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Jerzy Drozd appreciation thread

#84
I run the action on my Legend extremely low, and the neck is thinner front-to-back than some of the JD basses in my experience. I usually need to make a small relief adjustment around four or five times a year, and that's with two carbon stiffening bars in the three piece maple neck, but that's right in line with my other basses in this environment, so I consider it a normal, and perfectly acceptable, maintenance schedule.

jda007sm.jpg
 
#85
That is without a doubt one of the most beautiful basses I've seen Debased.
I'm with you on extremely low action on fretless. The action on my fretless Roscoe is extremely low as well. The neck is as stable rock. In the two years I've had it I
haven't had to adjust it at all.
 
#87
Here is my Excellency IV/28.
It's older but a very nice bass.
Specs: Bartolini PJ pickups, Bart NS2TMB 18V preamp, 3 band EQ with 3 position midrange frequency selector toggle switch, active passive toggle switch. The body is highly figured Walnut, the top and matching headstock is Zebrawood. Three piece Maple neck, Morado fretboard. Picked up from Dan at LAG.
 

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#88
By-Tor said:
Here is my Excellency IV/28.
It's older but a very nice bass.
Specs: Bartolini PJ pickups, Bart NS2TMB 18V preamp, 3 band EQ with 3 position midrange frequency selector toggle switch, active passive toggle switch. The body is highly figured Walnut, the top and matching headstock is Zebrawood. Three piece Maple neck, Morado fretboard. Picked up from Dan at LAG.
Click to expand...

There's something you don't see every day. A PJ 4-string Drozd with 28 frets. Cool!
 
#89
ubone said:
In the case of my Excellency VI, I think it's more an issue being an older bass, scale length, width of neck, and cut of maple. Now mind you that it is always playable but the neck has the tendency to flex because it is not as stable as it could be with Graphite rods. Add to the mix that I use a very low action and you can guess how that compounds the problem. I've talked with Jerzy on several occasions and have run several times thru adjusting the truss rod according to specific instructions from the man himself. As a credit to just how devoted he is to making sure every Drozd owner is happy with their bass, he is more than willing to resolve the situation. He is ready anytime to take the neck back and install graphite rods, and I am willing to wait for his new truss rod design and have that installed in the neck to cure the stability problem.

I have met and talked with Jerzy as well as Dan Lenard, and both are just simply good people. It should be noted that the redwood top/swamp ash body Excellency VI for sale on Dan's site (http://www.luthiersaccessgroup.com) is a bass that I would own right now if I wasn't gassing so bad for a 6X2 fretless. I played the redwood Excellency at the 08 winter NAMM and that neck was rock solid.
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Ooooohhh....that Jerzy 6 is such a wonderful bass! I've spent quite a bit of time with it. I think Dan's STILL wiping my drool off it. :p

Too bad it's a 35"...
 
#90
metalfunkjazz said:
Are there any 4 string JJ basses? Seems like these are all 5+
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He makes 4 string basses, but there doesn't seem to be as much demand for them.

FWIW: Jerzy's proprietary pickups come in both single and dual coil configurations, all housed within the same pickup cover. You wouldn't be able to tell, just from looking at it, whether the pickup is a J style or dual coil. It'd be really easy for Jerzy to make you exactly this.
 
#91
Debased said:
I believe his first name is pronounced "Yair-zee." and his last name is pronounced with a long 'O' as in "rose."

BTW, Drozed is a Polish sir name that means "dweller at the sign of the thrush."
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Being Polish myself I've speculated Jerzy's last name Drozd is shortened from Drozdowski. Pure speculation of course.

Regarding his basses; they are gorgeous works of art I think. One day I would love to own one.
 
#93
In case you haven't seen it yet, here is a link to Jerzy's new "Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Bass Setup". Just flipping through it, it definately looks like something that I would want to keep handy. So, I just printed it out in color and put it in a 3-ring binder. I'll read through it this weekend.

http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/akcndfr54jdhrei567/Ultimate_Guide_ver100.pdf

Thanks, Jerzy, for freely sharing your wealth of knowledge with all of us. :)
 
#96
Freddy-G. said:
In case you haven't seen it yet, here is a link to Jerzy's new "Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Bass Setup". Just flipping through it, it definately looks like something that I would want to keep handy. So, I just printed it out in color and put it in a 3-ring binder. I'll read through it this weekend.

http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/akcndfr54jdhrei567/Ultimate_Guide_ver100.pdf

Thanks, Jerzy, for freely sharing your wealth of knowledge with all of us. :)
Click to expand...
Yeah, I got the email previously and downloaded it. Very nice indeed. I am going to email him about one thing tho. I agree with tightening the rod with the bass tuned up, but I don't feel comfy about tightening the rod without first defeating string tension by bracing the neck in the middle and then pulling back on the headstock. I'd rather tighten the rod without the string tension fighting it, then release the neck and let the rod take over. I'm not talking about much... just barely enough to see the strings move down.
 
#97
kesslari said:
The Jerzy Drozd basses that I have seen on this forum inspire GAS in my as few other basses do. I'm not ready to spend that kind of scratch on a bass, but wow.
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I have had GAS for Jerzy Drozd basses ever since I saw picture of one in one of those guitar compendiums for the year.

But I do have a Jerzy Drozd bass story to sort of spoil the party.

I've only seen one Drozd bass in person. It was at a guitar show where some high-end dealer had one among a host of other VERY expensive basses. The beauty of the Drozd bass was staggering and GAS-inspiring. It was some kind of spalted wood that was truly amazing looking.

But here's what happened. There was some bass dude there (obviously as high-end a player as the basses were in construction) who was in the market for high-end basses where clearly price was no object. And he started trying out the basses. Naturally a large crowd (me included) gathered to witness.

Now here's what I observed (in my personal opinion, natch). He tried the Drozd and put it through it's paces. He tried a wide variety of things with it. It sounded pretty good. And of course looked like million. And then he grabbed a plain old MIA Fender and did the same thing. WHOA! Now, I've never been much of a Fender fan, but it was obvious to me that the Fender had...how shall I put it?... a certain QUALITY to it's tone that easily put it above other basses. I know I'm talking indefinable stuff here, but IMHO the Fender made the hair stand on the back of your neck, while the Drozd while good, somehow seemed flat in comparison.

Now this is not to slam Drozd basses. After all, this was just ONE Drozd bass and we all know that basses are made of wood and hence each one is it's own case. I'm still in love with look of Jerzy Drozd basses, but I was a little disappointed that to me it didn't sound as good as it looked!
 

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