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The Official MARUSZCZYK CLUB!

All the strings on any short scale are floppier than on a 34" bass. That's just physics and part of the short scale experience. String-through is irrelevant. String choice can mitigate this, but if you absolutely need a stiffer feel, don't buy a short scale bass.

I know this has been said to death, but string tension is different from string-stiffness. Hex-core strings are a lot less flexible/stiffer than round-core at the same tension. With the right strings, I don't experience any floppiness on my short-scales, but with Thomastik Ti flats, I experience extreme floppiness on my 34" scale bass. You are right though, that given the same strings, a short-scale is going to be lower tension than a long-scale, but that doesn't necessarily mean all short-scales will be floppy. Chromes are one string that I find stiff on both long and short-scale. Dr Low Riders also felt pretty stiff to me on my short-scale.
 
I know this has been said to death, but string tension is different from string-stiffness. Hex-core strings are a lot less flexible/stiffer than round-core at the same tension. With the right strings, I don't experience any floppiness on my short-scales, but with Thomastik Ti flats, I experience extreme floppiness on my 34" scale bass. You are right though, that given the same strings, a short-scale is going to be lower tension than a long-scale, but that doesn't necessarily mean all short-scales will be floppy. Chromes are one string that I find stiff on both long and short-scale. Dr Low Riders also felt pretty stiff to me on my short-scale.

I'm a big fan of DR strings on my Maru short scale basses. I enjoy rounds and use both the short scale Sun-Beams and Hi-Beams 45-105 they feel much stiffer to me than say, a set of Ernie Ball slinky short scale 45-105 rounds (those feel floppy)...No issues with DR's feeling floppy on my 30"s :D
 
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This is the picture from the configurator. It was ordered with Delanos. The waiting is the hardest part. Maybe I'm getting worked up over nothing. However, we are approaching the 5 month mark. Hopefully I'll have a NBD soon.
Nice looking bass! Interestingly enough the pic attached here is one I built in the configurator about a week ago. Won't be buying it for now though.
Green Joker bass.png


My Cazpar took 19 weeks to the day from order placement to arrival in my hands. And that included almost a week of FedEx shenanigans that delayed delivery from a depot 5 miles from my house. Indeed, the waiting is the hardest part! Hope your bass arrives soon.
 

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Nice looking bass! Interestingly enough the pic attached here is one I built in the configurator about a week ago. Won't be buying it for now though.View attachment 4907178

My Cazpar took 19 weeks to the day from order placement to arrival in my hands. And that included almost a week of FedEx shenanigans that delayed delivery from a depot 5 miles from my house. Indeed, the waiting is the hardest part! Hope your bass arrives soon.
Cmon man that Cazpar needs a little brother :woot:
 
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This is the picture from the configurator. It was ordered with Delanos. The waiting is the hardest part. Maybe I'm getting worked up over nothing. However, we are approaching the 5 month mark. Hopefully I'll have a NBD soon.
You'd think that there could be a delay if they had to get pickups from overseas. Delano is a German company though.
 
You'd think that there could be a delay if they had to get pickups from overseas. Delano is a German company though.
Agree with getting pickups from a European mfg to reduce delivery time, but it goes beyond that, this has been explained ad nauseam earlier in this thread… but here's the root of the problem, it's not about shipping delays its about their business practices, as explained by Nordstrand. They focus on retail customers first. Because they receive higher margins. They expect builders to carry a larger inventory and provide them with a 3-5mo fulfillment cycle. So this means orders go to retail first which results in builders being deprioritized. They expect builders to carry a 6mo inventory.. which is not always reasonable, since not all customers are ordering only these pickups… M orders the gear needed to fulfill their mfg based on the custom orders they receive from customers. This potentially results in very long delays to the end customer. Unfortunately this was the experience I had. If I really want Nordy pickups, I'd probably select some other readily available pickups from another Mfg and then once received, I'd order retail and then swap them out… then resell the others. Seems convoluted, but potentially would reduce delivery time and a viable work around :thumbsup: for the Nordy predicament. :woot:
 
Agree with getting pickups from a European mfg to reduce delivery time, but it goes beyond that, this has been explained ad nauseam earlier in this thread… but here's the root of the problem, it's not about shipping delays its about their business practices, as explained by Nordstrand. They focus on retail customers first. Because they receive higher margins. They expect builders to carry a larger inventory and provide them with a 3-5mo fulfillment cycle. So this means orders go to retail first which results in builders being deprioritized. They expect builders to carry a 6mo inventory.. which is not always reasonable, since not all customers are ordering only these pickups… M orders the gear needed to fulfill their mfg based on the custom orders they receive from customers. This potentially results in very long delays to the end customer. Unfortunately this was the experience I had. If I really want Nordy pickups, I'd probably select some other readily available pickups from another Mfg and then once received, I'd order retail and then swap them out… then resell the others. Seems convoluted, but potentially would reduce delivery time and a viable work around :thumbsup: for the Nordy predicament. :woot:
Ah, that makes sense. And it's likely one of the reasons why my bass was finished and shipped so quickly; they already had the Nordstrands on the shelves.
 
Agree with getting pickups from a European mfg to reduce delivery time, but it goes beyond that, this has been explained ad nauseam earlier in this thread… but here's the root of the problem, it's not about shipping delays its about their business practices, as explained by Nordstrand. They focus on retail customers first. Because they receive higher margins. They expect builders to carry a larger inventory and provide them with a 3-5mo fulfillment cycle. So this means orders go to retail first which results in builders being deprioritized. They expect builders to carry a 6mo inventory.. which is not always reasonable, since not all customers are ordering only these pickups… M orders the gear needed to fulfill their mfg based on the custom orders they receive from customers. This potentially results in very long delays to the end customer. Unfortunately this was the experience I had. If I really want Nordy pickups, I'd probably select some other readily available pickups from another Mfg and then once received, I'd order retail and then swap them out… then resell the others. Seems convoluted, but potentially would reduce delivery time and a viable work around :thumbsup: for the Nordy predicament. :woot:
My reasoning was general in nature, it didn't have anything to do with your specific predicament, although your specific predicament was an object lesson for my reasoning.

That said, I wonder if the configurator will start carrying warnings about Nordstrand pickups causing possible delays, the same way it has warnings about ebony not being covered under warrantee if it cracks during shipment. Or if they might stop offering Nordstrand pickups altogether.
 
My reasoning was general in nature, it didn't have anything to do with your specific predicament, although your specific predicament was an object lesson for my reasoning.

That said, I wonder if the configurator will start carrying warnings about Nordstrand pickups causing possible delays, the same way it has warnings about ebony not being covered under warrantee if it cracks during shipment. Or if they might stop offering Nordstrand pickups altogether.
Agree, if you recall we double ordered the Delanos as a backup after 3mos waiting and then Nordys showed up.

But your logic was spot on.
 
Agree with getting pickups from a European mfg to reduce delivery time, but it goes beyond that, this has been explained ad nauseam earlier in this thread… but here's the root of the problem, it's not about shipping delays its about their business practices, as explained by Nordstrand. They focus on retail customers first. Because they receive higher margins. They expect builders to carry a larger inventory and provide them with a 3-5mo fulfillment cycle. So this means orders go to retail first which results in builders being deprioritized. They expect builders to carry a 6mo inventory.. which is not always reasonable, since not all customers are ordering only these pickups… M orders the gear needed to fulfill their mfg based on the custom orders they receive from customers. This potentially results in very long delays to the end customer. Unfortunately this was the experience I had. If I really want Nordy pickups, I'd probably select some other readily available pickups from another Mfg and then once received, I'd order retail and then swap them out… then resell the others. Seems convoluted, but potentially would reduce delivery time and a viable work around :thumbsup: for the Nordy predicament. :woot:
That's what I did...no problem selling the pickups and Nordstrand shipping to me in less than 4 weeks.
 
Question -- has anyone ordered a "Matt Garrison" 5 string from Adrian? ie, strung E-A-D-G-C? Basically, dropping the low B in favor of the high C.

I know Fodera and others do quite a few of these...

I have a fretless coming from another builder this week. He is shipping it with two nuts. The original BEADG that is on the bass and is including a nut for EADGC. There will be a bit of setup tweak if I change, but I like having the option.
I already have a 5 string fretless, so I figured it would be nice to use the high C on this one.
 
Question -- has anyone ordered a "Matt Garrison" 5 string from Adrian? ie, strung E-A-D-G-C? Basically, dropping the low B in favor of the high C.

I know Fodera and others do quite a few of these...
I haven't, but I have heavily considered ordering a Paddock tuned like this. I don't think Adrian would have any problem doing it. Mischa Marcks on Youtube plays a Sputnik tuned E-C, though I don't know if it was ordered that way.

https://www.youtube.com/@missionbass/videos
 
Question -- has anyone ordered a "Matt Garrison" 5 string from Adrian? ie, strung E-A-D-G-C? Basically, dropping the low B in favor of the high C.

I know Fodera and others do quite a few of these...
Yes, a 32" Sputnik with 16.5mm spacing.

The best bass I ever had. I put 34" TI Flats on it, low action, excellent bass. E-C.

I sold it, along with my Serek 30.5" and my old DB, to buy my beautiful double bass.
 
I' have been gassing for a hollow body Joker for the past year. If any of y'all have one, does it capture the woody hollow body vibe of a classic hollow body bass, or is it just a lightweight solid bass? Also, I'm thinking of going passive with it and have no idea what pickups would serve me best.
 
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I' have been gassing for a hollow body Joker for the past year. If any of y'all have one, does it capture the woody hollow body vibe of a classic hollow body bass, or is it just a lightweight solid bass? Also, I'm thinking of going passive with it and have no idea what pickups would serve me best.
You can order it either with a solid body or a hollow body (for an extra €100), if that answers your question.
 
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You can order it either with a solid body or a hollow body (for an extra €100), if that answers your question.

Let me rephrase. I'm looking for a new bass that will give me something different than my solid body basses, including my Jake. I've listened to youTubes of the hollow-body Joker and like what I hear, but am looking for more opinions from those who actually own one.
 

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