NBD: Beautiful Ziricote Sadowsky with Flame Maple and Amazon Rosewood

tb-player

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It’s new bass day!! This is a Sadowsky Will Lee Signature 5-string. It has a roasted alder body with a figured ziricote top. The neck is roasted flame maple with an amazon rosewood fingerboard.

The pickups are Sadowsky soapbars in the 60s position. The preamp is the wonderful Sadowsky pre. But the Will Lee version has an interesting mid-boost switch with the option of boosting at either 500 or 800 MHz in either a narrow or wide configuration. Not being a guy who knows a lot about frequencies, I can’t explain it any further than that. I just know it sounds unlike any Sadowsky I’ve ever heard when the mid-boost is engaged. You can get a nice Jaco tone on the bridge pickup and the 500mhz narrow engaged. Oof!

The bass itself is masterfully crafted. It really is perfect. It’s lightweight at only 8.25lb. And it plays like a dream.

I purchased this bass direct from Sadowsky. Before buying, I called and spoke with Roger. He’s very accessible for such a busy guy. He took the time to discuss the bass in detail and answer all my questions. He even told me all his basses have a 7-day review period. He wants to ensure that the owners of his basses are 100% pleased with their purchase.

So far, I think I am. The soapbars are a little different for me, as is the mid-boost. There’s a small learning curve, figuring out all this bass can do. The real test for me is how it sounds when the EQ is set flat. This bass sounds warm and articulate. A slight tweak in the active pre gives it that classic Marcus Miller bite. A roll back on the Vintage Tone Control, and it sound like a classic thumpy bass from back in the day.

I guess my overall take is that this is a really well made, gorgeous bass that is much more versatile than I was anticipating. Basically, I dig it!

(I’m open to any eq tweaks you Sadowsky owners might care to share)

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I don’t think I have ever seen a fifth string intonate with the saddle forward of that of the fourth string.

That often happens when the string is tapered.

I play five string and tend to have better success with tapered B strings. It's fairly common for five string sets to have a tapered B.
 
Yeah, I try to add spacers on the B between the ball and the bridge such that the taper begins right after the saddle speaking point. Sounds better to me (fewer weird overtones), makes intonation more normal too. Or at least, I think it does, could be wishful thinking though.
 
Yeah, I try to add spacers on the B between the ball and the bridge such that the taper begins right after the saddle speaking point. Sounds better to me (fewer weird overtones), makes intonation more normal too. Or at least, I think it does, could be wishful thinking though.

You could be right. I once encountered a B string with a taper that went well beyond the saddle (perhaps designed to accommodate thru-body stringing?) and I never could get it to sound right.

Back on topic: that bass is SPECTACULAR. Enjoy!
 
That often happens when the string is tapered.

I play five string and tend to have better success with tapered B strings. It's fairly common for five string sets to have a tapered B.
Aha! Glad you mentioned it. That might help me out of a jam. At the very least, I learned something today. Thank you :thumbsup:
 
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Gorgeous! and I don’t think I have ever seen a fifth string intonate with the saddle forward of that of the fourth string. Doubly amazing :laugh:
That’s interesting. I didn’t notice it. I’m assuming the above comments are correct about the tapered string. I just recently went to using tapered B strings on my other fiver. I’ll have to check the intonation this week and see if it needs any adjustments as well.

At the end of the day, it sounds good and plays in tune. So I’m fine with it. :thumbsup:
 
You got yourself a real stunner there! Beautiful and Roger is definitely one of the very best to deal with. The seven day trial period is a great thing and I wish more bass makers offered something similar. And, yes, it is normal for the saddle placement to be different with a tapered string. :thumbsup:
 
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It’s new bass day!! This is a Sadowsky Will Lee Signature 5-string. It has a roasted alder body with a figured ziricote top. The neck is roasted flame maple with an amazon rosewood fingerboard.

The pickups are Sadowsky soapbars in the 60s position. The preamp is the wonderful Sadowsky pre. But the Will Lee version has an interesting mid-boost switch with the option of boosting at either 500 or 800 MHz in either a narrow or wide configuration. Not being a guy who knows a lot about frequencies, I can’t explain it any further than that. I just know it sounds unlike any Sadowsky I’ve ever heard when the mid-boost is engaged. You can get a nice Jaco tone on the bridge pickup and the 500mhz narrow engaged. Oof!

The bass itself is masterfully crafted. It really is perfect. It’s lightweight at only 8.25lb. And it plays like a dream.

I purchased this bass direct from Sadowsky. Before buying, I called and spoke with Roger. He’s very accessible for such a busy guy. He took the time to discuss the bass in detail and answer all my questions. He even told me all his basses have a 7-day review period. He wants to ensure that the owners of his basses are 100% pleased with their purchase.

So far, I think I am. The soapbars are a little different for me, as is the mid-boost. There’s a small learning curve, figuring out all this bass can do. The real test for me is how it sounds when the EQ is set flat. This bass sounds warm and articulate. A slight tweak in the active pre gives it that classic Marcus Miller bite. A roll back on the Vintage Tone Control, and it sound like a classic thumpy bass from back in the day.

I guess my overall take is that this is a really well made, gorgeous bass that is much more versatile than I was anticipating. Basically, I dig it!

(I’m open to any eq tweaks you Sadowsky owners might care to share)

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I think that is the bass I saw on the Sadowsky website. I sure hope it sounds and plays as good as it looks!