Matt Garrison Standard

In early 2010, Matt Garrison came to the shop and announced, “I think it’s time for us to build a new version of my bass.” The prime driver for Matt’s interest in developing another iteration of his signature model was the desire for a narrower string spacing at the bridge — 17.5mm rather than the 19.0mm spacing he had been playing since getting his first Fodera in 1995. As we began the process of thinking through the new build, we all agreed that since the Matt Garrison Signature model was one of our most popular, we should strive to make this next version as affordable as possible. The Matt Garrison Standard (MGS) is the result of this effort.

It was of vital importance to us to keep the tone that Matt loves and had become used to while simultaneously using materials that were more easily obtainable, less expensive, and easier to work with. The major substitutions included swapping a 5-piece Ash neck for a 3-piece Maple neck, using Madrone Burl instead of Buckeye Burl (or Chestnut) and replacing the Ebony fingerboard with Madagascar Kingwood. All other specifications (except for the 17.5mm bridge spacing) remain identical to Matt’s previous Signature model and, according to Matt, we have “hit the ball out of the park” in the tone and playability department.

The calling cards for the Matt Garrison Standard are incredibly low action, narrow spacing, and short scale length allowing for blazingly fast runs, and effortless chording.

As with the other members of our Standard series, we offer just one configuration of the MGS (with no options) so that we can offer the same legendary Fodera quality, tone and playability as our custom instruments at a very competitive price point. Every MGS is built right here in our Brooklyn, NY shop alongside our custom instruments by the very same people, using the very same tools and methods.


Originally released on January 19, 2012 at the Winter NAMM Show, the Matt Garrison Standard began shipping to customers on July 1, 2012. Some of the milestones working with Matt along the way to the Matt Garrison Standard…

• 1st Matt Garrison Fodera = 6/8/95 – Buckeye top, Alder body, Ebony FB, 34″ scale, 19.0mm bridge

• 1st Matt Garrison Signature Model = 10/7/99 – Chestnut top, Walnut body, Ebony FB, 33″ scale, 19.0mm bridge

• 1st Matt Garrison Standard = 10/13/11 – Box Elder Burl top, Walnut body, Pau Ferro FB, 33″ scale, 17.5mm bridge.

• Matt Garrison Standard (Series II) = 11/5/13 – Madrone Burl top, Walnut body, Madagascar Kingwood FB, 33″ scale, 17.5mm bridge.

• Walnut Body
• Madrone Top
• Non-Solid Top
• Madagascar Kingwood Fingerboard
• 3-Piece Hard Rock Maple Neck
• Mother of Pearl Dot Inlays
• 28100 Nickel Strings
• Neck-Through Construction
• 33″ Scale
• 5 String Configuration
• Fodera / Pope Custom 3-Band Preamp
• Matt Garrison Layout
• Fodera / Duncan Dual Coil Pickups

NOTE: Hardware color can be upgraded to Gold.