# Fodera releases new Emperor 5 Standard.



## thedarkoceans (Oct 23, 2011)

Fodera has introduced a new bass to their Standard series: the Emperor 5 Standard (E5S). As with their Yin Yang Standard, the E5S is a version of their existing model offered at a more competitive price point by offering one configuration with no options. The basses are still made in their Brooklyn, New York workshop alongside their custom instruments. 





The E5S has a mixture of tonewoods that Fodera says is flexible enough for any gig, including an Ash body, quartersawn Hard Rock Maple neck, and Pau Ferro fingerboards. The body also features a 5A Bi-Color Flame Maple top.
For electronics, the bass is fitted with a pair of Foderas Dual Coil pickups and complimented with a Fodera/Pope 3-band Standard Preamp. The company describes the its sound as being incredibly balanced, with tight lows, transparent mids and just enough top-end.
Fodera is building the first batch of Emperor 5 Standards now, with production models slated to start shipping in April 2012. The list price for the instrument is $5,750, and orders require a $1,000 deposit. For more details, visit the Fodera website.
*Fodera Emperor 5 Standard Specs:*



Top Wood: Bi-Color Flame Maple
Body Wood: Ash
Fingerboard Woodau Ferro
Neck Wood: 1-pc. Hard Rock Maple (Quatersawn)
Neck Joint: Bolt-on
Scale Length: 34
Strings:5
Frets: 24 (Large)
FB Inlay: Mother-of-Pearl Dots
Pickups: Fodera Dual Coils
Preamp: Fodera / Pope Standard 3-Band
Control Layout: Emperor Standard Layout

looks awesome.not good for metal shows i think haha.

tdo.


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## TemjinStrife (Oct 25, 2011)

Maybe I just don't *get* Foderas... but $6k is a fuckload of money period. The only argument I've heard that might convince me that they are worth that much money is that they're customizable to every player's taste... which this "standard" model takes away.

Far, far too much money. I've played a fair few and they're very nice basses, but not *that* much nicer than instruments half to one-third the price.


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## HaMMerHeD (Oct 25, 2011)

It's a nice looking bass, and from all of my experiences with hearing musicians play with Fodera instruments, I have no doubt that it sounds brilliant. That said, there is no way in hell I would pay that much for a bass, standard or custom.

But then...Fodera isn't marketing for everyone, much less a phenomenally average bass player like me.


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## TemjinStrife (Oct 25, 2011)

It's ridiculous how many people in NY have them. Not necessarily club musicians, but there's definitely a guy busking with one in the Times Square subway station pretty regularly...


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## angus (Oct 27, 2011)

I don't get the standard series. My custom Fodera was $10500, and I have a custom Zon that was $5800. Both basses have everything you can imagine short of piezo and midi. 

The Emperor standard is a one piece maple neck with a FLAT headstock and string tree for $5750. You can get a similarly optioned NYC custom Emperor for $7500. Why would you NOT spend a better extra and get a much better bass at that price range. 

Just the thought of comparing the standard to my custom Zon for the same price makes zero market sense to me. If it were $2000-2400 like the Japanese-made Sadowsky's (as this is a Japanese-made Fodera), I can see it. But at $5750 it sits in this strange no-mans land where it has cheap features and a custom price tag. 

They'll sell all of them in a month, though. People will buy anything they sell. I love my Fodera, but you couldn't force me at gunpoint to spend $5750 for that.


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## TemjinStrife (Oct 27, 2011)

angus said:


> I don't get the standard series. My custom Fodera was $10500, and I have a custom Zon that was $5800. Both basses have everything you can imagine short of piezo and midi.
> 
> The Emperor standard is a one piece maple neck with a FLAT headstock and string tree for $5750. You can get a similarly optioned NYC custom Emperor for $7500. Why would you NOT spend a better extra and get a much better bass at that price range.
> 
> ...



I don't understand why you'd spend upwards of $5k on a single non-classical instrument myself. But, that's just me.


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## angus (Oct 27, 2011)

It's a fair enough point. I'm fairly particular, so getting exactly what I needed meant spending more. Game over. That said, there is zero difference in quality between my Zon and my Fodera, so it's pretty clear where the price difference goes (Brooklyn rent, then name).

But I could have 90% of that with my POS Gibson Tobias that was my mainstay for over a decade. 

And I've never even considered upgrading from my POS plywood 85-year old $900 upright. Everyone works differently.

And you probably own more in one cello than all of my instruments combined.


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## Winspear (Oct 27, 2011)

Just wondering...why is it that high end basses seem to cost an awful lot more than high end guitars? Several companies I've seen give that impression / confirm it with prices on their size, and the prices in Angus' post above are even higher than I thought. 
I get the impression that bass building is somewhat more of an art than guitar building, for some reason? And many of the custom bass companies I have seen seem to be a good deal more experimental.


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## angus (Oct 27, 2011)

Generally speaking, bassists are a lot more free to experiment with the overall instrument setup rather than sticking with the standard P/J bass paradigms. There is a lot less variety in construction, materials, etc in guitar building than bass building. Thus you tend to get instruments that have more expensive materials, more intricate details, expansive electronics, hand-made hardware, etc etc. 

Additionally, part of the cost with custom builders is that every instrument is very different- you are paying for the fact that they can't streamline/batch build. Conklin is a good example. Every one of their basses (and guitars!) are very different, so they have to make sure over and over that it follows the exact specifications on a build sheet, and they can't set up to do multiple at once on each machine at each step of the build. 

98% of the guitar market usually falls under Strat, Tele, Ibanez or some Gibson. Guitarists just tend to have a narrower window of needs, for whatever reason.

But, to be specific, expensive basses are _nowhere near_ as expensive as top-grade guitars. Fodera or Conklin is about as expensive as you can get, as they can easily spec up to $12000. But compare that to ordering a custom-shop PRS or Fender, and you'll spend twice that easily. I think it's just more common for bassist to own a $3-6k bass than for a guitarist. 

This is an aside, but it seems like almost every crazy-expensive guitar has a lot of inlay work. You almost never see that with basses. Maybe that is finally dying out, though...it was kind of a 90's thing.


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## angus (Oct 29, 2011)

I made a mistake, by the way- the Emperor standard is apparently going to be made entirely in the Brooklyn shop. That goes a long way to explaining the price, though I'm still not keen on the straight headstock. But they do do incredible work.


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## MF_Kitten (Oct 29, 2011)

that's one chubby looking bass 

it's nice, but it looks a little obese. not that i don't like'em chubby though


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## xfilth (Oct 31, 2011)

Looks like my prestige


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