Anthony Jackson new pickup?
 

As I watch this show I see what looks like a new pickup or at least a new wooden pickup cover on AJ's Fodera. Anyone know what the scoop is on that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffurj3ZUatA

This dvd - Hiromi The Trio Project Live At Marciac is killer btw. A good intro to Anthony Jackson if you haven't heard/seen him before. Of course great for long time fans too!

Wow. I don't know Anthony's bass well enough to comment on the pickup, but that video is great. Amazing group of musicians. Hiromi always has the best bassists!

Not bad for a couple of old guys.
Maybe the most expensive rhythm section on Earth.

The bass looks to me the same as it always did.

Does he still have the switch on his bass seen on this picture?

I don't know. He's got several of them, don't know the actual count.

several of what?

Pickup aside...just saw the thread and ordered the DVD after barely reading the first post. I've got the album and can't stop listening to it (its been months now). I could not attend the show at Yoshi's in Oakland so this was a treat to find out about. AJ's tone is so amazing on the CD! Simon Phillips has been in my top 5 favorite drummer list since I first heard him in the early 80's. His drums sound great too and he's stayed true to a particular sound his whole career, impressive.

Foderas. Like a dozen.

Not to rub it in, but I saw the trio at Yoshi's in SF and it was freaking amazing. I didn't look too closely at the pickup or bass because I was sitting close to Hiromi and was all :eek: the whole time. Did the music geek thing and had her sign the cd for me.

Actually, he only plays one bass all the time and very likely only owns that one bass.

It did have a different looking PU (exposed pole pieces). The switch is also relatively new, I think someone on TB mentioned that it was a coil-tap switch to put the PU into single-coil mode.

I thought the original pickup was an Aero with exposed pole pieces. On the Fodera website it just lists a "Specially-designed, handmade humbucking pickup ."

I believe the switch is a kill switch. Oc I could be wrong on that....

That's what I seem to remember as well.

You got me curious so I searched a bit. It's confusing because his signature model is also a custom model for most owners, with slight differences every time.
I found pics of him with 3 different signature Foderas.
The brown one with quilted mahogany indeed seems to be his to-go bass.
I found pics of it with or without switch, with a straight jack and with a locking XLR, which seems to be its current state.
No trace of pickup change though.

I don't think that's correct, sorry.

a) The "new" policy of Fodera and AJ is that to be a "Signature" Presentation, it has to have the exact specs of Anthony's current bass. There are definitely versions of the design floating around and I think you can still order them, but strictly speaking, they are not AJ "Signature" basses, according to Fodera. TB user and Fodera co-owner "Just Thumpin'" has explained this a few times in different threads.

b) While there are photos of AJ with different instruments, they are from different time periods. So he does not use them concurrently or changes them around for different occasions. He has ONE "current" bass, and all others have been iterations of a concept he has been working on with Fodera for years, sort of an evolution if you will. So, each new model REPLACES the old one which he will not use any longer. His main bass for several years has been the one in the above photo, although there have been some minor modifications (PU, switch), like you said.

Well, they have become harder to find, but there are pictures/videos that show his "current bass" with a PU with exposed pieces. It definitely has been replaced with one without exposed pole pieces.

No wooded cover in that video....

At 1:34 you get a good look at the new PU, whatever it is.

History and Pickups
 

+1
Anthony Jackson's current instrument is called #10: the first two six string instruments were built by Carl Thompson, the next two were from Ken Smith Basses (but actually built by Vinnie and Joey while working for Ken Smith, as I understand it), the next two (#5 and #6) were double cutaway Foderas. The following four are Fodera Anthony Jackson Presentation models. There was a #11 that was a 34" scale bass, but Mr. Jackson never took possession of the instrument. It is said he played it very briefly and it was not what he was looking for.

Regarding the pickup on #10, and other modifications, here is what Mr. Jackson said in an interview:
"No. 10 has a chambered red alder body, a quilted-maple top, a sugar maple neck, and a century-old Brazilian rosewood 28-fret fingerboard. Other helpful modifications were changing to a titanium bridge and trussrod. Titanium rings at a higher frequency, which helped remove the instrument’s somewhat uncontrolled deep low end and resulted in a slightly lighter but still very deep, fasterspeaking sound. Also, we were constantly changing pickups until we came across Aero. They customwound four dual-coil humbuckers for us and we picked the best one. The jack is an XLR, rather than a q" jack."

This interview took place a few years ago so more recent modifications may not have been listed.

Jim

Excellent post.

The only things that are not correct here is that the top on AJ's #10 is Quilted Mahogany, not Maple, and the fact that several years back we switched his pickup to a Fodera / Duncan Dual coil. We (AJ and us) also experimented with a silver-wound version of this pickup but determined that it was sonically inferior to the traditional copper-wound one.

Finally, #10 is the only Fodera that AJ now owns. The others he gave back to the shop as each new prototype was built. Since #12 (which we are building now) will be a completely new design, it is likely that he will keep #10 and have two Foderas. Also, the toggle switch (that was a coil tap) has been removed and the hole in the top of the bass was plugged.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Jason

Here is some info on one , Ken Parker made:
http://thelowend.net/gallery/viewtopic.php?t=927
Any pictures of that #11 bass?
:)