Well... I'm really happy that nobody was disappointed about sound of this monster
I wanted a SC bass badly, guys. The first thing was to take a look at Thumb SC. But there were two things that headed me off this model - wide string spacing and an unpleasant look (IMHO). So I decided to go Custom...
I don't feel like this SC beats my Warwicks, absolutely. It's bigger, sounds softer to my ear. It is definitely more intelligent, more substantial in a low end comparing to Streamers (SSII & LX), but the same time it's not that growly and doesn't have such a bite. I was expecting nearly the same tone while ordering it and discussing the specs with the luthier. I can say that I was right at 95% about half a year ago imagining the sound of it. Doubtless it worth waiting for such a long time to get such a wonderful bass. That's exactly what I was looking for.
I called it "ESII" - Emperor Stage II. It's like a child of Fodera Emperor and Streamer stage II
Emperor II body contour (can't say the shape, cause it's a different, but still close enough to the original) plus single cut construction, ovangkol neck (which is a great feature associated in my mind to Warwick basses only), wenge fingerboard is just perfect to me,"Fat neck" profile (nearly the same as my wicks have) and Streamer like pickups placement.
Also I got a thought about monorail bridge after using Ibanez SR 3005 prestige. It's a great construction which brings a bit more clarity and sustain to the sound comparing to another bridge types. Once again that's just my personal suggestion and won't say I'm 100% right. It simply feels like that... BTW, that Ibanez inspired me to install oval inlays too
In that video all the basses were recorded in the equal conditions. The string were installed at one day about a week ago. Ernie Ball for SSII and ESII, D'Addario for Jazz bass.
