What were the design goals for this product ?
The Maurad came from a long evolution started in 1990.
At this time I wanted to propose a maple neck and maple fretboard instrument. The bassplayer were looking for an instrument for Slap techniques, but my my way to approach that were to design a very easy instrument to play, to get a lot of reactivity and sensitivity.
The model I did was the M.N.V. (it means nothing !) Body was made of european ash (close to mid 704 Jazz Basses), neck and fingerboad in canadian bird eyes maple, pickups were Leduc single coil with Samarium-Cobalt magnets and silver-copper alloy wire.
With years of clients feedback, I brought several improvements to the model, like active electronics and different ways to build the neck to give it more stiffness and reliability.
But I was very disapointed by using maple for the fingerboard. Two main problems: an huge sensitivity to variations of ambiant humidity, and the very short lasting of the string on such instruments. I decided to search for an other kind of wood for the neck and the fingerboard. I tested many to finally come to the Padouk (Also named Paduak or Coral-wood).
The benefit in sound were huge. The attack is a little different (smoother), but the tone is very warm and percussive.
Joe Gershberg asked me why this wood is almost never used by other makers. There are two main reasons.
First, it's a very hard wood to dry, I have seen some planks still moving after 20 years ! But had to find a way to dry it, now it takes more than a year but it works.
Second, Padouk it a little too flexible to make a neck, I had to imagine a different way of making the neck I designed a new truss-rod, and found a new shape of the neck itself.
It may be surprising that the shape of the neck affects the sound ! Everybody understands that the sound board of an acoustic instrument is the place where one can shape the sound. It's exactly the same thing with the neck of an electric bass, it's the part that mooves the more. The way it vibrates determines 80% of the sound.
I also changed the electonics. More and more bassists were working close to computer screens and the hum of single coil pickups became unstandable, I decided to finalize an old project of Hum-cancelling system. It has been done in collaboration with Mats Kristoffersson of E.B.S..
Those improvements were important, I changed the name of the model for "Modern-Bass" in 1994. I made about a hundred of M.N.V. and Moderns, including many custom instruments.
In the meantime I met Maurad Azzougui, an excellent algerian bass player wwho is living in Lyon (France). He is is a close friend of Abraham Laboriel Sr. and introduced me to him. Then Abe bought 3 of my basses (MP524, U-Bass "MM" 6st. and U-Bass fretless 5st.). In 1997 He asked me for a special signature 6 strings Modern. He wanted several improvements in sound that drove me to restart my researches in this direction.
I switched for a french ash body and a little graphite in the neck (but not too much!). That gave better highs, shorter attack and much more "breathing" in the sound (sorry I have no other words!). Then Maurad and I decided to use a 35' scale length and to add a block of wood between the pickups, to provide the same feel of the fingers what ever the distance of the bridge one plays.
I did a few prototypes, and in early 1999 the Maurad were born !
Was this product created with a particular type of player or style of music in mind ?
No particular style of music and no particular type of player, but for a particular type of playing.
In 1989 I designed and patented the U-Bass with its free floating sound board and the U-Bass is not for biginners ! It requires an good right hand technique and an especially good ear, because it shows all, the good and the bad. (Abe Laboriel told me it took him 3 months to feel good with the Fretless U-Bass, he were hearing tings he never heard before !)
The Maurad has been design in a completely opposite way. I was looking for a very easy instrument to play, for getting a lot of reactivity and sensitivity. The Maurad is able to produce very precise and/or fat sound with a minimum of physical effort.
The U-Bass requires a lot of attention from the player, the Maurad not. The player can be concentrated on the whole band sound as well as on the show. In a way, the U-Bass is more used in an introvert mood, the Maurad is used in an extravert mood (I not very sure of my vocabulary !)
Generally, my project is never to produce a particular sound, I'm only concerned in the appropriate marriage between an instrument and a musician. The bass is not supposed to play its own music, the musician should remain the boss ! I do my best to make instruments that give a true image of the player, if he is in bad shape I want to hear it, if he is perfect or sometimes unbeleivable I want to hear the difference in the sound. Of course, it's not the easiest commercial way but I quite convinced musician can reach heaven (sometimes) with such instruments.
Does the model have any special features that deserve extra attention ?
Many principles and details are involved in the process I describle above. I will never mention some of them (not because I compare them to Stradivarius secrets), just because some ideas are so simple that anyone can have it ! Some others need a certain skill to be implemented :
String tension simulation :
Every piece of wood is different, example: one piece has a certain general stiffness, but the stifness can vary in some places, that's the reason for the necks are always tooled under simulation of the strings tension. It became precise enought to tool a neck for a precise set of strings.
Very slow tooling process :
From the first cut in blank and gluing the fingerbord, it never take less than 3 month. From gluing the fingerboard to finishing the frets, it never take less than 2 weeks. Only this very slow process can enable me to give a life time guarantee.
Here are some various other points.
Julilee :
This year is the 30th anniversary of my first guitar.
"L" series:
Since 1981 my serial numbers ends by a letter the means the year, in 1991 they reached the "L". I decided to miss it because it's the first letter of my name and also because of the "L" serie of Fender. I kept it for a better use: I started a line of 99 instruments, all different, all innovative, and I'll make them only once. The numer 2 is to notice because it's based on the Maurad, and it's certainly the best solid body bass I ever made.
Les caractéristiques de la Maurad :
Le manche et la touche en Bois de Corail renforcé d'un peu de fibre de ... suite...
The Maurad came from a long evolution started in 1990. At this time I wanted to... suite...
Le banc d'essai dans Bass Player (U.S.A.) de novembre 2003... suite...
Tous les détails sur ce modèle :
Fiche technique : mesures, poids, caractéristiques... suite...