Great interview with the man himself.
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Thank you for such an explicit answer!
The singles in the new ME are rather low mid heavy to my ears.
Maybe it’s the Okume’s tone signature. The ergonomics are really nice and the 34’ scale is a welcome deviation from the 35’ on my Lakland 55-60.
Nonetheless its tone hasn’t won me over. The B axis/J retro on the 55-60 is awesome.
Also there are imperfections which are tempting me to send it back and order a German MetroLine.
The singles in the new ME are rather low mid heavy to my ears.
Maybe it’s the Okume’s tone signature. The ergonomics are really nice and the 34’ scale is a welcome deviation from the 35’ on my Lakland 55-60.
Nonetheless its tone hasn’t won me over. The B axis/J retro on the 55-60 is awesome.
Also there are imperfections which are tempting me to send it back and order a German MetroLine.
@ 04:42... this may be the first known orgasmic response ever recorded, as a result of the utterance...
... 'Badass bridge'.
The Sadowsky Will Lee MetroLine made by Warwick is on a par with the NYC shop with chambering plus it features invisible fret ends.
Anyone considering selling a NYC JJ 5 w/ maple board give me a shout.
I am selling a Japanese Jazz bass with Sadowsky electronics and maple fb
The problem with splits is that they don’t fully hum cancel, even in the mid position. At least with singles they are reverse wound and quiet in the mid position.
yeah, but ONLY in that one condition. Assuming you never ever use any other blend, yes, it'd be quieter.
fwiw, i've found the noise level in the asymmetrical splits is very minor and generally a non-issue.
unfortunately that has not been my experience. The venue where I play the most has a lighting dimmer about 3 feet away from where I stand. With single coils at least I could pan to the center and have the bass be quiet. With the split coils there was no situation that the bass was ever quiet other than just turning the volume off.
It’s no longer an issue as I now have stacks in that bass and I can use the whole range of the blend pot.
Before going the aftermarket route...
Does anyone happen to have an 18mm Sadowsky bridge they'd want to sell? Either black or chrome is fine, not looking for gold. This is for replacement on my Sadowsky NYC WL-5. I have tried going through the shop without luck. I've been playing EBMM 5-strings off and on and have determined the 18mm would be perfect. I'll go with a Hipshot or Gotoh if not, just thought I'd try the group first. Thanks!
Does anyone happen to have an 18mm Sadowsky bridge they'd want to sell? Either black or chrome is fine, not looking for gold. This is for replacement on my Sadowsky NYC WL-5. I have tried going through the shop without luck. I've been playing EBMM 5-strings off and on and have determined the 18mm would be perfect. I'll go with a Hipshot or Gotoh if not, just thought I'd try the group first. Thanks!
that's unfortunate. just to be clear tho, i was not suggesting there was no hum at all... just that it was small enough it didn't matter... especially when the music was in full force, so just using a noise gate fixes it.
regardless, you have a better solution now anyway, so no biggie.
Been a while since I’ve had a Sadowsky in the collection, but I recently started playing 5s and I always wanted to try a 5-24.
I snapped up this cool NYC. It’s a 93 and has had an interesting life. It was actually bought and sold white a bit here on TB. Original Gotoh hardware was swapped for Hipshot. There was a few different pickups in it through its life but it came to me with the original EMG pickups.
The original EMG J pickups it came with were actually angled in the casing, G side towards the neck, B side toward the bridge.
The tone was everything you read about, very modern, mid forward and punchy, but not a lot (or any) pillowy low end. It didn’t really work for me.
After a little experimenting I ordered a set of new EMG 40Js, the neck pickup has the coil towards the neck side of the casing and the bridge pickup has the coil on the bridge side.
That little bit of added distance between coils relaxed some of that super tight modern tone. Based on my measurements the neck pickup is where a P pickup treble coil would be centered.
If I reverse the bridge pickup, the coil would actually be right in a 60s J spot, but right now I’m happy with the tone.
Anyway, here’s my vintage Modern. Apologies in advance if mojo offends you, this one is chock full of it.
I snapped up this cool NYC. It’s a 93 and has had an interesting life. It was actually bought and sold white a bit here on TB. Original Gotoh hardware was swapped for Hipshot. There was a few different pickups in it through its life but it came to me with the original EMG pickups.
The original EMG J pickups it came with were actually angled in the casing, G side towards the neck, B side toward the bridge.
The tone was everything you read about, very modern, mid forward and punchy, but not a lot (or any) pillowy low end. It didn’t really work for me.
After a little experimenting I ordered a set of new EMG 40Js, the neck pickup has the coil towards the neck side of the casing and the bridge pickup has the coil on the bridge side.
That little bit of added distance between coils relaxed some of that super tight modern tone. Based on my measurements the neck pickup is where a P pickup treble coil would be centered.
If I reverse the bridge pickup, the coil would actually be right in a 60s J spot, but right now I’m happy with the tone.
Anyway, here’s my vintage Modern. Apologies in advance if mojo offends you, this one is chock full of it.
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Cool bass, and love that naturally acquired mojo!
Been a while since I’ve had a Sadowsky in the collection, but I recently started playing 5s and I always wanted to try a 5-24.
I snapped up this cool NYC. It’s a 93 and has had an interesting life. It was actually bought and sold white a bit here on TB. Original Gotoh hardware was swapped for Hipshot. There was a few different pickups in it through its life but it came to me with the original EMG pickups.
The original EMG J pickups it came with were actually angled in the casing, G side towards the neck, B side toward the bridge.
The tone was everything you read about, very modern, mid forward and punchy, but not a lot (or any) pillowy low end. It didn’t really work for me.
Pillowy low end is not the Modern's attribute. However you can approach it with the VTC and gaining lows.
Lovely bass!!
My RSD arrived last Friday and what a buzzkill experience it has been…..
I was super excited but have been disappointed altogether. So much that I’m afraid to try the German Metroline.
In all fairness it’s an April 21’ model but it seems to be a later iteration.
The nut measures 1,8 inches rather than 1.875 and the frets are .108 wide instead of .094
I have no means to measure their height accurately.
The Just A Nut is glued assymetrically and is poorly filed. Needs work. The neck finish has a defect where they went through it when buffing most likely. The body finish is flawless and the pickguard is great. The bridge plate while a clone of the original, is poorly machined and the saddles don’t align and have minor gaps. The truss rod seems to be working just fine. The fretboard is a very nice piece and very thick but seems to be either polished or finished up to the 10th fret but not all the way. The electronics are quite noisy when not touching strings which indicates mediocre shielding. I suspect the paint has a high resistance, since there is no beep on the continuity test (bridge and jack ground) and measures sth like 1300Ohms.
The active setting has at least 6dB higher output than the passive but to me seems like the passive is super low output rather than the opposite. Both my 55-60 & V7 are way hotter passive than the RSD.
Because there is also a significant lack of high end zing, I can’t help but wonder whether there is a 25K/100K volume pot used. (Maybe the lack of high end is a trait of the Okume body??)
The thing is that the bass acoustically sounds good. Punchy full and tight.
I’ll have to send it back to Thomann and ask for a refund.
I have nothing but respect for Mr. Sadowsky and know how amazing HIS instruments are. I’ve played US versions.
Do you believe I got a dud?
I was super excited but have been disappointed altogether. So much that I’m afraid to try the German Metroline.
In all fairness it’s an April 21’ model but it seems to be a later iteration.
The nut measures 1,8 inches rather than 1.875 and the frets are .108 wide instead of .094
I have no means to measure their height accurately.
The Just A Nut is glued assymetrically and is poorly filed. Needs work. The neck finish has a defect where they went through it when buffing most likely. The body finish is flawless and the pickguard is great. The bridge plate while a clone of the original, is poorly machined and the saddles don’t align and have minor gaps. The truss rod seems to be working just fine. The fretboard is a very nice piece and very thick but seems to be either polished or finished up to the 10th fret but not all the way. The electronics are quite noisy when not touching strings which indicates mediocre shielding. I suspect the paint has a high resistance, since there is no beep on the continuity test (bridge and jack ground) and measures sth like 1300Ohms.
The active setting has at least 6dB higher output than the passive but to me seems like the passive is super low output rather than the opposite. Both my 55-60 & V7 are way hotter passive than the RSD.
Because there is also a significant lack of high end zing, I can’t help but wonder whether there is a 25K/100K volume pot used. (Maybe the lack of high end is a trait of the Okume body??)
The thing is that the bass acoustically sounds good. Punchy full and tight.
I’ll have to send it back to Thomann and ask for a refund.
I have nothing but respect for Mr. Sadowsky and know how amazing HIS instruments are. I’ve played US versions.
Do you believe I got a dud?
No excuse for something that’s unplayable, but you can’t “fine-tooth-comb” any instrument at that level and expect perfection. It’d be like buying a Squier Affinity and swearing off buying anything Fender because of all the imperfections of the Squier. Can’t expect champagne and caviar dreams on a Kool-aid and sardines budget.
Yes. Don't set your expectations to the level you would for a NYC - it's not going to be in that category - but what you describe, for a 2021 model, says you got unlucky.
