Nbd! Fodera Nyc Empire 5

DiMarco

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Day NINE.

The Fodera smells like flowers. It still does after a week. At first I thought I was making this up but nope...
Now before I continue you should know that my nose besides being big it also hardly effing works.

But yes I do smell flowers when playing the Fodera.

So I asked the wife and daughter to help me. It is the back of the body. There's perfume on there!
Next thing I pulled the hard case (also Fodera) from the top of the Ikea closet I had thrown it on and had my ladies and their excellent noses examine that.

There is a mixture of vague cigarette smoke with LOTS of perfume inside that case. This smells like a coverup!
On the bass it ain't so bad and I expect it to wear off... But the hard case MAN ... that smells really bad!

Does anyone know how to get rid of the smell of perfume on things? Please? It is all over the rat fur cover inside that hard case. BAH!
Heh. Smelly case is smelly! Worst case scenario in this case. And just in case you wonder: the bass will be fine.

-

Second point of interest of todays trials and adventures:

I took all my preamp pedals and hooked them up to do some more ABX testing. Lined up all their output levels and went on to see what's what.
This bass uncovers more weaknesses in preamps somehow. The instrument has quite a temper and when you dig in it really responds quite hefty.
Also the string tension feels lower then on some of my other basses. I do not know why but adding some vibrato by simply rolling the fingertip a bit works wonders on this baby.

Long story short both the Two Notes Le Bass and Trace Elliot Transit-B sound really well but I can't get them to sound alike.
I shall be pulling my for sell ad for the Transit-B back because of it being a one pedal solution I can take along to the Jamsession.

BUT! Once I had dialed in the ideal tone on both preamps I started twiddling about with the dials on the bass itself to see how the preamp pedals would react to drastic changes on the bass pre.
And that is when I discovered the wonderous world of the passive tone control on this NYC Empire.

Full open it sounds great with fingerstyle. When slapping however the growly upper midrange can become a bit too much (headache much). This is where I dialed the passive tone halfway down to discover that it tames the upper midrange but keeps the SNAP in the treble ... to produce the PERFECT Marcus Miller slap sound. Hello? Day NINE and the bass still manages to blow me off my socks now and then. If I want the oldskool flatwound like tone that often appears when dialing back the passive tone control on a bass I just have to dial it back some more. Now I know why the passive tone control is a stacked pot with the volume control: it is really useful on this bass!

Having a slap tone this good made me shorten my Levi strap, this bass wants to sit up high to be played to the max. I usually wear my basses pretty low but this one really wants to snuggle up and get all close. Sadly now the smell of perfume is even more overwhelming as it is right under my nose.
 
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Hoggles

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Bass-box-md.jpg
 

Stainless

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Day NINE.

The Fodera smells like flowers. It still does after a week. At first I thought I was making this up but nope...
Now before I continue you should know that my nose besides being big it also hardly effing works.

But yes I do smell flowers when playing the Fodera.

So I asked the wife and daughter to help me. It is the back of the body. There's perfume on there!
Next thing I pulled the hard case (also Fodera) from the top of the Ikea closet I had thrown it on and had my ladies and their excellent noses examine that.

There is a mixture of vague cigarette smoke with LOTS of perfume inside that case. This smells like a coverup!
On the bass it ain't so bad and I expect it to wear off... But the hard case MAN ... that smells really bad!

Does anyone know how to get rid of the smell of perfume on things? Please? It is all over the rat fur cover inside that hard case. BAH!
Heh. Smelly case is smelly! Worst case scenario in this case. And just in case you wonder: the bass will be fine.
Buy some cheap coffee beans and put them into the case without the bass. This neutralize the smell the easiest way.

The expensive version how they handle it with cars is an ozone therapy.
 

DiMarco

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Buy some cheap coffee beans and put them into the case without the bass. This neutralize the smell the easiest way.

Will try this. Thanks!

Elswhere I read rinse with cleaning vinegar, then let it dry outside in the sun. But I am afraid the rat fur will come loose from cleaning vinegar so coffee beans seems the sensible solution.
 
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PaulS

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febreze got the smoke smell out of a case for me.
 

DiMarco

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The sun is shining today. A nice opportunity to capture the colour of the bass!
Funny enough, the wood seems to reflect light a lot so with more light the color seems to intensify more then expected.

1-Fod-body.jpg


2-Fod-headstock.jpg


3-Fod-full.jpg


4-Fod-backside.jpg
 

DiMarco

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The colours in these photo's are as-is. Yes that bridge is sickeningly gold coloured - it is almost too much.
 
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Yeah that's cool and all Marco, but you said it smells like shit so I guess it's a shitty bass.




(this was satire, pls no hate)
 

Hardy

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Right now the hard case smells like coffee.
Threw an entire pack of beans in there. Will let it rest for a couple of days.
I will do the same with my cases. Just because!
 

DiMarco

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Arf!

beanz.jpg


Case is now shut and lying in the living room. I wonder how long the beanz need to do their work....
 

Stainless

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Right now the hard case smells like coffee.
Threw an entire pack of beans in there. Will let it rest for a couple of days.
A lot helps a lot?
I wonder how long the beanz need to do their work....
Depends on how strong and persistent the smell is.
I use old coffee grounds to neutralize the smell of vinegar cumcumbers to reuse the glasses again. It works quit well after a day.
Just in this case beans are easier to clean afterwards than ground ;)
 

Nachobassman

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Glad the Fodera came home in excellent shape and you are loving it. Those waiting days were tough...haha.

TBH... Jazz Basses/Super Jazz Basses don't say much to me lately, and I find Fodera too snobby for my taste but I'd love to try one just to compare it to my Warwicks, maybe there's something out there I'm missing.

And even though I know you change your mind on basses as fast as Victor Wooten plays his double-thumb thing, I reckon you know about tone and if you say that Fodera kills everything else tonewise, my curiosity is even bigger.

Anyway, CONGRATS on your new baby and please bring some audio clips to your forum brothers...
 
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Nachobassman

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Day NINE.

The Fodera smells like flowers. It still does after a week. At first I thought I was making this up but nope...
Now before I continue you should know that my nose besides being big it also hardly effing works.

But yes I do smell flowers when playing the Fodera.

So I asked the wife and daughter to help me. It is the back of the body. There's perfume on there!
Next thing I pulled the hard case (also Fodera) from the top of the Ikea closet I had thrown it on and had my ladies and their excellent noses examine that.

There is a mixture of vague cigarette smoke with LOTS of perfume inside that case. This smells like a coverup!
On the bass it ain't so bad and I expect it to wear off... But the hard case MAN ... that smells really bad!

Does anyone know how to get rid of the smell of perfume on things? Please? It is all over the rat fur cover inside that hard case. BAH!
Heh. Smelly case is smelly! Worst case scenario in this case. And just in case you wonder: the bass will be fine.

-

Second point of interest of todays trials and adventures:

I took all my preamp pedals and hooked them up to do some more ABX testing. Lined up all their output levels and went on to see what's what.
This bass uncovers more weaknesses in preamps somehow. The instrument has quite a temper and when you dig in it really responds quite hefty.
Also the string tension feels lower then on some of my other basses. I do not know why but adding some vibrato by simply rolling the fingertip a bit works wonders on this baby.

Long story short both the Two Notes Le Bass and Trace Elliot Transit-B sound really well but I can't get them to sound alike.
I shall be pulling my for sell ad for the Transit-B back because of it being a one pedal solution I can take along to the Jamsession.

BUT! Once I had dialed in the ideal tone on both preamps I started twiddling about with the dials on the bass itself to see how the preamp pedals would react to drastic changes on the bass pre.
And that is when I discovered the wonderous world of the passive tone control on this NYC Empire.

Full open it sounds great with fingerstyle. When slapping however the growly upper midrange can become a bit too much (headache much). This is where I dialed the passive tone halfway down to discover that it tames the upper midrange but keeps the SNAP in the treble ... to produce the PERFECT Marcus Miller slap sound. Hello? Day NINE and the bass still manages to blow me off my socks now and then. If I want the oldskool flatwound like tone that often appears when dialing back the passive tone control on a bass I just have to dial it back some more. Now I know why the passive tone control is a stacked pot with the volume control: it is really useful on this bass!

Having a slap tone this good made me shorten my Levi strap, this bass wants to sit up high to be played to the max. I usually wear my basses pretty low but this one really wants to snuggle up and get all close. Sadly now the smell of perfume is even more overwhelming as it is right under my nose.
Hahaha... this explains that picture I saw in Facebook...
 

DiMarco

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Fodera ain't so snobby, but some of its players like to have that attitude. I will play punkrock and grunge on mine to kill any snobness! Afterall, any bass is a wooden stick with strings on in the end. It is made for rocking out whatever the brand may be.
 
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