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Club Sadowsky!!!

#51,161
Bass-Checker said:
Hello,
i have a question maybe can help with someone of you, i have a sadowsky nyc p4 alder / rosewood (Picture) and think about a sadowsky nyc in p5 alder with ebony fretboard someone has experience with how could the bass sound that is recommended
Thank you for your help Claudio
Click to expand...
Personally, I love ebony, but I don’t think it’s a good match for a P bass. If you want a clearer sound maple or Pau Ferro will get you there. Rosewood is warmer. Ebony is better for a modern or jazz model, in my opinion.
 
#51,162
I'm picturing The Tonewood Dating Game... our contestants, average musician from all over the world including Poughkeepsie, flirting with three beautiful Sadowsky's... their only difference? One's a maple neck, one's a Pau Ferro, and and the last an ebony.

I'd pay per view this for a year to see the end result of our contestants determining which one was which, and how accurate they were.
 
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#51,163
Spidey2112 said:
I'm picturing The Tonewood Dating Game... our contestants, average musician from all over the world including Poughkeepsie, flirting with three beautiful Sadowsky's... their only difference? One's a maple neck, one's a Pau Ferro, and and the last an ebony.

I'd pay per view this for a year to see the end result of our contestants determining which one was which, and how accurate they were.
Click to expand...

That 'blind test' approach never really made sense to me. Yes, chances are I wouldn't have sharp enough ears to nail it right off. And yet I would absolutely notice on the gig. Much like the oft-discussed 'this sounds awesome in the bedroom but dog squeeze on the gig/in a mix' phenomena.

Also, did anyone happen to pick their feet whilst in Poughkeepsie?
 
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#51,164
TimothyGroovy said:
Ebony board willgive you more focused tone in the mid range and hence you may find less board sounding in the bottom relatively, more zing compare with rosewood. Personally, never liked the tone of Ebony fretted fingerboard, always preferred more tradtional wood combo. My 2 cents.
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A tiny twirl of the bass boost and/or VTC will overcome any tonewood issues IMHO. ...and this being TB, of course we could all choose to spar on this one question for days! :whistle:

EDIT: FYI, I have PJ-style Sadowskys with maple and rosewood. J-style with maple, rosewood and ebony.
 
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#51,165
Bass-Checker said:
Hello,
i have a question maybe can help with someone of you, i have a sadowsky nyc p4 alder / rosewood (Picture) and think about a sadowsky nyc in p5 alder with ebony fretboard someone has experience with how could the bass sound that is recommended
Thank you for your help Claudio
Click to expand...

My experience with an ebony board on maple neck, and also ebony board on wenge neck, theres seem to be a bit more focus in the lows but also in the highs. Perhaps ebony is not the most neutral sounding wood choice for fretboard? not sure what others experiences are, those were mine. I'm also wondering what other peoples experience with wenge fingerboards would say.
 
#51,171
I have a bimodality in my view about materials of construction. On the one hand, Roger’s preamp is so awesome that you could pretty much put it into a 2”x4” bass build, and the bass would sound great in the mains and on the tape; ASSUMING the instrument had a great setup. OTOH, the player has a MUCH more immediate interaction with a given particular instrument, which does not fully carry through to the signal at the amp or on tape, and very much does depend on the materials of construction. “Tone” to me is a combination of the signal sent to the amp and the feedback the player physically gets while playing. The materials matter much for the latter of those two, IME.

Perfectly OK for a given player to not care about the interactive aspect, or to have widely differing prefs. Stating that the specific materials of construction don’t matter pretty much ignores the actual act of playing. I’ll just leave it there.

I like a variety of materials on instruments for differing reasons. My NYC has an ebony board. That was a choice based on a whole lot of somewhat subtle reasons I don’t need to justify. I also wouldn’t hesitate to gig a maple board or anything in between. FWIW YMMV.
 
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#51,173
Bass-Checker said:
Hello dear Sadowsky owner club,
I thank you for all the suggestions and experiences you have with the wood combinations and especially with ebony. I will consider what I do
I wish you a nice day - Claudio
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I have recently come into a NYC custom PJ4 with ash body and rosewood fretboard. I liked it so much I bought this combination again in a 5-string Will Lee. I had a Metro JJ4 in ash/maple and liked it quite a bit. But the ash/rosewood is just right for me.
 
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#51,175
Bass-Checker said:
Hello dear Sadowsky owner club,
I thank you for all the suggestions and experiences you have with the wood combinations and especially with ebony. I will consider what I do
I wish you a nice day - Claudio
Click to expand...

My P/J 5 has an ebony board, and I just love it. That being said, I agree that ebony (which I hear as having a clear high end, that classic "ping," and a mild scoop in the middle to upper mids) is not a "classic" choice - with "classic" being alder/rosewood or ash/maple. That being said, I have several "P-bass-like" basses with mahogany bodies and ebony boards, and I do love that combination.
 
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#51,176
tombowlus said:
My P/J 5 has an ebony board, and I just love it. That being said, I agree that ebony (which I hear as having a clear high end, that classic "ping," and a mild scoop in the middle to upper mids) is not a "classic" choice - with "classic" being alder/rosewood or ash/maple. That being said, I have several "P-bass-like" basses with mahogany bodies and ebony boards, and I do love that combination.
Click to expand...

P basses, in general, seem to really benefit from a little mid-scoop.

They are usually very mid-heavy and I tend to scoop the eq on my preamp a little when recording with a pbass and it really helps in the mix and overall tone so I can see how ebony might naturally do that.
 
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#51,177
phillipkregg said:
P basses, in general, seem to really benefit from a little mid-scoop.

They are usually very mid-heavy and I tend to scoop the eq on my preamp a little when recording with a pbass and it really helps in the mix and overall tone so I can see how ebony might naturally do that.
Click to expand...

Yes, indeed! Tone is very subjective, and I, myself, do love my ebony board basses. Just because it's not a "classic" tone doesn't mean it isn't a great tone for you. :thumbsup:

That being said, while my favorite body wood to combine with an ebony board (and maple neck) is mahogany, alder is a close second. Not a big fan of ash and ebony, though.
 
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