade and factory made guitars. It is the same for basses, of course.

With a luthier, you can order and customise every aspect of your instrument. So try to imagine the bass of your dream and find the one luthier that can achieve it.

 

What range of price would you put on industrial’s basses?

48% won't put more than $1000 and 42% won't put more than $2000 in an industrial bass.

What range of price would you put on luthier’s basses?

To get a luthier bass, we can see that more bassists would put more money than for the industrial ones. 

How many time could you wait to have a custom luthier’s bass?

And that bassists are quite patient to get their own personal precious!

What is important to you in a bass?

We can see here what are the different parts that are the most important for bassists. No surprise here but this is quite interesting and this can help our luthiers partners.

 

Are you interested to have a custom luthier’s basses?

We see that 80% want a custom luthier bass and 20% are not interested.
This is great news for our friends luthiers!

Where do you buy your basses?

However, we see here, in this multiple choice question, than only 2,6% buy basses directly from luthiers. Probably because they don't have enough visibility, that's why we promote their work here at BassGears.

We also see that there are many exchanges between bassists, probably because the community of bassists is awesome! 😉

 

Some great comments we liked from you:

• One fantasy I have would be a bass with a switch toggling between fretted and fretless, implying a mechanism in the neck to raise/lower them.
• Great initiative ! Keep it going, the world needs more luthiers and less fenders/gibsons. These massive brands are really needed and always welcome but it's time for luthiers to come into the spotlight to support the local scenes and musicians !!
• Speaking with the handcraft maker is just the secret for the best bass.
• Craft us basses with MIDI
• Keep on rockin'

 

Conclusion

We see that a lot of bassists want a custom luthier bass but don't buy from luthiers directly. They are willing to pay more and to wait for the bass to be crafted.

However, almost 45% of the bassists can't pay a luthier bass over $2000. 
And the majority of the luthier basses are over $2000, so there is something to do here to help bassists that still want their basses.

Maybe a lottery system? Maybe a way to support luthiers to have regular income that will allow to reduce the price of the basses?

Well, we will try to find a solution soon but if you have some ideas you want to share let us a comment. 

 

May The Bass Be With You