XB26354

Agreed on the TRB, You can also get the Korean ones £699 new, and they also sound and feel just great - neck is a little bit cumbersome for my taste though. The BTB556 is about £379 (the neckthrough is the BTB1306 which now retails at £1099), a good first 6-string if you can't stretch to the TRB. Both have a 35" scale and a deeper, richer sound than the SR506 IMO (I've tried all three side by side through a nice MarkBass rig). I picked up a Warwick Corvette custom shop 6-string in ash for £700 and it sounds absolutely wicked (does a better Anthony Jackson sound that any Fodera I've played) - doesn't balance great but oh the sound - like a deeper classical guitar. If you're on a tight budget I'd definitely advise getting a secondhand bass if you can - then you can punch in a higher bracket and get a bass you're more likely to get on with. You can scrimp a bit on 4 and 5 strings and still get a great bass but sixers usually have to be a little bit more.

Depends on the sound you want to hear, and what feels comfortable. It would be a great way to improve your playing to learn a different technique. I have played fingerstyle all my career (emulating Geddy Lee at first no less!). When I got into Anthony Jackson about 12-13 years ago I was blown away by his pick playing, not only on "For the Love of Money" and the Al Di Meola album "Elegant Gypsy" but also the Chaka Khan albums around '78-'82. Why not find some definitive fingerstyle performances that inspire you (Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick for example) and take it from there? Different techniques make you think in different ways...

I saved up and bought a Wal when I was 16 thinking it would make me sound like Geddy Lee. Guess what? I didn't. Not even close. It's the classic instrument marketing ploy - why else would Fender have dozens of signature Strats that are basically the same, except a different paint job? AJ, Goines, Garrison etc are admired by bass players so other players aspire to own a Fodera, especially as they are just about the most expensive basses around (plus a 2 year wait) - it is trying to have something that is almost unattainable. I've played probably 15 different Foderas, including an AJ presentation, MG and VW signatures, Imperial and Emperor 5 and 6 and a couple of NYC's. The quality really is no better than any other fine luthier! Of all the Foderas I have tried only one had something special about it, and even then I tried a Ken Smith BSR6 at the same time and it felt and sounded better, for less than half the price. With regard to MG, as far as I can see he has a thin, slightly stringy tone which I presume is in part due to the shorter scale, low action and very light touch. He tunes E-C, and at that gig detuned the E to B (sounded crap). As for having a deep tone, well I must get my ears seen to as from where I was standing at that gig he had a thin guitar-like sound - perhaps he should hire a bass player next time he tours?

Sadowsky Metro should be on anyone's list - and the Gallery has 3 5-strings at the moment, Plus a Lakland DJ5 and the above-mentioned Sei.

Well there is quite a price difference between a SR5 and the UV. The Gallery in Camden always has plenty of both makes and to be honest, in terms of comfort, quality and versatility even a normal MV5 or RV5 wins hands down. The neck on a Sadowsky has wider spacing - especially at the bridge - but the overall neck profile is very comfortable. I find that the nut on every SR5 I have tried (and I've played probably 30 or more) is cut very strangely - the G is very close to the edge of the fingerboard. My technique is fairly light but the G keeps slipping off the board. I've looked into this (thought I was going mad!) and the G is typically 1.5mm from the edge of the fingerboard. Most basses leave about 3-3.5mm, so I guess it is just the way MusicMan designs their basses. SR5's do have a habit of being heavy sometimes too, whereas every Metro I have tried was lightweight and solid. Sonically of course they're very different beasts - a SR5 has one big humbucker at the bridge with a coil tap and eq, whereas an UV will have 2 single coils, vol, pan, 2-band boost-only eq with passive bypass and the Vintage Tone Control (like a passive tone on a Fender, but without losing highs - regular Metros don't have it). It is down to personal preference but, having owned both basses, I would say without hesitation that the Sadowsky is a better buy (and it will be worth a lot more second-hand should you ever tire of it!) Best of luck with your choice Mat

[quote name='mcgraham' post='217499' date='Jun 12 2008, 11:32 AM']think of blues guitarists, rarely do they come out anything new to 'say', as they are confined (more or less) by their typical scales (which is perhaps why average guitarists all sound like blues guitarists). Try to play in varying shades of random and try being erratic in your note choice, be completely chromatic, or non-diatonic, or moving between the two, maybe straying away from one key, return to it... or maybe not?[/quote] Not forgetting that Jazz comes from the Blues and has the Blues at it's root. Try working out Straight, No Chaser, as it is a perfect example of a chromatic melody over a 12-bar Blues. The solos have a Blues element but definitely lean more towards jazz. When practicing don't forget about chord tones - by playing chord tones with chromatic approach notes above and below you can make instant jazz And the golden rule when transcribing - learn it! Write it out if you want, but it is far more important to learn to play what you're working out, with the same feel as the original - when you can play along with the record and what you play is indistinguishable from the record, you've nailed it.

I had a GWB1 which originally cost £1499 (it was also the only one in the UK at the time!). It was nice, but nowhere near worth the money. The 1005 has the same ebonol fingerboard as the 35! It beats me why Japanese handcraft skills cost £1300 on a Sadowsky Metro and £2K on an Ibanez That black one you tried was probably a GWB2 - some were being sold off even a couple of years ago - like the GWB1 but in black.

[quote name='Mikey D' post='215704' date='Jun 9 2008, 08:52 PM']You know how much or who was selling it!?[/quote] I think it might still be with the distributor - even discounted you're looking at over £2K...

The GWB is a superb bass for very little money. It has the best B I have heard on a sub-£1000 bass, is lightweight and excellently balanced and really sings. It is only let down a little by the low output, but then a normal Bart can be dropped in if that really is a problem. I have seen 5 or 6 of these in the Gallery (and owned one until I got bored sounding like a poor Willis imitation!) and once set up every one felt great. They even come with the same strings Willis uses - D'addario EXP165. Maybe the one you tried had a poor setup? The 1005 has apparently sold literally a handful worldwide since it was released - one has been floating around in the UK for the last year or so but at such a ridiculous price no-one wants to touch it with a bargepole! Going back to the original post, you'll be very hard pressed to find a 105 unless one pops up on eBay. It has been discontinued for nearly 2 years iirc. There was one online retailer doing them a few months ago but I checked recently and they're sold out. Mat

I didn't hate it, it was poor - poor ideas, poor ensemble playing and especially poor material. I was with someone else (also a bass player) - and we were like "where's the melody?" "Where's the groove?". I have seen most of the best jazz/latin musicians still alive, and last night's performance will not live in my memory at all. I'd also like to point out that this is not negativity for the sake of it. I really can't believe that MG would have been happy with his performance or the material. Interesting that these guys all sound great when playing [i]better material[/i] with really top-class instrumentalists (Camilo, TT, Herbie Hancock etc.). With another soloist, MG actually playing some bass rather than messing around with Logic and his effects, and a bit more structure, the gig could well have been fantastic.

Well I must have been at a different gig because I have to say it was tuneless crap. I saw the band on before Garrison and I thought that was pretty avant garde noise, but the MG trio was deeply disappointing. There were a few nice moments but the whole thing sounded like a discarded outtake from (Tribal Tech album) Thick. Horacio Hernandez could not have played any more busily if he tried, Scott Kinsey sounded the same as he did on Rocket Science (with the same keyboard sounds) 8 years ago, and MG was clever without saying anything meaningful. He had a middly, twangy tone and played a lot of muddy chords in the first 5-7 frets. The three of them did not gel at all. The one unison line I heard (at the end of the second number) was sloppy as hell. Someone forgot to tell them that music often requires some kind of melody or harmonic movement. They didn't settle on any rhythmic or melodic pattern for more than about 2 bars. Totally improvisational music treads a fine line between innovative and boring, and they were firmly on the latter side. A shame as Scott Kinsey was superb in Tribal Tech, as was Hernandez with Michel Camilo. Shows that great musicians + poor material = poor gig.

Well I tried one today, albeit a 5-string deluxe (Korean), and it is lightweight, well-balanced, its got SD Basslines single coils, a quilt top and a nice 3-band eq for £599 retail. If it were not for the slightly more chunky neck profile it could easily pass for a US deluxe or Sadowsky/Lakland Skyline sound and playability-wise. I was gobsmacked. Perhaps they're variable in quality?

I also found that, although prohibitively expensive, Fodera 6 singlecuts have absolutely perfect balance seated or standing - in fact they are [i]body[/i] heavy - you have to use a strap or the body will slide off the right side of your leg (if you're right-handed)...