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Club Sadowsky!!!

#63,106
Joebone said:
Informal Poll...looking for impressions from those of you whom have Sadowsky basses with both the dual-P and dual-J pickups on board. I briefly had a singlecut with a J/dual-J arrangement. Not entirely satisfying, but that may have been an element of the roasted neck and the geometry; and to be fair, it did the melodic, singing solo thing like playing a horn, but seemed to lack punch when it counted. That said, I'm a huge fan of reverse-P, especially on 5-string, I totally dig the overall Sadowsky approach and that superb preamp, and am looking to reconcile all playing interests into one bass. All input - public or private - deeply welcome! Thank you, TB hive mind...
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@tombowlus really nailed it with his description! I have two Super PJ5’s (I guess we can call them that?), one with a roasted figured neck and one without:

IMG_7827.jpeg
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To be completely transparent I’ve had the one on the left with all the figured woods (roasted flamed maple neck and non-roasted swamp ash body with flamed mahogany top) since 2019 and only had the one on the left since August 2023, but there is indeed a noticeable difference between the way the roasted vs non-roasted neck handles. Unfortunately my two basses here are extremely different as far as woods go (new one is alder body, plain maple neck, nothing roasted) so an exact “clinical” comparison would be impossible, but there is definitely a difference in feel and response to my ears at least. Very hard to put into words.

The Super PJ setup has a ton of tonal options available! I’ve quite literally gone from songs in “old country” like Waylon and Willie (traditional P only, VTC rolled way down) to Alice In Chains (reverse P & 60’s J, VTC all up) to Brantley Gilbert (reverse P & 70’s J with overdrive pedal on) to 2Pac (all coils on, VTC rolled to taste) in the same set and gotten amazing tones from simply the controls on the bass. Simply put, I NEVER reach for my other basses anymore unless it’s for something very specific like a full-band acoustic show where the Warwick Star Bass comes out (and to be fair, I could easily play that kind of thing on either Sadowsky if I wanted to).

If you ever happen to be out in Nashville, please do hit me up and we can try to arrange a hang where you can play both of mine to see what you think about a Super PJ5!
 
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#63,108
Kevan Campbell said:
@tombowlus really nailed it with his description! I have two Super PJ5’s (I guess we can call them that?), one with a toasted figured neck and one without:

View attachment 5331237 View attachment 5331238

To be completely transparent I’ve had the one on the left with all the figured woods (roasted flames maple neck and non-roasted swamp ash body with flamed mahogany top) since 2019 and only had the one on the left since August 2023, but there is indeed a noticeable difference between the way the roasted vs non-roasted neck handles. Unfortunately my two basses here are extremely different as far as woods go (new one is alder body, plain maple neck, nothing roasted) so an exact clinical comparison would be impossible, but there is definitely a difference in feel and response to my ears at least. Very hard to put into words.

The Super PJ setup has a ton of tonal options available! I’ve quite literally gone from songs in “old country” like Waylon and Willie (traditional P only, VTC rolled way down) to Alice In Chains (reverse P & 60’s J, VTC all up) to Brantley Gilbert (reverse P & 70’s P with overdrive pedal on) to 2Pac (all coils on, VTC rolled to taste) the same set and gotten amazing tones from simply the controls on the bass. Simply put, I NEVER reach for my other basses anymore unless it’s for something very specific like a full-band acoustic show where the Warwick Star Bass comes out (and to be fair, I could easily play that kind of thing on either Sadowsky if I wanted to).

If you ever happen to be out in Nashville, please do hit me up and we can try to arrange a hang where you can try both of mine to see what you think about a Super PJ5!
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Wow - thanks for the comments, and I'm head-over-heels for your leftmost bass - gorgeous! Thanks.
 
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#63,109
Fuzzbass said:
The difference is figured wood. I believe Roger said he never made necks entirely of figured wood because they had a greater tendency to warp. The roasting process counteracts this tendency, so you can now get a Sadowsky with a flame maple neck -- roasted, obviously.

A friend who owns a bunch of Warmoths said that those with roasted necks have less bite/presence than standard, even when all else is equal (he swapped necks to compare). But he only owns a few roasted necks -- not a great sample size.
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I’ve had quite a few non-roasted, roasted, and one figured-roasted NYC builds. Ime, all the roasted sounded (or sound) a touch sweeter/less aggressive than non-roasted. The roasted and non-roasted were equally super stable. But, my one master-grade super-flamed roasted fretless neck was highly unstable—didn’t stay with me very long. Bass was absolutely gorgeous, but neck instability (and mahogany body tone, given the soaps+location) just didn’t work for me. The neck had a killer carve/feel though. Just my first-hand experience…ymmv.
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#63,112
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#63,116
projectapollo said:
Quick tool question. I have a couple of Allen type screwdriver tools provided with previous Sadowsky instruments. The red tipped tool, 1.5mm, is for the bridge set screws. What is the yellow tipped 1/16th tool intended for?
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The 1.5 mm is for the bridges on Japanese and German instruments, the 1/16th is for NYC bridges.
 
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#63,117
Sadowsky said:
There were several different templates used by Japan over the years. You will need to send your pickguard to be used as a template to whoever you use to make the new guard.
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Pickguardian did a great job making my P/J 4 replacement guard…..and reasonable too. They used my existing guard for a template.

www.pickguardian.com



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