At least I think it's a 1995. I bought it from Michael Pedulla himself at the 1995 winter NAMN show in Anaheim, CA. The bass plays great and is in excellent shape, considering it's been around the world a few times back when I was with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson.

Sometime around 1998 I had my friend Mike Pope drop his preamp in it, along with a few Bartolini Jazz style pickups (pictured in the Extra Pickups section). For those of you who don't know Mike, he's the guy who designed the preamps found in Fodera basses. Mike had suggested that I match his preamp with some Seymour Duncan pickups, but the ones he recommended weren't made for 5 strings yet, so he threw in a set of Bartolini Jazz style pickups that he had lying around his apartment.

In 2005, I dropped by bass luthier Jimmy Coppolo's shop to have him drop in the Seymour Duncan pickups that were finally released for 5 string basses (pictured in the bass).

As I have said, I used the bass for most of my tenure with Maynard Ferguson. It has a dual action truss rod, which really came in handy on the long trips (for instance, the Florida Keys to upstate NY!). I used it on Maynard's CD One More Trip To Birdland, and a bunch of TV and radio shows around the globe.

I'm selling it with the original hard shell case (with key), the truss rod tool and allen wrench, owners manual, the original preamp and Bartolini soap bar pickups, and the jazz style Bartolini pickups that Mike dropped in.

I'm asking $1600.00 or best offer. If you live on the New York area, I would be willing to work out a time and place for you to play it.
Email me if you're interested.

I've posted photos and sound clips below. Let me know if you have any more questions, or if I've left anything out of the description.

Bass Body First, I would like to go on record as saying that the bass is in excellent condition. That said, I decided to focus on the dings, so that you can see the imperfections. As you can see, there aren't any serious marks. In the second shot, you can see the Seymour Duncans and the knob configuration, which from left to right goes like this: Volume, with a ring around the outside of it that adjusts the Tone, Pickup Selector, the Treble - Midrange - Bass knobs, and finally the Switch that toggles the preamp from off to passive to active. Here's a few shots of the bigger dings to the body. There's no gouges- just chipped finish. The gold hardware seems to be in good shape. I can't tell if it's actually pitted a little bit from sitting in it's case, or if it's just really funky. There's a before and after photo of the bridge in which I polished it up a bit.

Neck There are a few dings in the back of the neck, but they're not as bad as they look. The photo on the left shows the only ding that actually is a bit of an indentation in the wood. It's situated closer to the head, just past the first fret. With my hand position, I rarely hit it with my thumb. The other two dings- the long ugly one and the tiny one, are only as deep as the finish and could probably be sanded smooth. The tiny one is closer to the top of the neck, so I never hit that one, but the longer one is right where my thumb slides (as you can see from the color). That said, it's never bothered me, which is why I've never bothered to fix it. I think I smacked it on a hotel dresser somewhere in Italy...

Fodera Electronics Here's a few photos of the control cavity and Mike Pope's preamp. As I said above, this is the preamp that he was installing in Fodera basses at that time.

Hard Shell Case The original hard shell case is in great shape, despite having been checked as baggage a few times.

Extra Pickups Here are the original Bartolini pickups and preamp, as well as the owners manual, truss rod tool, and allen wrench. Here are another set of Bartolini Jazz style pickups that Mike Pope dropped in when he installed his pre-amp.

History and Photos The first shot is from the winter NAMN show when I bought the bass. That's Michael Pedulla on the left, me (with hair), bassist Mark Egan, and two unknown employees. I was at the show for four days, and after playing ever bass there I decided on this bass. The running joke that week was "Noooo, it's not a pink bass- it's ROSE! Here's a photo at the grand opening of Birdland in NYC back in '96 or '97. That's Maynard Ferguson on trumpet, and Ray Brinker on drums.