Fodera low B string

[Lackey]

Kinda a weird take here….. but I feel like Fodera’s have to be coaxed to get the most out of their B strings. I’ve always had to play that string lighter than others for it to not sound floppy. Granted mine is a 33” but I’m very happy with the sound of my B on my six

WHOA! If you are saying it...

 

[D to the C]

It could very well have been the amp or speakers that couldn’t reproduce a good low B but was strong in the mid or upper range. Were you able to play them through any different amps or speakers? I find it hard to believe that all of those basses had weak B strings. I currently own three Fodera’s that are my gigging basses and have owned a couple of others, and through my experience I believe it’s either the strings or the setup or amp and speakers. I could see maybe one being weak based on wood or strings but not all three. As far as floppy goes, if the gauge string you’re using is floppy, it’s going to be floppy on whatever bass you put it on! 33”, 34”, 35” is the same distance for that scale regardless of the bass brand! My 2 cents worth.

 

[galore]

It could very well have been the amp or speakers that couldn’t reproduce a good low B but was strong in the mid or upper range. Were you able to play them through any different amps or speakers? I find it hard to believe that all of those basses had weak B strings. I currently own three Fodera’s that are my gigging basses and have owned a couple of others, and through my experience I believe it’s either the strings or the setup or amp and speakers. I could see maybe one being weak based on wood or strings but not all three. As far as floppy goes, if the gauge string you’re using is floppy, it’s going to be floppy on whatever bass you put it on! 33”, 34”, 35” is the same distance for that scale regardless of the bass brand! My 2 cents worth.

Unfortunately no, I only had very short time available to try them and there was no time to change the amp. This is what I suspect, too. Might also be the combination of the amp and setups on basses. I find it hard to believe Fodera would make 4 “bad” basses that would all end up in the same store.

I would definitely need another more thorough tryout as at this point I can’t make any solid conclusions.

 

[Belka]

I've owned three Foderas and have played various others. The two I own currently have great B string, and the other had a B that was ok, but not great. After experimenting a lot with different brands of strings on various 5 and 6 string basses, I have come to the conclusion that although scale length and neck stiffness plays a role, the brand/type of string is actually what really determines how good the B is. I know now that Fodera is using DR for their strings - personally, I've found DR to have ok B strings, but not great. The old sets made by Fodera themselves were better IME. Perhaps that's a reason why the OP had this experience.
I remember the old LaBella Slappers and Deep talkin' rounds, both had a tapered core. The B string of those was awesome. The newer LaBella nickel and steel rounds have an ok B, but it's nowhere near as good as those older ones.
Without resorting to specialist manufacturers, I've found that at present Dunlop seem to have the best sounding Bs you can find from a manufacturer available in most music stores. The super brights are good, but the standard/Marcus Miller sets are slightly better IMO. D'Addarios B strings sound ok in the lower registers, but get quite warbly/hollow/out of tune the further you get up the neck.

 

[Geri O]

This stuff about Foderas and inadequate B strings is really hard to take in...

I've taken Squiers, Fenders, Stingrays, even my 5-string ESP LTD fretless and set them up to have good B strings. My Mike Lull and my Fender Precison 5 have really good B string tone. The others are pretty good and definitely usable. So it's really hard to imagine that the B string of a Fodera isn't capable of good solid tone. Tom Kennedy's Foderas and their B strings always sound fantastic.

It just takes a good setup and I do set the witness point over the bridge piece and at the nut (A little goes a long way there). I've settled on .130s as a good size for my needs from a B string.

Being a piano tuner as well, I make the rationale that if one is looking for the B string tone equal to B0 on a 9-ft grand piano, then stop playing bass and take up the piano.

(no one has actually said that, but it's a valid point, nonetheless..... )

 

[CadillacBass]

Today I had the chance to play a few different Fodera Emperors for the first time. Knowing their reputation and other people’s feedback on Foderas I had high expectations.

All were 5 stringed, one standard, one classic and two others I am unfamiliar with, but they were priced higher, with maple woods and gold hardware. 3 of them had the same preamp layout (Pope 3-band eq) while the fourth one was different. One had EMGs, other 3 had Fodera/Duncans. I played them long enough to get a good feeling what they are like, I switched them around to compare them as much as possible. The amp used was Glockenklang Steamhammer through some Glockenklang cabinet, with eq off.

What I really liked about Emperors was the general build quality, they all felt really good, refined when picked up and played, regardless of wood combinations. They all had great fingerboards, although very wide for my taste. They all sounded powerful and punchy on E to G strings and playing on these strings was as expected.

What I really disliked was the low B string on all of them. The cheapest one in price, the standard, had the best low B between them, but even this one was not what I was expecting from an $8500 bass. Low B just felt dead, different from higher strings on all 4 basses. Lacking punch, buzzing, very flabby. I had to play them with a significantly lighter touch to avoid them choking and that had no punch, it was just some undefined rumble.

Now it might be the strings, poor setup on all of them (unlikely?) and/or the amp that I haven’t used before. I noticed that low B string was not in tune while E to G strings were - and that was the same on all 4 basses. It also seems unlikely that 4 different basses would have similarly poor setups.

Is this just the way Foderas are and I was expecting too much? Are Foderas made in such a way to have low Bs so loose? I had Alleva Coppolo in the past and from my memory the low B on that bass was much better. It was disappointing as everything else about these Emperors was amazing. Am I missing something here?

Fodera sets up their basses with stainless steel Fodera x DR and uses a .125 B string. (.130 is available) Also they use round cores which have less tension than hex cores. I think if you strung it with a .130 it would be more to your liking. I used their .125 since they first started making their own strings but last year I switched back to my .130, its tension is better balanced with the other strings. I've since gone to Stringjoy strings, with hex cores and .130 B string. The tension is a bit stiffer with the hex cores but balanced and with the higher tension I can set up closer without buzzing. I play for hours on end with no hand fatigue.