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NBD Sadowsky metro MS4
- Thread starter Plutonium244
- Start date
Very nice bass and welcome to the "Sadowsky Experience". I got mine 2 years ago (same color as yours, but the Will Lee model) and agree with your description. You really can't go wrong with any of them. I never was a Maple board guy, but I've seen light.
Play it!
Play it!
I'd love to slink my fingers up and down her neck, and grope out some killer grooves with her!
Nice bass. I'm jealous as the wife had already said no to acquiring a Sadowsky.
Nice bass. I'm jealous as the wife had already said no to acquiring a Sadowsky.
Congratulations! Absolutely beautiful. Green with envy here. Maybe someday... but for now, I don't even put 'em on my GAS list; they're a level beyond that.
It was built almost 2 years ago (April 2015: the date is stamped on the neck pocket). So yeah, it's the newer revision with different string tree and logo.
By the way, I've tried a '90s NYC Sadowsky as well and I liked the Metro I bought and another UV 70 I've played way more. If anything, the NYC had a more comfortable neck shape maybe, a bit beefier, more like a gentle U shape rather than a D shape. It was very light as well, but then again, mine isn't heavy either (it's like 8,5 - 8,7 lbs).
Also, on Metro basses you get a Pau Ferro fingerboard actually, which has a tonal response more similar to maple than brazilian rosewood.
Tone woods is a complex and still undefined matter to me: this alder-pau ferro specimen has way more midrange complexity and also a quicker attack and a bit more clarity up top than the ash-maple MV5 I've owned for 6 months.
Does yours have an ash body? How much does it weigh?
At first, I didn't choose my RS4 for its look: in fact, I liked my natural ash MV5 with black pickguard more. Eventually though, the look of '59 burst with a darker fingerboard and no guard grew on me. I actually like it now, it's simple and a bit "Jaco-ish" and a coffee table bass would look out of place in the kind of gigs I play anyway.
Now I'm thinking about adding a D-tuner on the E string, as soon as I'll have the money for it...
I saw the one you bought in the classifieds, terrific bass. And your NBD, with the Spidey dude sitting atop the case. All these postive threads about the Sads kept my titillated. As is often the case, when you're in the market, you notice and look up the solds as well as available ones.
Many of them sell quite fast, in days or maybe a week or two, so I was surprised to see this sit for so long... maybe the 'burst is too plain for some people, but not for me. I was actually initially eying a blue metallic ice MV4 ( a color I had loved since I used to own a Tokai in agave blue long ago), so I put up gear for sale, but it sold... but this one was already of interest to me before the ice blue one came up. It kept growing on me, and when the 2nd piece of gear sold, well, here I am.
Enjoy your Sadowsky Spidey!
Tone all day long, and of a sort that just suits me extrtremely well. It's a jazz, but not a jazz... I am sure you know what I mean.
I see you have a sweet 5-string Sadowsky up for sale, in Oly White, IIRC. As much as I like this one, someday, not soon unfortunately, I'd like to add a Metro 5. When you find a shirt you like, buy it in 5 colors, as they say.
It was a big bonus that I got to play it first, since it was locally owned; but it only took me about a minute and a half to tell him I was ready to transfer funds. He kindly told me (melamel is a good guy) that I could have a week to play it to make sure I bonded with it and liked it, and could return it if I didn't. I thanked him, but I already knew there was no way it was going back.
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How can anyone not love a Sadowsky? I guess it's possible... but I wouldn't trust anyone who didn't, lol.
One of the very few basses I regret selling was a seafoam green, pearl guard, Rosewood board Sadowsky Jazz. Best jazz I have played.
Thanks JuJu! One thing I love about TB is that everyone shares the joy of others, rather than being annoyed by it, when someone has a great experience that they want to share. I appreciate your kind words.
Sorry to hear that you had to part with it. I understand though, life is full of ups, downs, and lateral shake-ups. Hope you get to have another one in the future. I've been slowly building a collection of basses, but this has made me think that I could be bass-monogamous.
Not sure if bass monogamy is possible for me. I have a pair of Roscoes that are really nice. Don't see much of a need for more than 2, maybe 3 basses for what I do. I've been playing my Roscoe 6 string pretty exclusively. Might sell the 5 and get myself a P bass. Been debating one for a while, and after seeing Pino play with John Mayer next month, I'm thinking the GAS will be great.
A modern jazz 6 and an old school passive 4 would be a versatile pair of basses for me.
Yah, I dig the old-school look and it's a great bass. Discovered that I preferred the WL 5 nut width, so I haven't played this one much in the past couple years.
Mine is ash, and weighs (I am told) 8.85 pounds. Not super light, but certainly not heavy at all, very comfortable to wear. No need for a chambered NYC at this weight, maybe for a 5er it might make more of a difference, but I am hearing on TB about Metro fives that are still right in this range.
Interesting info on the pao ferro fingerboard, I wasn't aware, nor was I aware of its tonal implications, particularly about its high end clarity, and similarity to maple, vs rosewood.
My first "crush" when actively considering acquiring a Sadowsky was an blue metallic ice MV4, which sold before I could get any gear sold to acquire it. Then this one came up, and the more I looked at it, the more I liked its looks, although for me (and pretty much everyone I guess) tone is everything (but looking nice helps too).
Bass monogamy for me is probably an aspiration more than a potential reality. While this Sadowsky is #1, I do have a great Smith, and decided to acquire a P last year just on principle (ended up with 2), and I have an assortment of situational basses-- a five, and a fretless, and even a six that I am not adept at playing yet. Add a G&L I've had for 30 years, and so on. I did pull out the maple board classic 50's P bass I bought last year just for comparison. The Sadowsky is spoiling me. The Smith, unique among my basses, is every bit as good as the Sadowsky, but the Saadowsky has the right tonal characteristics for the vast majority of what I do these days, though I do love the recorded tone of the Smith a lot.
