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Make Way 4 The Monarch 5





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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 Nordstrand Big Blade soapbar-style pickups and a Fodera 4-band preamp. Step up to Fodera boutique quality with the Monarch 5 Standard.





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It's all in the Nordstrand 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 Nordstrand Big Blade pickups outfitting the Monarch 5 Standard. With these dual soapbar-style pickups, you'll encounter an incredibly uniform magnetic field by way of flat, slotted steel blades and ceramic-bar magnets. Plus, their wax-potted design safeguards against unruly microphonic squeals. 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 Nordstrand Big Blade pickups pack an incredibly uniform magnetic field with zero microphonic squeals


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