4 string, 34" Gecko.
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stratamania
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Probably because the Gecko line is an original design, not based on Fender specs, and there is probably not enough demand for it to be viable business wise.
Edit, post has been moved to the correct sub forum.
Edit, post has been moved to the correct sub forum.
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supertruper1988
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There is the G4 body which is the Gecko Body shape and there are about 1 billion combinations of compatible necks that Warmoth sells. What seems to be the issue? The heel design and cutaways of the Gecko 5 & 6 strings? If you really want that feel and shape, there are also about 1 billion Ibanez SoundGear 4 string basses that are very similar in shape and design.
I guess I am just lost as to what this would bring to the table that isnt already part of Warmoth's offerings or isnt a dime a dozen in the market place already.
I guess I am just lost as to what this would bring to the table that isnt already part of Warmoth's offerings or isnt a dime a dozen in the market place already.
The G4 doesn't have the same recessed no contact heel, or inlay on the fretboard. And I don't want an Ibanez. They have every version of te Gecko but the most popular. They have small, medium, wide, 5 and 6 string, 35" scale, but not 4 string 34", which is what I see most of the time and prefer myself. I'm a "bassist who prefers modern aesthetics ad playability" (Warmoth from "general info"). It would be really nice to have "1 billion combinations" of their best, flagship bass. A guitar version would be amazing too. I'd be pretty shocked to find out I'm the first to suggest this. Unless they don't want or need to sell more, that may be the case.
supertruper1988
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I have been in the MI industry a very long time and bass is the hardest market segment by far. There are a lot of opinions and the customer base isnt as large so the return that a company can expect from any bass products is less than similar guitar products. You can even see the reveal of this when Aaron says in the bass videos on the Warmoth YouTube Channel that bass videos get a fraction of the engagement compared to guitar videos.
To answer your questions of "why no 34" 4 string" and the simple answer is that there are a finite number of advanced bass players that want a 24 fret 4 string bass that dont have their needs met by what is in the marketplace already. And when they do decide to go custom, they actually just spring a little extra $ for a 5 string.
All of this is speculation and opinion but I just thought this was an interesting topic to yammer on about for a few minutes.
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Yes, all this.
Bass is a niche market to begin with. When you dump R/D money into bass products your ROI is limited to begin with. Sub-categories (Gecko, Short-Scale, 8-String, etc) are a niche within a niche.
Also, making parts is a different game than making complete guitars. Warmoth simply can't do every single thing that every single person wants, even on the guitar side. It's logistically and financially impossible.
It stands to reason that we are going to pay the most attention to the things that sell the most. As cool as they are, the Gecko bodies and necks are not our best selling bass parts.
Maybe that's because most bassists play 34" scale, 4 string basses most of the time, and when we ask for that we are told to "buy an Ibanez" by other Warmoth customers on the Warmoth forum. And how much would it cost to slightly alter a CNC program to delete a string and an inch of scale length? The Gecko could be way more popular. People have been mentioning it on this, and other forums for years.
TBurst Std
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Maybe you should front the capital for the development if you believe it’s that desired/needed. If that proves true you’ll make lots of coin.
Spoken as a business man as well as a pro musician. 38 of my gigs last year were on bass
Spoken as a business man as well as a pro musician. 38 of my gigs last year were on bass
TBurst Std
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Well rather than that, why not do a G4?
Because it's not half as nice as their flagship bass, that's only targeted at a small fraction of an already small group of people, within another small group of people. Musicians>bassists>virtuosic bass players>virtuosic soloist bassists who play virtuosic modern music needing that kind of extended range.
All I'm asking is, what about the other 9/10ths of us? Can't we have nice things too? Have you seen the difference between the heel design and aesthetics between the G4 and G5? 4 string standard long scale is what they sell the most of, by far, as far as basses, yet they don't want to sell their best bass parts that are "not our best selling bass parts" because they can't alter an existing CNC program to change two things. I'll never understand that.
And speaking of Ibanez, they have a $200 short scale bass called the Mikro with a better heel than the G4. It's sculpted, no contact with the ferrules. I just thought it couldn't hurt to ask I love Warmoth parts, they're a fantastic company. And who doesn't love a no-contact, sculpted heel? We all love them. Even Fender and Music Man are doing them now, and so is Warmoth, but only on one highly specialised bass designed for .00003% of the population because, I don't know why. That's why I asked. That's what this forum is for.
I like their contoured heel, but my girlfriends 11 year old has a nicer heel on her Mikro than my $900 Ray34 and my $2000 Warmoth. I love my basses, but for that kind of money is it really too much to ask if they could match the heel on a $200 instrument?
I think some of you construe this as an attack, judging by your responses. It's not, it's just customer feedback.. I'm a huge fan, always have been. I only play my Warmoth guitar. It's my absolute favorite. Who else for $1500 is going to give me a solid Lacewood Z body with a burnished Bloodwood/Ebony neck? It's amazing.
stratamania
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@Dave B I can understand your desire about the heel design etc, and I don't think people are construing your suggestions as an attack.
I think the Gecko is a great design and so on, it is amazing in some ways that it is available at all.
If we look at heel design, on the guitar line which will sell in far greater numbers people have been asking Warmoth for alternative heel designs for a long time and they are not available either.
Over the years, various cool suggestions like yours have been made but in the end if it strays from what will be a viable product line and Warmoth's core business model that allows them to continue to offer great value parts at a reasonable cost with maximum compatibility so it is not likely to happen.
It is not just a CNC program that would need just two things changing, it would need also quite a lot of CAD work before you could even generate the tool paths for CNC. Then prototyping etc... All of that would take time etc away from the core business. If it does not give a return for the developed item and the time and other production lost etc. then it would be deemed not viable.
So in the end, very few cool suggestions will be viable for Warmoth to do.
I think the Gecko is a great design and so on, it is amazing in some ways that it is available at all.
If we look at heel design, on the guitar line which will sell in far greater numbers people have been asking Warmoth for alternative heel designs for a long time and they are not available either.
Over the years, various cool suggestions like yours have been made but in the end if it strays from what will be a viable product line and Warmoth's core business model that allows them to continue to offer great value parts at a reasonable cost with maximum compatibility so it is not likely to happen.
It is not just a CNC program that would need just two things changing, it would need also quite a lot of CAD work before you could even generate the tool paths for CNC. Then prototyping etc... All of that would take time etc away from the core business. If it does not give a return for the developed item and the time and other production lost etc. then it would be deemed not viable.
So in the end, very few cool suggestions will be viable for Warmoth to do.
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supertruper1988
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To be fair, I was making a broad generalization that an Ibanez is what you needed but at the same time, the feature set you are looking for is readily available on the market place from many brands in many finishes and wood combinations. This makes it a poor investment for Warmoth. I have done plenty of CAD work and "simply" changing a couple of specs would easily be 80 hours just in the design work. Then there is the testing a prototyping to ensure that things work as designed so there are wasted hours on a machine that could be pumping out more parts for orders. Then there is the wasted materials for each test. The investment for this "simple" bass would easily run in the 10s of thousands range.
The Warmoth Gecko bass has been around longer than many 35" scale 5 string basses meaning at the time it was created, it filed a niche. I still fail to see how a 34" 4 string bass fills a niche in the market in a way that would be profitable for Warmoth.
