Club Sadowsky!!!

[Fuzzbass]

I am looking at a new P/J build and wondering about the P pick up location on the 4-24 being so close to the neck.
I love the shape but wondering if I should play it safe and stick to the 4-21 body. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.View attachment 5352316 View attachment 5352317

If you're concerned about slapping: PJ on a 4-24 actually leaves more room to 'pop' than vintage JJ, because the P has those staggered coils. Another option would be a 4-24 with the default dual humbuckers, because they are located closer to the bridge than PJ/JJ, leaving lots of room between middle pickup and neck.

I would not be concerned about PJ on a 4-24... but, I don't slap much.

 

[Matt275]

Thank you very much. I am not much of a slapper yet but curious about getting that P sound with pickups so close to the fretboard. Maybe I am overthinking this?

 

[5StringPocket]

What matters is the P pickup spacing in relation to the bridge and total scale length. I don’t think the P pickup was moved but the fingerboard extends 3 frets closer which reduces the gap.

 

[Matt275]

Ok, thank you, that makes sense. I appreciate the help on this.

 

[Breeze3]

If your going with a new NYC build , after you go thru the order form give Roger a call before you submit the form and ask any questions you may have , you can make the changes while you are on the phone.

 

[Matt275]

Yes, I definitely need to talk about the build. It’s only been a few days since I emailed the form and don’t want to seem pushy. I guess I’m in the queue?
So many choices and don’t want to screw it up. This 4-24 vs 4-21 body choice has been difficult.

 

[tb-player]

Yes, I definitely need to talk about the build. It’s only been a few days since I emailed the form and don’t want to seem pushy. I guess I’m in the queue?
So many choices and don’t want to screw it up. This 4-24 vs 4-21 body choice has been difficult.

I just put my downpayment in this morning for a new build. It took a couple of weeks to get from form submission to downpayment. Roger was super helpful. We did everything over email.

I guess I'll see you guys in 2025.

 

[Matt275]

Congratulations! I look forward to finalizing my order already reconsidering some of my choices. It will be nice to have some direction from Roger. I miss the old website where you could see front & back photos and specs of past builds.

 

[monkeyland]

Yes, I definitely need to talk about the build. It’s only been a few days since I emailed the form and don’t want to seem pushy. I guess I’m in the queue?
So many choices and don’t want to screw it up. This 4-24 vs 4-21 body choice has been difficult.

for me that would come down to how you utilize the very end of the neck. On a bass with 60/70s pickup placement the 24 fret will leave less room for slapping between the end of the neck and the pickups. If this doesn’t matter to you, and you value those extra notes up high, then the 24 may suit you. If you need that extra dead space, or just prefer a more traditional look, then the 21 is probably the choice.

for me if I were getting fender pickup spacing I would stick with 21. If I were getting a modern then the 24 would be obvious

 

[Mark Ambler]

I am looking at a new P/J build and wondering about the P pick up location on the 4-24 being so close to the neck.
I love the shape but wondering if I should stick to the more traditional 4-21 body. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.View attachment 5352316 View attachment 5352317

In those pictures, the pickups are aligned differently to the controls. So are the pickups or controls in a different position? I would've thought the P pickups would always be in the same position, (unless reversed)?

 

[Nebadon2000]

In those pictures, the pickups are aligned differently to the controls. So are the pickups or controls in a different position? I would've thought the P pickups would always be in the same position, (unless reversed)?

To me pickups look the same from bridge on body extended neck only difference

 

[Mark Ambler]

To me pickups look the same from bridge on body extended neck only difference

The volume control looks in a different comparative position to me, not that it probably matters.

 

[tb-player]

Congratulations! I look forward to finalizing my order already reconsidering some of my choices. It will be nice to have some direction from Roger. I miss the old website where you could see front & back photos and specs of past builds.

You can still see old builds on the website (but yeah, no specs). You can also see their stock of top woods. Thats how I put mine together.

 

[bucephylus]

for me that would come down to how you utilize the very end of the neck. On a bass with 60/70s pickup placement the 24 fret will leave less room for slapping between the end of the neck and the pickups. If this doesn’t matter to you, and you value those extra notes up high, then the 24 may suit you. If you need that extra dead space, or just prefer a more traditional look, then the 21 is probably the choice.

for me if I were getting fender pickup spacing I would stick with 21. If I were getting a modern then the 24 would be obvious

IME, there has been a certain amount of confusion about 24 fret necks - pickups - and pickup placement.

It is true that standard JJ pickup placement has less space between the end of the fingerboard and the location of the neck pickup. Using a P pickup in that position increases that space for popping the G string. IME, the shorter distance to the J pickup can pretty easily be accommodated by cleaning up technique.

BUT, the biggest difference, which doesn’t get much discussion, is that the slap tones on a 21 fret bass are deeper, mainly because the string is struck closer to its fulcrum, further from the bridge. To get the same response on a 24 fret board, one would need to slap up over the fingerboard, where popping is not practical.

So, my conclusion has been that the 24 fret basses are not limited by pickup position, as much as by the extended fingerboard itself. They are just different instruments. Slapping on the 24 fret board is still just fine; but, it isn’t as deep as with the shorter boards.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[MikeBass]

Not the best video, but had Roger & Co do the Super P install on my 95 (as well as add a VTC).
I’ll get a better recording of it direct later, but, you can hear the differences. They’re subtle, but it sounds great. Especially in the mix.
I personally like the Reverse P with the J, and the Regular P alone settings.
Didn’t use humbucker (both sets of coils) much on the gig, but I’ll give it a go more this weekend.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Eg0JvUbN6HM?si=9oaoBFm35S8IpBiJ

 

[StayLow]

Not the best video, but had Roger & Co do the Super P install on my 95 (as well as add a VTC).
I’ll get a better recording of it direct later, but, you can hear the differences. They’re subtle, but it sounds great. Especially in the mix.
I personally like the Reverse P with the J, and the Regular P alone settings.
Didn’t use humbucker (both sets of coils) much on the gig, but I’ll give it a go more this weekend.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Eg0JvUbN6HM?si=9oaoBFm35S8IpBiJ

Thanks! I might think differently in my own hands & mix, and in person, but based on that I liked standard P & PJ best, and HJ.

 

[Snipehunter]

Ok y’all, my Metroline PJ5 came today. I love it just as much as I hoped.

I was a little concerned until I gave it a good setup (it was used). The low B sounded pretty weak. I started to think that must be related to high light the bass is. It’s only 7.8lbs! Then I discovered that one of the feet on the saddle for the low B string wasn’t making contact. As soon as I fixed that, the B string started to roar. I was so happy. Then the E string had this weird buzz in it that baffled me. I thought setting the action, relief, and nut height would fix it for sure but it did not. Then I noticed the pickups were way too high. I brought those down to spec and the buzz went right away.

When I get used instruments like this with such bad setups, I often wonder if the owner would have ever gotten rid of them had they been setup properly. I mean who would want to dump this bass??

I also think the bass had the original Sadowsky strings on it. Somebody in an earlier conversation recommended me the DR lowrider strings. I put those on and they sound great. Thank you!

A few pages back, people were talking about the quality of the tuners not being as good as they probably should be. I have to concur. The action on them is not smooth at all. Oddly, this not the case on the 2020 JJ4 Metroline I got. So maybe Sadowsky changed the tuners in 2021. Or maybe a previous owner of my JJ already did a swap.

I think I’d like to replace the tuners with hipshots like some mentioned. Would y’all allow me to be lazy and not go measure the hole size? If someone could just put me to the exact ones I need to order, that would be awesome.

 

[atrapp]

Ok y’all, my Metroline PJ5 came today. I love it just as much as I hoped.

I was a little concerned until I gave it a good setup (it was used). The low B sounded pretty weak. I started to think that must be related to high light the bass is. It’s only 7.8lbs! Then I discovered that one of the feet on the saddle for the low B string wasn’t making contact. As soon as I fixed that, the B string started to roar. I was so happy. Then the E string had this weird buzz in it that baffled me. I thought setting the action, relief, and nut height would fix it for sure but it did not. Then I noticed the pickups were way too high. I brought those down to spec and the buzz went right away.

When I get used instruments like this with such bad setups, I often wonder if the owner would have ever gotten rid of them had they been setup properly. I mean who would want to dump this bass??

I also think the bass had the original Sadowsky strings on it. Somebody in an earlier conversation recommended me the DR lowrider strings. I put those on and they sound great. Thank you!

A few pages back, people were talking about the quality of the tuners not being as good as they probably should be. I have to concur. The action on them is not smooth at all. Oddly, this not the case on the 2020 JJ4 Metroline I got. So maybe Sadowsky changed the tuners in 2021. Or maybe a previous owner of my JJ already did a swap.

I think I’d like to replace the tuners with hipshots like some mentioned. Would y’all allow me to be lazy and not go measure the hole size? If someone could just put me to the exact ones I need to order, that would be awesome.

Nice looking bass! They are 1/2 inch tuners.

USA Ultralite® Bass Tuning Machine 1/2

 

[Snipehunter]

Nice looking bass! They are 1/2 inch tuners.

USA Ultralite® Bass Tuning Machine 1/2

Wonderful. Thank you!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I played a roasted maple five today since I attended my kid’s competition
in that area today. I think it sounds great, but the front to back profile of the neck was quite chunky.

The more I think about it, the neck on this MetroExpress feels like a Warwick. That said it is a Warwick!