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New MLaghus basses - WARNING: VERY LARGE PICTURES
- Thread starter allexcosta
- Start date
Fodera has people knocking their doors and begging for basses. They can barely handle the orders, hence the 2-3 year wait...
Many bass manufacturers in the US make instruments inspired by Fodera. Someone that makes 3 basses per month overseas is no threat to the good folks in NYC.
I can't believe that you guys are still here argueing over this.
For what it's worth, that neck joint is not a dovetail joint in the traditional woodworking sense. It's just a set neck with an extra layer of wood between the body and neck woods. That method has been around for hundreds of years before Fender shortcutted the process and put screws in his. Now if he were to do a true dovetail joint with angled walls and slide the neck in from the end, I'd be impressed. Just sayin'.
For what it's worth, that neck joint is not a dovetail joint in the traditional woodworking sense. It's just a set neck with an extra layer of wood between the body and neck woods. That method has been around for hundreds of years before Fender shortcutted the process and put screws in his. Now if he were to do a true dovetail joint with angled walls and slide the neck in from the end, I'd be impressed. Just sayin'.
For what it's worth, that neck joint is not a dovetail joint in the traditional woodworking sense. It's just a set neck with an extra layer of wood between the body and neck woods. That method has been around for hundreds of years before Fender shortcutted the process and put screws in his. Now if he were to do a true dovetail joint with angled walls and slide the neck in from the end, I'd be impressed. Just sayin'.
That's correct...
I believe Fodera started calling that a dovetail, but don't quote me on that... Smith was probably the first to use that in electric basses, but the joint itself has been around forever.
Regarding construction method. Those who understand it will see:
Fodera:
MLaghus:
Yes, I do see it. I see 2 different neck profiles at the joint, electronics covers in different configurations, body cuts that have different dimensions and shapes, and a wider deeper upper horn on one. 3 piece rear body as opposed to the 2 piece bookmatch.
Yep, they're exactly the same.
Next time apple sells out on their new iPhone model maybe I'll start selling some copies. I'm sure it won't put a dent in their sales so they won't mind.
FWIW, here is one of Jason's responses to this over on another thread:
It's also a matter of personal taste...although I am intellectually interested by those luthiers that make instruments strikingly similar to ours, I (speaking personally only) would never want to own or routinely play one of them. I am a guy that respects the genuine article...in wine, in art, in music, in cars, in homes...I like to get back to the root of the inspiration and deal with that on its terms.
Thank goodness that it is a big World and that there are enough people in it that can tell the differences, respect the differences and be interested enough in what we do to keep us busy.
By the way, my relatively benign view of this stuff is NOT shared by my partners. And, given how much of their lives went into getting Fodera to this point and the personal sacrifices that they made along the way, I cannot blame them...
It's also a matter of personal taste...although I am intellectually interested by those luthiers that make instruments strikingly similar to ours, I (speaking personally only) would never want to own or routinely play one of them. I am a guy that respects the genuine article...in wine, in art, in music, in cars, in homes...I like to get back to the root of the inspiration and deal with that on its terms.
Thank goodness that it is a big World and that there are enough people in it that can tell the differences, respect the differences and be interested enough in what we do to keep us busy.
By the way, my relatively benign view of this stuff is NOT shared by my partners. And, given how much of their lives went into getting Fodera to this point and the personal sacrifices that they made along the way, I cannot blame them...
You'll be simply doing what Nokia, Motorola, LG and everyone else does...
Seriously, what's the deal here? Let's all start discussing Lakland, Sadowsky and SX using Leo's designs?
I put these pictures up because they are VERY good pictures with great definition and so me of you could enjoy them.
Once again, if my thread is illegal or anything, please somebody delete it...
The thread is great, the pics are very well done, the mod says its fine, and the basses are FANTASTIC builds. Its just Talkbass...and someone always has something negative to say and threads are consistently derailed with silly semantics here ya know. Sorry about that man.
FWIW thanks for posting the pics, they are great and congrats on some beautiful basses. I'd actually like to see the specs on them if you can provide them...dimensions, weight, woods, electronic configuration etc.
Like I said, these are beautiful basses and, at least from the look of them, the builder does some fine work. I really do appreciate the quality pics. I look forward to hearing how they sound.
I like the edges. They are roundover, but also have a distinct edge along the top. How do you do this?
I probably can answer most of these questions besides dimensions, but can find them out too...
Neck laminate is pau-marfim, purpleheart and maple in the center.
Body wood on the first one and the fretless is what we call Persea Indica in Brazil. The bolt-on one has a cedar body because the customer wanted it to be extra light.
These basses weight something between 8 and 9.5 pounds, depending on the woods chosen by the customer. Bodies are chambered unless there's a request saying otherwise, but even there, he won't build it if he thinks the bass will be too heavy. 10.5 is probably his max...
Truss-rod is custom made to the guy's specs.
Preamp and pickups are made in house to match customer's tone goals. His standard preamp has vol, vol, bass, mid, treble/passive tone stacked and 3 jacks: kill, active/passive, mid-frequency (380 or 760hz).
Bridge is either made in-house (Alembic style) or Gotoh 510B. Tuners are Gotoh.
Brazilian rosewood fretboard comes standard, but B.R. top is an up-charge.
Every screw in the bass in stainless steel, they even replace original tuner screws. Frets are SS too, unless customer requests regular frets.
He'll do any inlay you want, including your wife's picture or a photo that's important to you. That takes several days to finish and obviously there's an up-charge.
Very nice, thanks for the info. That Persea Indica has some really nice grain patterns going on, looks a bit like mahogany.
That's correct, thanks...
I was reading your post up there where you say:
"Now if he were to do a true dovetail joint with angled walls and slide the neck in from the end, I'd be impressed. Just sayin'."
When you say angled walls do you mean a tapered "neck pocket" where he fits the neck a bit loose and forces it back before installing the top, using the glue as a lubricant?
I'm asking because that's exactly what he does... It gets super-ultra tight. So tight that you can carry the bass by the neck only even if there's no glue.
Check this out:
Is this it?
