Fodera Announces the Select Series Basses

Fodera Select Series Basses

New for 2019, Fodera has introduced the Select Series. The lineup blends characteristics of their custom instruments as well as their standard instruments to create a middle ground. They’re opening the new range starting with the Monarch 4 Select and Emperor 5 Select.

“The Selects feature hand-selected Alder bodies matched with our tried-and-true 3pc Maple neck and Pau Ferro fingerboard, seen on our popular Emperor and Monarch Standard basses,” Fodera writes. “This combination provides players with a classic full and warm tone yet still has the ability to be articulate to cut through a dense mix. It’s an overall balanced tone that allows the bass to cover a wide variety of sounds.”

The company adds that the Selects feature a slimmer body for lighter weight. The electronics include their Fodera/Seymour Duncan Dual Coil pickups in a spacing they say delivers 60’s style growl as well as full-bodied sound and attack for slap. The pickups are fed into an onboard Standard preamp that’s been specially tuned for the Select basses.

The Monarch and Emperor Select basses come in a variety of finish options. They’re available for order now with prices of $7,250 and $8,250, respectively.

Fodera Select Series Bass Features:

Scale:34″
Body:Alder
Top:Figured Maple
Neck:3-pc Maple
Fingerboard:Pau Ferro
Frets:24
String Spacing:19.0mm
Electronics:Fodera Standard
Pickups:Fodera / Duncan Dual Coil
Controls:Standard control layout
Bridge:Fodera Custom
Finishes:Natural, Amber, Vintage Tint, Cherry, Trans Black, Sunrise Burst

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Leave a Reply to William Cancel reply

  1. FRANK ROZELLE

    Spending $7000 on a bass guitar is ridiculous. This Fedora thing is just a bass guitar .it sounds like any decent bass you can get for under a $1000. Who are these fools?

    • William

      FRANK …
      I agree with you 110% !!
      I own a Ibanez sr400 eqm and I paid about $500.00 and it sounds like any top of the line bass guitars. This is completely insane that any company would sell a instrument to the public or any musician at a unaffordable price?!
      I dont know how in the world fedora could stay in business selling a product at that astronomical price.

      • Shawn Weingart

        Oh brother.. I couldn’t agree with both you guys more. It’s so ludicrous what they ask for their instruments. I recently picked up a SUB bass and with a few upgrades sounds to me like a million bucks all totalled just under $350.00. Looks like i just saved myself $7,200. ???

  2. Stonehenge

    What an amazing bass! I wound up with the 4-string shown in this photo after getting a chance to meet Vinny and John at the factory and trying it hands-on. I always knew that these were the best basses around, at least for my style. I first played a Fodera when Victor Wooten generously allowed me to play his bass several years ago, and knew then that one day I would *have* to own one.

    These basses play like nothing else I’ve ever tried. I’ve been playing over 25 years, and I’ve tried just about every brand of bass out there at one point or another. Nothing I’ve played will support as low an action as you can get on the Fodera. Nothing is as sensitive to touch. Nothing allows you to play as lightly, and save stamina with economy of motion. Tone is incredible. Punchy, tight, yet smooth and rich with overtones. No dead-spots on the neck, and everything is in fantastic intonation. Chords sound warm and rich, and this bass can play chords in the lower octaves without sounding muddy or out-of-tune. Slap tones are out of this world, and you can get them with a feather touch or with hammer hands, the bass sings no matter how hard or soft you hit it.

    The price tag is hefty on this bass, but if you’re a pro-level player, then it’s worth it. While even beginners can benefit from the god-like tone of this instrument and extreme ease of playing, only players who are pushing the boundaries of the instrument are going to fully appreciate how much better this bass is than some off the shelf production instrument. If you’re having a hard time understanding how somebody could pay $7k for a bass guitar, then perhaps your skill level doesn’t justify that sort of cost. I have a Schecter bass that cost $600 and is 90% as good as this Fodera. But that last 10% improvement is something that is very hard to attain, and comes with a hefty price tag. After 25 years of playing basses that are good but not great, that extra 10% performance increase equates to a HUGE increase in my tone and speed. I don’t have a single regret for purchasing this bass. It’s truly the best bass I’ve ever laid hands on, and after years of making due with what I can afford, it was time to switch to something I deserve. If you’re reading these other comments where people convince themselves they can get this level of performance for a few hundred dollars and you’re wondering if there’s any merit to that argument, let me save you some time. There isn’t. Ibanez basses are firewood compared to a Fodera. Buy the best bass you can afford so you don’t outgrow it or become limited by it in the future.