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- Status
- Apr 24, 2004
- 1,359
- 53
- Disclosures
- Designer Fodera Guitars/Michael Pope Design, Inc., Trickfish Amplification
To all the members of my new family (both Fodera owners and the Fodera company), peace be with you on this Thanksgiving Day! I am thankful for living in this great country, where such amazing instruments are being made, thankful to be fortunate enough to now own one, and thankful that we are able to share our experiences here. I hope all of you get to spend time with those you love, including your Foderas 
Oh yes...one more thing...I've started a dialogue with Jason about MAYBE considering the possibility, the embryonic inkling of an idea about a thought about a 5 string Emperor II.... Can I be more uncertain, do ya think? Then again, there IS the ES Standard!
Oh yes...one more thing...I've started a dialogue with Jason about MAYBE considering the possibility, the embryonic inkling of an idea about a thought about a 5 string Emperor II.... Can I be more uncertain, do ya think? Then again, there IS the ES Standard!
Can i ask you a question? Your bass has one pickup, and the Mike Pope preamp, right? It looks like you have individual bass, mid and treble knobs, a volume, and then a stacked blend / VTC control. Is this right? Why would a one pickup bass have a blend control - is there a dummy knob which does nothing? I thought maybe Fodera might ship all one pickup basses with a blend pot in case someone adds an extra pickup later.
I believe with a single dual coil you can wire it up to actually blend the coils. I could be wrong. It has happened often.
- Apr 24, 2004
- 1,359
- 53
- Disclosures
- Designer Fodera Guitars/Michael Pope Design, Inc., Trickfish Amplification
Yes. Instead of a coil tap switch, the two coils are wired as if they are separate pickups (which they really are). So panpot centered is parallel hubucking...just like a Jazz bass, actually, but the coils are not 4" apart.
Gorgeous ...sorry, distracted for a moment by the Skycoaster. - one never knows what is going to turn up on this Forum. Thanks for posting the pic of the fretless.
Correct !
The Hipshot bridge has Graphtech piezos installed. Actually they are not functional as I am waiting for a piezo buffer to be installed. For now the 2 coils are connected as 2 different pickups and the blend is used for mixing. The piezos are not connected. The sound is amazing now, although I'd love the ability to add some subtle 'acoustic' character for some tunes, even without chambers or a feedback-prone resonance body.
With the custom buffer the piezo signal will go through it to match the magnetic pickup impedance, and then into the bridge channel of the preamp. The mag pickup will be connected with the 'neck' pickup terminal on the preamp. So the blend pot should work fine with mag and piezo together. That's the plan so far...
Impedance matching is a key factor in this scenario. I tried the Bartolini and the Ghost piezo preamps and they both provide low impedance on output - lower than the mag impedance. So they require to convert the mag impedance too. Otherwise the piezos would sound thin and harsh. But buffering the mag disables its passive mode. And it requires buffering for both coils - otherwise coil tap would be disabled too.
The piezo saddles don't affect the unplugged sound compared to the original Hipshot saddles - at least to my ears.
I'm curious how it will work in the end.
Guys
Does anyone have any experience with how the Pope Flexcore system compares to the Fodera/Pope system?
I'm thinking about replacing the older MP pre amps that I have in my (older) Foderas.
Is one sonically superior or is the difference around flexibility and configuration options?
Does anyone have any experience with how the Pope Flexcore system compares to the Fodera/Pope system?
I'm thinking about replacing the older MP pre amps that I have in my (older) Foderas.
Is one sonically superior or is the difference around flexibility and configuration options?
Like nostatic...I'm into all the dark wood! This last one is GORGEOUS, looks a lot like the ebony on the top of my YYD. I presume the 'black' part of the top on my YY Deluxe is also Maccassar Ebony; Jason, if you see this post, please jump in.
But, can't say I'm not also thrilled to see AJ Brown's pictures, either; very nice! So, you got your YYS, and waiting on your ES5, I gather? My memory stinks, so I know you must have written that here previously...
The posts with the whole BUNCH of Foderas makes me...wish I had millions of $$$ so I could have the whole herd, or at least put in orders for all new ones just like 'em!
Oh, and one more question. How old is this previously posted picture of Vinnie? My guess is at least 10 years, maybe more. The vintage of the bass he is holding, obviously, holds the answer...
But, can't say I'm not also thrilled to see AJ Brown's pictures, either; very nice! So, you got your YYS, and waiting on your ES5, I gather? My memory stinks, so I know you must have written that here previously...
The posts with the whole BUNCH of Foderas makes me...wish I had millions of $$$ so I could have the whole herd, or at least put in orders for all new ones just like 'em!
Oh, and one more question. How old is this previously posted picture of Vinnie? My guess is at least 10 years, maybe more. The vintage of the bass he is holding, obviously, holds the answer...
Joelc73 said:
I have the flex in my presentation custom. It was installed in 15 minutes and is in no way inferior to the custom pre. I have the latest pre in my new emperor bolt-on. It has the mid boost that works perfectly on the soloed bridge pickup.
The best feature is the quiet operation of both.
And just to make it clear. My new emperor is the best 4 string I have ever played.
Hey Joel,
Thanks for the info...beautiful instrument. Do they build anything that isn't stupendous?
- Status
