Not quite following your drift. I played a SR5 with VERY heavy birdseye figure in the neck for quite a few years. That neck was rock solid. Excellent bass; however, I traded it towards the RV4 I currently play.
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Are Sadowsky basses over rated?
- Thread starter Green Lantern
- Start date
I've heard reports the same as mine and reports the same as yours. I set only a slight relief in my necks and I guess that this particular SR5 wasn't up to the task. The ones I had with straight grained necks were solid as Sears. I replaced my problem neck with a Status and it was a killer instrument after that.
agree with much of this except that I think Fender will "whore" out the bass design a lot more than Roger from what I can see.. he has his mind set on certain things and so he won't (for example) give you flame or birdseye maple neckwood... or an ebony fretboard.. two things that I did on my Masterbuilt Jazz.. Another area I disagree (Though this is purely a personal preference thing) is I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the pre-amp.. I even made them install it into my Fender!
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I had a Fender Custom Shop V. Thought it was killer until I bought my Sadowsky.
Never had /tried a master built Fender.
Yeah, Roger has done birdseye. He also does Ebony - just check out the in stock page on his website. There's a gorgeous 5-string up now with Ebony.
My NYC Trans Red Sadowsky has Birdseye for sure. Built in Fall of 2008. And this bass plays like a dream and it's always in tune. Baffles me.
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Are Sadowsky basses overrated?
Maybe. Depends on who is doing the rating.
As bass players we live in a wonderful age. A Fender Precision in 1960 sold for what $250? That's nearly $2000 in today's terms. And we can get decent, playable/giggable instruments for under $300. Beyond that it's like anything else - how much more are you willing to pay for incremental improvements in playability, tone, a better B string, aesthetics etc. I think Roger and crew do a phenomenal job with their take on a modern, active jazz bass. Whether it is (1) what you want in a bass (2) within your means to afford and (3) worth the price tag to you are all personal decisions.
Maybe. Depends on who is doing the rating.
As bass players we live in a wonderful age. A Fender Precision in 1960 sold for what $250? That's nearly $2000 in today's terms. And we can get decent, playable/giggable instruments for under $300. Beyond that it's like anything else - how much more are you willing to pay for incremental improvements in playability, tone, a better B string, aesthetics etc. I think Roger and crew do a phenomenal job with their take on a modern, active jazz bass. Whether it is (1) what you want in a bass (2) within your means to afford and (3) worth the price tag to you are all personal decisions.
On the NYC?s he didn't when I was looking to build.. Only dot inlay, only normal maple and no ebony fretboard was what I was told (2006). And the big deal breaker was no "body thru" bridge... I really wanted that.
I just hopped over to check,and I do see one with Ebony fretboard, so that's a big change. Is he doing custom inlay's and pickguards? etc? all of it now?
Anyway, now it's too late, got my customized bass and not going to part with it until death do us part.
I just hopped over to check,and I do see one with Ebony fretboard, so that's a big change. Is he doing custom inlay's and pickguards? etc? all of it now?
Anyway, now it's too late, got my customized bass and not going to part with it until death do us part.
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Yeah SamJ, NYC! And....Roger does blocks now too. He didn't when I had my JJ4(Trans Red) built.
Did you check out the featured instruments page?
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What I like about the small shop builder versus the large guys is the customer attention. Can't beat the small shop guy giving you their full attention and treating you like a friend not a customer. And this goes for any small builder from what my buddies tell me.
Getting back to the thread title:
I'm not sure any bass is overrated. It's all personal preference and first hand experience...and what you can afford. Right??
Did you check out the featured instruments page?
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What I like about the small shop builder versus the large guys is the customer attention. Can't beat the small shop guy giving you their full attention and treating you like a friend not a customer. And this goes for any small builder from what my buddies tell me.
Getting back to the thread title:
I'm not sure any bass is overrated. It's all personal preference and first hand experience...and what you can afford. Right??
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I have seen those.. yep. maybe the next time I have $6-8K to spend on a bass I'll look at Sadowsky again... but having his pre-amp with the Joe Barden pickups in mine Fender has made it perfect so I might not ever have the need for another Jazz... btw, Thanks for the add on Facebook! And an the topic of service... trust me when I say, when you go into a $6-10K Fender Masterbuild, you get one on one with your builder.. As a matter of fact I also have Dennis Galuszka (my builder) and Chris Fleming (former manager of the Customshop) on my Facebook too!
agree with much of this except that I think Fender will "whore" out the bass design a lot more than Roger from what I can see.. he has his mind set on certain things and so he won't (for example) give you flame or birdseye maple neckwood... or an ebony fretboard.. two things that I did on my Masterbuilt Jazz.. Another area I disagree (Though this is purely a personal preference thing) is I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the pre-amp.. I even made them install it into my Fender!
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True, I guess each has things that they won't do. For instance I'm a sucker for blocks & binding, and when I was at Roger's shop last October I asked Lisa and Allesandro about getting blocks & binding on an NYC custom build. They said that blocks weren't a problem but Roger wouldn't do binding because the cost do bind a neck would be prohibitively expensive and he didn't want to get into that (too bad because I'm not sure I'm brave enough to have a neck bound from Roger's shop as an aftermarket procedure!). I also asked (respectfully) about headstock finishes and a custom pickup idea I'm looking into and they said that Roger would consider it.
Fender, on the other hand, had no issue with the ideas of blocks & binding or headstock finishes but didn't want to let me speak with the Custom Shop directly about getting something based on the Select Series in a 5-string. I elected to go with Sadowsky as I could communicate directly with them instead of navigating corporate Fender's contacts. no experience with Masterbuilt Fenders as of yet.
We could make the argument that any basses are overrated since they're basically just wood, metal and paint but I feel the question is more "What organization would you support based on their customer service and product?" Honestly, at this point I'd rather hunt down an awesome and affordable (for me) vintage Fender P and go to Sadowsky (or Lull, Pablo, Valenti) for new modern basses.
Doug Parent
Supporting Member
My NYC Trans Red Sadowsky has Birdseye for sure. Built in Fall of 2008. And this bass plays like a dream and it's always in tune. Baffles me.
WOW! Now THAT Sadowsky is NOT "overrated'! That fretboard has drool over over my keyboard!
Yep team built is a great product and when you think about it similar to a lot of larger boutique basses in that a good bit is production oriented with some customizing offered and no one on one with a single builder. Masterbuilt is very different. I would imagine the NYC process is similar where you are in constant email and telephone contact with your builder. You can even pay a $800 fee and wait upto 12 months to be assigned a specific builder which I personally saw no benefit doing. But if I could pull the trigger on an NYC, I'd love to get as much of Rogers hands on it as I can of course. I'm tempted to get one but I've already decided my divorce bass is going to be the holy grail of basses... An Alembic Series II.
VERY interesting... I just noticed that it's the fretboard on your bass that is birdseye Lee, not the whole neck after looking at that last set of pics you posted with Roger holding it it just came to me, I noticed the headstock is perfectly clear... So still old school Sadowsky. Yeah, I don't think he does flame or birdseye full necks... am I wrong?
I had asked him to make the whole neck birdseye and he said "no"... that's what I was talking about above... here's a pic of my finished neck so you can see the "compromise" we reached with a quarter-sawn partially birdseye neck that I had put on...
ok, that makes sense. I've just never seen any of his necks not made of clear maple.. we should hunt down and see if we can find a pick of one on the internet.
It really goes back to what you want and who can deliver it.
He will do roasted birdseye necks - they are up to his standards due to stability that the roasting process creates. Here's a bass with a bird neck/board combo:
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He will do roasted birdseye necks - they are up to his standards due to stability that the roasting process creates. Here's a bass with a bird neck/board combo:
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hmm.... not really liking that "roasted" look much.. that said, I've got GAS for this one, though I'd want it with a more black ebony.. in a 4-string. But damn, I've already got a super expensive bass by a well know luthier from New York.. I'd have to sell something!
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I like the roasted look on other brands of basses, but not Sadowskys. No idea why. My oldest Sadowsky has had zero issues over two decades, so I think he's got neck stability nailed, roasted wood or not.
