Erklärung gabs ja von Modulus nie zu der Sache. Man kann nur den Gerüchten folgen ... Ian von SMART Distribution, dem Modulus-Großhändler in England, schreibt zB folgendes dazu:
"From the horses mouth - Flea had an extension to his long contract with Modulus that has now indeed ended on a positive note, nothing dire or acrimonious or anything between the lines with the new name of this instrument just that the contract after over 10 years came finally to an end and he and his management team decided to change direction. he still uses his Modulus basses live so it's nothing to do with the instrument or back-up from Modulus.
It is well known, that comments were made to Flea about his bass sound in recent years (or lack of it) when he started to use an old Fender 'J' bass on stage and so he reverted to his Modulus signature bass (Modulus in actual fact sent him the burst finish instrument that he has been seen using the last few years (remember the RHCP on 'Live at Abbey Road' last year?) immediately he realised this; they could have got really funny about him not using a Modulus during his Fender 'renaissance' but that is not really the laid-back Californians style in Novato.
Anyhow, all good things eventually come to an end, Flea has decided not to renew his Modulus contract and in all honesty that really does not change anything about what is one of the great 4-string basses in recent decades. Rumours on the grapevine is that he is likely to launch his own signature bass at a low-to-mid price point, something made in the Far East sporting a wooden neck. It will be interesting to see what this turns out to be if the rumours are correct at the NAMM show in January 2009.
Many of our customers were inspired to take up a Modulus Flea bass because of Flea's playing but equally many took to it simply because it is a bass guitar that can cover practically any genre of music you care to throw at it particularly when equipped with its Seymour Duncan Basslines MM pickup (only made for this bass a copy of the original Lane Poor pickup) and a superb Aguilar OBP-1 preamp.
So now the Modulus Flea bass is now the Funk Umlimited bass.
I suppose another positive about this is that players that took to the 4 and 5-string version of the Flea bass such as Stefan Lessard of the Dave Matthews band can now have a superb instrument without the moniker or fact that the bass is no longer a signature instrument but stands on its own 4 or 5-strings so to speak!
The Modulus Flea bass was one of our most popular models here in the UK. The Modulus Funk Unlimited will also be one of our most popular because it's a great bass, period." (src.: talkbass)
Ergänzung:
Sterling Ball schrieb vor drei Jahren in seinem Forum, dass Flea auch gern einen Musicman-Deal bekommen hätte .. die Sache ging nicht nett aus ...
"Flea was using the basses and really didnt have any direct connection with us. I invited him to slo to play in a The Mike Krukow Charity Golf Tournament ( former Cal Poly Alumni and Major League pitcher now broadcaster for the San Francisco Giants...has an orange axis) and he accepted. He showed up late barefoot and without a shirt golf clubs or balls. we got on pretty good. From there we supplied him with alot of basses and I hated ihis bass smashing phase. He left over money. He wanted a Flea signature Stingray and I said that wouldnt be right by Leo, Tony, Louis and all of the other stingray players. He said that his drummer was going to make a 100k from snare drum royalties and he wanted to make a cut on stingrays. I thought I had him calmed down but then I got wind of the Modulous deal and the last conversation was his atorney trying to tell me what I had to do and I said the only thing I really get to do is hang up on you....last contact. I wish that Flea and us could have split under better circumstances. I was right though
The funny story about Flea is that I asked him to do an ad for Slinky Bass strings that had just come out. he had the strings claimed to like them and I had a wacky shot of him and it said "Flea's Gone Slinky" The ad came out and Flea said GHS called and was bummed and he didnt know he was doing a string ad....." ("Big Poppa", EBMM forum)
