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Fodera Club Part XXVII

#4,341
GHOST AT said:
Thank you sps500 I am so grateful!! Chestnut Foderas have haunted me since I saw one in 97. The original plan was to get a 70s version of my Emperor built Ash/Maple singles in 70s position etc. Then I saw this Imperial for trade I had to go for it.I traded a wonderful bass for this Fodera .It was my first custom bass,but I made a mistake by getting a 33 scale I just feel more at home on a 34. I had this Imperial as my screen saver for a couple of years I still can't believe it's mine:bassist:
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Congrats that is an amazing looking bass! I was checking it out in the classifieds and just for a moment I had a few "maybe I could" and "what if I" thoughts. Then back reality. :)
Dan
 
#4,344
Just Thumpin' said:
When I was researching the book I was going to write about Fodera (back in 2008!) Vin and I spoke about those woods because in theory they are hard enough to be FB's. I cannot remember why he did not use them, though. It may be simply that there are other woods that he prefers that are still readily available, or there may be something else. I will try to remember to ask him later.

Cheers,

J
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Thanks! It will be very interesting to find out what Vinny thinks about it.
 
#4,345
TapyTap said:
Thanks! It will be very interesting to find out what Vinny thinks about it.
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Although they are both hard, they are also rather porous and would require a fair amount of work to properly fill and paint in order to work as a fingerboard material. So, while these woods are plentiful and inexpensive, they would cost a lot in terms of labor to make them suitable for use as FB's. That's the word from Vinny...

J
 
#4,346
Just Thumpin' said:
...the very best Big Leaf Mahogany trees came from dense neotropical forests where they competed with lots of other trees for light and space -- meaning that they grew very slowly (and often very large). This slow growth made for a fairly dense wood. To get to these trees you needed to build roads and log in what would have otherwise have been pristine areas of neotropical forest and to get them out of the forest people pretty much cut down everything else that was in the way. The wood was so valuable that much of the harvesting done over the past 400 years or so took place with virtually zero regard for how much environmental destruction was caused.

What this means for us as builders is that there is a LOT more variability in the Mahogany that we have access to in terms of tone and we have to purchase samples and get them in house to weigh them, tap them, listen to them and asses how we believe they will perform on our instruments before committing to purchase large quantities with which to build. It's a lot more work, but we believe that it is a small price to pay to avoid purchasing wood that is not sustainably harvested.


J
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Jason, you are a major in awesome and a minor in dendrology (or maybe I mean "xylology?!" You tell me since you are the expert!).
 
#4,347
DavidG said:
Jason, you are a major in awesome and a minor in dendrology (or maybe I mean "xylology?!" You tell me since you are the expert!).
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Coming in here first to write a book and then as the "new" (not so new anymore!) partner meant hitting the books seriously hard back in 2008 and 2009. There were four or five months where I did nothing at night other than read about wood, listen to the tones different woods made and play basses with different wood combinations. The upshot is that it gave me a very solid foundation for better understanding our instruments and, hopefully, being able to explain some of these things when asked!

And, it is Dendrology -- the study of wooded plants! LOL!
 
#4,350
Bass7755 said:
I just talked to Phil yesterday and he said to look for pics right after NAMM. It should be finished in February.
Over the past few weeks it has gotten a lot harder to keep my mind off of it.:nailbiting:
Dan
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My friend you are approaching the Fodera time zone . In Fodera time, every one minute is ten minutes in normal time! It is exciting and miserable at the same time.
 
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#4,351
I on the other hand am painfully so far off the "Fodera Time Zone" ... I believe mine will be completed late August or early Sep. The good news is it that having a Fodera in the queue has inspired me to practice more than ever! That and having a full time day job, married w/2 kids in grammar school and a 14 year old Labrador has been the key to staying busy and trying HARD not to daydream about my bass... Reminds me, I think I'm close to needing to finalize my specs with J and the gang. Woo Hoo, baby steps...
 
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#4,352
Just Thumpin' said:
Although they are both hard, they are also rather porous and would require a fair amount of work to properly fill and paint in order to work as a fingerboard material. So, while these woods are plentiful and inexpensive, they would cost a lot in terms of labor to make them suitable for use as FB's. That's the word from Vinny...

J
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Thank you for finding out Vinny's opinion on the matter and sharing it here on TB.
 
#4,354
My monarch should be finishing up today!
 

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#4,360
Jason,

Is it possible to order a 5 string P pickup from Fodera that will drop easily into a Duncan DC route on a Monarch?

I ask as I am loving my two Custom Monarch Deluxes, but the tonal profile isn't night and day in a band mix. They are similar shades of awesome, but a P in the bridge position of one of them would give me additional versatility.

Cheers,

Brent
 

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