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Roscoe Club

My Roscoe is a none more black SKB5 Fretless 5 string
Mahogany body with a Maple top.
Custom painted jet black at Roscoe.
Maple/Purple heart/Maple neck and matching headstock. 35" scale, 18.3mm string spacing.
18v Bartolini pre amp, Bartolini pickups, an unlined Diamondwood fingerboard, black Diamondwood nut, black hardware

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I'm probably taking my custom LG Roscoe 5 to New York late September and (don't get mad..) kind of plan on trying to take it to the Fodera shop and A/B test them haha..

I bet you guys want to see that video right? haha..

More importantly, is there anything in New York I should do with my bass there? (besides play..)

plek!?


A few of us have already done that ....... well maybe not at the Fodera shop but at GTG's. :)

Both companies make incredible basses! .... One cost significantly less ......;)
 
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I was at the Atlanta Bass Gallery where they have a great selection of Fodera's and Roscoe's. They both have a different feel, but tone wise they are fairly close.

I was on a trip and was offered $2000 for my LG300 to trade it for a used Fodera Jazz ($3200). Still have the Roscoe...
 
I just want to see what strings they have... ha :thumbsup:

I think I've played a couple basses that were strung with their strings.

I was surprised to see that they do actually make them (in lieu of having them made to their specs by someone else)!

From the Fodera website:

"Fodera Bass Guitar Strings are our own, completely proprietary bass strings crafted by just three people in small batches."

You think that maybe they're made by elves? :D

I hear rumor that Gard makes all of Roscoe's strings by hand ....... :whistle::whistle::whistle:

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I'm probably taking my custom LG Roscoe 5 to New York late September and (don't get mad..) kind of plan on trying to take it to the Fodera shop and A/B test them haha..

I bet you guys want to see that video right? haha..

More importantly, is there anything in New York I should do with my bass there? (besides play..)

plek!?

I think you should take it to Ken Smith's shop.

I was able to A/B two Fodera Monarch Deluxe basses against an SKB, one was a 5 and the other a 4 a few years ago. I will hand it to the guys at Fodera, they make a nice bass. At that time, I would have to give Fodera a bump in fit and finish. Too me, there was a very noticeable difference in tone, the Fodera had more of a Jazz tone whereas the Roscoe pickup placement brought out the P bass tone. Where Roscoe, in my opinion killed the Fodera was the feel of the neck. The neck of the Roscoe is the most comfortable neck I have ever played. The Roscoe price at the time was half the cost of the Fodera which made it a no brainer. The quality Roscoe is sending out of their shop today is second to none, light years ahead of where they were 5 years ago.
 
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I haven't decided if I'm gonna fly with it yet but I probably should just go look at Ken Smith stuff anyway right?.. Ha.

By the way, Fodera strings, which I have on my Roscoe now, sound like garbage when they die and get old.. (I guess most strings do right..) (nickel)

DR Sunbeams seem to work well for me. I am not sure who makes Sadowsky Blue label strings but they didn't sound to bad either. I have tried Smith, Fodera, Alembic, Dunlop, D'Addario and a host of others over the years and have pretty much settled in on the Sunbeams. One other string I do really like the tone on is the Fender Nickels 7150 strings but I don't like the tension, just a little too stiff feeling.