Bass Magazine – Issue 4 2019

bassmagazine.com ; ISSUE 4 ; BASS MAGAZINE 107

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Roger Sadowsky

(left) with Will Lee

and his signature

model in 2009.

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supplemental mid booster.”

Further experimentation led to the

conclusion that what Will needed to get

his desired punch was a mid-boost circuit

centered at 500Hz with wide bandwidth.

Roger then tweaked that further, to make it

more versatile, to allow 500-narrow/500-

wide or 800-narrow/800 wide. “Will didn’t

want an extra knob,” says Roger, “so I

designed the circuit with a mini-toggle switch

to kick it in, and two trim pots on the back

plate. One is for the amount of mid boost,

which we set at maximum for maximum effect

— but if you’re kicking in 13dB of mid boost,

the bass gets louder, so we have a second trim

pot to attenuate the overall output when the

mid is engaged.”

Once that circuit was completed, they

had the “secret recipe” for Will’s signature

model. The bass has a chambered body, for

lighter weight and more resonant sound,

and Roger offers a number of different wood

combinations. For Will, he has built basses

using both alder bodies with rosewood

fingerboards and ash bodies with maple

fingerboards. A Hipshot Xtender is standard,

and there are several pickup options,

including single-coil or humcanceling J-style

and Sadowsky soapbars. The Will Lee Model

is also available as a 5-string that follows

the same basic design parameters. All of the

basses are built in Sadowsky’s Long Island

City shop, except the Metro Line version,

which is made in Japan by Roger’s protégé,

Yoshi Kikuchi, and priced lower.

“I’ve been working with Will for almost 20

years,” says Roger. “He knows that no other

company could take care of him at the level

that we do, or be able to communicate with

him as I can. I have a level of understanding

with him that nobody else could accomplish.

He appreciates that relationship, and so do

I.” Will affirms their strong connection: “I

consider him the bass whisperer. Roger’s real

talent, besides knowing how to build great

instruments, is that he can take what a bass

player is feeling and empathize in a way that

goes beyond what you can describe.” l

TELL ME

ABOUT YOUR

BASS

If you have

worked with a

builder to create

or customize a

bass to suit your

playing style,

I want to hear

from you. Send

me your story —

with photos, vid-

eo, sound files, or

other supporting

material: jim@

bassmagazine.

com.

SANDRINE LEE