Club Sadowsky!!!

[ceerod]

Wanted to give a quick shout out to Roger, Lex, Lisa and all the awesome Sadowsky crew!

I recently picked up this Will Lee here on TB. I emailed them to ask if by chance, they had taken a photo for the website before the bass shipped to the original owner. Lisa was kind enough to find the photos they had taken and shared them with me. I was hoping for just 1 but I got 10 great photos.

Thank you for the outstanding customer service!

I've had a 3 other Sadowsky's but this is my 1st Will Lee, 1st with PJ 's and 1st with a Brazilian RW board. Loving it so far and looking forward to many more gigs with this one

 

[kobass]

^^^^

Oh my...

 

[JLY]

That one is simply outrageous!

 

[PeterH]

Oh my god.

 

[baTassi]

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Hello new desktop background

 

[SadowskySteve]

That one is simply outrageous!

Totally an understatement!!! Its to "infinity and beyond" outrageous

 

[TolerancEJ]

@ceerod Very few basses are equally beautiful from the back. Yours is a rare exception.

 

[G-MonRV5]

Wow. Ideas for a NYC build...

 

[kev451]

Wanted to give a quick shout out to Roger, Lex, Lisa and all the awesome Sadowsky crew!

I recently picked up this Will Lee here on TB. I emailed them to ask if by chance, they had taken a photo for the website before the bass shipped to the original owner. Lisa was kind enough to find the photos they had taken and shared them with me. I was hoping for just 1 but I got 10 great photos.

Thank you for the outstanding customer service!

I've had a 3 other Sadowsky's but this is my 1st Will Lee, 1st with PJ 's and 1st with a Brazilian RW board. Loving it so far and looking forward to many more gigs with this one

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Not sure what word I can use to describe the awesomeness of this bass. And pardon me but may I ask what is the difference between the Will Lee models and your standard other models ?

 

[puff father]

Wanted to give a quick shout out to Roger, Lex, Lisa and all the awesome Sadowsky crew!

I recently picked up this Will Lee here on TB. I emailed them to ask if by chance, they had taken a photo for the website before the bass shipped to the original owner. Lisa was kind enough to find the photos they had taken and shared them with me. I was hoping for just 1 but I got 10 great photos.

Thank you for the outstanding customer service!

I've had a 3 other Sadowsky's but this is my 1st Will Lee, 1st with PJ 's and 1st with a Brazilian RW board. Loving it so far and looking forward to many more gigs with this one

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That is spectacular! I think it's my new "most gorgeous bass I've ever seen".
Congrats. It's fabulous looking.

 

[R&B]

Holy moly. I put standard gauge Blue Label flats on my MV4-HPJ tonight. These are the strings this bass was built to wear. May I recommend playing the bass line to “Nothing But a Heartache” by the Flirtations should you wish to confirm this.

 

[jondiener]

Holy moly. I put standard gauge Blue Label flats on my MV4-HPJ tonight. These are the strings this bass was built to wear. May I recommend playing the bass line to “Nothing But a Heartache” by the Flirtations should you wish to confirm this.

I have some en route to try on my MV5-PJ. Can’t wait to hear them!

 

[baTassi]

Not sure what word I can use to describe the awesomeness of this bass. And pardon me but may I ask what is the difference between the Will Lee models and your standard other models ?

The main difference is that the Will Lee has a mid boost switch. I don't remember if the pre had another unique feature. They are using something similar now on the single cut, but if i recall correctly is not exactly the same.
Besides that the WL is 22 frets.
I'm sure there must be some more details but I think those are the bigger ones

 

[kev451]

The main difference is that the Will Lee has a mid boost switch. I don't remember if the pre had another unique feature. They are using something similar now on the single cut, but if i recall correctly is not exactly the same.
Besides that the WL is 22 frets.
I'm sure there must be some more details but I think those are the bigger ones

Now that mid boost, switch is this available on other models or something to be put on their onboard pre-amps ? Sorry if I’m flooding you with questions lol.

 

[rmayer]

The main difference is that the Will Lee has a mid boost switch. I don't remember if the pre had another unique feature. They are using something similar now on the single cut, but if i recall correctly is not exactly the same.
Besides that the WL is 22 frets.
I'm sure there must be some more details but I think those are the bigger ones

The Will Lee models have single coil pickups, as compared to hum canceling on most of the standard jazz models. But I think you have your choice of pickups now, including soapbars. Also, on the 4 string, it's a 1.45" neck width instead of the standard 1.50".

 

[baTassi]

Now that mid boost, switch is this available on other models or something to be put on their onboard pre-amps ? Sorry if I’m flooding you with questions lol.

Don't worry, I'm glad if I can help someone although Roger and the guys will have better info on that, don't take my word.
I don't think they offer it as an standard option on any other model (which make sense it is a unique feature of the WL). And I haven't seen it as a standalone to purchase on the site.
But then again, don't take my word for it, I bet you call the guys they will give you the full picture.

The Will Lee models have single coil pickups, as compared to hum canceling on most of the standard jazz models. But I think you have your choice of pickups now, including soapbars. Also, on the 4 string, it's a 1.45" neck width instead of the standard 1.50".

For what I remember in the site, you can choose any pickup configuration now.
And i think you are absolutely right on the nut width

 

[BluesyCat]

Holy moly. I put standard gauge Blue Label flats on my MV4-HPJ tonight. These are the strings this bass was built to wear. May I recommend playing the bass line to “Nothing But a Heartache” by the Flirtations should you wish to confirm this.

That's it. Now I am ordering them. Been on the fence for months now. Thanks!
Order placed....decided to give all the basses new strings and bought a long sleeve indigo blue tee. Yay.

I miss the previous style coffee cup though. It was unique and I loved that shape/design.

 

[ElMon]

So, did some side-by-side, on-the-gig testing with my Sadowsky(s):

LONG story short is that I'll be putting this one up for sale. Glad I got to try this wood combo out, but it breaks down like this:


1) My flat-wound and foam mute-equipped PJ5 (alder/braz rw) is simply the best bass I own for old school tones

2) My fretless Modern/M24-5 has 'that' sound in spades, and switching back and forth between it and the fretted Satin above was illuminating. The NYC fretless (aside from the really obvious frets-versus-no-frets thing) just had more balance across the fretboard. The fretted Satin, and to me all of the Modern Pickup Sadowskies reveal the following to me:

PROS

- Absolutely perfect B-string clarity
- THE best 'back by the bridge' tone ever

CONS (for me):

- Notes in the middle of the neck on the D/G string are a little thin (yes I use the setup guide and a machinist ruler)
- Slap tone really sits in a mix perfectly, without overwhelming it, but is in the end an acquired taste.

3) My 'I can't believe the sacrilege' MTD 634, which has a Sadowsky Pre and Aguilar Big Single pickups. You wouldn't believe all the warm, tube-like warmth that Roger's pre imparts to this bass, which is very 'Warwicky' for lack of a better term. All walnut body, no top, and with a Wenge neck and board. VTC off? The 6-string Sadowsky I've always dreamed of. VTC on? More complex and mid-rich take on the J-bass tone when slapped, and a down right nasty/who-put-a-hamhock-in-my-cornflakes neck pickup tone when slapped.

More crow eating here.

I posted elsewhere about the wisdom of following Saint Roger's setup guide to the MM, and even had a lively exchange and was hereby humbled by said master (I rose stronger, and it twas only a flesh wound), and yet ...

I was rolling out with a bass that wasn't quite to those vaunted standards.

All of the things I listed about this Satin were still bugging me, which was unfortunate because it was so close to being the perfect modern R&B/Neo-Soul bass for my main gig.

Welp, I done figured it out.

First step was to ditch the green coated DR strings, that while looking bad to the bone live, were missing something in the low-mids. I slapped soem D'Addario Steels on there, and right off the bat the improvement was immense.

Whilst tweaking the thing (god I love when I get to use the word 'whilst') I noticed that I hadn't even bothered to check my pickup height. I was so used to my other Sadowski, where bridge/pickup/string type has remained such a constant that only a truss rod tweak was needed every so often, that I was remiss in my duties.

Played a gig a few weeks back, and with my 3-bass Hercules Stand in place, I had my Fretless Modern, the Satin, and my Chromes-strung, Big Daddy P, lean/mean Seafoam Green Wrecking Machine.

Could not conceive of a better setup.


Well ...


Maybe an ash/maple PJ5 ... or a Musicman-Dowsky, but thereby hangs another tale.

 

[Joeykun]

I played a modern at the shop a few months ago and haven’t got it out of my mind yet.

Me too!

 

[ElMon]

Me too!

To me, it has a combination of Sadowsky Tube-Like Warmth (TM) in the pre, and a little bit of Ken Smith's basses and, to my ears at least, a wee bit of Musicman. That and the neck pickup sound is a lot closer to true PBass territory than a Jpup or a soapbar in J-position. To my ears at least.