enough for me to stay with for a year and a half. But as testament to me being right, Ken indeed
widened the spacing when he began making them in production.
Nevertheless, in the fall of 1982, I took a big chance and retired the Fender, choosing to use only
my contrabass guitar. For the most part, I didn’t have any problems because I had already
established a reputation as a serious and respected bass guitarist. Still, some were uneasy when I
pulled out the 6 in the studio. One of the most negative comments got back to me second-hand:
“You tell Anthony Jackson if he wants to bring his ‘science experiment,’ then let him book his
own sessions. I want to see the Fender!”
The other problem I discovered with the first Smith was it couldn’t be used with a pick; the sound
was dull and thick. I used it on the tour for Al DiMeola’s Tour de Force: Live album [Columbia,
1982], with Steve Gadd, Jan Hammer, and Mingo Lewis, and the whole time Al complained he
wasn’t hearing my usual top end. I finally relented and plugged in the Fender, which I had with
me, and everyone’s jaws dropped! Jan said, “There it is—there’s your sound!” So although the
Smith is pictured somewhere in the album, I replaced all my parts in the studio later, with the
Fender. The second Smith came in early 1984, which was the last 34"-scale prototype; the
spacing was right and the sound was improved. I recall it working very well on a track from
George Benson’s 20/20 album [Warner Bros., 1984], called “New Day,” as well as Michel
Camilo’s album Suntan [Evidence, 1986].
With Fodera, you seemed to find the perfect partnership._Without a doubt. Vinnie [Fodera] and
Joey [Lauricella] were the first builders I met who were willing to respect my invention as the
product of a dream, not as a career move. They were working for Ken Smith and had built No. 3
and No. 4. When they decided to leave to start their own company, we made a barter
arrangement: They would build me whatever instrument I wanted; I would try it out both in
studio and onstage, and give them feedback as to what was and wasn’t working; and they would
filter these ideas into their production models. Then they would build me another, and the cycle
would continue. It’s a partnership of three, with Vinnie as the luthier, Joey as an integral go-
between, being a professional bassist himself, and me testing the instruments.
What were the key design changes over the course of your seven Fodera prototypes?_The first
two, No. 5 and No. 6, were doublecutaway 36"-scale signature models—to be called the Anthony
Jackson Contrabass. They were heavy, with long necks, but they were state-of-the-art at the time.
The ideas continued to boil, sometimes in working situations. While checking the neck for
movement on No. 6—the last double-cutaway—during a Phoebe Snow session, I noticed there
was no tension left on one of the trussrods. So I loosened it all the way and took it out. The
instrument got lighter, and that led us to a single, properly placed trussrod—its location is a trade
secret. Also on No. 6, we tried a high-quality integrated circuit in the active electronics, and it did
sound better at first. But while A/B-ing the sound of the instrument active and passive one day on
a Reggie Lucas session at Quantum Studios in Union City, New Jersey, I heard a difference;
there’s high distortion even with the $75 IC. I decided that was it for onboard electronics. To
properly power a really good preamp you need a big, hot-running AC transformer, not two 9-volt
batteries.
A key for me was an intuition I had while lying in bed in late 1987 about building a Presentation
model that would have only the features I wanted on it: A 36"-scale, extra-wide neck at nut and