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Luthier Spotlight – Interview with Roger Sadowsky by Alberto Rigoni
Luthier Spotlight – Interview with Roger Sadowsky by Alberto Rigoni…
Ciao Roger, first of all thank you very much for this interview! Could you tell us when and how you started building basses?
I started building basses in 1982. I began building acoustic guitars in 1972 and electric guitars in 1979.
Could you explain your approach to the design of the instruments?
When I began my own shop in NYC in 1979, my clients were primarily all of the NYC session musicians. The 802 Musicians Union directory had two chapters for bass. “Acoustic Bass” and “Fender Bass,” so all electric bass at that time was considered “Fender”. I felt a lot of pressure to build in the Fender style to gain acceptance from the players, producers and arrangers at that time. At the time, I did a lot of modification work so I used to advise my clients to pick up a nice early 60’s L series J bass and then I would retrue the fingerboard, refret, new nut, shield the electronics, install preamps and upgrade hardware. When the vintage market took off in the mid 80’s, the prices of the vintage Fenders more than doubled, and the work I was doing would “devalue” them as vintage instruments, so I decided to build my own, based on the Fender design and incorporate all of my upgrades.
Where do you get all your design ideas?
I have to say that Leo Fender got a lot of things right from the beginning. So for me, it was more about quality materials and craftsmanship, than new design. In a sense, I was the Fender custom shop before Fender had one!
What could you tell us about the tone of your instruments? What about woods and electronics?
I was one of the early pioneers of active tone circuits for bass. The preamp I installed in Marcus Millers bass in 1979 is still being used by him to this day. I have also worked hard in the areas of shielding and hum cancelling pickups, as hum was always an issue for my clients, especially those working in the Broadway pits and under stage lighting. I also brought my background in acoustic guitars to the table. I became convinced in the early 80’s that the better a solid body instrument sounded acoustically, the better it sounded amplified. So I chose woods for my basses the same way I would select woods for an acoustic guitar.
What’s your opinion about the finishes used on the basses? Do they affect the sound?
I think just about any finish will sound fine on an electric instrument, as long as it is applied thin. I use a matte nitro lacquer on the neck because I like the way it feels, even after it glosses up by one’s hand rubbing the finish. I prefer polyester on the body for durability.
Are you planning to release new series in the future?
We are working on two new things. The first is called the Satin Line. It will be a less expensive NYC line that will all have matte finishes. They will be initially offered in our 21 fret vintage series and our 24 fret Modern series. We will not take orders for them and there will be no custom options. We will maintain an inventory of available instruments on our website. They will will be 100% Sadowsky NYC.
The other new project is a single cutaway bass we are designing along with bassist Chip Shearin, one of our artists.
Is there something you would like to tell to our readers?
I just want to say that after 43 years building instruments, I still love to go to work every day, and deal with as many of my customers directly, as possible. I have structured my business to primarily sell my NYC instruments direct to the customer, as I want to know the person who is purchasing our instruments and help advise them to get the best instrument possible.
Visit online at sadowsky.com
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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