Fodera - now I understand...

[pwilson]

A few years ago I had this Fodera...

... a Monarch Standard Classic. It was a nice bass but tbh not as nice as I felt it should be for the price. I played it for a while then sold it.

A few weeks ago I got this - an Emperor Deluxe.

This bass is head and shoulders above any other bass I've played or owned. It is incredibly comfortable to play up and down the neck, it has a whole bunch of very usable sounds, and the craftsmanship is outstanding. Also eye-watering expensive, but

Other than the cosmetic similarities it's hard to beleive these two basses came out of the same workshop. ymmv

 

[ClassicJazz]

I’ve had three Standards and they all were amazing in the way they played. The first one I got a PJ Monarch was my least favorite. It played amazingly but was not crazy about the EMG PJ pickups. Too modern hi-fi for my taste. Great if you’re Victor Wooten! So they swapped them out for some Aguilar pickups. It helped but not enough.

My second was a beautiful Monarch but with the Seymour Duncan split coil humbuckers. I believe the same pickups are used in the custom basses. Sounded and played amazing, incredible palette of tones. Ended up trading it for my current Emperor Standard 5 string (the others were 4 string).

Again an amazing bass. Plays so nice up and down the neck and that sound!! Wow. Low End Lobster actually did a review of my bass.



Here’s mine.

BTW, congrats on the new bass. It’s gorgeous!

 

[Number179]

Interesting insight, thanks for sharing. I've only had my hands on 1 Fodera while window shopping around Nashville. I noodled around with it and it was "meh; ho-hum". This was probably 3-4 years ago. I recall it wasn't set up right and nothing else grabbed my attention so I hung it back up on the wall and moved along. Fast forward to now, I'm a little more interested in the boutique, high end builder market. I'd say "boutique-curious".

What I'm not able to wrap my head around, though, is when buying an instrument for $5,000 on the lower side up to $15,000 and beyond...they bass you're getting from many builders comes with readily and publicly available pickups. I don't understand that. If I'm buying a bass for $8,500, I expect it to be beautiful, work of art level craftmanship, tailored playability, and electronics specific to the builder or instrument.

I can't imagine buying a bass for that much money and getting a beautiful, work of art that fits my hands perfectly, and then .... EMG Geezers, or Quarter Pounders in there.

I'll admit it is a subjective hangup. Perhaps this irk means I should be resigned to Wal, Sadowsky, Suhr, Maghini who all build their own pickups.
NE Way. Not throwing shade, just boutique-curious and obviously confused...

 

[Erithon]

If I'm buying a bass for $8,500, I expect it to be beautiful, work of art level craftmanship, tailored playability, and electronics specific to the builder or instrument.

I can't imagine buying a bass for that much money and getting a beautiful, work of art that fits my hands perfectly, and then .... EMG Geezers, or Quarter Pounders in there.

I'll admit it is a subjective hangup. Perhaps this irk means I should be resigned to Wal, Sadowsky, Suhr, Maghini who all build their own pickups.
NE Way. Not throwing shade, just boutique-curious and obviously confused...

I take your point, but I'm not sure it's all that applicable in this case:

1. Fodera's signature passive Dual Coil pickups are a collaboration between Fodera and Seymour Duncan.
2. Fodera has employed custom preamps designed by Mike Pope (jazz musician and professor at Berklee) for decades. Now that Pope joined Trickfish, the latest preamps are described as a collaboration between Fodera and Trickfish—but they're still Mike Pope circuits.
3. Fodera is a custom company, so if customers ask for a different pickup they'll oblige. But that's the customer's choice, not an indication that Fodera lacks "electronics specific to the builder."

 

[Suntory]

I love the headstock, it's like my Lado.

 

[Maxi Funkl]

I love Fodera basses 4 string basses especially.
I had a classic on loan to me for several years. Absolutely love that bass. Fodera is on a very short list of builders I visit every time I go to NAMM. If I had the funds I'd easily order this years Monarch Standard fretted & Fretless without hesitation.

 

[Iridescentone]

Interesting insight, thanks for sharing. I've only had my hands on 1 Fodera while window shopping around Nashville. I noodled around with it and it was "meh; ho-hum". This was probably 3-4 years ago. I recall it wasn't set up right and nothing else grabbed my attention so I hung it back up on the wall and moved along. Fast forward to now, I'm a little more interested in the boutique, high end builder market. I'd say "boutique-curious".

What I'm not able to wrap my head around, though, is when buying an instrument for $5,000 on the lower side up to $15,000 and beyond...they bass you're getting from many builders comes with readily and publicly available pickups. I don't understand that. If I'm buying a bass for $8,500, I expect it to be beautiful, work of art level craftmanship, tailored playability, and electronics specific to the builder or instrument.

I can't imagine buying a bass for that much money and getting a beautiful, work of art that fits my hands perfectly, and then .... EMG Geezers, or Quarter Pounders in there.

I'll admit it is a subjective hangup. Perhaps this irk means I should be resigned to Wal, Sadowsky, Suhr, Maghini who all build their own pickups.
NE Way. Not throwing shade, just boutique-curious and obviously confused...

I get that. That's how I felt about BC Rich in their early days. My local music store was a BC Rich dealer from their beginning, he had fresh units coming in every week. I used to marvel at the exquisite woods, elaborate electronics arrays, and exotic shapes. Those basses were really something, with price tags to match.

But off-the-shelf DiMarzio pickups and BADASS bridges didn't seem to do justice to the rest of the build. I thought surely they could have designed their own bridges. If they wanted DiMarzio making their pickups, fine...but at least have the covers badged "B. C. Rich". Never bothered to own one because of that.

 

[jeffmaccora]

Other than the cosmetic similarities it's hard to beleive these two basses came out of the same workshop. ymmv

I agree, I've played amazing Foderas and not great Foderas. The price tags on some of these are insane - over $20k!?!?!

 

[GTHintz]

Interesting insight, thanks for sharing. I've only had my hands on 1 Fodera while window shopping around Nashville. I noodled around with it and it was "meh; ho-hum". This was probably 3-4 years ago. I recall it wasn't set up right and nothing else grabbed my attention so I hung it back up on the wall and moved along. Fast forward to now, I'm a little more interested in the boutique, high end builder market. I'd say "boutique-curious".

What I'm not able to wrap my head around, though, is when buying an instrument for $5,000 on the lower side up to $15,000 and beyond...they bass you're getting from many builders comes with readily and publicly available pickups. I don't understand that. If I'm buying a bass for $8,500, I expect it to be beautiful, work of art level craftmanship, tailored playability, and electronics specific to the builder or instrument.

I can't imagine buying a bass for that much money and getting a beautiful, work of art that fits my hands perfectly, and then .... EMG Geezers, or Quarter Pounders in there.

I'll admit it is a subjective hangup. Perhaps this irk means I should be resigned to Wal, Sadowsky, Suhr, Maghini who all build their own pickups.
NE Way. Not throwing shade, just boutique-curious and obviously confused...

Well if it's any consolation let's say you buy a Master built custom shop Warwick. If you don't ask for something specific they will set you up with the MEC electronics and the bass will still cost 5k-10k depending on what else you ask for in your build. It's the same electronics as goes in the production line basses. I don't see that as a bad thing. I see that as a sign that your electronics are top of the line and good enough for your custom build as well as plenty good enough for the lower tier basses. Same goes for the Trick fish/ Mike Pope electronics. Mike Pope has a hell of a reputation for awesome stuff so I wouldn't bat an eye. The fodera you played absolutely needed strings and some setup help. Anything can sound like a turd if it needs strings and setup. I guarantee you that bass would sound excellent with good strings and intonation and the neck relief dialed in.

 

[kinopah]

I’ve had 4 Foderas (currently 2), all standards. I’ve only played 2 customs which were both lovely but I had almost the opposite response to OP - they were “nicer” than my basses in terms of the wood figuring and certain custom details, but they definitely didn’t play or sound any better. My two now are “Standard Specials” - a YYIII tribute and a 1-off passive Monarch PJ - and I foresee zero need to try and “improve” upon those.

I feel like the price is the price and it gets talked about SOOOOOO much. I love knowing where my instruments come from and the people/stories DIRECTLY behind them. I think they do as well as they can to manage an NYC custom shop and still make the number of Standards they do (which to me are just as impressive as their customs - just w less variation). Def a fan for life.

 

[LowWay]

Fodera is not my flavor of choice, but I definitely get it. I’ve played them. They’re very nice. I just prefer my Bordwells. But even my Bordwells have off the shelf pickups and hardware. And that’s ok with me. I don’t need one guy to be expert in electronics and lutherie. I have a build coming up with custom dagstars, I have a completed build with Turner multicoils and an underhill preamp. I have a fretless with nordstrands, a piezo bridge and a richter preamp.

These are all things I can’t get from factory built basses.

 

[ClassicJazz]

Back before Covid, Victor Wooten had a "Special" camp at Wooten Woods......Fodera Camp! Talk about eye candy!! LOL Was way cool, Mike Pope was there as well as James Genus and Oteil Burbridge (both James and Oteil came from the same neighborhood as Vic). Of course Vinny and Joey where there. He did a setup on everyone's bass. Here are some pics. Back then I still had my Monarch. The photo of the stage, all the basses on stands are Vics, the ones on the floor were us camper's basses.

 

[pwilson]

Fodera Camp

Does it still happen?

 

[ClassicJazz]

Does it still happen?

I think it was just a one off thing. I was actually at Wooten Woods last month for the Spirit of Music camp.

 

[GHOST AT]

Back before Covid, Victor Wooten had a "Special" camp at Wooten Woods......Fodera Camp! Talk about eye candy!! LOL Was way cool, Mike Pope was there as well as James Genus and Oteil Burbridge (both James and Oteil came from the same neighborhood as Vic). Of course Vinny and Joey where there. He did a setup on everyone's bass. Here are some pics. Back then I still had my Monarch. The photo of the stage, all the basses on stands are Vics, the ones on the floor were us camper's basses.

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I was at the a Fodera camp it was so much fun! My bass is the Imperial Joeys touching in the pic.

 

[LLendrum]

I got to play a Fodera similar to Wootens original... Only 6 or so away serial number wise.

Couldn't afford it and someone else bought it but the tone and feel were exceptional. It was like what I imagine a vintage Porsche 911 feels like to drive.

The only downside was it was quite heavy.

 

[smeet]

I recently-ish bought an Emperor Standard Special 5 (Seymour Duncan dual coils, pope 4-band) on the TB classifieds. It was obviously very well made, and I noticed the evenness of tone, and also how well every note seems to be more in tune in every octave (more than on my other really nice basses). However, there is a certain thickness to the sound that sound kind of like “bedroom tone”, meaning it seems like it would get lots or boomy in a rock band mix. I figured it would be good mostly in a smooth jazz or similar context. I tend to eq my basses a bit brighter and harsher so they cot through and sound good in the mix.

But, last night my Sadowsky PJ5 was in the shop so I took the Fodera to my funk band gig (loud band with horns and no bass in the PA), and it absolutely KILLED it. Every note was beautifully present and supportive, and I could hear the pitch of every note even when I was low in the mix, and even with some unusual eq settings. It was super punchy and dynamic. The B string (which sounded fine at home) roared when needed but never felt out of control. And the bass sounded almost the same in the mix as it did in my practice room??? All around, just wow.

I guess I’m a convert.

I do have some things I’d like different. The neck is a bit chunkier that I like. And I do wonder if I would like to Nordstrand Zen Blades or Big Singles more than the SDs. Would it be a dumb move to address those things on a nice instrument like this?

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I never played or held a Fodear until I purchased one last month before Christmas. I wasn't even looking but happened to see one pop up and was able to get a good price. I knew I could sell it if I didn't work out for me. My husband took me to a live show last valentines and the bass player was on a Fodera. The sound was incredible . I always loved Sharay Reeds sound on his. But that live show really caught my attention.

This bass has changed my life!!!! I dont want to play anything else other than my fretless StingRay5 Special and my Stingray5 Special that I have strung E-C. The Fodera practically plays itself . I have never heard such clarity and bell like sustain, growl, priesence through the entire register . The build quality is supreme. Im still in awe!!!! Now I get it too!!!! Im so glad that I do.

 

[smeet]

I never played or held a Fodear until I purchased one last month before Christmas. I wasn't even looking but happened to see one pop up and was able to get a good price. I knew I could sell it if I didn't work out for me. My husband took me to a live show last valentines and the bass player was on a Fodera. The sound was incredible . I always loved Sharay Reeds sound on his. But that live show really caught my attention.

This bass has changed my life!!!! I dont want to play anything else other than my fretless StingRay5 Special and my Stingray5 Special that I have strung E-C. The Fodera practically plays itself . I have never heard such clarity and bell like sustain, growl, priesence through the entire register . The build quality is supreme. Im still in awe!!!! Now I get it too!!!! Im so glad that I do.

Nice. What model did you end up getting?

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Nice. What model did you end up getting?

Emperor Standard Classic 5