Hi everybody
here my experience with the early 90‘ies „pre serial „ NYC Empire models:
the carved body/ neck heel came after 1999 , on the second generation of NYC Empire basses . The first series basses from 1994-1999 had standard Fender like bolt on necks and body shape and heel. They were built in small batches when Fodera was , as you mentioned, a small shop with a handfull of people working there. None of the bodies were exactly the same, they are hand carved.
( i had a pickguard made especially for one NYC bass which did not fit exactly on my other NYC basses ).
I have played several of these old NYC Jazz basses , most of them ( 90% of the ones i ever saw later ) had 60‘ies Jazz bass pickup spacing ,( alder and ash bodies, maple necks or thick rosewood fretboards) and at that time , a lot of them were 4 stringers …..the reissue models/ second version
( starting 2001 I think ) were mainly 5 string basses , with the carved neck heel. and not the classic Fender neck/ body bolt on system . All of them have an active circuit , with active/passive switch or push/pull knob.
Pickups are Bartolini, EMG , Lindy Fralin , Lane Poor or Seymour Duncan on early 90‘ies models, different hardware ( black, chrome or gold finish) sometimes even bridges found on Emperor or other more expensive models. Most of the 90‘ies models have a quilted top . ( a lot of them were even fretless models ! )
All of the 4 string basses come with a D-tuner .
5 stringers mostly had angled headstock and three piece neck, 4 string basses not. Some early basses had the back of the body painted in black ( while the top was quilted ) , these are NO fakes , but looked a bit cheap though ! The blue one above even had the back of the neck in black…….
These old models are really nice basses , a bit heavy weight, but very reliable instruments.
Best regards