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Club Sadowsky!!!

#58,101
Vic said:
yeah, if it was up to Mike, all his 5's would be 35" he was a firm believer it was "better".
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Hehehe. I remember when he came to Bryan Beller's clinic at Bass SD. He spent some time talking about his shop and products, and he mentioned his distaste for 34" fivers to the audience, not realizing that Bass SD currently had one in stock they were hoping to sell an attendee. :roflmao:
 
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#58,102
Addison said:
Ok, speaking of MM stuff, I just made this mockup of a pickup idea that I have. Forgive me if this is sacrilege ...

View attachment 4584752

That's my lefty M5-24. I love it to death - it sets up and plays absolutely perfectly, it's ridiculously light, it looks killer - it literally checks every mark, EXCEPT that I have currently have no use for that signature M5-24 tone. I keep bringing it out to lots of gigs and since I play mostly aggressive blues, rock, etc., it's just too buttery for what I usually go for. I love the tone - I just don't have use for it right now.

To curb that, my idea was to use the back edge (closest to the bridge) of the current pickup placement and have two Nordy Big Man pickups installed with a coil switch for each pickup.

This mockup is to scale - so there's no reason why this wouldn't work that I can think of.

I have no idea who would be willing to do this or what it would cost, but I'm wondering if anyone else might have had a dumb idea like this and actually went through with it or if there are any other basses out there with spacing similar to this.

You might also say, "Well - just sell that and buy a new bass that fits your needs, dummy!" Well, being a lefty, I can't unless I do a full cost custom shop NYC and that's just not in the cards for me right now.

Something like this, though, I could swing.

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

-Chris
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This is a great idea. I’m currently drooling over the idea of a Sadowsky single cut with a Super P middle/neck pup and a Nordy bigman at the bridge.

I’ve never seen a single cut p/j bass, but I think it would be great.
 
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#58,103
Vic said:
That's not quite correct. Most of his basses are standard 34" scale, with 34"/35" being options with various defaults only on the 5's. Only the M4/5 comes standard at 35", with 34" being a "custom" option.
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Since the conversation was revolving around 5-string jazz bass spacing, I was specifically referring to those.

If M5V basses now come standard with 34, that’s changed. When I got mine, 35” was standard on all 5-string Lull basses, with 34 being standard on 4’s and a custom option on 5’s .
 
#58,104
Well, I measured and both my Roscoe and Sadowsky are 1 7/8” at the nut. My Roscoe is 1/8” more narrow at the 12th fret. The Sadowsky is 3” at the end of the fingerboard (22st fret) and the Roscoe is 2 7/8” at the end of the fingerboard (24th fret) so they are pretty close. 1/8” is not a huge amount, but it isn’t insignificant I guess.

The Sadowsky has the sound I am looking for at this point in my “career” though, so it’s not going anywhere - except gigs.

I’ve had my Roscoe for almost 10 years and it has been my main bass for a good chunk of that time. It’s not going anywhere either, just taking a break for a while, or until I have a gig where I want that tone.
 
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#58,107
CaptainWally said:
Well, I'll be darned. I'm a Lull aficionado, and I didn't realize the non-modern default is now 34". Still, it seems like at least half of the non-modern five-strings sold new are 35" these days.
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I hate to suggest this in a thread about Sadowsky instruments, but some of you need to visit the Lull website if only to learn what the default scale lengths actually are. I know, but I’d rather you guys see it for yourself.
 
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#58,108
Geri O said:
I hate to suggest this in a thread about Sadowsky instruments, but some of you need to visit the Lull website if only to learn what the default scale lengths actually are. I know, but I’d rather you guys see it for yourself.
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Site is kind of inconclusive on this point. It's an idle curiosity for me anyway, as I use four-string basses.
 
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#58,109
bucephylus said:
Regarding alternatives, Jimmy Coppolo offers his LG5 in the Tom Barney configuration. That’s the one I have considered. The thing there is that you are pretty much permanent with Jimmy’s (admittedly fabulous) single coil pickups; since nothing else goes into that rout. Still, Jimmy is a guy for whom I have a lot of respect; like Roger. FWIW.
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I have an RA 5 that Jimmy built for me in the Tom Barney configuration. Beautiful sounding bass and plays like a dream. I like the 18 mm spacing.
 
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#58,110
CaptainWally said:
Site is kind of inconclusive on this point. It's an idle curiosity for me anyway, as I use four-string basses.
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Surely understand that.

I still feel it’s inappropriate to mention much about the Lull 5-strings’ scale options in this particular conversation, but here it is, short and sweet….

“All 5-string models are available in 34” and 35” scale.”

No extra charge for either.
 
#58,111
Geri O said:
Surely understand that.

I still feel it’s inappropriate to mention much about the Lull 5-strings’ scale options in this particular conversation, but here it is, short and sweet….

“All 5-string models are available in 34” and 35” scale.”

No extra charge for either.
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Nobody said they weren’t. The back and forth was about what used to be standard vs. what is standard now and that’s obviously changed.
 
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#58,113
Addison said:
Nobody said they weren’t. The back and forth was about what used to be standard vs. what is standard now and that’s obviously changed.
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to be fair, it all started because you made an unqualified comment that didn't appear as limited to 5's or "what used to be".

No big deal, but it's usually best to be a lot more explicit rather than assume people know what you're thinking. All you said was:

"Mike Lull's (RIP) jazz clones come standard with 18mm spacing and 35" scale, although they can be ordered with 34" scale."

That appeared to be relative to current product and not limited to 5's. If that's what you meant, that's cool, but it's not what you said.

FWIW
 
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#58,114
CElton said:
I'm sure there are more than a few folks that would like the wider spacing. Always a hot topic with fun reading around here...
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Ah yes, indeed! I was an agitator for EBMM considering a 19mm 5-string, and was one of the few who posted a deposit for the making of same. A difficult incident, in so many ways. I briefly had a 5HH with an ebony board that sounded fantastic, but I could not get comfortable for love nor money - right hand spacing discomfort, and a splitchy G-string. I've since moved on, and am very pleased with Sadowsky basses, along with a few choice others. Interestingly, G&L now seems poised to offer 19mm 5-string versions of their basses...
 
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#58,117
Picked this up today off of Reverb.
Just needs a little bath and TLC, and ready to serve its new master.

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#58,119
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