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I totally agree Jimmy. I've known them almost as long as you, since about March of '84, and what I loved about that video is that it gives other people a chance to see a bit of what we already know. The love they have for their art is as deep and profound as the love the greatest musicians have for their music. True artists.
cheers to Fodera
After a year or so of a dreadful financial mess, I am finally getting things cleaned up and am seriously considering adding a new Fodera to my collection (Emperor Deluxe).
I am not at the stage yet where I want to bug the the guys at the shop yet, but had a few questions ..
The "semi hollow body" option - what exactly is that? Is that chambering under the top (like a Sadowsky) or is it more like a "normal" semi-hollow body with F holes and the like. What does this option do for the weight? What about the tone?
How is wood selection done? Do they send out pics of the different woods?
Any other tips/tricks for the custom order process?
thanks
I am not at the stage yet where I want to bug the the guys at the shop yet, but had a few questions ..
The "semi hollow body" option - what exactly is that? Is that chambering under the top (like a Sadowsky) or is it more like a "normal" semi-hollow body with F holes and the like. What does this option do for the weight? What about the tone?
How is wood selection done? Do they send out pics of the different woods?
Any other tips/tricks for the custom order process?
thanks
Jason,
Would you explain the thinking behind using a Plek in the building process? I gather the fretwork was already superb.
Would you explain the thinking behind using a Plek in the building process? I gather the fretwork was already superb.
Just Thumpin'
Commercial User
- Mar 7, 2008
- 4,534
- 1,664
- Disclosures
- Manager and Partner, Fodera Guitars (10/14/09 - 12/16/19)
fivestringdan is referring to our most recent Club Fodera Newsletter that just was sent out earlier today and the announcement contained in it that we are now using a Plek Machine as part of our build process.
In the end it was a very simple decision, albeit one backed by many hours of careful study. Yes, our fretwork has historically been excellent -- it is part of the overall experience of playing a Fodera. However, the biggest issue with any human endeavor is consistency. In all honesty, and through direct personal experience, even in the hands of masters (I am not one of them, BTW) we have personally experienced minute variances in the quality of our fretwork...including on my own instruments.
Based on direct measurement, we have been pretty consistent at getting our fret jobs accurate to within 1/100 of an inch. That said, the Plek allows us to consistently be more than 100 times as accurate. As you know, we tend to be a bunch of perfectionists here and even though every one of my personal Foderas has always played exceedingly well and, despite the fact that we would not let an instrument out of the shop that did not have a great fret job, that order of magnitude improvement in accuracy has intrigued us for a number of years.
Shaping necks and bodies, carving, choosing woods, matching woods, etc. are all artistic endeavors that are honed over many, many years of experience. Fret jobs, on the other hand, are all about consistency and exactitude and in that area computer aided devices like a Plek just have us beat.
The real acid test, however, is how do the instruments play before and after they are Plek'd? As part of our decision process we took two of our shop demo basses, one of my personal basses, Joey's bass and AJ's #10 and Plek'd them. These were all basses whose player's had logged at least hundreds and in some cases thousands of hours of playing time on. ALL of them played better after the Plek. Did they play great before? Absolutely. Did they play better afterwards? Undoubtedly. Of course we did not know what we were missing before and so we were happy and proud with our work. But once we went through that process, how could we not change? How could we not be the best that we are capable of?
Of equal importance, a Plek allows us to develop a database of the exact fingerboard topography of EVERY instrument that we make. A detailed "map" of the fingerboard of every instrument that we deliver will be saved and stored so that as these instruments come back to us over the years we can learn how they have changed over time, how they have worn, etc. It also lets us ensure that we can get someone's bass back to EXACTLY the same kind of playability that they enjoyed before and compare that fingerboard topography in minute detail. This kind of historical record was just completely impossible before this machine.
Finally, there is a huge difference between using a Plek as one of the last steps in what is already, to my knowledge, one of the more excruciatingly perfectionist build processes I am aware of, and having a lesser made instrument Plek'd in the hopes that it will somehow deliver a miracle. A Plek machine is merely a tool and, we believe, in the right hands a really wonderful one. Our job is to continue to be the very best builders we are capable of being and that will and does involve change.
I hope this was not too long winded and I hope that it makes sense!
Kindest regards,
J
In the end it was a very simple decision, albeit one backed by many hours of careful study. Yes, our fretwork has historically been excellent -- it is part of the overall experience of playing a Fodera. However, the biggest issue with any human endeavor is consistency. In all honesty, and through direct personal experience, even in the hands of masters (I am not one of them, BTW) we have personally experienced minute variances in the quality of our fretwork...including on my own instruments.
Based on direct measurement, we have been pretty consistent at getting our fret jobs accurate to within 1/100 of an inch. That said, the Plek allows us to consistently be more than 100 times as accurate. As you know, we tend to be a bunch of perfectionists here and even though every one of my personal Foderas has always played exceedingly well and, despite the fact that we would not let an instrument out of the shop that did not have a great fret job, that order of magnitude improvement in accuracy has intrigued us for a number of years.
Shaping necks and bodies, carving, choosing woods, matching woods, etc. are all artistic endeavors that are honed over many, many years of experience. Fret jobs, on the other hand, are all about consistency and exactitude and in that area computer aided devices like a Plek just have us beat.
The real acid test, however, is how do the instruments play before and after they are Plek'd? As part of our decision process we took two of our shop demo basses, one of my personal basses, Joey's bass and AJ's #10 and Plek'd them. These were all basses whose player's had logged at least hundreds and in some cases thousands of hours of playing time on. ALL of them played better after the Plek. Did they play great before? Absolutely. Did they play better afterwards? Undoubtedly. Of course we did not know what we were missing before and so we were happy and proud with our work. But once we went through that process, how could we not change? How could we not be the best that we are capable of?
Of equal importance, a Plek allows us to develop a database of the exact fingerboard topography of EVERY instrument that we make. A detailed "map" of the fingerboard of every instrument that we deliver will be saved and stored so that as these instruments come back to us over the years we can learn how they have changed over time, how they have worn, etc. It also lets us ensure that we can get someone's bass back to EXACTLY the same kind of playability that they enjoyed before and compare that fingerboard topography in minute detail. This kind of historical record was just completely impossible before this machine.
Finally, there is a huge difference between using a Plek as one of the last steps in what is already, to my knowledge, one of the more excruciatingly perfectionist build processes I am aware of, and having a lesser made instrument Plek'd in the hopes that it will somehow deliver a miracle. A Plek machine is merely a tool and, we believe, in the right hands a really wonderful one. Our job is to continue to be the very best builders we are capable of being and that will and does involve change.
I hope this was not too long winded and I hope that it makes sense!
Kindest regards,
J
- Aug 21, 2008
- 1,168
- 33
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist : Fodera Guitars , Harvest fine leather bags & straps
Wow exciting news! That must've been quite an investment to get that technology. I really admire all the reasons why Plek is now part of Fodera's production process. Amazing!!
Jason, inquiring minds will want to know if Plek has already entered as part of the production process or if it'll be in the future. My imperial enters 'final production' in June so I'm wondering if it'll get it. Thanks!
Jason, inquiring minds will want to know if Plek has already entered as part of the production process or if it'll be in the future. My imperial enters 'final production' in June so I'm wondering if it'll get it. Thanks!
Damn Jason..lol Could have just said Joey liked it! JK!
Thank you for your response. I was intrigued at the idea and glad to know it will work for the company.
Thank you for your response. I was intrigued at the idea and glad to know it will work for the company.
Just Thumpin'
Commercial User
- Mar 7, 2008
- 4,534
- 1,664
- Disclosures
- Manager and Partner, Fodera Guitars (10/14/09 - 12/16/19)
Yes, for a small company like ours it was a HUGE investment. But again, as I stated above, once we experienced how it helped us improve what we already thought we were doing really well it became a question of when, not if. Towards that end, the machine has been in the shop for awhile now and all instruments completed after March 15, 2012 have been Plek'd.
Regards,
Jason
Regards,
Jason
Just Thumpin'
Commercial User
- Mar 7, 2008
- 4,534
- 1,664
- Disclosures
- Manager and Partner, Fodera Guitars (10/14/09 - 12/16/19)
We look forward to working with you when you are ready!
In terms of your questions...
Our semi-hollow option is done by creating chambers in the maid body of the bass before gluing the top on it. Depending on the body wood and body style it can lighten the bass by between 1/4 and 2/3's of a pound. It does have a subtle impact on tone...adding a bot more of a "woody," open character and slightly reducing sustain. However, the impact is fairly subtle.
Tonewood selection is done either via email or over the phone. We'l discuss what you are looking to achieve with your sound, instruments that you like and don't like, etc. Often we will ask you to email us a few tracks of either your own playing or of players whose tone you particularly admire and would like your instrument to sound like. This assists us greatly in helping you to choose the right "mix" of ingredients.
For the top woods, we ask you to send us some jpg's or web links that illustrate the kinds of tops you like. We then spend some time in our wood pile and email you 3-4 choices that are similar to what you like...it's really quite simple.
Finally, our best advice is to enjoy the entire process and ask as many questions as you need to get comfortable. There ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS. Many times people worry about sounding uninformed and shy away from asking what they consider to be "simple" questions that they "should" know the answers to. We love working with people to bring the tone that they hear in their heads to like and the more honest and open the communication is between us, the more likely that we will achieve a spectacular result.
Cheers,
Jason
In terms of your questions...
Our semi-hollow option is done by creating chambers in the maid body of the bass before gluing the top on it. Depending on the body wood and body style it can lighten the bass by between 1/4 and 2/3's of a pound. It does have a subtle impact on tone...adding a bot more of a "woody," open character and slightly reducing sustain. However, the impact is fairly subtle.
Tonewood selection is done either via email or over the phone. We'l discuss what you are looking to achieve with your sound, instruments that you like and don't like, etc. Often we will ask you to email us a few tracks of either your own playing or of players whose tone you particularly admire and would like your instrument to sound like. This assists us greatly in helping you to choose the right "mix" of ingredients.
For the top woods, we ask you to send us some jpg's or web links that illustrate the kinds of tops you like. We then spend some time in our wood pile and email you 3-4 choices that are similar to what you like...it's really quite simple.
Finally, our best advice is to enjoy the entire process and ask as many questions as you need to get comfortable. There ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS. Many times people worry about sounding uninformed and shy away from asking what they consider to be "simple" questions that they "should" know the answers to. We love working with people to bring the tone that they hear in their heads to like and the more honest and open the communication is between us, the more likely that we will achieve a spectacular result.
Cheers,
Jason
Just Thumpin'
Commercial User
- Mar 7, 2008
- 4,534
- 1,664
- Disclosures
- Manager and Partner, Fodera Guitars (10/14/09 - 12/16/19)
Yes it was!
J
J
Jason,
Does it mean my basses have plek'd also?
I am so thrilled if that so.
Here's a cool video on the plek process:
PLEK / A+D Gitarrentechnologie GmbH - Technology
I look forward to playing on my new Fodera with this soon!
PLEK / A+D Gitarrentechnologie GmbH - Technology
I look forward to playing on my new Fodera with this soon!
That's pretty amazing customer service, right there:
"We look forward to working with you when you are ready!
In terms of your questions...
Our semi-hollow option is done by creating chambers in the maid body of the bass before gluing the top on it. Depending on the body wood and body style it can lighten the bass by between 1/4 and 2/3's of a pound. It does have a subtle impact on tone...adding a bot more of a "woody," open character and slightly reducing sustain. However, the impact is fairly subtle.
Tonewood selection is done either via email or over the phone. We'l discuss what you are looking to achieve with your sound, instruments that you like and don't like, etc. Often we will ask you to email us a few tracks of either your own playing or of players whose tone you particularly admire and would like your instrument to sound like. This assists us greatly in helping you to choose the right "mix" of ingredients.
For the top woods, we ask you to send us some jpg's or web links that illustrate the kinds of tops you like. We then spend some time in our wood pile and email you 3-4 choices that are similar to what you like...it's really quite simple.
Finally, our best advice is to enjoy the entire process and ask as many questions as you need to get comfortable. There ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS. Many times people worry about sounding uninformed and shy away from asking what they consider to be "simple" questions that they "should" know the answers to. We love working with people to bring the tone that they hear in their heads to like and the more honest and open the communication is between us, the more likely that we will achieve a spectacular result.
Cheers,
Jason"
"We look forward to working with you when you are ready!
In terms of your questions...
Our semi-hollow option is done by creating chambers in the maid body of the bass before gluing the top on it. Depending on the body wood and body style it can lighten the bass by between 1/4 and 2/3's of a pound. It does have a subtle impact on tone...adding a bot more of a "woody," open character and slightly reducing sustain. However, the impact is fairly subtle.
Tonewood selection is done either via email or over the phone. We'l discuss what you are looking to achieve with your sound, instruments that you like and don't like, etc. Often we will ask you to email us a few tracks of either your own playing or of players whose tone you particularly admire and would like your instrument to sound like. This assists us greatly in helping you to choose the right "mix" of ingredients.
For the top woods, we ask you to send us some jpg's or web links that illustrate the kinds of tops you like. We then spend some time in our wood pile and email you 3-4 choices that are similar to what you like...it's really quite simple.
Finally, our best advice is to enjoy the entire process and ask as many questions as you need to get comfortable. There ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS. Many times people worry about sounding uninformed and shy away from asking what they consider to be "simple" questions that they "should" know the answers to. We love working with people to bring the tone that they hear in their heads to like and the more honest and open the communication is between us, the more likely that we will achieve a spectacular result.
Cheers,
Jason"
EBR
Commercial User
EBR
Commercial User
- Status
