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Fodera Club

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#861
Just Thumpin' said:
I think you are going to be pretty pumped. I was just at the shop yesterday and they were doing the final rub-out of your refinish. I actually asked Joey if it was a new bass (it looked that good) as the last time I was there I didn't see it being built...I think the electronics will be back in it in the next couple of days!

It looks KILLER! Also, looks like we were all way wrong about the timing of the refinish. I am assuming that your bass was a Monarch 4 with Mahogany body, maple top and P/J pup setup?
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That's great news! I just got the call from Fodera about the bass being "almost done". Joey asked me to take a picture of me and the bass for the "Friends of Fodera" section of their soon-to-be-revised web site.

Here's a taste of reality for all the nay-sayers who said it would be years before the bass would be done:

* I shipped the bass to Fodera on June 4th (UPS ground)
* Fodera received the bass on June 10th
* Fodera is done with the refinish (it's June 23 today), and only now have they asked for my cc to pay for it
* They will reassemble and set up the bass in the next couple of days
* They will ship it back Thurs or Friday (June 25 or 26)
* I will have it back within a week (sooner if I wanted to pay for AIR)

Total time: about 1 month (NOT a year or two, as some thought). It could be about 1/2 that long if I paid a bunch more for shipping.

I'm looking forward to getting my Fodera back. I've had to "make do" with my Fender Am. P-bass and Pedulla ET-5 Thunderbass. They are both great basses, but they just can't compare to my Fodera Monarch.
 
#865
Cleaning products? Not sure what you mean. For what parts?

Here's what I use...

Fender / Meguiar's Mist and Wipe for every day wipe down of strings, body and neck following playing.

Alisyn Fingerboard Oil for treating raw wood fingerboards (i.e. rosewoods, ebony, kingwoods, etc.) every 1-2 months during the first year of a bass' life and then every 3-6 months thereafter.

As for the finish, minor scratches and abrasions can be removed with 0000 Steel Wool followed by "Butcher's Bowling Alley Way" rubbed in gently (and sparingly) using 0000 Steel Wool and then buffer off with a soft paper towel and / or soft cloth.

IMPORTANT!!! When using steel wool near your instrument, cover your pickups COMPLETELY with blue painter's masking tape so that no steel wool filings gets in, on or around the pickups! The filings can short them out!!

If you have no minor scratches / abrasions, skip the steel wool and just jump to applying the wax with a clean cloth and then wiping it off with a separate clean cloth or paper towel.

Hope that helps. I think that the only difference between what I posted above and what goes on in the Fodera shop is that they prefer mineral oil to Alisyn and they don't use a Fender based mist / wipe product, the steel wool / Butcher's Wax is 100% what happens at Fodera...



flippyfloop said:
Anyone ? I've emailed Fodera twice over the past three months !
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#866
Just Thumpin' said:
When using steel wool near your instrument, cover your pickups COMPLETELY with blue painter's masking tape so that no steel wool filings gets in, on or around the pickups!
Click to expand...
If using 0000 steel wool, you won't be able to see all the bits left behind, so don't assume they aren't all over the place just because you don't see them. You can use a magnet or a tack cloth to pick up strays.

Also, steel wool quality varies. All 0000 grade steel wools are NOT the same. If you're going to use it, get the good stuff. Most refinishers I've talked to say that Liberon Ultrafine 0000 is the best. Every other steel wool I've used is rougher because the strands are not uniform thickness.

YMMV
 
#867
EXCELLENT points!!!

rb1 said:
If using 0000 steel wool, you won't be able to see all the bits left behind, so don't assume they aren't all over the place just because you don't see them. You can use a magnet or a tack cloth to pick up strays.

Also, steel wool quality varies. All 0000 grade steel wools are NOT the same. If you're going to use it, get the good stuff. Most refinishers I've talked to say that Liberon Ultrafine 0000 is the best. Every other steel wool I've used is rougher because the strands are not uniform thickness.

YMMV
Click to expand...
 
#868
Thanks. Fodera emailed this to me -

--Clean the instrument with clear paste wax on all the body. Clean the instrument with a soft cloth. An old cotton tee shirt, works fine. Fold a corner of the shirt into a pad, or wad. Dip the pad into the paste wax making sure to get just a little bit of wax onto the pad. Rub the wax onto the body and back of the neck. The object is to get a thin coating of the wax onto the surface of the instrument. Wait a few minutes to let the wax harden a bit, and then rub it off vigorously with another clean piece of the same cotton cloth. In the fingerboard use 4.0 Steel wool and Mineral Oil, when you feel it needs it, meaning when the frets and the fingerboard look dirty to you. We clean the gold hardware with a Q-tip with alcohol. Then we polish it with lipstick on a cloth. --

I used some Briwax today and it's hard work polishing the instrument without it feeling tacky. May try some of the stuff you mentioned ' Just Thumpin' '
 
#869
another tip on maintenance if you don't mind taking the 1/2 a minute - 2 minutes after you play. i always wipe down all my basses and strings pretty much every time after i play. this keeps the instrument looking great and adds a lot of life to the strings. i do this even when i practice. i just keep a polish cloth in my gig bag and one with my basses at home.
 
#872
He got both of them in early 2006 (he has 2 -- both have Walnut bodies with Ebony boards, one is Satinwood / Ebony for the top and the other Pau Amarillo / Ebony). There was no major reason for it, he just asked Vinny and Joey to make him "something different" so that he could have different options available to him.

I actually prefer the sound of his new Yin Yangs. He uses these Yin Yangs when he is doing more of a jazz thing...

P.S. My Yin Yang is a Walnut body with an Ebony board...I got mine in early 2008, but had no idea that Vic had new Yin Yangs with this combination. When I worked with Vinny and Joey on the sound that I was looking for, this is what they prescribed...

Hou said:
Does anyone know why Victor Wooten got a Yin/Yang with Walnut body and Ebony fingerboard! A woodcombo I think is far away from what he is doing with lot of slap! I prefer his Alder/Maple Yin/Yang for what he is doing. But that's just me!
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#873
Just Thumpin' said:
He got both of them in early 2006 (he has 2 -- both have Walnut bodies with Ebony boards, one is Satinwood / Ebony for the top and the other Pau Amarillo / Ebony). There was no major reason for it, he just asked Vinny and Joey to make him "something different" so that he could have different options available to him.

I actually prefer the sound of his new Yin Yangs. He uses these Yin Yangs when he is doing more of a jazz thing...

P.S. My Yin Yang is a Walnut body with an Ebony board...I got mine in early 2008, but had no idea that Vic had new Yin Yangs with this combination. When I worked with Vinny and Joey on the sound that I was looking for, this is what they prescribed...
Click to expand...

Okay! For the slap stuff he does I like the Alder/Maple combo! But the his other Yin Yangs sound great to. Since he got those basses I rarely see his Alder/Maple Yin Yang
 
#874
I saw him with the maple board Yin Yang this past Winter at the Bela Fleck Shows in NYC . I also had a chance to see and hear him play both at the NAMM Show this year...

IMG_1113.gif


Hou said:
Okay! For the slap stuff he does I like the Alder/Maple combo! But the his other Yin Yangs sound great to. Since he got those basses I rarely see his Alder/Maple Yin Yang
Click to expand...
 
#875
More about refinishing my VW Monarch...
Previous post here:
rb1 said:
:)
Click to expand...

My bass came back today from Fodera, refinished and looking like new. (I'll post some pics soon.) Amazingly, they were able to save Victor's signature on the headstock and they added clearcoat over it so it won't ever wear off. While reassembling the bass, not only did they put on new strings and set it up, but they also dressed up the frets. Joey even replaced some of the hardware so it would all look new. He told me "it just didn't look right" with the old HW, so he surprised me by installing the new hardware on the bass.

I have to say I am totally happy with the level of service and quality of work, and thrilled that they only had the bass in the shop for about 2 weeks. It now looks and plays and sounds better than ever.
 
#878
Kitsapbass said:
What????

No pics????

:eek::eek::eek::eek:
Click to expand...
OK, here are some pics:

Fodera-after-front.gif


Fodera-after-front2.gif



I'll leave it to the reader to guess how much of the hardware Joey replaced:

Fodera-after-HW.gif


Fodera-after-back.gif


There weren't any big dings on the headstock, so they managed to save Victor's signature. (Victor left out the "n" at the end; they didn't erase it.)

Fodera-after-sig3.gif


Here's one more picture. This one better shows what the front looks like:

Fodera-front.gif
 
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