molan

Having 'retired' in October '20, I got a call out of the blue from an ex-colleague (who I barely knew) just 2 weeks later, who offered me a freelance contract for an unspecified period. Fast forward to March '22 and I'm still freelancing for them. They pay me decent money, it's 100% working from home & they even give me 45 days a year paid holiday (freelancers are never usually paid for holidays).

I talk to the guy who offered me the contract almost every day and we've become good friends. One thing I've discovered is that he used to be a bit of a rocker & played in a gigging band for many years. He shared a picture and he's playing a black Stingray. He no longer has a bass but has randomly mentioned a couple of times that he wouldn't mind playing again.

Anyway, my contract should finally finish in July & I thought about maybe buying him a bass & small practice amp as a 'thank you' present.

I looked at new Stingrays but they have rocketed in price over the last few years & used ones have doubled since I last owned one.

I can get a new Ray4 for just £265 in Europe (my employers are based in Germany) - from what I'm reading here, this would be a pretty decent present for someone. I just can't make up my mind if I'll look like a 'cheapskate' if I don't buy the 'real thing' 🤔

SOLD!

I think my current cheapest bass is worth about £250 vs my most expensive being around the £7,000 mark. 
 

They are all playing instruments and I don’t particularly care how much they cost if they do whatever job I want from them. 
 

If I’m playing at home then I guess I’d normally grab one of the more expensive ones simply because they tend to be nicer to play. 
 

For rehearsals I like to grab whatever takes my fancy from week to week. Whilst gigging basses tend to sit in the mid-range somewhere. 
 

Mind you, I currently have way too many basses 🤦‍♂️

I’ve had PJs that didn’t really work for me and others that I liked a lot. 
 

The best example I can think of is the ‘classic’ Fodera setup that you see on a Monarch 4 with EMG PJ pickups and a Pope pre. 
 

I have no idea, from a technical perspective, why this combination works but it’s definitely my favourite PJ setup. 

Reduced to £575 inc UK shipping. 

On hold - may be heading to Italy

37 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Oof, I really like that Barrie. No fret board markers and green wraparounds - just what I would have ordered.

I didn’t think I would use the Bendwell as much as I do on my S2, but it’s a nice thing to have as well.

Must resist 😎

I actually bought this one to match an S2 so I'd be able to switch back & forth really quickly if I had to at a gig.

To date (he says tempting fate. . .) I've never had a string break or a battery fail on me at a gig so I haven't needed an 'emergency' bass. However, I couldn't resist gigging this one a few times just for fun. It's really quite liberating to have something so small, light and easy to play when on stage!

SOLD

So I've finally decided to sell my little Streamline 4.

Bought as a backup because it almost fits in the glove compartment of a car 😂 or for those gigs that we all get sometimes where there's no space to move. In fact, I have gigged this on a very dark stage whilst rammed into a corner behind the PA - the green LEDS are just perfect in this kind of situation. Nothing flashy but very useful for a quick reference.

There are the usual minor swirls in the top of the, highly polished, body but no dings that I can see anywhere. Overall in very good condition & certainly not abused in any way.

Standard string spacing with bendwell and green wraparound LEDS plus the original style Madarozzo gig bag. I think this specification would come in just below £3,500 now and order times are pretty long.

£2,050 including UK shipping. I can ship outside of UK at cost via UPS insured courier.

I have a USA Lakland Jazz and the neck is just lovely. 
 

Unfortunately it’s a bit too heavy for me so it’s mostly just ‘walk art’ - it’s my wife’s absolute favourite of any bass I’ve ever owned so she ‘allows’ it to hang on the wall in the house 😂

I’m sure this is absolutely fabulous to play!

Lovely. One of my favourite builders ever. Every one I’ve owned has sounded great. 
 

Unfortunately my poor back can no longer carry Christian’s ash bodies 😭

1 hour ago, 4000 said:

Alembic - well, some of them (Epics, for instance, are far too chunky for me) - and many Sei basses for me, of the boutiques. However as I prefer a neck that is narrow all the way along and pretty thin front to back, anything with that kind of profile, very straight, with very low action, works for me. I don’t like flatter radius fingerboards though. There was nothing exceptional - for me - about any of the Fodera necks I’ve played. Obviously others may feel differently as it’s all very personal and I’m sure many wouldn’t get on with the sort of necks I like. 

I also like really thin and narrow necks. My Ritter is the thinnest I own. My Sei PJ is probably next. Interestingly, both are slightly shorter scale length as well, 33.3” & 33.5” respectively. 
 

With the higher end Foderas all being custom builds, I’ve seen all sorts of neck profiles. 
 

My old 83 and 86 were much narrower than ‘standard’ and great to play. The 83 was a JJ and I had a feeling it was based on a slinky early 60’s Fender. The 86 sounded nicer though. 
 

I also had one from around 2010 that had a very thin neck.

I did see Monarch with huge baseball bat of a neck ad well. I think Vinnie & Joey will build almost anything - although Joey told me they built something once they knew wouldn’t work but the customer insisted. As soon as he tried it, he realised they were right and it needed a huge amount of work to sort. Joey said there’s a kind of ‘invisible line’ that they wouldn’t cross after that experience. 

2 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

When I tried the Alembic, I found my fingers flying all over the neck. I tried a little fiddly bass run I've always struggled to play cleanly - the bass/synth run in Yes' Machind Messiah - and I did it! It's not all guff you know.

This is exactly it for me. There are certain basses that allow me to play things that I simply can’t on other ones. Fodera happens to be one of these. 
 

Ritter and Sei are the other two builders who do the same for me although, oddly, I tended to struggle a little more with my Alembics. 
 

That simple playability, in turn, increases my confidence and make my playing more fluent. 
 

SOLD!

On Hold

8 minutes ago, Dazed said:

Is the body standard sized @molan?

Just a shorter neck? Great dark fretboard, almost black!

Body is smaller as well - both in terms on length and width. I think this keeps everything looking in a good general perspective. Sometimes you see a shorter scale neck on a regular body and it can look a little 'wrong'.

The fretboard is lovely. In a crazily good condition as well, not a mark on it!

It has a surprising amount of tonal variation as well. Really deep & thumpy with the tone backed off but bright and poppy with it on full.

23 minutes ago, Merton said:

I would love to find me one of those! Any pics?

Here you go. Pictured next to a 72 for size comparison. It's a little creamier coloured than it looks in most of the pics. The inner parts of the cutaways have really darkened in colour. I had a feeling this might clean off but I quite like the aged look 😁

From the serial number it's a classic JV era '82 - '84. I seem to remember reading these were Japanese domestic market only but no idea if that's actually true!

Great colour Si!

I have a, pretty rare, JV series Precision with a 32” scale. Strung it with a set of TI flats and it’s a lot of fun to play!

Had a ‘proper’ Yin Yang for a while as well:

13 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Do you have any photo's of that one that you sold. I do love a Fodera pic.

I love my Ritter and am so glad you agreed to sell it to me. It is a phenomenal good bass.

Is your current on the red one, or did you sell that?

 

EDIT: Just remembered 1501 is for sale here 🤦‍♂️

The £12K one at the Dog & Duck”

Paul Smith shirt was an inheritance from my best mate & it somehow became my gigging outfit for a while 😂

I remember this one - what a great cab!

I managed all Fodera custom orders into the UK for a few years. 
 

It was always really interesting to sit in the middle between musicians and luthiers and try to interpret what each were saying and, more importantly, wanted from an instrument. 
 

I ended up owning at least five and each one was hugely different from each other. Not sure I ever had a favourite but there was one stunner that I ordered personally which was reviewed professionally. 
 

I loved that bass but was offered ‘silly money’ for it and sold it. Most expensive bass I’ve ever gigged down the local pub though 😂

I still have one that comes out to be played now and then. It’s from the New Standard series, predecessor to the Standard range. Sits somewhere between the customs and the Standards. 
 

Not especially flashy in terms of woods but it’s really nice to play and certainly one of the basses that ‘allows’ me to play better. Not to the degree that my Ritter does but certainly makes a difference in how fluently I can manage bings that might otherwise be a bit tricky for me. 

Found the original mint green guard. I much prefer the tort one but both are included so any buyer can take their pick.

I've just placed it over the tort one for a couple of pictures.

Have to love anything in Burgundy Mist!

I have a Bass Centre fretless J. Fantastic value for money. 

I’m afraid to own up that I can’t find the case to this bass!

I have a, rather frightening 35+ basses at the moment and I never use hard cases. I have one favourite gig bag that I use for everything and all the hard cases get buried in my loft 🤦‍♂️
 

Because of this, it’s possible I traded the case at some point. With this in mind, I’ll drop the price by £100 and include a decent quality aftermarket hard case instead.