Club Sadowsky!!!

[Mark Ambler]

I can upgrade the pickups and electronics in my RSD ME and still not be at the price of a German ML, so they (smartly) are making sure there are other differences to justify the prices. At the same time, if your budget has you looking at a RSD ME then you're looking at a really solid choice, which is great.



Exactly!

IIRC, the pickups in the RSD ME are single coils, the same as the ones in the Will Lee, so the Hum cancelling pickups are not necessarily an upgrade, more a preference, albeit more expensive.

 

[marchone]

Thanks. I was aware of the last point and light weight is not a bonus for me. I was thinking more of the quality of the luthier in that masterbuilt implies a "master" as opposed to a standard production worker???

It’s more a term of art. Sales speak for a higher base price and access to options beginning with fancy body wood and tops.

 

[Tim1]

It’s more a term of art. Sales speak for a higher base price and access to options beginning with fancy body wood and tops.

Thanks for that. Clears it up nicely. For some reason i had assumed that masterbuilt meant built by specialist skilled luthiers like the Fender custom shop. I now realise that NYC is the Sadowsky equivalent to Fender custom shop, not masterbuilt. Guess I'm still learning.

 

[soflbass]

Thanks for that. Clears it up nicely. For some reason i had assumed that masterbuilt meant built by specialist skilled luthiers like the Fender custom shop. I now realise that NYC is the Sadowsky equivalent to Fender custom shop, not masterbuilt. Guess I'm still learning.

I may not be 100% on this, but I believe the masterbuilt series made in Germany are essentially the German version of the New York City shop products. From what I've read, they are constructed finished and hand assembled by Master luthiers similar to the New York shop. There are several different options that are not available in the German series that are only available from the New York City shop. Some of those include the super J and the super P pickups. Other than that they are essentially the German equivalent of the New York City shop products. Calling Roger Sadowsky @Sadowsky.

 

[soflbass]

Read Roger's notes at the page:
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[danclaro]

Is it me or is the Sadowsky website faster now?

 

[Bass Boy]

Is it me or is the Sadowsky website faster now?

Yup. Faster to take my money!!!

 

[marchone]

Thanks for that. Clears it up nicely. For some reason i had assumed that masterbuilt meant built by specialist skilled luthiers like the Fender custom shop. I now realise that NYC is the Sadowsky equivalent to Fender custom shop, not masterbuilt. Guess I'm still learning.

I don’t know that I’d assume Warwick Masterbuilt basses are somehow less quality than NYC made ones. I’d venture (recklessly?) that the only difference you’ll find (aside options Warwick won’t offer and NYC will) is that it didn’t come out of the same shop Roger works at every day. And someone other than Roger made the NYC bass although he inspects it.

IMHO there is tremendous value in having Roger inspect and/set up an instrument.

To Fender Custom Shop, there are Team Made and Masterbuilt. Masterbuilt only have one signature on them.

 

[MattLplaysBass]

Is it me or is the Sadowsky website faster now?

I thought there was something posted before about them getting a new site. It is definitely faster, although we’ll see with the next stock update if us bass nerds can crash it

 

[Tim1]

Read Roger's notes at the page:
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Thanks for that. A useful read. I had forgotten all about that.

 

[Vic]

Is it me or is the Sadowsky website faster now?

Yes, he commented on the improved website in his last email newsletter about 5 days ago...

"Relaunched Website: Our new, refreshed (and faster loading) website is on the horizon. If you have any suggestions to make the website better (or thoughts on what is working well now), please let us know: [email protected]"

 

[deepestend]

Yup. Faster to take my money!!!

It definitely is. After a lot of issues last week I finally isolated the issue.

Still, completely new website coming in the next few weeks. We’re in the home stretch.

 

[danclaro]

Awesome - thanks for all your work in continuing to evolve the site!

 

[Sadowsky]

Just curious.. Has Roger ever used a brass nut on any of his basses ?

I stopped using brass nuts around 1985. The grip the string too much and cause tuning problems.
Roger

 

[Sadowsky]

I will say I had to email or call 5-6 times since May just to get a photo of how the finish turned out. I know they are busy, but with the way everyone talks about their customer service, I expected better. Not to mention my build will be at 16 months by the time it’s ready, which is fine but I would have hoped for better communication as to the timeline.

I apologize for this. I have to blame Covid and all of the related supply chain issues. We are just about where we need to be but I now only have 5 employees instead of 11.

 

[Sadowsky]

Sadowsky P-basses are few and far between, but I’d love to have one. The build quality of my MIJ MetroLine is sooo nice. Would be great to have an equivalently well-made P w/ the Sadowsky preamp on tap.
Has anyone ever taken a Hybrid PJ, removed the bridge pickup and played it as a straight P? Would it be doable with the preamp (how would you deal with the blend knob?)? Is it even possible to get a Sadowsky preamp without a blend knob? If so you could just get new pickguard to cover the routs and you could always reconvert/keep the electronics in case you ever wanted to sell.
For those asking why go to the trouble, just for looks I guess. Not a huge fan of the PJ aesthetic.
Random thoughts on a Sunday AM flight to LA.

Why do you need to remove the J? Just keep the blend pot on the P!!!
Roger

 

[Sadowsky]

It appears the rubber covers are not branded Sadowsky while the plastic ones are.

I requested that the white branding on the covers be removed. I like the look better without the white logo.
Roger

 

[scubaduba]

I requested that the white branding on the covers be removed. I like the look better without the white logo.
Roger

Me too.

 

[Sadowsky]

i noticed that the Will Lee model does not have hum cancelling pickups. has there been any discussion
about this? i am wondering if he intended this bass for live gigs only or, to use it for
recording as well.
i had a fender with noiseless jazz pickups years ago that i did not care for. i swapped in some
duncan vintages that have served me well over the years, but i have been wanting to try out
some high end HC pickups and would like to hear your thoughts

Will Lee uses single coil pickups for J basses. He also used my soapbars in J locations.
We now offer our humcanceling pickups with a coil cut switch.
Roger

 

[Sadowsky]

I'd say that stance is the norm...

Single coils are always the benchmark. When you work on a hum free design, you are trying to get as close to a single coil sound as possible. If you mostly play with both J pickups up full together, they humcancel 100%. You only get hum if you favor one pickup.

We now have developed our stacked hum canceling J pickups that can be fitted with a switch to turn off the bottom coil to get a true single coil.

Roger