Recent content by Belka

I think it depends on the woods as well. From what I've seen spalted maple seems to be particularly susceptible to cracks. From what I understand spalted maple is basically already in a state of decay and very soft, and there was a consensus (on here and the Fodera owners Facebook page) that...

FB30 - G-GOTOH Gotoh FB30s - these would be the modern equivalents. Fender Japan always used these (Gotoh's copy of what Fender used between 1968 and 1976) on their higher end models - these also tended to have better quality pickups and alder/ash bodies. On the cheaper versions they used the...

That doesn't surprise me at all - Dunlop make low tension B strings that sound great. I owned a fairly expensive J style bass - a De Gier Bebop - that I tried with Labellas, D'Addarios, DRs, Newtones and Dunlops (the standard rounds rather than Super Brites). The Dunlop B string was the only...

B strings can sound good at any scale length from 30" and up, but generally, unless you're really going for an old school lo-fi tubby type sound, the longer the better. I know that a solid neck construction is important, but people very rarely talk about other important variables like pickup...

I really liked the last song with the MTD which sounded like you were favoring the neck pickup - that was a great sound. Comparing both basses with both pickups full on the Fender cut through the mix better IMO - more midrange/less scoop than the MTD.

The dual coil pickups are situated in a position where when split to single coil, the outer coils are in the true Jazz bass position for both '60s and '70s spacings. I guess this does mean that Fodera optimizes pickup placement around the single coil mode. I remember years back Jason saying on...

The Nordstrand P could be the way to go for you. I just had a look at the Seymour Duncan website and the only 5 string P on there is the Quarter Pounder - I don't think Fodera would use that so any 5 string P would probably be a custom order. I don't know how well a P would match with a dual...

Nice specs you've got there! Here are my opinions on what you're still pondering: Go for what you like the look of most. I'm sure upper fret access is equally good on a Monarch as on an Imperial. I'm sure the single cut design does result in a slightly stiffer neck , but I don't think it'll...

A tale of two Jazz basses - the reissue '64 is a very manageable 9.2lbs. The '70s bitsa on the right however comes in at 11.9lbs

That top is amazing - is that the wood that is nicknamed 'lung tissue burl'? The fretboard is beautiful too - what kind of wood is that?

Between the two I'd probably choose ebony, but it would depend on body material (ebony with alder is quite nice, rosewood perhaps with ash) but personally I feel that neither of these really bring out the best in a Fodera. To me at least, and this is very much based just on experience with...

Here's a P bass I had put together with a one piece Musikraft maple precision neck in various stages of completion. It's less than a year old but so far it's held up pretty well. The quality seems very good and all my dealings with the company were very professional

Ha! I see what you mean. I guess the terms are used so interchangeably these days that even Fodera/Trickfish can confuse people. However, if your bass is anything like mine, it is in fact a coil split, which changes between dual coil and single coil mode. A coil tap, if I recall rightly, is...

Unless your Fodera has some kind of custom preamp I very much doubt it has a coil tap - it's almost certainly a coil split with those dual coils. I've never heard of a coil tap on a Fodera before, and they're generally extremely rare on any kind of bass - it's very much a guitar thing.

Interesting - sounds great. Do you think the Thomastiks were the actual strings Dave used? I'd guess that the Rotosounds would have been a lot easier to buy in the UK in 1968/9 than Thomastiks (even in the Internet days it's hard enough to find them here now).