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Fodera Club Part XI

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#261
We have not noticed a material tonal difference between a 5-piece neck and a 3-piece neck. We also do not really see much difference structurally either. Joey and my personal basses are all 3-piece necks...so that gives you some indication as to where I would vote. That said, the look of a 5-piece neck IS really lovely...completely a personal decision. Don't worry about tone or stability with that decision...it is an aesthetic one more than anything IMHO.

As far as the removable FB like on the Viceroy, we do NOT presently have any plans to offer than on a bass other than the Viceroy. Especially not on an Elite (i.e. neck-through) as it would be a bear to pull of at a cost that anyone would feel like paying. The fact that the Viceroy is a Bolt-on made it a heck of a lot easier...

J



Robin Ruscio said:
I actually was less sure about the maple tone block and agree that a little more complexity would be good. The maple block was Glenn's suggestion.

I like both mahogany and alder and had thought about those two as well. That would be a tough choice as they both might help mellow out the ash a little further since I don't want the bass to get too bright. I could see alder giving the bass a really nice vintage vibe and kind of splitting the difference with the two basic Fender wood configurations. On the other hand, my current bass has a mahogany body and it does have a nice neutral kind of sound as well. I'm sure the difference between the two would be subtle.

I can see what you're saying about basses with too many layers loosing their openness. (I'm thinking of my experiences with lots of Ken Smiths that I owned.) Do you find a similar thing happening a Fodera with a 5 piece neck (i.e maple/purpleheart) ? I appreciate the increased stability and appearance, but have thought it might inhibit it from vibrating as freely.

One other option I was talking with Glenn about that he thought might not be too crazy would be to do a 26 fret (or even 28) board with the Pope removable fingerboard. Mike really is on too something there with the slap tones, IMHO, and solve the 21 fret slap/24 fret finger style preference I certainly share with him. I would love to have the extended range but hate to give up the slap options. I'm sure it's not cheap but it could really make a the instrument that much more versatile.
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#263
Just Thumpin' said:
We have not noticed a material tonal difference between a 5-piece neck and a 3-piece neck. We also do not really see much difference structurally either. Joey and my personal basses are all 3-piece necks...so that gives you some indication as to where I would vote. That said, the look of a 5-piece neck IS really lovely...completely a personal decision. Don't worry about tone or stability with that decision...it is an aesthetic one more than anything IMHO.

As far as the removable FB like on the Viceroy, we do NOT presently have any plans to offer than on a bass other than the Viceroy. Especially not on an Elite (i.e. neck-through) as it would be a bear to pull of at a cost that anyone would feel like paying. The fact that the Viceroy is a Bolt-on made it a heck of a lot easier...

J
Click to expand...

Good to know. I had wondered about the removable FB on a neck through . . . I can see that being tricky!
 
#267
A busy weekend that will bleed into tonight and tomorrow. Four gigs (not counting tonight/tomorrow) so the YYD got plenty of exercise. Short story is the bass puts a smile on my face every time I pick it up. No regrets and that's sayin' something.

Some live fun. No FOH for the bass. I'm thinking of switching from my AE210 cab to Jim's new HD112s. Would like a bit more low mid booty (with this and the RA)

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#270
Hey Fodera people

I have a thread looking for 4 stringers with a jazz neck, 17.5mm spacing with a 1.5" nut. Does Fodera offer any? Most basses are 19mm P bass spacing as 4 strings so any other options besides "jazzesque" basses are appreciated!
 
#272
We regularly build instruments with these specs.

Kindest regards,

Jason

Tunaman said:
Hey Fodera people

I have a thread looking for 4 stringers with a jazz neck, 17.5mm spacing with a 1.5" nut. Does Fodera offer any? Most basses are 19mm P bass spacing as 4 strings so any other options besides "jazzesque" basses are appreciated!
Click to expand...
 
#273
That would be a really fun Spec. Absolutely, we would build with the Viceroy Shape as part of a Custom build with any other specs...

Regards,

J


climb said:
Jason--I assume one could order a bass with a viceroy shape but not a MP signature?

Thinking (maybe... heh heh) a 5 string bolt on Viceroy shape with walnut body/ash neck/ebony board and single coils?
Click to expand...
 
#274
Jason,

While we are throwing out some spec questions, I have two that are very fundamental ones that I'm surprised I haven't seen mentioned here before.

1. In one of the shop tour videos on youtube (I think it was with Donovan from Fretspot), I saw you explaining the amount of importance that each piece of wood has on tone in order, based on mass. I.e.- the body wood has the most effect, than the neck, than the fingerboard, etc. Could you outline that again for us here?

I also wondered if mass was the only variable, since I have found fingerboards to have more impact on tone, for instance, due to their more direct contact with the string than other parts. I've wondered the same thing about tops when they are in direct contact with the bridge vs. a neck through with a non-solid top, where the bridge is on the neck billet. Or is it just mass and how the whole bass vibrates together?


2. What impact does the body shape/model have on tone? I've assumed that your double cutaways (Monarch, Emperor) have a different tone than the singles. I felt I could detect that the single cutaways sound fuller through recordings, perhaps because of the extra mass and contact with the neck, but perhaps I just liked the way they looked and was rationalizing! Would there be a difference between an Emperor II (like mine) to an Imperial with identical specs in all other regards? Or even an Imperial to an Imperial II, or a Monarch to an Emperor?

It's fun to learn about these very complex instruments!
 
#275
Robin Ruscio said:
vs. a neck through with a non-solid top, where the bridge is on the neck billet.
Click to expand...

that brings me to the question I have thought about a lot in the past :

Is a neckthrough with the method Fodera (and others like CT, Ken Smith, etc.) builds a neckthrough Bass really 100% a neckthrough Bass since the neck billet is fully cut through of the whole of the neck PU (and again by the bridge PU) ??!!

And when your're using a full top on the neck through the little rest of the neck billet gets even smaller...

So from my understanding the neck stops at this point. I would see it also more like a set-neck ... of course you have the possibility to add some different flavour with a different toneblock wood but you could also use the same wood here like on the body wings and could get close to the Deluxe versions... but with the Singlcut design if you like :)

I could be all wrong but since I have an Imperial on order I'm also thinking a lot of my choice of woods etc. (eventhough I want to make it simple in the end ;))
 
#277
Lennard III. said:
that brings me to the question I have thought about a lot in the past :

Is a neckthrough with the method Fodera (and others like CT, Ken Smith, etc.) builds a neckthrough Bass really 100% a neckthrough Bass since the neck billet is fully cut through of the whole of the neck PU (and again by the bridge PU) ??!!

And when your're using a full top on the neck through the little rest of the neck billet gets even smaller...

So from my understanding the neck stops at this point. I would see it also more like a set-neck ... of course you have the possibility to add some different flavour with a different toneblock wood but you could also use the same wood here like on the body wings and could get close to the Deluxe versions... but with the Singlcut design if you like :)

I could be all wrong but since I have an Imperial on order I'm also thinking a lot of my choice of woods etc. (eventhough I want to make it simple in the end ;))
Click to expand...

My CT is a set neck, not a neck through. Same as the Fodera, ken smith...etc.
 
#278
It's a rather lengthy explanation and so I would encourage anyone interested to watch Donovan's video. That said, although ALL of the woods are important, GENERALLY they flow in this order (in terms of tonal impact):

Body Wood
Neck Wood
FB Wood
Top Wood

That said, there ARE exceptions such as in the case of a very heavy, dense top wood material (e.g. Ebony). It would be impossible for me to outline everything here which is why we spend a great deal of time with each customer as part of the Spec Process.

In terms of the body shapes...the biggest impact is the kind of neck joint (i.e. Bolt-on, Dovetail or Neck-through) followed by the distinction between single cutaway vs. double cutaway.

That said, as much as those distinctions can clearly be heard when you listen to the instruments side by side, any model with any neck is going to be able to sound great on a gig. The wood selections, scale length and pickup placement have a far bigger impact than the body shape and neck construction on the instrument's overall tone.

One fun thing that we are doing later this year (and yes, they were added to the schedule roughly 15 months ago) is to build three Monarch 5 strings all with EXACTLY the same wood but with each of the three neck joint types. Our plan is then to get a Fodera Artist to play and record each of the three so that all of us can have ready access to what impact the neck joint has on tone...

Hope this helps and sorry that I cannot go into more detail here, but EVERYTHING affects everything else and I would be doing you a disservice by oversimplifying...

Regards,

Jason

Robin Ruscio said:
Jason,

While we are throwing out some spec questions, I have two that are very fundamental ones that I'm surprised I haven't seen mentioned here before.

1. In one of the shop tour videos on youtube (I think it was with Donovan from Fretspot), I saw you explaining the amount of importance that each piece of wood has on tone in order, based on mass. I.e.- the body wood has the most effect, than the neck, than the fingerboard, etc. Could you outline that again for us here?

I also wondered if mass was the only variable, since I have found fingerboards to have more impact on tone, for instance, due to their more direct contact with the string than other parts. I've wondered the same thing about tops when they are in direct contact with the bridge vs. a neck through with a non-solid top, where the bridge is on the neck billet. Or is it just mass and how the whole bass vibrates together?


2. What impact does the body shape/model have on tone? I've assumed that your double cutaways (Monarch, Emperor) have a different tone than the singles. I felt I could detect that the single cutaways sound fuller through recordings, perhaps because of the extra mass and contact with the neck, but perhaps I just liked the way they looked and was rationalizing! Would there be a difference between an Emperor II (like mine) to an Imperial with identical specs in all other regards? Or even an Imperial to an Imperial II, or a Monarch to an Emperor?

It's fun to learn about these very complex instruments!
Click to expand...
 
#280
Just Thumpin' said:
One fun thing that we are doing later this year (and yes, they were added to the schedule roughly 15 months ago) is to build three Monarch 5 strings all with EXACTLY the same wood but with each of the three neck joint types. Our plan is then to get a Fodera Artist to play and record each of the three so that all of us can have ready access to what impact the neck joint has on tone...
Click to expand...


Great idea !!!

Looking forward to that :)
 
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