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New Fodera Monarch 5 Standard Bass Guitar - Natural

5-string Electric Bass Guitar with Walnut Body, Ivorywood Top, Maple Neck, Ebony Fingerboard, 2 Humbucking Pickups, and 4-band Preamp - Natural
$6,900.00

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Fodera Monarch 5 Standard Bass Guitar - Natural
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Make Way 4 The Monarch 5

Since 1983, Fodera has designed electric bass guitars for top musicians like Anthony Jackson, Victor Wooten, and Oteil Burbridge, and they have pored all their experience and know-how into their Monarch 5 Standard. The Fodera Monarch 5 Standard electric bass is designed from the ground up for optimized performance. This unique Monarch 5 Standard features a lightweight chambered walnut body matched delightfully to an ivorywood top and a super-fast quarter-sawn 3-piece hard-rock maple neck capped with a Plek-perfect compound-radius ebony fingerboard. For killer tone, the electronics package includes two Aguilar dual-coil pickups and a Fodera 4-band preamp. Step up to Fodera boutique quality with the Monarch 5 Standard.

It's all in the Aguilar pickups

Tired of the same pickups you’ve been funking with for years? Sweetwater hears you. Take a dive into a new world of tone with the Aguilar pickups outfitting the Monarch 5 Standard. With these dual ceramic bar pickups you’re sure to encounter high output unknown to traditional passive pickups. Plus, their hum-cancelling design makes them so silent they wouldn’t bother a sleeping baby — until you start rocking out that is. Full bodied, tonally rich, and with excellent sustain and dynamic response, you’ll be hard pressed to remember playing a bass without them.

Fodera 4-band preamp offers amazing flexibility

While the basic tone of the Monarch 5 Standard is warm and punchy, with an open low end and bell-like highs, it features a Fodera preamp system that lets you craft the ideal tone for any live set or studio session. This preamp ensures a strong, clear signal and drives longer cable lengths, but it also comes with an active 4-band EQ, which is astonishingly musical. Round out the highs and boost the bass, and you have an ideal R&B tone. Back off the lows and add a bit of a boost to the mids, and your ideal slap-and-pop tone awaits. What’s more, you always have the option of bypassing the active electronics, allowing you to output the purest tone possible from your pickups.

Exceptional tonewoods, appointments, and playability

Custom tonewoods meet professional performance in Fodera’s Monarch 5 Standard electric bass. The hand-selected walnut body and 3-piece hard rock maple neck serve up a classic combination of resonance and sustain, while the silky-smooth, Plek’d compound-radius ebony fingerboard delivers the fluidity you need to nail everything from rootsy grooves to high-register solos. Add to that the powerful connection you get from a fully adjustable high-mass bell-brass bridge, and the Monarch 5 Standard delivers the look and feel you’ll only get from a premium, luthier-built instrument.

Superior playability, sonics, and build quality

Since 1983, Fodera has been designing electric bass guitars for top bassists like Anthony Jackson, Victor Wooten, and Oteil Burbridge, and they put all their experience and know-how into the Monarch 5 Standard. The Monarch Standard gives you the superior playability, sonics, and build quality of the custom models played by the bass gods who endorse the brand, in a more affordable axe. Crafted with the same materials by the same top luthiers, Monarch Standard models offer no options, allowing them to be built in small runs instead of one-offs, thus holding down the cost. There’s over three decades of master craftsmanship behind literally every instrument that leaves the shop, and you’ll feel it in every note you play. Take a step up to boutique quality with Fodera. You’ve arrived.

Fodera Monarch 5 Standard Electric Bass Features:

  • A handcrafted 5-string bass guitar with active electronics and retro vibe
  • Ivorywood top, chambered walnut body; satin finish
  • 3-piece bolt-on hard rock maple neck, Standard profile; satin finish
  • Ebony fingerboard, compound radius, dot inlays
  • 34-inch scale length, 24 large frets
  • 2 Aguilar dual-coil pickups pack high output hardly seen in traditional passive pickups
  • 4-band EQ, Active/Passive switch
  • Coil-Tap switch; Master Volume control
  • Fodera Standard bridge, 19mm string spacing
  • Brass nut; Gotoh tuners
  • Dual-Action truss rod, neck heel access

Why Buy Your Guitar from Sweetwater?

See how Sweetwater goes to great lengths to give you the very best online guitar buying experience. From our online Guitar Gallery that allows you to see and select the exact instrument you want to our 55-point Inspection process and our in-house guitar techs, we take the guesswork out of buying your next guitar online.

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Tech Specs

  • Number of Strings: 5
  • Left-/Right-handed: Right-handed
  • Body Shape: Monarch Standard
  • Body Material: Walnut body (chambered), Ivorywood top
  • Body Finish: Satin
  • Color: Natural
  • Neck Material: 3-piece Maple
  • Neck Shape: Fodera Standard
  • Neck Joint: Bolt-on
  • Fingerboard Material: Ebony
  • Number of Frets: 24, Large, Nickel Silver
  • Scale Length: 34"
  • Nut Width: 1.84"
  • Nut Material: Brass
  • Bridge/Tailpiece: Fodera Standard, 19mm String Spacing
  • Tuners: Fodera/Gotoh
  • Neck Pickup: Aguilar DCB-5J Humbucker
  • Bridge Pickup: Aguilar DCB-5M Humbucker
  • Controls: 1 x stacked tone/volume, 1 x pickup pan, 1 x stacked bass/treble, 1 x stacked high mid/low mid
  • Switching: 1 x active/passive switch
  • Strings: Fodera, .045-.125
  • Case/Gig Bag: Hardshell Case
  • Manufacturer Part Number: M5S

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Customer Reviews

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Rated 5/5

Great tone, craftsmanship--everything you'd expect from Fodera

I'm a Fodera fan, so I had to check this new pup arrangement in their Standard series. After spending some time with the bass and gigging with it, I'm really liking it more and more.

If you're familiar with the Lakland 55-94 or 55-02 series, this pickup arrangement is very similar, though the bridge pickup in this case seems to be shifted slightly closer to the neck, away from the bridge. Running both pups balanced, the inherent tone is a bass-heavy, mid-scooped sound with crispy treble articulation. It works great for a band setting, as it just sits right in the mix. When I practice at home, I like to keep both pups on 100%, and boost the mid slightly, which balances out the mid-scoop character of the bass.

Of course the craftsmanship is second to none on this bass, and I would expect nothing less. The neck profile is much like the Emperor Standard 5, but with a satin finish, instead of the gloss which my Standard Classic has. The bass is pretty standard in weight for a five, at 9 lbs 10 oz, but balances perfectly with a strap. A very comfortable bass, for sure.
Music background: Professional musician, 10+ years

For many of the die-hard players at Sweetwater, Fodera's basses are the very pinnacle of custom-quality craftsmanship. They're the instruments we've dreamed of owning, and we're delighted to offer them to bass players as passionate as we are. Developing a close relationship with Fodera has been entirely rewarding. Every time we get our hands on a custom bass made just for Sweetwater, it's a new and exciting experience. Even their production models and electric guitars are amazing, and we've rarely seen their equal arrive from other world-class luthiers. Take a look at the Fodera instrument collection in Sweetwater's Guitar Gallery, and you'll see exactly what we mean. We can't wait to put one of these breathtaking instruments in your hands.

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