Bongo Fury

[ptg]

Last week I figured I'd go to GC and check out a Bongo. Drive 20 minutes or so and...no Bongo. One Sterling with no knobs that's been there forever and (I think) 1 SR and 1 other Sterling.

I wasn't going to bother with a post except...

Went to another GC about an hour away. 1 Bongo 5. That's it. Long Island, NY...A couple of million people...1 Bongo. Hard to buy 'em when you can't play 'em. What do you do if you live in a remote area? BTW, the 2nd GC had (I think) 2 SR and 2 Sterlings hanging about 30' up the wall. (You needed to ask sales for them to get the ladder.) On the floor they had (Again, I didn't take notes...) I think 2 each of the other EBMMs.

I'm just sayin...

*****Bonus points for anyone who gets the title of the thread*****

 

[Duarte]

Bongo Fury...Frank Zappa?

 

[Duarte]

And yes I feel your pain, the closest Bongo to me is in london (100 miles away) and there was only one in the whole city. Damn those non-open-mided londoners. I hate london.

 

[ptg]

Bongo Fury...Frank Zappa?

FZ! (With a little bit o Beefheart)

Was in London 2 years ago and, yes, very disappointed with the music stores there. I was hoping to find something a little different but no such luck.

 

[the unrepentant]

Ahh, another brit, i feel your pain, i'm from notts and i've only ever seen 4 EBMM basses in nottingham, two were stingrays in sound control, another was a sub bass in sound control and the 4th is my baby . But i've not seen one for sale in any of the numerous music shops for a good couple of years here. The shops aren't that big either...

When i need i turn to ebay, that's where my sub came from, got a good price too for such a fantastic bass in amazing condition to say it was shiipped in a soft case! Can't complain though.

 

[tegzsa]

And yes I feel your pain, the closest Bongo to me is in london (100 miles away) and there was only one in the whole city. Damn those non-open-mided londoners. I hate london.

When I was there last, there were 2. One on Denmark St and, bizarrely, one downstairs in the Virgin Megastore on Oxford St.

 

[Smakbass]

I was at our local chain store yesterday and they had 1 SR5 2 Stringrays 3 Sterlings, all single pick up no Bongo's,,I mentioned to them at least they could mix it up a bit, not to mention I picked up the SR5 and the strings were totally slack and someone had adjusted the bridge to as high as it goes....they didnt even seem to know but they did take action on it when i pointed it out....

 

[PzoLover]

here's my suggestion

In my previous business life, I did lots of inventory management and analysis work, and I was pretty good at it ... in terms of these troubling reports of not finding BONGOs to see, touch and feel at our New York and Vancouver Big City chain stores, my suggestion for everybody on both sides of the equation is to communicate more effectively about the issue at the bottom ... no store can increase inventory without justification ... the 3 kinds of sales that I know of that need to be considered and analyzed in order to justify inventory increases are, actual inventory sales, special order sales and "lost" sales ... for a Knucklehead, it may be important to approach your GC or your L&M MusicMan bass or guitar rep and tell them ..."hey, man, If you had more fine EBMM stock today, I probably would have bought something, I didn't come here today looking for an ice cream cone" and I'm not interested in your large stock of corporate brands... then the MusicMan sales rep has some serious ammunition to take to his/her manager when asking for more EBMM inventory ... in fairness to the sales reps, they are caught in the middle ... and Knuckleheads, you have to be OK with the sales rep asking some serious customer service minded sales type questions, such as ..., "is there something you'd like to see or try that you don't see on display here right now"?, and would you be interested in buying a new MusicMan instrument here today, if I had some in stock for you to see and try"? in fairness, these are the type of service minded questions a sales rep needs answers for to justify reporting a "lost sale" to the manager, then, the manager can report to upper or regional management that more inventory dollars could be justified based on analysis of accumulated actual and "lost" sales ... the other way for Knuckleheads to help retailers justify more inventory investment is to special order an instrument and grumble about the waiting time ... special orders generate cash flow , "lost sales generate demand data for analysis by management and represents money that probably will go through the cash register of a progressive retailer, and "money speaks for itself" ... eventually, inventory must be an investment justified by sales, not an expense justified by wishes and speculation, eventually, a MusicMan distribution rep can chat with a retailer and say, "hey man, we think you're missing opportubities, your neighbour retailer down the street reports XYZ percent of total sales are EBMM instruments and we think you could share some of this market better if you were to increaswe your EBMM stock... "HOw can we assist you in increasing your EBMM sales??? the management [people will be more than happy to ask for more inventory dollars and show their bosses all the sales increases that result ... but, remember, "talk is cheap, inventory is not, and, Knuckleheads, you have to be realistic, don't whine to me about sales reps asking you sum serious customer service type questions ... get a paper route and earn more bucks and let's drive BIG POPPA's sales numbers up, waaaaay up
so, I hope our friends at GC in New York and at L&M in Vancouver can rise to the situation and if not just increase inventory because it's a nice thing to do, they can analyze all sales and demand issues and increase BONGO and EBMusicMan iinventory investments and throw the questions back to Knuckleheads "are you prepared to "buck up" and buy more BONGOs and fine Musicman instruments to justify our incxrease in investment"???
so, everybody, let's get ready for sum real business and let's make BIG POPPA sum real happy trying to keep up with increasing stock orders from all these fine stores

meanwhile, I hope to don't see you in the lineup at GC or L&M cuz I'll be at Act1 fetching what Psychicpet has in stock for me and she's a Beaut too EH?

ATB,
/PL

 

[Duarte]

I read the first and last line and it sort of made sense. Well said!

 

[Sheppardslegion]

Hi Folks,

I almost have every fingernail biten to the bone waiting for my Bongo - ordered Dec. 10, 07.
Looking forward to having it in my hands and I e-mail my local dealer every couple days as to an update on the order. Is there a time frame once the order has been sent - just curious?

Shepp..

 

[PzoLover]

way to go

Congrats Shepp, you've survived the worst part and you've paid the price, and you've served the EBMM comunity very well by outliving the special order waiting time, no fault to the SLOHands who need time to create these masterpieces, maybe your retailer will be more able to increase BONGOstock now, based on actual demand, and in Candy Red, she's gonna look BEAUTY EH? I've waited 3 - 6 months for my SR5s and never regretted a moment of that time, She'll be well worth it when she arrives... Good Luck getting sum sleep once you bring her home.
ATB,
/PL

 

[oli@bass]

Hey Pzo, I agree and disagree.

To me, one of the main problems in Europe is brand visibility and awareness. I'd say that about 70% of the target client group does not even know MusicMan exists. Of those who know, the larger part knows the StingRay (black/maple) but have no clue that there are other instruments made by MM. Most sales reps don't know the wide palette of instruments MusicMan has to offer, even less what options are available on them.

I now hold in my hands what is said to be the most recent price list, and it neither has the double pickup options for the StingRays nor the Stealth finish for the Bongo on it. I can't order it, even if I know it is build in SLO!!

But the whole problem starts a lot earlier: How are musicians tempted to ask for MusicMan instruments? They must see them in the local stores they visit. They must see them in classic and in hip colours, in vintage and in modern configurations. Otherwise they'll just grab one of the ten Jazz basses hanging on the wall, because there is no alternative!

I will order me a nicely hip Desert Gold classic StingRay 4 with modern HS pickup. But who's going to see it?!. Me... and the two or three bassists that happen to come to our concerts.

But that's not enough.


BTW, MarkBass managed to have a much higher visibility and awareness in the short time they are available. I see MarkBass amps in almost every bass corner of serious music stores, but I can't say that for MusicMan instruments.

 

[PzoLover]

my limitations

Hey Oli,
my experience in stock control gives me no ability to know how to solve marketing issues half way 'round the world and I'm certainly not going to pretend that I can help sell basses in Europe ... and far be it from me to mess with Big Poppa's business, He's the expert, not me and no matter how I'd like to see MusicMan instruments in the hands of every progressive player in the world, it's time for me to shutup and not poke my nose where it doesn't belong ... I think my points about "tracking "lost sales are valid in the North American market from a stock and order management perspective, but overseas marketing is certainly not my area of expertise and the best thing I can do to help my fave brand of basses and guitars do well in the market is to wave the flag high and hard in my own backyard
ATB,
/PL

 

[DTG]

i had never even seen a bongo,i tried to find one in Ireland but no shop seemed to have one.So i took a leap of faith and bought one on ebay,the best bass i have ever played !!!

 

[Duarte]

To be honest I'm kind of glad that not everyone knows about the options available, and maybe if they don't even know know musicman exists. I like fact that I have something different to every other generic bass player. Let people stick to their precisions and jazzes (I've got one of each too) and lets bask in the glory of having a truly quality instrument.

So my point being - don't let musicman turn into fender or ibanez or some other make which EVERYONE has. Keep it special.

 

[Mongo]

This afternoon I was at the East Brunswick NJ GC and found 1 Bongo 5 CAR "On Clearance" in a stand as I walked in the door. It was the only Bongo they had and there wasn't much in the way of MM basses in the bass room at all. A few months ago they had quite a few Bongos, Sterlings, SR4s, and SR5s.

Is GC not carrying EBMM anymore?

 

[ptg]

To be honest I'm kind of glad that not everyone knows about the options available, and maybe if they don't even know know musicman exists. I like fact that I have something different to every other generic bass player. Let people stick to their precisions and jazzes (I've got one of each too) and lets bask in the glory of having a truly quality instrument.

So my point being - don't let musicman turn into fender or ibanez or some other make which EVERYONE has. Keep it special.

I see your point and I know it is nice having a bit of a unique sound. On the other hand (and I am in no way speaking for him, of course) I would guess that BP would like to sell as many basses as he can without becoming one of those "stale" product lines.

 

[Duarte]

Yes I should think so. It's good he's not manufacturing basses in Mexico and China and all that rubbish.

And of course, the more that are made, the more I can have.

 

[mammoth]

yo zak!

there's 2 in a shop in denmark street, london. a 5 HH in (black not stealth) and a 4hh in lava pearl..

i coulnt get along with either of them.... harumph

 

[Duarte]

Say what? I'm inlondon for a couple of days this week...and lava pearl is my favorite finish. Will definately try to check them out.

Thanks