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Why buy a Sadowsky?

I don't buy the "Fender is the real thing" line. Maybe there was some truth in that when they had the market to themselves, but when your competitors are making your products better than you do you've got to wake up!!

Fender never hit the spot for me with their 5 string basses. Whereas Lakland, Wal, Lull and Sadowsky (my last 4 #1 basses) did. These basses felt and sounded like home. They left me with such a positive feeling that my next bass will probably come from that list.
I feel the same way. I like the Fender design but I prefer other companies’s take on it. And I’ve yet to play a Fender B string I liked.
 
The best Fender five I ever played was the Roscoe Beck that I owned for a while, but was heavy and I did not like full-sized body. I had a Lakland Skyline DJ5 that was an incredible passive J5 too. My Modern has no Fender cognate.
Liked for "cognate", a very underused word.
 
I’ve heard good things about the Roscoe Beck model. I considered buying a Skyline DJ at one point.
Best Fender I ever owned. Wish I would have kept it.

My Fender AMPRO Precision V is good, but not great. It's way better with the Nordy pickup and tone drop I swapped in. The stock pickup was not good IMO. Plays really well though and the B string is decent, but not on the level of my higher end basses.
 
I don't think Roger has any input to the manufacture of these basses. It's a Warwick made bass and Warwick staff only manage the Chinese interface and QC.
Incorrect. Roger goes to the China factory ( recently too I believe). He’s pretty aware of the quality of the Chinese made units, and has been directing his attention to make sure they’re getting better with each run. yes, his primary focus is the NYC shop, but he’s spoken on video about his recent trips to the China facility.
 
Incorrect. Roger goes to the China factory ( recently too I believe). He’s pretty aware of the quality of the Chinese made units, and has been directing his attention to make sure they’re getting better with each run. yes, his primary focus is the NYC shop, but he’s spoken on video about his recent trips to the China facility.
If this new line is Warwick made its a good new. They got some cool features like the adjustable nut, gold frets and overall sturdy construction
 
I used to be a big Sadowsky fan.
I once saw a friend gigging with a Metro UV series and the tone was just perfect.

But after actually owning two MIJ Metros myself, they felt like nothing more than well-made Jazz Basses—nothing really special about them.
I don't think the preamp is all that magical either... how it sits in the mix really just depends on the situation…
I visited his shop a couple of years ago and felt the same - really expensive FSO with a preamp that did nothing for me. Just on price alone I knew they were not for me.
 
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But the real thing is actually not as good as a Sadowsky. IMO and IME
No doubt... if it's not a pre-CBS there's about 15 manufacturers I'd buy from before Fender. Sure a holy grail vintage bass would be my pick but don't have 25K lying around.

FSO makers Mike Lull, Sandberg, Sadowski, Olinto, Moollon, Lakland, all OBLITERATE Fender and I'm not going out of my way to list more cuz the list it'd would get very very long.
 
if you divide the cost of a boutique bass by about 35 years then maybe you are paying 150 -200 dollars a year to play something that realizes your sonic and visual dreams and that makes sense, being a photographer I have a couple holy grail type lenses that do things I can't do any other way, but they were costly

my main bass has a ten year old custom shop neck on a 32 year old mia production bass body, it's what I can afford and it plays effortlessly while looking like an 800 dollar used bass
This is probably the right way to think of it. I'd rather have one very expensive bass that'll always give me what I want until the end of my days. Than several racks of 400 to 1200$ basses where I look at it daily and say "what will do today's job." Marcus had that one bass he carried around NYC for 25 years. That's it for me. If you have the one you always grab for DECADES, that's well worth a price tag.
 
I know its a great bass, better than a Fender technically. But if you are looking for a classic sound, alder maple construction, why would you spend 6k if the other guys are winning grammys, sounding awesome with cheaper Feinstruments, they feel different.

None of us on here are winning a Grammy lol. That aside if you are a serious hobbyists who wants the experience of a great hand crafted instrument. If a person thinks it's worth it. Then it's worth it. The audience is never gonna see a Fodera instead of a Fender and pass judgment lol hell the difference in sonic perception to an audience member would never tell the difference. I sound the same to them with a 4200$ boutique as I do a 500$ MIM Fender.

The players experience is the thing. When you are playing the best instrument you've ever owned. It's a plus. This is not about utility. Some of us make healthy money and can spoil ourselves. If I got nothing better than weekend festivals and wedding gigs the next 40 years as a serious hobbyist, I might as well pair my modest musical existence with an epic instrument to enjoy to ride.

It's like driving a BMW instead of a Honda. Is the Beamer better, maybe but maybe not. Both get you point A to B. But you pay for that smooth quiet ride. Not the utility. It's a quality of life thing.
 
This is a cool video - I've been aware of Sadowsky since at least the early '90s if not during the late '80s when I was a bass playing teenager, I remember seeing the ads for the preamp pedal and wanting it, not even sure what it would do! 😅

Here's a question - the early instruments were the STARS preamp? Including the one that Marcus Miller used? Then later on, the preamp was by Bartolini? It sounded to me like the "original" Sadowsky preamp - designed by Alex Aguilar - came out when they started putting out the pedals in the early '90s. This isn't the way I pictured the history in my head - good to hear it from the man himself!
 
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