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Thoughts on Fodera's

#42
In my opinion there is nothing about those prices that are worth it.
they are made from the exact same woods as other basses, have similar or exactly the same hardware. pickups are just copper wire and circuit boards. even if it was widdled down by the hand of gandalf it would still not be worth 6-8 times the amount of some other builders.
 
#43
melodiaopus said:
Hello all,

I just wanted to get some feedback on Fodera basses. I have been thinking about investing in either a Monarch Elite 4 string or an Emporer Elite 4 string. Are these basses really worth the $8,775 price tag?
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If you live close to a Fodera dealer, go there and play some Foderas. If you do not live close to a Fodera dealer, call Fodera and find when you can come by and visit their shop. That is expensive, but it is still far cheaper than buying a $6,000-$10,000 bass you don't like.
 
#45
Dr. Cheese said:
If you live close to a Fodera dealer, go there and play some Foderas. If you do not live close to a Fodera dealer, call Fodera and find when you can come by and visit their shop. That is expensive, but it is still far cheaper than buying a $6,000-$10,000 bass you don't like.
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In addition to this, you may also be able to find out from them if there is anyone close to you who has a Fodera and whom you may be able to contact.
 
#47
This is almost the exact bass specs I would want. I think if I went with the neck-thru I would not get the matching pickup covers. Plus, they would be single coils rather than the dual coil pickups. I would change the fretboard wood from Ebony to Pau Ferro. I love this bass.. it's haunting me in my sleep.

Where can I find $8775 to purchase this bass.

http://www.fodera.com/Main/NewBornDetails.aspx?FeaturedItemID=77
 
#48
cheifitj said:
So I have a question, where the heck is one going to go to try out a Fodera? There are very few places in the US that are 'dealers'. Not sure how many of those shops would have more than a couple even at that. Seems like a tuff thing to even try out.
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If I was about to drop almost 9k on a bass, I'd say it was worth a drive a few states over or even a flight to NY to check one out at the shop in person. What's worse, spending $300 on plane tickets and figuring out that you don't want to drop 9k on a bass or taking the chance and spending 9k only to find out that you made a mistake. Kind of like not getting a house inspector because you don't want to spend the few hundred bucks and buying a house with mold for 500k.
 
#49
Agree 100 percent with above. In the end looks are the least important factor in a bass with playability and tone running neck and neck. Ive gotten rid of many a highend bass that looks like it should be in a museum but a 300 dollar Musicman Sub remains nestled happily between my MTD, Sadowsky, and Roscoes. At that pricepoint you need to be 100 percent happy with your decision and things like neck carve and tone are super individualized preferences.
 
#51
foderas are good basses. they might even be the best for metal..

they're pricetag really is too much though. my clifford roi basses (to me / everyone i know thats played both a fodera and one of my basses) are far superior in tone, feel, look, attention to detail, and straight up awesomeness; and they're clocking in at 4.5k for the most expensive ones these days, with most of the bolt on models around the 3.4k range, IIRC.

so, fodera makes great basses. they're certainly worth thousands of dollars. they definitely are not for everybody, and they're are also superior instruments being made, often (in my case atleast) for less money.. finding those superior ones may be harder than it would be to earn the $9k to buy a fodera, though..
 
#53
loveem.jpg
 
#56
Dr. Cheese said:
If you live close to a Fodera dealer, go there and play some Foderas. If you do not live close to a Fodera dealer, call Fodera and find when you can come by and visit their shop. That is expensive, but it is still far cheaper than buying a $6,000-$10,000 bass you don't like.
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Yep. He could also mention where he's located and maybe someone in the area has a bass he can check out. For example if he's in the DC area he can check out my Anthony Jackson Contrabass. It's a six but it's a good representation of build quality and to a degree feel and sound.

Mikebass laid out lots of good advice. Possibly the biggest screw-up I've seen with people ordering a custom instrument is when they decided to experiment vs. go with tried and true combinations and it blows up in their face. That is a gamble and in this and many other cases can be a pretty expensive one. And if you really go out on a limb you could end up with a bass that not only you don't want, neither does anyone else. Seen in way too many times. Keep depreciation in mind.

Whatever bass you order will be the sum of it's parts. Don't assume one line item will carry the day and make up for any other choices that you make that might work against what you ultimately want. And if you can, verbalize what it is that you're looking for, communicate that to the lutheir and then have some trust in their judgement. If you don't trust their judgement, there's no reason to work with them.

And remember, when someone says something is "the best", that's a personal opinion. What's best for you should be what you're paying for.

Good luck.
 
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#59
Brad Johnson said:
Mikebass laid out lots of good advice. Possibly the biggest screw-up I've seen with people ordering a custom instrument is when they decided to experiment vs. go with tried and true combinations and it blows up in their face. That is a gamble and in this and many other cases can be a pretty expensive one. And if you really go out on a limb you could end up with a bass that not only you don't want, neither does anyone else. Seen in way too many times. Keep depreciation in mind.
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When I decided that I wanted to dip my toe into the Rob Allen pool I found a used one. That led me to order one from Rob and we talked about wood combinations, scale length (I wanted to go 34" for the 5-string), etc. Since I had played one of his basses I at least had some data to go on and knew I wanted one. The other thing is that I know from other experience what wood combinations I tend to gravitate towards and what ergos work. That said, each instrument is different so you often have to work into a particular bass.

At any rate, my Deep 5 was a home run so when I went back to order a Deep 4 (after going through a number of other RAs), Rob knew what I liked and didn't and basically said, "let's build it exactly like your D5."

But even with that, a $4K "experiment" is cheaper than a $9K one. Once you approach 5 figures I'd want to be damn sure I knew what I wanted. Then again, people buy/sell new cars and lose thousands in the process...
 
#60
I've tried a ton of other basses, Lulls, other warwicks.. which I like, Pedulla, Alembic, Fender Jazz, yamaha, Zon, MTD, musicman, Gibson grippers..the list goes on. All of these basses I have yet to find the right tone and feel. The things I like have mostly been from Warwick and Pedulla. I like Pedulla thunderbolt and Warwick Thumb and infinity basses. The only bass I have felt like I had to have was a Fodera. I have never played an Elrick, F Bass, Roscoe, which I have heard great things about as well. So.. hopefully I'll be able to stop by Bass Northwest in Washington over the weekend (I'm going on a roadtrip to Canada) if there are any bass shops in Oregon or Washington that I should check out let me know.. also any Canadian bass shops.

Adam-
 

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