LeftyBassist.com

Cool! There isn't much information on the website yet. Do/did they make any 100% graphite instruments in lefty? And, they are self-proclaimed as "high-end." How "high" are we talking?

If Status Graphite made the streamline in a lefty I would definitely own one already.

To my knowledge Modulus never made an all graphite bass, just graphite necks with wood bodies. They made some lefty models, but not all, and their basses ran from about $1500. and up. Don't know what the reorganized company is going to be offering as far as models/prices. You might like the Zon VB (Vinny bass) http://www.zonguitars.com/zonguitars/vb.html A lefty model is available.

I wouldn't expect a lefty fully graphite neck bass from Modulus any time soon.

The molds for their left handed all graphite necks wore out years ago and they're expensive to replace so I don't see it being something Modulus would invest in as they're getting back on their feet.

Hopefully some day though, Modulus is a company I've always liked.

I owned a lefty Modulus about 10 years ago. It was a Jazz style body with a graphite neck and Chechen (?) wood fingerboard. Sounded great but it weighed in at 10 1/2 lbs. Too heavy for me.

Thanks, Jersey! I have a Sonus. It is the highest quality bass I have ever owned or even played (in my very limited experience).

For travel, I love my Hohner B2A. It and the B2AV are killer travel basses, especially for the price.

I was had one of the original run of Modulus/Alembic BassStar necks and loved it.
But, being a typical bass GASer, I got rid of it. It was righty and would sustain all day long.
And it was on one of the Fender active basses from the early 90s. I even to spoke to Mica,
who gave me Geoff's phone number and we spoke about it - it was his baby.

I miss that neck.

pete

Last I heard, the Modulus basses were starting at something like $4K... They're not doing lefties.

I think there is one guy handling everything, so I'm not sure what customer service would be like, if you ever needed it.

I also heard that whole mold story was complete bullshit... They just didn't want to make to make lefties anymore. I have no idea if it's true, but it's what I heard.

If I was a righty and I wanted one really bad, I'd wait it out a year or two to see where they end up... they did just literally go out of business, file for bankruptcy and sell everything they own about 18 months ago, so I'm not really sure if they'll survive round two... Especially with the high end market the way it is.

when I talked to them about lefty molds the last year they displayed at NAMM, they were telling me it cost them appx $100K to make one. Whether or not that's complete BS I don't know, but I didn't get the impression they weren't shitting me ...

So... this broken mold thing... was it purely coincidence that the 4, 5, and 6 string molds all broke at once?

Not likely.

The fact of the matter is that since their headstocks are symmetrical and the neck profile does not have any kind of asymmetrical radius, they probably used the exact same molds to make lefties as they did to make righties.

So, although I do not have any concrete evidence of this and it is purely speculation, this is the conclusion I came to after discussing it with several experts who know more about how they made their necks than I do.

On the topic of carbon fiber molds, there is some truth and some smoke and mirrors to what they are saying. I worked in a very high tech bicycle engineering company that had to have 6 new molds made - because of different sizes - for each new model they released. In the early days of carbon bike manufacturing - 2000 - 2006 - it was indeed about $100,000 PER SIZE. ($600,000 for a size run of molds.) BUT, technology has really progressed since those days. Now, the price is edging closer to $100,000 for the whole size run.

Keep in mind that bikes don't generally use a one piece mold. There are several expensive molds of various tube sections per frame. For a bass neck, you are most certainly looking at a once piece - or monocoque - mold. Based on the size of the mold they would need, I find it very hard to believe it would cost - in today's market - anywhere close to $100,000. Now, having said that, in the good ol' days - which is when they started using that party line - the mold may very well have cost $100,000. (None of this includes R&D BTW.)

One thing I will point out though. I had a roommate years ago who owned a couple of Quantums - a 4 and a 5. While the headstock is more or less symmetrical, there is a shape near the heel of the neck where it attaches to the body that would make it unsuitable for use on a lefty body. Also, the Quantum is the only neck they use/were using that was a 2+2 or 2+3 headstock style. All their other basses - such as the Flea models etc - were inlines.

All of this rambling is to say, their story is half true. If they decided to offer every model in a lefty, there would be a very significant cost involved that would take eons to recoup. I don't like it. But it's true. I'm not sure how Moses and Status do it with their carbon Fender replacement necks - some of which are offered in lefty - but they may employ a different process, like a two piece system. The headstocks may be a separate mold from the neck and are bonded on in a second process. (Bike frames are like this.) That would make the lefty headstock mold much less expensive but.... now I'm just talking.

I seem to recall Addison mentioning he was friendly with Joe Zon. It would be interesting to hear what someone like him had to say about it.

I called Status about 4 years ago and at that time they told me their necks and S2(?) model - the all graphite bass - were monococks - oops monocoque

I'm sorry, but I just can't believe that Modulus ever paid $1,800,000 for three lefty molds... there is no way.

And then all three molds broke?

Yikes.


They never made their inline necks lefty... No lefty Flea basses... only the Quantums were available.

Like I said... I really don't have any inside info of any kind... and, even if I asked Joe, he probably wouldn't tell me out of respect for a competitor.

But the whole thing is fishy to me... it just doesn't make sense.

Sorry for the confusion. I put way too much information in that last post. I said it was - back in the day - $600,000 for a size run of (6) bicycle frame molds. $100,000 per size. Or, in this case, neck. So, that would have been $300,000 MAX. For the three Quantum necks. I agree with you. It's a HUGE stretch to say these all wore out. I know for a fact that molds do wear over time and the tolerances get bad BUT, that would mean they actually made a butt load of lefty bass necks for that to happen. Not likely.

Just to clarify my point, I agree 100% that it's fishy. I was just being devils advocate. Say they could make a lefty 4, 5 and 6 string mold for a TOTAL of $100,000 in today's tech age. (So, approx $33,000 each.) They would have to sell 25 lefty $4,000 basses before they even recouped the cost of the molds. Maybe another 25 to break even. I gotta wonder how many years it would take them to sell 50 lefties in that price range before they made a profit on it. Given that they just came out of bankruptcy, I doubt their going to want to take any risks like that. (Not when we can't even get Fender and Gibson to offer a consistent level of left handed offerings.)