Hi Roger, I love your playing and that beautiful bass.
Question: Is that a titanium bridge on your AJ II hybrid?
Question: Is that a titanium bridge on your AJ II hybrid?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
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.
- Status
I will be in with this top sometime next Fall:
Link Removed
Brazilian Rosewood plus sapwood - it just speaks to me. What should I call those - dimples? freckles? We placed it so they will fall directly between the pickups.
Spent this morning having a truly wonderful time over at Fodera! Jason and crew are the real deal...I couldn't have had a better experience. Just like a kid in a candy store. If you're interested, you can Link Removed.
Link Removed
Brazilian Rosewood plus sapwood - it just speaks to me. What should I call those - dimples? freckles? We placed it so they will fall directly between the pickups.
Spent this morning having a truly wonderful time over at Fodera! Jason and crew are the real deal...I couldn't have had a better experience. Just like a kid in a candy store. If you're interested, you can Link Removed.
Nice top, You have good taste...will that be Braz Rosewood finger board as well?
I will be in with this top sometime next Fall:
Link Removed
Brazilian Rosewood plus sapwood - it just speaks to me. What should I call those - dimples? freckles? We placed it so they will fall directly between the pickups.
Spent this morning having a truly wonderful time over at Fodera! Jason and crew are the real deal...I couldn't have had a better experience. Just like a kid in a candy store. If you're interested, you can Link Removed.
Damian Coccio
Supporting Member
I will be in with this top sometime next Fall:
Link Removed
Brazilian Rosewood plus sapwood - it just speaks to me. What should I call those - dimples? freckles? We placed it so they will fall directly between the pickups.
Spent this morning having a truly wonderful time over at Fodera! Jason and crew are the real deal...I couldn't have had a better experience. Just like a kid in a candy store. If you're interested, you can Link Removed.
Cool, enjoy!
Yup, spent this morning tapping about 50 different options, then I found the one that rang like a bell and we had a winner.
Hi.
It is a Fodera custom piezo bridge made out of brass. I want to swap it though. I never use it and the B-string element does not play.
Roger.
KoaFodera
Commercial User
These guys are indeed really good. Nice tone on the "Imperial" copy and tasteful chops too. I hope they release their music on vinyl.
Thanks G,
She plays great but she hasn't played her 1st gig yet. I'll be playing my first set of gigs (since Dec 2012) with my Emperor 5. My guitar player bought new amp the Eddie Van Halen -EVH 5150 III- this week and I want to see how a Fodera stands up against or should I say fits in with the band.
My hearing will never be the same
Invalid Link Removed
Hehe love the part when lady (mom) comes....
I just read your blog, sounds like you had fun day at the shop.
I never get tired of the smell of freshly cut wood and depending on what's being made at the time, the mix can be just heavenly.
So, which of Jason's basses did you like the most?
I never get tired of the smell of freshly cut wood and depending on what's being made at the time, the mix can be just heavenly.
So, which of Jason's basses did you like the most?
Yup, spent this morning tapping about 50 different options, then I found the one that rang like a bell and we had a winner.
So your going for a custom Fodera bridge? Just curious but in the clip, are the pick-ups panned more towards the bridge pup. And what's the ratio?
Yep, and he doesn't turn down or nothing. It has a nice tone though.
Hehe love the part when lady (mom) comes....
Beautiful. I gigged a very similar Emperor Elite 5 for years, although with flame instead of quilt. It was loaded.... 5 piece neck, ebony board and the most amazing flame maple I've ever seen, just like that quilt on yours! They did a great job matching the very reddish mahogany body very nicely with Cocobolo pickup covers (from what I was told back then, this bass was the first,or among the first, to use wooden pickup covers). Beautiful, if HEAVY instrument!
Edit: Hah! Notice the leather Reunion Blues bag, the stupid expensive hi end cable, and the Walter Woods Ultra. I was quite the dapper dan back then!
The piezo is the old style fodera bridge with the same footprint as the current custom one.
The clip was recorded with the pickups in single coil mode and center panned. The microphone in my iMac doesn't do the bass justice.
Jason brought in two of his Monarch 4's for me to try because they were very similar to the setup I was envisioning (hope I remember his specs correctly!). The first that I tried had an Ash body with a Walnut tone block, and the second was solid Alder with a dovetail neck joint. I believe both had Braz RW FBs.
The first thing I noticed was - "Damn, these brand new roundwound strings are WAY more alive than those dead flatwounds I've been playing!". Jason also noticed that I have a heavier touch than he does, as I was getting some fret buzz from right hand plucking. We adjusted the specs on my to-be-built bass to have a medium action (instead of low) as a result.
As far as the tone between the two basses, with a fairly neutral preamp setting (I also tried them passive), the main difference I heard was in the low and high registers. On the Alder bass you had this creamy sort of throaty growl right around the low F and G that sounded really amazing to my ear. On the Ash body bass, instead of that rounder growl, you had a slightly more defined sound.
I'm a brass player, so for me I would describe the low end on the Alder as having a more tenuto sound with a softer front end, while the Ash had a more marcato sound with a harder attack.
To my ear, the upper register on the solid Alder bass maintained the smooth character of the low end, and was really pleasing to listen to, though it might get lost in the mix without some preamp magic. The Ash had a very clear high end that definitely would cut through.
It might have been my untrained ear (or the Braz RW FB on both basses evening things out) but I couldn't perceive any noticeable difference in the mids between the instruments. Both just sounded great.
In the end we decided Alder is for me - I'm not playing any blazing jazz solos in the upper register that need to be at the front of the mix, and having played Alder my whole life it really is the sound I know and love. I'm throwing an Ash tone block in mine and we chose a very bright fingerboard, so I'm imagining the balance on the final product will be great!
(I just realized I capitalized Alder and Ash throughout this post - I think I might be obsessed with wood...)
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,518
- 19,954
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
TimothyGroovy
Commercial User
- Aug 3, 2000
- 2,376
- 2,110
- Disclosures
- Owner: Uni•Sound Endorsing Artist: Sadowsky Guitars, Olinto Bass, LaBella Strings
I will be in with this top sometime next Fall:
Link Removed
Brazilian Rosewood plus sapwood - it just speaks to me. What should I call those - dimples? freckles? We placed it so they will fall directly between the pickups.
Spent this morning having a truly wonderful time over at Fodera! Jason and crew are the real deal...I couldn't have had a better experience. Just like a kid in a candy store. If you're interested, you can Link Removed.
Really nice top! I always want something like that!
Thanks for the detailed account and your observations on the tonal character of the two basses. So you play with flat wounds but do you dig the brightness of stainless steel enough for you to change?
Jason brought in two of his Monarch 4's for me to try because they were very similar to the setup I was envisioning (hope I remember his specs correctly!). The first that I tried had an Ash body with a Walnut tone block, and the second was solid Alder with a dovetail neck joint. I believe both had Braz RW FBs.
The first thing I noticed was - "Damn, these brand new roundwound strings are WAY more alive than those dead flatwounds I've been playing!". Jason also noticed that I have a heavier touch than he does, as I was getting some fret buzz from right hand plucking. We adjusted the specs on my to-be-built bass to have a medium action (instead of low) as a result.
As far as the tone between the two basses, with a fairly neutral preamp setting (I also tried them passive), the main difference I heard was in the low and high registers. On the Alder bass you had this creamy sort of throaty growl right around the low F and G that sounded really amazing to my ear. On the Ash body bass, instead of that rounder growl, you had a slightly more defined sound.
I'm a brass player, so for me I would describe the low end on the Alder as having a more tenuto sound with a softer front end, while the Ash had a more marcato sound with a harder attack.
To my ear, the upper register on the solid Alder bass maintained the smooth character of the low end, and was really pleasing to listen to, though it might get lost in the mix without some preamp magic. The Ash had a very clear high end that definitely would cut through.
It might have been my untrained ear (or the Braz RW FB on both basses evening things out) but I couldn't perceive any noticeable difference in the mids between the instruments. Both just sounded great.
In the end we decided Alder is for me - I'm not playing any blazing jazz solos in the upper register that need to be at the front of the mix, and having played Alder my whole life it really is the sound I know and love. I'm throwing an Ash tone block in mine and we chose a very bright fingerboard, so I'm imagining the balance on the final product will be great!
(I just realized I capitalized Alder and Ash throughout this post - I think I might be obsessed with wood...)
- Status
