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Fodera Club Part XVIII

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#841
I don't think any of the choices are "bad"...just different. My favorite is ebony but I went with Pau Ferro on my Fodera because of a specific tone I had in mind. The bass sounded exactly as I imagined it would with the woods that were used. Only surprise was how incredibly awesome the SD pickups are!



oldfretless said:
imho, I like the BW, and it's no coincidence jason picked it for his latest. So it can't be THAT bad!
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#849
kamakiriad7 said:
This sounds very tempting to me. When I go custom I'm going to want either walnut or alder for the body, and I'm leaning towards alder. I like a bit more in the lows than what ash represents.
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I originally ordered a walnut body on my Monarch 5 but changed my mind while at the Fodera shop.

I wanted to be as far under 10lbs as I could get without chambering and mahogany seemed like a better fit. Weight wise, and also with the ebony board.

My favorite body woods over the years have been ash and mahogany, so I went with light mahogany.

I will be shocked if it doesn't sound incredible.:bassist:
 
#852
Ebony has more extended highs, really sweet up top, and maple has highs that are more grinding but don't extend as high as ebony. I think Jason describes ebony as bell like. Although these are differences, I can still get my alder/ebony monarch to grind in single coil mode, but the 70s position helps a lot with that too.
 
#853
kamakiriad7 said:
This sounds very tempting to me. When I go custom I'm going to want either walnut or alder for the body, and I'm leaning towards alder. I like a bit more in the lows than what ash represents.
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It's really hard to describe tone in words but I have found that walnut has quite a 'hard' sound. It doesn't bloom or blossom - it just hits you. It tends to emphasize the lows and low mids. Northern ash to my ears is similar in the way it emphasizes the lows, but is a little less 'hard' sounding. Alder and swamp ash (I think Fodera doesn't use swamp ash but anyway...) sound 'sweet' to me, with the blossoming/ blooming quality I alluded to earlier and a really pretty midrange.
For me, and you may well disagree, mahogany is a strange one. To my ears it imparts almost nothing on the sound. That's not to say it's bad or the lesser of the other woods mentioned - it's ideal if you really want to emphasize the sound of your fretboard or pickups. Mahogany is the most neutral body wood I've heard. Feel free to disagree!
 
#854
iwearpumas said:
How would you describe the difference between an Ebony Freboard and a Birdseye Maple Fretboard?
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For me the BEM has more of a percussive attack and more punch in the low mid and upper mids. I find that I tend to leave the treble on the bass flat or pretty close to it with maple because a maple board tends to get a bit harsh with too much treble boost. The maple tends to push a bit over a mix to get the the clarity and definition (still never gets it the same way) that I tend to naturally get from ebony with very little EQ. With ebony you have a bit more control of the end result naturally without really having to push the inboard EQ too much. Ebony tends to give you a good balance of warmth (but not dull) punch (but without any real compression effect) clarity (without getting harsh IF you want to crank the treble for whatever reason) definition and articulation (with a good even balanced tone) and a nice full low end (that really never gets boomy or mushy). In my experience it is the only material I have seen that gives you ALL of these things. Maple can never get as warm or as clean as Ebony no matter what you do to it (In my opinion of course!) On the other hand most Rosewoods including Dalbergia will never be as articulate or punchy as either Maple or Ebony. I have had the privilege of owning 5 Allevas and 3 of them had old growth Dalbergia and all three of them were the most percussive sounding Rosewood boarded basses I have ever held in my hands but they never gave me the snap that ebony and maple do. The 4 th was a maple board and had it for days! I also had one of the 2 Booker King Allevas that I know of that had an Ash neck that was very interesting. Tremendous slap tone!! A bit more compressed than maple and an even sweeter high end....For me the ebony is a bit more neutral than most all the other board woods I have had in that it does most things extremely well. I never get the sense that I want or need something that I can't get with ebony...
 
#857
iwearpumas said:
So you would prefer Ebony for slapping over maple?
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If I slapped more than 50% of the time I definitely would! But since I slap maybe 10% or less of the time I have opted for the versatility of the Ebony on my primary bass. I have a Lakland 55-02 that I usually have with me that I can break out in a pinch but I don't really miss the maple most of the time!!

Peace,

T
 
#858
not necessarily.

my maple boards have flats on them.

but i don't go for a ultra high-end slapping sound like most folks anyway.

i was thinking more a a fingerstyle thing . . .

pretty much, i'm loathe to recommend anything about this to anyone as i think you get with the instrument and figure out how you bond with it.
 
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