I guess the short answer to “why buy a Sadowsky?” would be “because you value what they can do and are willing to pay for it”. This below is a condensed version of my history with Sadowsky basses, Roger and the crew at the NYC shop…
Back in 2013 I was lucky enough to get ahold of Rickey Minor’s 5-string Sadowsky when I was first starting my journey into boutique basses. I had tried some Mike Lulls as well as some non-FSO boutiques like Pedulla and Ken Smith but the Sadowsky sound and the wonderful customer service from Roger is what won me over with this first NYC (purchased it used direct from the NYC shop):
After a few years of playing this one I sold it through the NYC shop to help finance my first custom build #1 from the Sadowsky NYC Shop (happily it went back to Rickey!). In the meantime I was playing a Mike Lull T5 and Warwick Star Bass that I really liked but I still needed that Sadowsky sound for some applications, so I bought another NYC used (this time from Tully Kennedy):
After a couple years of playing this NYC my custom build #1 was ready from the NYC shop! The first custom bass I’d ever owned and it was a great experience with Roger and the crew (at the time Ellis Hahn was my main contact and head builder on this bass), and they took a crazy idea I’d had for a P pickup with switchable options similar to the Super J they already offered and made it a reality! To say I was blown away and humbled would be an understatement:
This became my #1 and pretty much only bass I played since I received it in early 2019 for several years. The fact that Roger, Ellis and the crew treated me as kindly and patiently as they did when I wasn’t a famous musician (and still am not!) really meant a lot to me (Ellis in particular was great about fielding my questions and keeping me updated in the development of the Super P pickup).
After a move to Nashville I did pick up one of the Chinese MetroExpress 5’s for a great price, I’ll call this the Version 1.5 as it had Roger’s regular Sadowsky logo on it but had a non-roasted neck. Eventually I installed a Sadowsky drop-in preamp and it became an awesome bass in its own right and perfect “fly bass”, then sold it to a friend in town because she fell in love with it:
During this time I’d had a second custom build in the process with Roger and the NYC crew. In 2023 the reverse headstock Sadowsky on the right with the maple fretboard arrived; very different woods and body shape from my #1 build and a radically different vibe and voice. By this time Ellis had left to start L.E.H. Guitars out in Portland, OR so this second build was done with Lukasz as the head builder and my main point of contact for this bass (and he was incredible to work with regarding questions and weird side-missions for this bass like the custom anodized gold brushed aluminum pickguard!). Later custom build #3 arrived in 2025 as an almost-identical twin to build #2 (both pictured here, the only difference is a morado fretboard on #3 versus #2’s maple and a slightly different burst). I’m especially thankful for Lukasz for these two basses, he went way above and beyond to make sure I’d love every aspect of these basses from the profile of the neck to the flathead screws in the pickguard (in keeping with the vibe of a 50’s P bass). Oh,
@MultiScaleMale, some relic work from the NYC shop is indeed an option but there’s definitely a charge for it:
So now I’m down to just my three custom Sadowsky NYC’s, all 5-string Super PJ setups. The two with the anodized gold pickguards are perfect for the 90’s country I tend to play most often and really shined this last month when I was touring both 90’s country and western country swing shows (I just got home from tour this morning). The fancy flamed Super PJ5 has a more aggressive and piano-like tone to it so I like to use it with more rock-based songs, and several of my friends have taken to calling that my “tuxedo bass” for more formal gigs:
I share all of this to offer my answer to “why buy a Sadowsky” from my point of view. I have no doubt that other builders can and do offer great levels of support from their custom shops, but falling in love with the inherent “Sadowsky sound” as well as Roger and the crew’s willingness to make my crazy dreams a reality with these builds is what kept me coming back to them to make the basses I play in my career, and I can honestly say I’m still just as excited to play these basses at shows as when I first received them!!
It’s definitely true that they can get quite expensive when choosing options from the NYC shop (I don’t have any experience with the German custom shop) but most of these Sadowsky basses have paid for themselves in gig money within a year (#3 hasn’t yet, but I just got it about five weeks ago!). For my money and career it’s equally about the killer instruments coming from Roger’s NYC shop as well as the supportive relationships between Roger, Lukasz, the rest of the NYC crew and the players that they build for.
