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What (Fodera?) is this?

zuma

zuma

Dec 21, 2006
2,561
1,896
East Los Angeles
zumaz.com
#1
I chanced upon this gentleman's channel and now I just have to know what kind of bass he plays in some of his videos.



BTW, dude is a beast! They call him "Uncle" in the comments. :bassist:

Clearly, there is a butterfly on the headstock and it looks like a Fodera, but is it? There are many things that say "no" to me, but I am far from a Fodera expert. The finish looks strange to me from certain angles, and I don't see many older Foderas with Js like that. Were there any special "Japan only" models? School me!

nariaki_1.jpg


nariaki_2.jpg
 
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#5
Some Foderas have people’s names or initials and other personalized insignias either inlaid, engraved in the TR cover etc. look up the Randy Coven Fodera as a reminder that Fodera can make you just about anything you want.

Otherwise this looks like an older Monarch elite.
 
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#8
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#12
I had my wife look at his page and he makes no mention of the bass he's playing other than stating it's a five string and he's playing chopper style which likely means slap. and yes he's Japanese.

I'm wondering if its a japanese made bass to look like something western.
 
#13
He's clearly from Japan. And he rips. After reading around a bit, seems like he was pro or semi pro when he was in his 20s. From his post on the song you linked from youtube:

"This is a song I wrote and arranged about 6 original songs in my late 20s. I was playing in a band.

I remember it started with "I want to play a chopper on a 5-string bass like Mitsuru Sudo in the key of D minor...(^-^)". It's a song with a so-called J-FUSION style. The arrangement and voicing of the intro are like Toshiki Kadomatsu's style."

He has two songs in his channel from a CD single.

He seems to use a few different basses- a Fender Jazz Fretless (or perhaps Fender Shaped Object), a Yamaha, a white fernandez fender shaped object, and that Fodera shaped object. It's not clear enough of the headstock to tell you what it says- but yes it's Japanese. It does not look like kanji. But it's so blurry I can't tell if it is Katakana or Hiragana. Hiragana is used for japanese words, Katakana would be for borrowed words (like if it said Fodera in Japanese- I don't think it does- but it's pretty blurry).
 
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#14
After looking at a headstock shot- still blurry. It might be an STR bass. They have had some basses like that. Although some details don't match current production. So... it's just a guess.
 
#17
zuma said:
I chanced upon this gentleman's channel and now I just have to know what kind of bass he plays in some of his videos.



BTW, dude is a beast! They call him "Uncle" in the comments. :bassist:

Clearly, there is a butterfly on the headstock and it looks like a Fodera, but is it? There are many things that say "no" to me, but I am far from a Fodera expert. The finish looks strange to me from certain angles, and I don't see many older Foderas with Js like that. Were there any special "Japan only" models? School me!

View attachment 6999035

View attachment 6999036
Click to expand...

I would say Custom Fodera Monarch Elite 5 may 1988-1989 this is a 89
1722960206979.png
 
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#18
txhawaii said:
I had my wife look at his page and he makes no mention of the bass he's playing other than stating it's a five string and he's playing chopper style which likely means slap. and yes he's Japanese.

I'm wondering if its a japanese made bass to look like something western.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and he doesn't seem to respond to comments, unfortunately. I tried to ask him directly! ... "Chopper" style?! I like it! :bassist:
 
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#20
erratick said:
He's clearly from Japan. And he rips. After reading around a bit, seems like he was pro or semi pro when he was in his 20s. From his post on the song you linked from youtube:

"This is a song I wrote and arranged about 6 original songs in my late 20s. I was playing in a band.

I remember it started with "I want to play a chopper on a 5-string bass like Mitsuru Sudo in the key of D minor...(^-^)". It's a song with a so-called J-FUSION style. The arrangement and voicing of the intro are like Toshiki Kadomatsu's style."

He has two songs in his channel from a CD single.

He seems to use a few different basses- a Fender Jazz Fretless (or perhaps Fender Shaped Object), a Yamaha, a white fernandez fender shaped object, and that Fodera shaped object. It's not clear enough of the headstock to tell you what it says- but yes it's Japanese. It does not look like kanji. But it's so blurry I can't tell if it is Katakana or Hiragana. Hiragana is used for japanese words, Katakana would be for borrowed words (like if it said Fodera in Japanese- I don't think it does- but it's pretty blurry).
Click to expand...

Great info. Are you fluent in Japanese?
 

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