Usually, it is quite difficult to be luthiers because they don't have enough cash and they are paid only if a bassist buys a bass or asks for a repair.

So, it is difficult to buy materials before having an order and to test new things when crafting the basses.

With the worldwide crisis of the COVID-19, it's even more difficult to be luthiers.

We will see here some of the issues they currently live because of the COVID-19.

Workshops are closed

All luthiers workshops are currently closed. This means that even if an order was made before and that the basses are crafted, Bassists can't get their bass and the luthier is not paid.

 

No suppliers

Luthiers can't make enough basses in advance. They work will little stock and the suppliers can no longer get their supplies. The raw materials come from China, the United States, Korea, Japan, so they no longer arrive.
And even so, they don't have the cash to buy them in advance.

No visibility

Compared to big companies, luthiers does not have a marketing team and does not have enough visibility.
The majority of the bassists doesn't even know that they have luthiers near them.

Income Decline

In France, an investigation reveals that out of 404 respondents, more than half have completely suspended their activity (55.2%) and 37.7% record a fall from 75 to 100% in their turnover.

We don't have the results of the investigations in others countries but we can easily guess that it is probably the same.

Conclusion

With all those issues, a lot of luthiers risk losing their jobs and the only basses left will be those of the big companies that are not handmade.

Moreover, we risk to lose high quality instruments and to lose diversity between basses.

At BassGears, we will soon propose a solution at the crossroad between a subscription and a crowd funding to support the luthiers and to allow bassists to discover those high quality instruments.


So stay with us and share your thoughts in the comments.


May The Bass Be With You!