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Fodera Club Part XXIII

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#81
Angus said:
I don't usually make these kind of posts, but I'm all doped up from a gnarly eye surgery I had yesterday, so I am set up for loopy rambling. Excuse grammatical problems- I can barely see the screen!

Jason and the gang have been super to deal with, so I have the faith that these orders would come out just as great as my literally perfect Imperial/MG5.



They are completely different! The Zon is absolutely the odd man out of the bunch, being an 8-lb bass with a super warm, buttery wood combo. The bass kills on recordings, and works great strung B-G or E-C. The least punchy, assertive instrument I own (in a good way).

The Fodera and the Benavente are similar same wood combos- maple body/ash neck/katalox top/back. The Fodera has a thick, asymmetric ash/ebony neck with a maple fingeroard, while the Benavente has an ash/katalox neck, ebony fingerboard w/ katalox inlays and an ebony headstock (!). The Fodera sounds exactly like you'd expect- very bright, punchy as hell, delightfully grindy if you dig in or smooth with a light touch. The Benavente is much warmer despite all of the bright woods, but has pretty intense clarity. It is awesome for rock gigs, and I used to string it for flats for these hip hop gigs I did.

The Benavente was part of a pair I ordered way back when. The other bass was perfect, but this one had a bunch of issues. Wrong woods, wrong string spacing (17.5mm, where the other bass has the correct 16.5mm), really problematic frets and board leveling (where the other was perfect). Once I fixed the fingerboard issues, it played so well that the spacing was no real issue.

All keepers. Couldn't get rid of any of them.



On the books:

Imperial/MG5 built just like the one above
- 33" scale/26 frets/16.5mm spacing
- B-G tuning
- ~50 year old white korina body (per Jason & Vinny's suggestion; I was thinking alder or walnut or something)
- Holly full top/back/headstocks/ramps
- katalox fingerboard
- ash/ebony stringer neck
- black hardware
- Lane Poor SBs

I thought about the idea of a matching katalox headstock, as I love the look of a matching headstock/fingerboard you see on some Foderas, but I think it might not look that great with katalox vs. something like rosewood/ebony.


THINKING about (but not discussed much with Jason yet):
- either Imperial MG5 (26f) or Monarch with deep cutaway (28f)
- longer scale (don't know which yet)
- wenge/purpleheart neck
- all walnut body
- gaboon ebony top/back/headstock/ramps/fingerboard

Something like that. I might do something lighter/less bright for the top/back like poplar burl or buckeye or something. I don't know.

The combo would definitely sound very woody and dark, with a longer scale for more defined fundamentalm which would make a great recording instrument. Heavy as all getout, probably, but can't be worse than my 13.5 Zon that I adore.

Either way, both basses would be much more "subdued" looking than the current one, which is fine. I just want something warmer on one, and woody/dark for the other.

Someday an ash/maple/maple with singles calls.
Click to expand...

The Holly MG is going to be very awesome. Can't wait to see it. When is it done?
 
#82
I think around this time next year. Should hopefully work out pretty awesome. I can't wait to hear how the old korina sounds.

I'm ordering more Foderas because, despite having a bunch of other amazing basses, I always find myself grabbing the Imperial/MG5. It has a very specific sound, so getting a few other specific sounds is the obvious (and expensive) next step. Love playing these.

I'm sure people can relate!
 
#84
There is no comparison for me on a number of levels. Both are extraordinary instruments and the holly / ebony YYD is actually one of the very best examples I have heard of the species and happens to be my friend and co-worker Ken's favorite instrument of my whole brood, but he prefers EMG's...

The Purpleheart / Pau Amarillo YYD was actually built for me (before I was a partner) and, as such, I purposely chose the Duncans because I like more "vintage sounding" PUPs. Also, the neck carve on the PH / PA YYD was done to my exact specifications. I also prefer the sound of Walnut / Ebony to Alder / Maple...so, for all of the reasons the PH / PA is the one that I prefer.

That said, the other YYD is phenomenal in its own right and I am fairly certain that there would be a roughly 50 / 50 split between the two in a wider audience...all depending on personal preference.

Hope this makes sense.

J



That said, I have been luckey enough to play many a holly / ebony topped

Angus said:
Very yonic. ;)

Nice!

Jason, your collection is pretty incredible. Which of your two Yin-yang's do you prefer between the yellowheart/purpleheart/ebony and holly/ebony/maple? If you had to pick one, do you prefer the PJs or duals? Having all of those is very "hair club for men" of you! :D
Click to expand...
 
#85
Angus said:
I think around this time next year. Should hopefully work out pretty awesome. I can't wait to hear how the old korina sounds.

I'm ordering more Foderas because, despite having a bunch of other amazing basses, I always find myself grabbing the Imperial/MG5. It has a very specific sound, so getting a few other specific sounds is the obvious (and expensive) next step. Love playing these.

I'm sure people can relate!
Click to expand...

Angus man, here is my dream bass... Denis made a pic for me to drool :)
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#89
just had some fun with a good friend of mine and we've recorded this little idea - just put the two parts together...

You can hear my Emperor fretless (ex fretted) there - passive - can't remember Dual Coil or Singlecoil-mode (I guess the melody was played in Singlecoil-mode) , just a litle reverb in the melody .... I am really really happy how the Bass sounds as a fretless...

https://soundcloud.com/julianmichel/fretless-melodie-idea
 
#90
Sounds great Julian! Good move converting that bass to fretless, it sounds amazing!


Lennard III. said:
just had some fun with a good friend of mine and we've recorded this little idea - just put the two parts together...

You can hear my Emperor fretless (ex fretted) there - passive - can't remember Dual Coil or Singlecoil-mode (I guess the melody was played in Singlecoil-mode) , just a litle reverb in the melody .... I am really really happy how the Bass sounds as a fretless...

https://soundcloud.com/julianmichel/fretless-melodie-idea
Click to expand...
 
#91
Lennard III. said:
just had some fun with a good friend of mine and we've recorded this little idea - just put the two parts together...

You can hear my Emperor fretless (ex fretted) there - passive - can't remember Dual Coil or Singlecoil-mode (I guess the melody was played in Singlecoil-mode) , just a litle reverb in the melody .... I am really really happy how the Bass sounds as a fretless...

https://soundcloud.com/julianmichel/fretless-melodie-idea
Click to expand...


Has a very round warm tone. Sounds fantastic and the playing ain't to shabby either.
 
#95
We can defret and convert to a fretless, but we strongly discourage it. The reality is that for whatever reason, we are not huge fans of the way the resulting instruments usually sound. Also, for a Fodera, since we build the fretless and fretted instruments differently, oftentimes, when doing this conversion, we need to inset the bridge into the body in order to allow low-enough action.

We tend to recommend selling the fretted and buying an instrument built from the ground up as a fretless...whether from us, or whomever. This goes back, somewhat, to the ethos of this place...why buy a custom suit only to have it altered?

That said, there have been some successful conversions, but the odds are generally against you (IMHO, of course).

In terms of piezo bridges, at this time we are not offering them. Sorry!

Regards,

J

nuwavedc said:
Ive had de-fretting and conversion to fretless on the brain. Is this something Fodera can do Jason?

Also does Fodera offer piezo bridges?
Click to expand...
 
#97
Angus said:
If you are used to Zon fretless basses, Foderas are going to sound miles away. Totally different sounds, imo.
Click to expand...


Thanks, I'm realizing that after listening to clips here. Right now I have 3, a zon and two home brew fretless. There will always be a place I'm my arsenal for a graphite neck /synthetic board instrument and a wood fb as well. Different attack and sustain completely, diff application.
 
#98
Just Thumpin' said:
We can defret and convert to a fretless, but we strongly discourage it. The reality is that for whatever reason, we are not huge fans of the way the resulting instruments usually sound. Also, for a Fodera, since we build the fretless and fretted instruments differently, oftentimes, when doing this conversion, we need to inset the bridge into the body in order to allow low-enough action.

We tend to recommend selling the fretted and buying an instrument built from the ground up as a fretless...whether from us, or whomever. This goes back, somewhat, to the ethos of this place...why buy a custom suit only to have it altered?
Click to expand...

let me play devil's advocate here (hi jason!).

if you buy a used fodera, why not? heck, i'm *planning* on doing something like this if i can't find the fretless i "need" at some point.

also, having gone the opposite way (fretless to fretted), what if an instrument doesn't really speak to you one way and really does in another?

i will say that what i'm looking for and what i did have to basses made before 1995, so the construction methods may have changed since then.

but julian's bass seems to have worked quite well from the sound of it.

ymmv, etc.
 
#99
Indeed, this bass sounds great. (and your playing also)

Is it walnut body ?

Lennard III. said:
just had some fun with a good friend of mine and we've recorded this little idea - just put the two parts together...

You can hear my Emperor fretless (ex fretted) there - passive - can't remember Dual Coil or Singlecoil-mode (I guess the melody was played in Singlecoil-mode) , just a litle reverb in the melody .... I am really really happy how the Bass sounds as a fretless...

https://soundcloud.com/julianmichel/fretless-melodie-idea
Click to expand...
 
#100
Sidebar, but here's to a happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all my bass-playing (and Fodera-jammming) friends. I'm very thankful that every time I put on my bass I have no neck fatigue anymore, the bass is effortless to play, and the supporting sound for the band has never been richer. It pushes music-making towards the "enjoyable" side and away from the "work" side. Thanks guys. :bassist:
 
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