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The Official MARUSZCZYK CLUB!
- Thread starter ulasengin
- Start date
Home studio needed some new drink coasters 
FedEx says my Elwood 5L will be delivered on January 5th by 8P! 
Pleasant surprise this morning to see my re-made bass couch photos uploaded to the Maruszczyk Facebook page. Hard to tell from the photos, but the headstock looks like it may be quartersawn?
Now just have the wait for it to make it to the dealer, then to me - second time lucky, I hope!
Now just have the wait for it to make it to the dealer, then to me - second time lucky, I hope!
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Yup - original was built and with my dealer jn the UK in less than 8 weeks, but it got lost in transit to me, and after a few weeks dealing with the very unhelpful couriers, they just asked Maruszczyk to build a replacement.
Even considering two basses being built and the problem of communication between the dealer, courier and I - and the recent holiday period - it's still only been exactly 4 months today that I placed the original order.
nice...Its to bad that Adrian cannot just ship it directly to you this time
I'm sure it'd be possible, but I'd be on the hook for customs etc, which is the main reason I went through a dealer in the first place. In this post-Brexit environment, customs from the EU to the UK seems to be calculated by a process best described as 'making it up as they go along'. Would like to avoid that if possible!
Now to spend the next few weeks or so deciding which pickguard it'll wear first.
Holy cow! It's here!
Sorry for the crappy photo...I'll take some better ones later when I come down from the ceiling. This is light, yet built like a tank. I'm busting!
Sorry for the crappy photo...I'll take some better ones later when I come down from the ceiling. This is light, yet built like a tank. I'm busting!
It was very fast. Ordered on November 1, delivered on 12/31. Incredible!Wow, that was fast it seems like. Congrats! Looks good.
Happy new year and happy new Maruszczyk order day!!!
After a ton of back-and-forth on the details, getting samples of wood and finalizing the specs, we have a production order number and I have finally placed a deposit on my order! Now, the waiting begins...
I worked with a dealer on these specs and highly recommend the approach, especially if you have some particular detailed requirements. I did save a little money on the process, but the real value was in working with another knowledgeable bass player who can work directly with Adrian to get specifics and answers quickly (see details on that at the end of this loooonnnng post).
In flight is a headless and fretless Paddock 5 with Piezo and mags, here's a pretty accurate mockup as I've used the 'actual' wood samples for the Quilted Maple top (tinted) and the White Ebony fingerboard. I also plan to fabricate a wood finger ramp that will fit nicely over the mag pickups and will laser etch the M logo onto it. It's best to wait until the bass arrives before selecting an appropriate wood that fits aesthetically with the bass.
Custom Configuration details
After a ton of back-and-forth on the details, getting samples of wood and finalizing the specs, we have a production order number and I have finally placed a deposit on my order! Now, the waiting begins...
I worked with a dealer on these specs and highly recommend the approach, especially if you have some particular detailed requirements. I did save a little money on the process, but the real value was in working with another knowledgeable bass player who can work directly with Adrian to get specifics and answers quickly (see details on that at the end of this loooonnnng post).
In flight is a headless and fretless Paddock 5 with Piezo and mags, here's a pretty accurate mockup as I've used the 'actual' wood samples for the Quilted Maple top (tinted) and the White Ebony fingerboard. I also plan to fabricate a wood finger ramp that will fit nicely over the mag pickups and will laser etch the M logo onto it. It's best to wait until the bass arrives before selecting an appropriate wood that fits aesthetically with the bass.
Custom Configuration details
- HEADLESS
- Set in 3 piece roasted flamed maple neck
- Blue vintage" lumilay position markers on the fingerboard OFFSET (between the bottom 2 bass strings)
- 2mm with ring side dots
- Fretless ghost lines on the fingerboard
- ETS 2-part bridge with the Richter piezo pickup system in addition to the magnetic pickups. Richter electronics system configured: Volume, balance magnetic pickups, balance magnetic/piezo, bass, mid parametric stacked pot (200 hz - 1.1khz), treble/passive tone stacked pot.
- Quilted maple top per sample provided
- White ebony fingerboard per sample provided
- Body Wood: Swamp Ash
- Top Wood: Quilted Maple
- Veneer: Wenge
- Color Type: Transparent
- Transparent: 2 Tone Turquoise-Blue
- Body Finish: Gloss
- Neck Construction: Set in
- Neck Wood: Roasted Flamed Maple (3-piece)
- Neck Finish: Matte
- Neck Profile: Modern C
- Nut Width: 45mm
- Carbon Rods: Yes
- Fingerboard Wood: White Ebony
- Fretted / Fretless: Fretless
- Side Dots: Super Blue 2mm (With Ring)
- Fret Lines: Ghost Lines
- Fingerboard Radius: 18''
- Finish: Gloss
- Logo: Black
- Neck Pickup: Nordstrand Zen Blade 5
- Bridge Pickup: Nordstrand Zen Blade 5
- Electronics Type:
- Bridge Spacing: 17mm
- Security Locks: Dunlop Dual Design Straplok
That already looks awesome! I'm working again with Randy right now on a fretless and should have a deposit in soon as well.
How did you get a configurator mockup using the actual wood? And did it cost anything extra to choose the wood?
Given how beautiful my Frog turned out, I don't know that I would have done anything different, but it would have been nice to see a configuration using the actual wood.
I just used the pictures of the wood samples and mocked it up in Photoshop. I used the color values from the configurator to tint the actual Quilted Maple picture in Photoshop and then dropped in each fingerboard wood to see what I liked best. I made a template with masks so I could evaluate each piece of wood to see how it 'actually' would look. I originally was going to do Quilted Ash but once I saw the actual pieces available they didn't work for me.
That's benefit of working with a great dealer like Randy, he was able to request wood samples and then lock in my selections. It did take a bit longer, but I'm extremely happy with the journey and the outcome. I saved quite a bit of money compared to the cost in the configurator. I already had some general ballpark costs ahead of time for some of my specific customizations too.
Sorry, maybe too much detail, I'm super visual and a bit critical about these details so I had to see actual woods and colors to make an educated choice... the configurator is a great tool and gets you 95% of the way there, but once I started adding options that were not in the tool I really need to visualize how they'd look or work for me. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see the crazy depth and detail in that piece of Quilted Maple, it's really 3D like water.
Here's an example of the mockups I did with the selected top, I tested multiple color options based on the selections in the configurator and landed on this color combo. And then these are the narrowed down selections of fingerboard wood options. Since it is fretless, I really wanted to see how each of the samples would look with the fret lines (ghost lines in the configurator) and the vintage blue offset lumilay dots which were not options in the tool for the Paddock (headless doesn't show as as option either). Here are the 4 choices that I narrowed it down to before making my decision.
I'm happy to share my PSD file with all of the layers I created if it would help to do your own.
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Outstanding work with those mockups! Thanks for the offer of the PSD files, but I don't have photoshop, and I probably wouldn't know how to use it if I did.
For me, as I think about it, part of the fun in getting my frog was in not knowing exactly what it looked like before I actually got it. I can probably speak for many people here when I say that the pictures of my bass before I got it were stunning, but they didn't do the bass justice. Actually holding it in my hands, and seeing how beautiful it is, was a breathtaking experience. I think the surprise of not knowing helped the effect of that moment.
For me, as I think about it, part of the fun in getting my frog was in not knowing exactly what it looked like before I actually got it. I can probably speak for many people here when I say that the pictures of my bass before I got it were stunning, but they didn't do the bass justice. Actually holding it in my hands, and seeing how beautiful it is, was a breathtaking experience. I think the surprise of not knowing helped the effect of that moment.
Going 'custom' with woods and colours is both exciting and risky because you just dont know until it turns up.
When you pick up a bass in a shop, you get 90% of what it is about, even though sound can take a bit of tuning with pre amp combos, but a commision is pretty much blind. You have your expected vision but you really have to trust the builder to pull it off.
When you pick up a bass in a shop, you get 90% of what it is about, even though sound can take a bit of tuning with pre amp combos, but a commision is pretty much blind. You have your expected vision but you really have to trust the builder to pull it off.
And here Sir, you got the Proof, that the Guys @Mensinger/Guitars/Maruszczyk can do this very reliable. I follow this Thread from the very beginning and the very most peeople get more than they have expected. But of course you have to have some knowledge about Tonewoods and their charasteristics, if you buildt a custom bass on the Configurator. Sure.
Which model of Maruszczyk do you own?
Were you satisfied with how your custom order was completed?
Can you post pics?
