What a disappointment!

[bradfordws]

Where are all the cool colors? The honey burst was the best in the business - and the blue burst and others. Yeah, I know there was an announcement on this, but what is the reason for it? Funny how the main pic for each bass shows a color no longer available. I'm glad I got a Sabre Classic in honey burst while I could - and my Sterling 5H PDN. One of the cool things about EB/MM was the nice selection of colors. Now there are about as many choices as Fender offers, which isn't much - in other words - NG. Heck, I'd pay an upcharge for a color no longer offered if that's what it would take. I really wanted to get a Sterling 5H in silver, but I guess I'll have to buy one of the four colors offered and send it out for a refin! Is anyone else bummed out about this or is it just me?

 

[Bert]

View attachment 29283 I love my honeyburst too...

 

[CW Zing]

I think we'll be surprised in a few short months. Dunno really, but they've maybe done something drastic with the bass lineup to justify them having to wrangle back the finish choices?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Big Poppa]

maybe there is a reason why fender doesnt offer more colors?
Maybe you can wait for Thursday when the new website launches to see what we are up to.

Or wait till you see the photos from the show

 

[sanderhermans]

maybe there is a reason why fender doesnt offer more colors?
Maybe you can wait for the show to see what we are up to.

I have all the respect in the world for you and the ebmm team. I love ebmm, you guys are the best in the business for me. However i think this is just a matter of timing. Its hard for customers to look further than a few months, to look at a long term strategy, to be patient for new stuff. Wich is why i feel the discontinued colours might have better been deleted closer to namm so the gap between the old and the new would have been reduced. Now its a half year of verry few options wich for some customers is enough to go to other brands.
But im sure some good stuff is comming

 

[jb90]

maybe there is a reason why fender doesnt offer more colors?
Maybe you can wait for Thursday when the new website launches to see what we are up to.

Or wait till you see the photos from the show

Yaaasss ! We need sooo much new features in basses. I love Musicman's and I'm StingRay user since 2005. This year must have another bass from your stable so I can't wait for new things ! Thanks Big Poppa !

 

[Grugenhagen]

Maybe you can wait for Thursday when the new website launches to see what we are up to.

Or wait till you see the photos from the show

Yup, this is why I didn't get too bummed out about the changes that were made this past fall. I had a feeling something cool might be coming at NAMM. Can't wait!

 

[bradfordws]

maybe there is a reason why fender doesnt offer more colors?
Maybe you can wait for Thursday when the new website launches to see what we are up to.

Or wait till you see the photos from the show

Fender doesn't offer more colors because they might be out of touch with what people want. Let's say for example I wanted a J5 with natural finish and RW board / pearl blocks - can't get it - have to buy a neck and a body on ebay and put it together. Not that I'd want to buy a Fender or anything IMO, their maple board with black blocks is ugly.

I'll be at the show this Thursday and one of my first stops is always EB/MM! I'm a big fan / owner of EB/MM basses and have been playing various MM basses since the early 80s. I seriously can't to see what's up! I knew about the discontinued colors and was also sad to hear the Sabre Classic was going away - dang! I just didn't know how many colors were going away - and today I went to the site on my iphone and pulled up the Sterling 5 page - and only 4 colors loaded on the screen - I thought, oh, it's just because the pages don't load properly on the cell phone sometimes - went to the computer thinking I'd see a few more colors - and to quote Elton John - "then again, no."

BTW, I used to think of myself as mainly a 5 stringer, but since I got my pair of Sabre Classics, I play those a lot more than any of my 5s. What I'd really like to see at NAMM is a Sabre 5 - in HONEY BURST! IMO, the Sabre has got really cool body shape and control plate / pick guard layout. But, I'm sure there is a reason the Sabre is going away again - not enough sales is my wild guess. Why not make it a special order instrument?

Rant over - I'll stop by the booth Thursday!

 

[Ox Boris]

If you don't retire colours, they never become rare.
But I certainly understand the frustration of somebody dead-keen to get one during a period of limited range.
However, I had no problem getting the colour I wanted, new, despite it being discontinued; and it seems there are more of that colour on the way. There's still a decent range to be had new from the retailers.

 

[KevinM]

If I remember right, when the thread was posted about the color changes the comment was made that options were being dropped to make room for new ones.
I didn't make the connection with NAMM but we just heard it from BP himself.
Now I'm jonesing to see what's revealed at NAMM.

 

[nhbassguitar]

You guys are making me feel so boring, lol... I like white, black, and vintage sunburst. The last one preferably with a maple FB.

I regularly scan the online dealers' stock on hand to see what's moving and what's not. Some colors seem to hang around longer than others. The speed at which the various colors move through the retail pipeline must factor into deciding which to keep and which to drop.

Another thing I wonder: Do most purchasers really care about color, as long as the color isn't something they downright hate? This board's contributors possess some incredibly impressive color samples, but they may not represent "most purchasers." I suspect the sample size is too small, not to mention that it's self-selected.

I know what it's like to have a favorite product discontinued. A quaint alternative company that makes bass guitars Fender discontinued a line that didn't sell all that well Cabronita. I own one, and it's arguably the best of my three of that brand name. But I guess they just never moved that fast. Hated to see it go.

I'd love to see how Marketing runs the numbers when they make these decisions -- all the inputs they take in, and how they're weighted.

 

[sanderhermans]

Deleting colours just because they dont sell enough is in my opinion not verry smart... this is why i feel that way:
I believe that people like options from wich to choose, altough 90% of the population will end up choosing the same stuff over and over again. (In the case of ebmm this would be a black stingray with a maple neck for example) most people do not like the feeling that they dont have options. if they do or do not choose from all these options is irrelevant.

A simple example is your local supermarket, if they would only sell 3 kinds of vegeteables, 2 kinds of meat, .... because these are the top sellers (for instance salad and steak) that store would lose 95% of its clientel.
People in general love shopping in a loaded supermarket stuffed full of food of all kinds! At the end of the day these supermarkets throw away huge amounts of "unpopular" foods, while allmost everyone goes home with that same steak and salad as in store 1.
It doesnt matter that 90% of the stuff in the loaded store doesnt sell because they make so much money on a few popular products. But if they where to take most other products away and thereby delete the freedom of choice, that store would propably sell nothing at all.

 

[OldManMusic]

I'm guessing not many of the people posting in this thread have owned a business selling what EBMM sells, other than BP. I trust him and look forward to seeing what comes our way this week. YMMV

 

[Big Poppa]

I dont think a lot of you understand how hard the high end guitar market is....You cannot continue to offer over 150,000 combinations and add 8 new instruments in twenty colors. We would love to make everything but we also like to make payroll...also we didnt discontinue a single big seller...NOBODY bought the sabre much less the classic one.

Also the same guy who said we werent smart also thought we made a mistake announcing the timing of the discontinuation of colors.... Dealers have instruments on order for months....if we waited till namm to discontinue the color we would have loaded up dealers with old stock and also not given consumers an opportunity to get one of the colors. Also saying that consumers like shopping in an environment loaded with color choices......please let me know a dealer that does this...There are may 10 dealers in the whole world who support us like that.

I really try to let you guys know what its like but sometimes I get frustrated.....

But you cannot make everyone happy... For those of you who gave us a benefit of the doubt...thanks....we arent trying to disappoint you kids...we are trying to survive.

 

[bradfordws]

BP:

I'll admit it - I do not know how hard the high-end guitar market is. RE: the colors - I just wish you still offered honey burst and silver - not 20 different colors. Too bad about the Sabre. I was one of the 7 people who wanted it brought back and I was actually shocked that you brought back the Classic Sabre - shocked and thrilled because you used to say how it never sold well - still doesn't unfortunately. Well, I bought two of them! If I had enough play money, I'd buy a couple more.

 

[Cobram]

I am very sad to read that some models and some colors are no longer available.
But I firmly convinced that EBMM have a good reasons to do that, It may be due to these difficult economic period, where who produce excellent instruments sell less as those who prefer to produce instruments of lower quality.
It's absolutely appreciable put their employees at first place. This makes you honor.
I'm sure in the future we could still appreciate the beautiful instruments offered by EBMM, when someone have talent, difficulties will be overcome.

 

[jlepre]

Totally makes sense to me BP. This is of course a business, and to be profitable sometimes decisions need to be made that aren't popular with everyone. I'm a big fan of color, but I'm not going to piss and moan that my favorite finish was discontinued. Can't wait to see what's new on Thursday.

 

[steevo]

I dont think a lot of you understand how hard the high end guitar market is....You cannot continue to offer over 150,000 combinations and add 8 new instruments in twenty colors. We would love to make everything but we also like to make payroll...also we didnt discontinue a single big seller...NOBODY bought the sabre much less the classic one.

Also the same guy who said we werent smart also thought we made a mistake announcing the timing of the discontinuation of colors.... Dealers have instruments on order for months....if we waited till namm to discontinue the color we would have loaded up dealers with old stock and also not given consumers an opportunity to get one of the colors. Also saying that consumers like shopping in an environment loaded with color choices......please let me know a dealer that does this...There are may 10 dealers in the whole world who support us like that.

I really try to let you guys know what its like but sometimes I get frustrated.....

But you cannot make everyone happy... For those of you who gave us a benefit of the doubt...thanks....we arent trying to disappoint you kids...we are trying to survive.

You could offer a million combinations of colours/configurations and people would still moan.
Every company discontinues old lines to make room for new ones, otherwise it would be more like how fender work, relying on strats, teles, p bass, jazz basses in sunburst, black, white or red, no offense to them, thats how theyve always done things pretty much.
I for one cant wait to see the new offerings but i doubt anything will tear me away from my sterling hh, its the best instrument ive ever owned or played.

 

[bradfordws]

As I mentioned in my first piss / moan post - I'd pay an upcharge for a particular finish if that's what it would take, but I'm not in the guitar building business, so not sure if that would ever be considered or not.

 

[bassmonkeee]

As I mentioned in my first piss / moan post - I'd pay an upcharge for a particular finish if that's what it would take, but I'm not in the guitar building business, so not sure if that would ever be considered or not.

How much of an upcharge do you think would be necessary to take up floor/shelf space with a color that is rarely if ever used, but needs to be kept around for warranty work? I don't even know the shelf life of paint. Or, how much of an upcharge is acceptable to stop production and completely change out the paint system for a one off putting everything else in production behind? I don't think people realize that it's more than just keeping paint buckets on a shelf.

And if they do relent, I can see the inevitable "All I wanted was a honey burst and those greedy savages wanted $700 for a custom paintjob" threads now. Of course, if you really, really want a certain finish, you can always get a bass painted aftermarket if you really want something special.

Trust me--I'm the guy with a daphne blue Bongo with a gloss finish neck. I doubt BP thinks less of me for wanting something they didn't offer. I certainly wasn't going to bother them for something unavailable just because I wanted a certain blue Bongo after my son was born.