Magazines & Advertising

[Tim Bishop]

Originally Posted by Dennis Michaels

All I know is you build the perfect basses "for me". I play them and don't really care who else does. Thank god many do tho or you may not be here today.

I'm totally with you Dennis and I've always said that: "Ken makes a bass that is perfect for me and there just happens to be an S on the head-stock". Never have given "a rip" less about what magazines and/or endorsements show (unless of course it's Eden's and Smith's ).

A recent experience I'll attempt to keep short.......

I recently (and reluctantly) sold one of my favorite Smiths (a '97 Tiger Maple 5GN) to an acquaintance and bassist. Wonderful individual and player and I was totally wanting to help him out by fixing him up with THE bass. Understand, he was accustomed to a bolt-on neck feel (there's another thread on this topic, so, don't want to get into that debate here), so, a neck-thru would be a new experience for him.

I set the bass up perfectly for him (as we discussed set-up beforehand) before I shipped. At any rate, when he received the bass and played it, he later decided it was not the bass for him........come again....say what! This was the first time I EVER ran across anyone that wasn't pleased with a Smith. His decision was totally based on feel as I clearly understood and prepared him for that beforehand. So, I asked him "did you change anything"? To my dismay, he responded, "yes, I changed the strings from Taper Core Mediums to Lights" (which changed the set-up as we had initially discussed) .... .... errghhhhh!!! .... I said to myself: Take a deeeeeep breath in, now breeeeathhhh out......repeat.....ok.....

Yeah, I know, another lesson learned. Just goes to prove, you cannot please everyone (particularly those that don't understand the importance of set-ups). Had I anticipated this, I would have NEVER sold that bass. I'm hoping, as I've discussed with him, he will give it more time to work out the "feel thing", otherwise, I will be working toward getting that bass back ASAP!