• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Club Sadowsky!!!

#9,101
Indigo_blues said:
Just to check guys, are your necks fully straight or with a slight bow forward to allow for the string's vibration?

My metro's got a slight bow forward and am thinking if fully straight would not be better..

cheers :)
Click to expand...

I suggest going for as straight a neck as possible. If you experience too much fret buzz in the first position, keep loosening the truss rod in small increments until it cleans up.

Roger
 
#9,103
Mine too is darn near straight. I absolutely love the playability of my M5-24 (Metro). Of course, I just got it back after having it in the shop for a week (VTC install), so I can't seem to put it down tonight. :D

Good opportunity for a quick shoutout to Sadowsky for the truss rod design. It couldn't be easier making the most minute of adjustments and the bass is - in my experience - a breeze to set up properly.
 
#9,110
+1 to the truss rod adjustment system. That wheel is a very good design... easy and smooth.

Regarding Sadowsky set-up and necks, I find them just fine, and not better or worse than any high end bass that I've owned.

I don't use a super low set-up any more, but with the radius of the board and the bridge design, I find that the Sadowsky bass is probably not the best for those who want stupid low action (i.e., you can only get that G string so far down since it is at the edge of a 12" radius board and the bridge saddle only goes down so far. However, for the vast majority of players, the action is just fine IMO and IME.

Nothing particularly special though, if you have experience with other high end brands (Nordstrand, MTD, Alleva-Coppolo, Ken Smith, etc., etc., etc.). Put in the context of other similarly priced brands, all basses at this level set-up perfectly, in general IMO and IME.
 
#9,111
It's been some pages back, but, there is both a magazine article and video clip about/by Roger that explain his setup procedure very well.
As someone that's been doing my own setups for decades, I took a thing or two away from them that was helpful.

Personally, I like mine "just shy of dead flat." In other words, just a tiny bit of bow.
If I fret both first position, and 12th position, I like to have just a bit of clearance between bottom of the string and top of the fret a 5/7 position.
 
#9,112
Chef said:
It's been some pages back, but, there is both a magazine article and video clip about/by Roger that explain his setup procedure very well.
As someone that's been doing my own setups for decades, I took a thing or two away from them that was helpful.

Personally, I like mine "just shy of dead flat." In other words, just a tiny bit of bow.
If I fret both first position, and 12th position, I like to have just a bit of clearance between bottom of the string and top of the fret a 5/7 position.
Click to expand...
+1 A TINY bit. :)

The vid you're referring to is the AWESOME video done be "Behind The Notes".

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#9,114
The flatter boards I've had on high end jazz copies in the past, for instance my Mike Lull, could achieve crazy low action with almost no buzz. 2/32nd on the B side and 1.5/64ths on the G after a good Plek job. My Sadowsky, albeit without a Plek job, gets the same amount of buzz at 5/32nds on the B side and 2/32nds on the G set up by the same highly rated luthier-more than twice as high. Keep in mind it's not a fair comparison until I put the Sad on the Plek machine.

The different boards might also be because the B string has a wider vibration path on the 34" bass than on a 35" (just a guess, I have no idea). I've come to that conclusion because my Lull had a noticably tighter sounding fundamental on the B string with it's longer scale. In my personal experience, I'd give the Lull B a 9 in those regards and the Sadowsky a 7.5, for comparison's sake. All IME and IMO, of course.
 
#9,115
Plek is neither better nor worse than a good human-performed fret job.
The two biggest advantages to a plek are repeatablility, and speed.

I've had Plek'd basses that were actually worse than a decent luthier job.
One can set up the Plek machine poorly and get less than stellar results.

IME, YMMV, etc.
 
#9,116
Chef said:
Plek is neither better nor worse than a good human-performed fret job.
The two biggest advantages to a plek are repeatablility, and speed.

I've had Plek'd basses that were actually worse than a decent luthier job.
One can set up the Plek machine poorly and get less than stellar results.

IME, YMMV, etc.
Click to expand...

Huh, I understood it to be much more accurate than a human could ever reproduce. Even Mike Lull told me who couldn't do the job it does (at least in a reasonable or realistic amount of time) and he's one of the best in the business in those regards.

Either way, my Lull could achieve a much lower lower action than my Sadowsky. This experience could be the opposite for someone else. For what it's worth, I still kept the Sadowsky and sold the Lull, but that's for another thread.
 
#9,117
Chef said:
Plek is neither better nor worse than a good human-performed fret job.
The two biggest advantages to a plek are repeatablility, and speed.
Click to expand...
Yep, and especially when it comes to doing odd stuff like actually milling relief into the fret profile (say, if someone had a non-wood neck) and other odd (and likely rarely done) stuff. That kind of thing would probably be out of the question for a human, but easy for the machine.

And yeah, any tool is only as good as the person using it, so make sure if you go Plek, you get a shop that knows what they're doing. It's NOT brainless to set up.

That said, there are a few builders/luthiers that simply get it perfect every time without needing something like a Plek, and definitely Roger's shop is one. No doubt. Just like Roger says in the video, fret work must be impeccable... and it is.
 
#9,118
Scott McArron said:
Huh, I understood it to be much more accurate than a human could ever reproduce. Even Mike Lull told me who couldn't do the job it does (at least in a reasonable or realistic amount of time) and he's one of the best in the business in those regards.
Click to expand...
This is technically true, but I've played his basses and basses he's done levels on (of course prior to his Plek ownership) and I can't imagine any improvement making a PRACTICAL change to an actual player... maybe a micrometer would be able to measure a difference, but I can't imagine a noticeable change to a player. I still think even in his case, it's about making a tedious process less costly, because he also does really great levels IMHO.
 
#9,120
Vic said:
This is technically true, but I've played his basses and basses he's done levels on and I can't imagine any improvement making a PRACTICAL change to an actual player... maybe a micrometer would be able to measure a difference, but I can't imagine a noticeable change to a player. I still think even in his case, it's about making a tedious process less costly, because he also does really great levels IMHO.
Click to expand...

True that, you're probably right that it's more about saving time. I can't imagine how long and tedious it must be to sit there filing and measuring frets one-by-one. Ugh!
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back