XB26354

One point that is worth mentioning is that Fodera are the only brand I've played (and I've tried just about everything over the years) whose 6-strings balance perfectly, even when seated. I'm guessing it partly design, partly thin necks and partly the single cut adding mass to the body. Tonally a lot of really great basses aren't that amazing in isolation, but have a certain "something" when in a band situation. Old Fenders spring to mind. I think Fodera have attempted to capture this essence in a new instrument. Price-wise most Foderas are expensive but not prohibitively so - I only mentioned the AJ because it was massively more than almost any other Fodera. Anyone with even a reasonable amount of disposable income could save up for a standard model if they really wanted one. I'm not sure I could come up with $24,000 (plus shipping, duty and 20% VAT) even if I were disciplined enough to save hard for a number of years though. In terms of marketing, no Fodera have not really had to sell themselves, but having a roster of top New York-based players means that they've been able to generate demand that is way out of proportion to their ability to supply. So simple economics dictates that you can up your prices without losing the demand, which they have been able to do. Another common economic ploy is to sell something at an extremely high price - it is a no-expense spared luxury item now, which justifies its price and will generate demand because the high price automatically assures exclusivity. If Fodera put an AJ Presentation up to $30,000, $40,000 or even $50,000 would they sell any less?

Current list price for an AJ Presentation with titanium bridge and truss rod is $24,000... Where's that guy that won the £148m on the Euromillions? It'll be loose change for him

Ah, it's marketing, pure and simple. They do make some excellent instruments though, and at the top of the market the noticeable difference gets smaller and smaller. I guess top pros hear something in a Fodera that they cannot get from other basses. I wouldn't mind an AJ presentation but there is no way that, even with the man himself sweating over the setup, that it costs even 20% of the list price in materials and labour. Because there is a very limited supply and far greater demand, to an extent they can charge whatever they want. I've looked online at the shop tour and also Janek's visit to pick up his bass, and they all look very dedicated to the task, and exceptionally skilled. You could, however, say the same about Dingwall, Roscoe, MTD, Ken Smith and Sadowsky, who sell they products in the main at a fraction of the price of a Fodera. People seem happy to pay silly money for other desirable products...

Not if you're more efficient. I love Warwick basses but even if I won the lottery there's no way I'd buy a new German Warwick. Their prices are, forgive me, ridiculous. The used market has been way, way cheaper for a very long time, an indication of what real world bass players think they're worth. If a Streamer Stage 1 6-string (my personal favourite bass in the world) is well over £4K new (and going up in price regularly) and can be had used for under £1.5K - I got one a few years ago for £1K - then there's nowhere to go. Oh, and where are you going to try the Warwick range in the UK? I asked about not being able to try a Thumb Single Cut in the UK and was arrogantly told that they're "boutique" instruments and not stocked by shops, and that if I wanted to try one I should by it from Thomann and use their returns policy if I didn't like it. Great.

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1344967391' post='1771805'] It's meant to be for bass. it's this one http://images.esellerpro.com/2378/I/236/64/acatalog_Bass-Guitar-Chords-Chart-X.JPG I lol'd [/quote] Ah. So Asus7 is A-D-E-G, not A-C-E-G, although the chart is right, and A min7 is A-C-E-G. In those diagrams the clear square is the root note or octave (in the case above, A) and the remaining black dots are the chord tones on each string. What is confusing is that there are the same pitches on different strings. For example, the octave A is on the D string at the 7th fret but also on the G string at the 2nd fret. So it is a chord chard showing all the chord tones on each string, apparently up to the 7th fret. Not very well explained in the book and some fret numbers would have been useful. I'd be surprised if it were written by a bass player. You can work this out for yourself as long as you know what the notes of the chord are, and how to find notes on each string. they're just shapes. Far better IMHO to learn the chord tones for one given chord and then go through the cycle of fourths without shifting position.

They both look meaningless to me. The charts look like a combination of scale and chord tones but what does the A-C-E-G above each mean? And at what fret is each tone meant to be?

Take the line, start it with your index and play through at a speed where you can control it. Do the same starting with your middle finger instead. Do this with every line you learn and the inconsistency will go away. Gary Willis once said that bass players often learn through their left up hand so the right (picking) hand just makes do, which is fine until it has do something complex, then it all falls apart. I had the same problem the first time I was asked to play What Is Hip? took quite a while do get the "weaker" finger startup be as even as the "strong" finger.

Blimey... Spot on. Reminds me of the nutter I saw on YouTube playing the bass part to Giant Steps with his left hand and the sax solo with his right on keyboard at the same time. Far too much talent!

I had one in natural. There's not much competition at the £700 I paid for it at the time. They were made in Taiwan at the time and whilst there's nothing really wrong they're not very nice. The B string is tight, fit and finish is OK, but a closer look reveals a lot of shortcomings. The neck is way too thick and is very tiring to play. The tone is even but very sterile - the pan doesn't do anything other than thin or fatten the tone, and the eq sounds cheap to my ears. The tone is clear but brittle and uninspiring. I think they've got a 35" scale too, which makes balance poor and contributes to the whole bass feeling over-large. As I said, they were cheap and there's only the Ibanez BTB and SR, ESP B206 and Cort A6 for company, none of which are any better. I'd hang around for a used TRB6-II which go for around £400-500. They're bloomin' heavy though - I think the one I had was over 12lbs

There's been lots of debate on this, and I don't think there is a definitive answer. It's note scale length because Warwicks have almost uniformly excellent B-strings and they're 34" unless you go custom shop. It's not quality of construction or price because I've played some boutique basses with poor sounding B strings and much cheaper ones with excellent B strings. It has something to do with strings as obviously that's the thing that is vibrating so it makes sense that trying something different/better improves the tone and feel. The Ibanez range has very good B strings and most of them don't appear to have special attention paid to neck construction (other than that most have laminated necks). The cheap Gary Willis Bass (GWB35?) in particular is very good, even with cheaper electronics and a thick paint job. I've found most Fender 5-strings to have a much darker and less defined B-string, which was solved by going for one with a maple board - American Standard P 5 and Marcus Miller 5 both have great B-strings. What is true is that some basses have a bad B-string, no matter what you do with strings, setup, amplification etc. Conversely basses with a great even tone seems to stay like that even when you change things. It's a tough one to pin down really...

Best of luck to you... YJ music usually has lots of chords and quite a few tunes have unison piano/bass bits. "Like A River" is one of my fave albums - I did a transcription of Man Facing North which I posted on here ages ago. The Sher Real Books have quite a few charts. Four Corners is another interesting album, as is Blue Hats. I must admit though that it's easy to go off them and I haven't listened to them since Altered State, which didn't do it for me...

This is wider than music, it's anything that can be obtained electronically. Software, anyone? It is stealing. It is be a commercial product for sale that has taken time and effort for skilled people to produce which technology allows people to get for free. If you could get Dulux paint or your weekly shop off the back of a lorry, stolen, what's the difference, just because you can see the object? Is there even a music industry left? Who makes a living from music unless it's covers or functions, or one of the few fading bands on their last hurrah?

As WoT's pic clearly shows, the reissue jazz looks just horrible with a "brand new" maple neck and dots. It's got to be blocks. If you're going to do another pointless non-reissue at least make it look nice!

I've had plenty of 5 and 6 strings I'm my time and I can't hear it. I reckon most of the time it's that there's no fat string sitting there below the E on a 4, so you can give it more of a go without risk of the open B string ringing or getting in the way. The passive/active thing is true too - how many truly passive fives are there anyway? I briefly had a passive American Standard P 5 with a maple board and the E sounded exactly the same as a four string to my ears, pick, slap, finger style just like an aggressive P bass should sound.

Poor customer service might be endemic in the UK but it's something you can let slide buying £10 of food at the local Lidl. It's a lot harder to stomach If you're looking for a £1000+ bass. I've also worked in music retail, albeit a long time ago. Yes, some customers could be belligerent and rude but there were also a lot taking their first steps in music (or buying on behalf of a son/daughter) and it irritated the hell out of me to see them treated like dirt because they didn't know much about guitars or basses. Yes, music retail is probably low paid without much incentive to perform well, but you only get one life so if you don't like it do something else! It's not just the recession nor the shrinking of the music instrument industry that has seen so many music shops close. Aside from the Gallery I can't think of a single music shop I've been to where the staff have been even vaguely polite, let alone knowledgeable.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1335683306' post='1634466'] And this is where you are wrong. It will be hand-built by one of the company's master craftsmen and will reflect years of knowledge and experience as both a builder and musician, rather than parts mostly built by a clinical machine. Its like saying all singers should use backing tracks because it does 'the same job' but doesnt cost as much. [/quote] Read what he said again - you missed the point. You could ask for a bolt on thumb to be made of the same woods as the NT thumb and it would come at a massive mark-up on the BO price. Other than picking up the same bits of one type of wood and using them for another bass there really isn't a large financial overhead... Warwick invested heavily a while ago in machinery to enable them to ramp up numbers as every bass was indeed made by hand from start to finish and so they had quite a limited production capacity. Nothing wrong in this at all, but they are most definitely not a small quantity luthier like Fodera. They also do not have the "name" (whatever that is). All of which is immaterial as they're now so expensive pretty much the only way you can try a NT model in the UK is by scouring here for used ones. I love Warwick basses but I'm not paying £4K for one in the middle of a recession

I just sold my Spector Q6 Pro to Paul (and also a Streamer Stage One). On both cases he was great to deal with, paid promptly and the whole transaction was as smooth as could be. Highly recommended, wouldn't hesitate to do business with him again. Cheers Paul!