Which is Better? Garcia's Spalted or Rader's Spalted?

Adrian's is!







because maybe if he likes it enough, he'll give me his Fodera

 

You're evil!

 

I'd be happy to have either of them as they are both very nice and better than anything that I will own in the near future!

 

I haven't come across such a hard question since I was a kid and they were asking if I love dad or mom more

I'd say both (as at the end when I was kid I learned this answer was working well )! They are two different basses with perfect builders. Only I've bought spalted maple from the same supplier of Mr.Garcia's bass, so I have a little more tendency for Adrian Garcia's bass so that my bass will look cool too when built

 

my spalt is better than your spalt!! na na na na.. na!!
you guys are too silly!
I love the spalt on my 635- but i also love Jeffs- and he knows it- i only told him 1 thousand times!
im gonna go back and look at it again- Jeff's is busier throughout. i have those bootmatched streaks going- those were actually very dark and deep brown when you wet the raw wood- but it washed out just a tiny bit with the lacquer.
I m still in awe of the thousands of little "paintings" in spalt- there are lines that look like artwork by God- and like Jeff said- every piece is so different- i look forward to seeing other tops with Bens spalt- i dont know where Roger got yours, Jeff- but again, its absolutely exquisite!!

 

ahahahah my spalt will be better than both of yours mwhahaha!!!

 

---------- - Adrian
( looks great, man!!)

 

but honestly i think adrain wins the best spalt maple contest.

 

Really? I think Jeff's is the best. Stunning.

Now, which bass would I rather have? The 635.

 

I just received my new Fodera Emperor 5 with a Spalted Maple top. The top is very "busy" ...kind of like Jeff's Sadowsky. It was only on G-Guitars web site only for a week-end before I bought it. I knew I had to jump on this one quick because it was not gonna last long. I hope to have my pics back by Sunday.
I am sooooo happy!!!
Dan

 

Greetings and Felicitations,

I have just returned from the legends lair, Vinny Fodera's lab of dreams. He & Dave had an Emperor 5 with a chestnut top that was to murder for that they were finishing up. They had a few spalted top examples on hand that were amazing. Dave gave me an Anthony Jackson Contra-Bass (36" scale 6 string) to manhandle and boy that thing is a BEAST and sounds brutal!!! We spoke awhile about wood choices & tops affecting tone etc. and the possibilities were insane! Anyway, as long as you have a competent builder who is "customer friendly" as Vinny & Dave, the choices for gorgeous woods comes down to what YOU like. The basses in discussion on this board now are also top notch beauties that have their own uniqueness AND differences that set them apart from each other into one off never duplicated works of art. AAHHHH, the never ending quest, just like "The Agony and The Ecstasy", there will never be only 1 perfect instrument for your mortal life...

later,
Satan

 

You said "better," not "more appealing," so I don't see how a comparison can be made.

Adrian's is very "stripey" with dramatic contrasts and it retains more of the true maple color, while Jeff's is heavy on the warm chestnut tones with finer figuring. Both are loaded with figuring---- (Not that online digital pics are usually worth a damn when it comes to getting a true sense of wood's appearance).

Maybe someday someone will come up with interchangeable top plates.

 

You know, I've often thought of that. It's certanly possible. However, wouldn't that take away one of the best reasons to buy a new bass??

btw, I think Adrian's top is excellent. Looks like rivers of color running through the lighter maple.

I also think geshal's will be stunning.

It seems the quality of spalted maple available for guitar tops has improved in the last few years. I remember seeing a pic of a Zon Lightwave from NAMM a couple of years ago with a spalted top that, at the time, was the best I had seen. Now, there seems to be many examples of very nice spalts - and many with flame. Maybe I just wasn't paying as much attention then as I am now.

Anyway, I like the fact that the spalted tops all look unique.

And, I like mine better!



Jeff

 

When I talked to David about the Emperor 5 I bought(I had already purchased it at this point)
he told me they got three tops out of the piece of
Maple mine came from. The first was at NAMM 2001. They had lots of pics on their web site until they "updated" it. It's somewhere in Texas now(they got over 150 calls from people interested in that bass). The second is MINE and the third will be on Matt Garrisons new Imperial. I kept going to the web site and looking at the NAMM pics. For a whole year!! Then this one shows up on G-Guitars site. I did not get a lot of sleep that weekend. G-Guitars opened at 10:00 am on Monday...I bought it at 10:05am. I was on hold for 4 minutes.
BTW, It has a Mohogany body, Birdseye Maple f/b
and dual coil Aero pickups with the Pope preamp.
It sounds and plays as good as it looks.
Still very happy....
Dan
Oh yeah, I can't decide...I love both Jeff and Adrian's tops. I would love to own either one of
them!!

 

How long do you let it marinade before cooking and how much salt and pepper do you add?

 

I was thinking the other day about interchangeable fretboards. Am I the only one who thinks it would be cool to be able to swap from fretted to fretless in a matter of seconds without swapping basses?

As for the topic at hand, I think I like Jeff's Spalted better.

 

i dunno...they are both very good spalted maple boards. i love spalted maple with such great figuring. i have seen some pretty bland spalted maple out there...

 

Who has that danged spalted Sadowsky? I think it looks mo' bitchen than just about anything I've ever seen, including all of my basses.