BigRedX

Those "cool shades" are all standard automobile colours. It's not like Fender are in the paint shop formulating their own.

They certainly show off the fact that someone at Fodera has some serious carpentry skills, but in every other respect these three instruments epitomise what is (IMO) wrong with aesthetics in the boutique instrument market. Showing off technical skill over integrated and ergonomic design. And the decoration is applied to just the top with no thought as to how best to integrate it with the rest of the design and construction. And what is with those nasty plastic pickup covers and mis-matched knobs on the second a third photos? And the arrangement of them? It's boutique pedal syndrome all over again. Must try harder and go for some lessons in design and ergonomics.

Please explain using proper science how the plastic components will affect the tone of a pickup.

I bought a Squier Bass VIs many years ago when one of the European retailers was selling them at bargain bin (<£300 inc shipping) prices. I liked the concept but wasn't that impressed with the actual bass mostly because of what I considered to be a very narrow neck even by normal guitar standards (it is certainly narrower than any of the guitars I own). It was fun but a bit of a novelty item, and it would have stayed that way and probably been sold when I did my last big clearcut, but then the guitarist in one of my bands quite rather than replace him, we tried a couple of rehearsals with me playing the Squier, and rearranging the songs so that the synth player took over the bass parts when I was doing the "guitar" lines. It turned out to be quite effective, but I really couldn't get on with the neck on the Squier so I started a search to find something more suitable. For a while I was using a Burns Barracuda which had a wider neck but closer string spacing at the bridge compared with the Squier, but overall was easier to play. The Eastwood announced that they were going to be producing a Peter Hook signature version of the old Shergold Marathon 6 Bass. This is the Bass VI for me. A wider neck and string spacing at the bridge compared with all the other Bass VIs I had tried/owned. I'll almost definitely be selling the Squier and the Burns and buying another Eastwood to use as a backup at gigs. Here I am with my band "Hurtsfall" at last year's Leeds Goth City event playing the Eastwood:

Firstly do any of those things actually make a noticeable difference? Secondly you have to remember that technically better from a electronic, mechanical or magnetic PoV does not automatically equal a better sound (which is subjective any way). If it did valves would have disappeared from audio circuits a long time ago. Scatter winding which is one of the buzz-words when it comes to pickups is probably less good in terms of pure physics than coils wound in a more regular manner. Who's to say what is "better"?

The one time I changed the pickups on a bass I owned, it made absolutely no detectable difference to the sound of the bass.

I have opinions, I would like to make people think. Surely that's the whole point of posting on a forum like this. Alternatively I could just passively absorb all the crap on TV and Facebook...

Once again the important question is what exactly has Sting sold. Most reports don't bother with the details, but AFAICS it's just the publishing which ought be less than 50% of his performance royalty income.

I think the more important question we should all be asking is "Is a Fodera good enough to be played by me?" In my case the answer is "no". Its far too boring looking.

Before the 6U, I had 8U of stuff in one of those metal-covered plywood rack cases. Not only was it unfeasibly heavy but all the weight was distributed towards the front of the rack making it even more unwieldy.

Julian Cope Andy McCluskey

Having been a user of rack gear since the late 80s, I ditched all of mine a couple of years ago for a Helix Floor. Rack gear sounds like a good idea until you have lift it all. Even with lightweight stuff in it my 6U rack case was only just a one person lift.

The grey background behind the text doesn't match the grey background behind the guitars. Clearly fake.

Probably worth it just for having the original bridge cover.

It might not for you, but there are plenty of musicians I know who treat musical theory as hard and fast rules and never step outside of those boundaries.

That was entirely the reason for the failure at the gig in question. The venue was in a basement and the gig on a very hot summer's evening. There was copious sweat from both the band and the audience condensing on the low ceiling and dripping onto us and our equipment. We used to carry a suitable screwdriver for altering the "keyboard" sensitivity pre-set pot in cases like this, but this time there were only two available settings: off and playing by itself. However it would also regularly cease to function a couple of songs before the end of most gigs and those were in far less severe conditions. When I bought the Wasp I picked it over synths with proper keyboards and a more conventional and rugged build, due to the fact that it sounded loads better than the competition at the £200-£250 price point. I also saw the lack of conventional keyboard as an advantage in that it opened up a completely different way of playing synths. Interestingly I also played the Wasp myself at gigs in my next band, I never had any of these problems, which leads me to suspect that some of them at least were user error rather than anything to do with the unconventional design of the synth or extreme climactic conditions.

Learn to be able to hear in your mind what you want to play and then know where to put your fingers on your instrument in order to play it. If I'm stuck for ideas I simply "sing" along with the track until I hear something I like. IME singing has noting between the idea and the execution - i.e. its unhampered by (lack of) instrumental technique. I also ought to point out the to others my singing is awful, but in my head its good enough for me to work out the notes I want to play This way you'll never play anything "wrong" but you are also unlikely to play anything truly musically remarkable either. There's nothing wrong with knowing your music theory, but you also need to know when it might be more musically interesting and still tasteful to bend/break the rules too. There's a reason why it's only "theory" and not "law".

The best technically complex playing is the stuff that doesn't sound like it.

I think this is the 4th time this video has been posted in the last couple of weeks. It'll soon be up there with the Drummer at the wrong gig. BTW whatever happened to the cross-dressing Korean bassist?

Depends entirely on the strings and the material the frets are made out of. It also depends how/what you play. I had a guitar where I wore away the fret at just one position on one string because the band I was in at the time had a song where I would hammer on the string with my plucking hand and then "bow" it against the fret to produce a sustained note for 4 bars of a very slow song. Practicing/playing this song every day for 2 years eventually wore down the fret at just this position. BTW this was a plain guitar G-string, so it's not just the windings of round wound bass strings that can cause the wear.

IMO that's sad in both the traditional and modern meanings of the word. Firstly no one will really cares about the bass you use, unless they mistakenly take pity on you for apparently not being able to afford a Fender or at least a Squier. Secondly I'm sure that most people on here own a car that has the potential to perform way above their level of driving skill, whether it be a 4x4 that has never seen anything more off-road than an unsurfaced car park, or just a normal car that is capable of more acceleration and speed than you could comfortably handle. At least if you play your expensive bass badly no-one is likely to get injured or die. And finally for most bassists on here even a US-made Fender is probably more bass guitar than they NEED. Most of us could quite happily get by with a modern cheap no-name P or J bass copy. But why should we want to?

Yes they are in NYC, but its Brooklyn rather than Manhattan and in the old docks area. It's a bit like saying your basses are made in London and then finding out the workshop is actually on an industrial estate in Croydon.

When I had my Gus G1 guitar made, the finished instrument was delivered to my work. One of the designers thought it was the the most amazing thing he had ever seen and if I ever wanted to sell it he'd buy off me no problem. This was over 20 years ago and back then he had never played the guitar and had zero interest in learning. I saw him last year and he asked me if I still had the guitar and when I told him I did he reminded me that he would still be interested in buying it. He still hasn't learnt how to play and likes it simply because he thinks it is a gorgeous artefact. I think the only reason he hasn't ordered an identical one from Gus for himself, is because he's too embarrassed to buy something from the maker when he can't actually play it.

I don't think any of the people on here with expensive instruments have them simply because they want to show off. I would be overjoyed if I could find cheap musical equipment that does what I want in terms of how it looks, how it plays and how it sounds, but the fact of the matter is that to have all 3, to what even a mediocre player like myself considers to be an acceptable, standard costs money. Luckily for me because I like playing and writing music and I have at various times had sufficient disposable income, I have the gear that does what I need and I haven't had to make compromises. There are other (more mainstream) consumer items that I just "don't get" and therefore I have spent as little as possible on them.

IME most people over-think what they want when it come to spec'ing up a custom instrument. Every time I've had a custom bass or guitar made (I've had four) I've outlined when I wanted in the broadest of terms (mostly with regards to looks playability and sounds) and let the luthier(s) in question fill in the details. I don't care what woods have been used and what hardware and electronics has been fitted so long as they look good (to me) and function in the manner, and produce the sounds that I expect. For that reason I still own 3 of these instruments and the one I did sell was because I no longer had a specific musical need for it (and couldn't see myself having one in the foreseeable future) and decided that it would be better off with someone who would use it rather than sitting in a case under my bed. I didn't get back what I paid for it, but that is irrelevant to me because the way I look at is that any loss was far less then what it would cost me to hire an instrument of that quality for the time when I was using it.