The Official MARUSZCZYK CLUB!

[Barticus]

Pretty cool looking! I'm going to read up on them.

You had mentioned small for motorcycle and this is one of the few headless instruments that I could think of that has a small body.

I liked the Status Streamline 5, but eventually sold it because the string spacing was too wide for me, at 18mm, and started building my own headless basses… my first body-build that I did 20yrs ago had over 500k air travel miles on it before I retired it… so I can totally appreciate your desire to have a small headless for this purpose.

 

[PotsdamBass8]

Are you suggesting I'm never happy with anything after I just listed a number of issues with my bass that are objectively not in order?

I think they're talking about all negative reviews. That there's always going to be some people who will find something to complain about, but there are also going to be legit lemons.

I think every company has some duds unfortunately, especially with custom work. It all has to be taken with a grain of salt. It sucks to be the one unlucky person who gets a poorly built bass from a company where 98% of the other owners will sing their praises, but it does happen. One of my favorite basses I've owned in terms of build quality was a Fender American Professional P. My friend got a Professional Jazz 5 shortly after and it ended up being a massive dud that he got a refund for months later. It happens.

 

[Barticus]

I think they're talking about all negative reviews. That there's always going to be some people who will find something to complain about, but there are also going to be legit lemons.

I think every company has some duds unfortunately, especially with custom work. It all has to be taken with a grain of salt. It sucks to be the one unlucky person who gets a poorly built bass from a company where 98% of the other owners will sing their praises, but it does happen. One of my favorite basses I've owned in terms of build quality was a Fender American Professional P. My friend got a Professional Jazz 5 shortly after and it ended up being a massive dud that he got a refund for months later. It happens.

Well said!

 

[foothilla]

I think they're talking about all negative reviews. That there's always going to be some people who will find something to complain about, but there are also going to be legit lemons.

I think every company has some duds unfortunately, especially with custom work. It all has to be taken with a grain of salt. It sucks to be the one unlucky person who gets a poorly built bass from a company where 98% of the other owners will sing their praises, but it does happen. One of my favorite basses I've owned in terms of build quality was a Fender American Professional P. My friend got a Professional Jazz 5 shortly after and it ended up being a massive dud that he got a refund for months later. It happens.

What was wrong with your friend's Jazz 5?

The big companies have pretty stringent quality control. You might not like how they sound, but I've never seen one with wonky pickup cavities, unfinished fretwork, unmatched hardware, uneven binding, cracked tops, etc..

Even custom stuff. I don't think you'd be likely to see it with Fender's custom shop, Fodera, Smith, Alembic, Martin guitars, etc..
I understand that Andrian's custom work is considerably less expensive, which is likely the rub.

 

[foothilla]

You had mentioned small for motorcycle and this is one of the few headless instruments that I could think of that has a small body.

I liked the Status Streamline 5, but eventually sold it because the string spacing was too wide for me, at 18mm, and started building my own headless basses… my first body-build that I did 20yrs ago had over 500k air travel miles on it before I retired it… so I can totally appreciate your desire to have a small headless for this purpose.

I don't like the 18mm spacing either. I think for now I'll hold off and see if I can find a used Streamline 4 string. One of those could probably fall completely off my motorcycle and just shake it off.

 

[Esdamion]

It all has to be taken with a grain of salt.

It really doesn't though. People are paying the same amount of money for an inferior product. Why on earth would their reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt? Why would their experience be worth less than the positive ones? You can't just shove aside negative experiences because of some bias or cognitive dissonance towards a builder. It's absolutely absurd to say people who have negative experiences are just never happy and shouldn't really be listened to.

 

[Esdamion]

Well said!

No it's not, it's a terrible point to diminish people's experiences because they don't fit your view of the builder.

 

[gln1955]

Are you suggesting I'm never happy with anything after I just listed a number of issues with my bass that are objectively not in order?

My comment was about folk's opinions and reviews in general. Some people have unreasonable expectations and will trash a product if everything isn't perfect.

Not everything is about you.

 

[Esdamion]

My comment was about folk's opinions and reviews in general. Some people have unreasonable expectations and will trash a product if everything isn't perfect.

Not everything is about you.

It's a great feature that we can just put forum users who can't live up to the unrealistic expectations of them on mute.

 

[Barticus]

No it's not, it's a terrible point to diminish people's experiences because they don't fit your view of the builder.

Um, yes it is and I agree and I'm not diminishing anyone else's opinion.

Potsdambass8 made some great points, I highlighted the points I agree with here.

 

[foothilla]

My comment was about folk's opinions and reviews in general. Some people have unreasonable expectations and will trash a product if everything isn't perfect.

That phenomenon goes both ways. Some people will unreasonably defend a product, ignoring the negatives. 'Brand loyalty'

 

[gln1955]

That phenomenon goes both ways. Some people will unreasonably defend a product, ignoring the negatives. 'Brand loyalty'

Absolutely. That's why you have to look at all of the reports and reviews as you can and make a judgement for yourself. Nobody should throw 2-3 K at Maruszczyk or anyone else unless they are feeling good about that decision.

 

[foothilla]

Absolutely. That's why you have to look at all of the reports and reviews as you can and make a judgement for yourself. Nobody should throw 2-3 K at Maruszczyk or anyone else unless they are feeling good about that decision.

I think that's the reasonable take. Having read a couple hundred pages of this thread, it seems that the majority of people are happy with their Maruszczk. It also seems that your chances of getting something wonky with your Maruszczk are considerably higher than most custom builds. But Adrian's basses are starting at about 1/4th the price of a custom Fodera, Alembic, or Smith made with similar materials. That value is going to make it worth any risk to many people.

 

[SamOfzo]

When you say the build quality is not great, can you explain?

I've owned a pair of them briefly, and thought they were built nice. Now I am considering a shortscale headless, because I want something tiny that I can take on my motorcycle. I've seen a bunch of cautions about the build quality though, so would love to hear what issues people had.

There may have been something lost in translation (English isn't my first language). There's definitely nothing wrong with the build quality. All my basses play very well, I'm able to set them up the way I want and my oldest frog is nearing 15 years of nearly daily playing with plenty of gigs and some recording sessions through the years. I never needed any repairs or has any part failed on me. It's still 100% original (apart from the strings, obviously), since everything works just fine and has been working just fine (and sounding great!) for the past 15-ish years.

It could however always be better. The monorail bridges for example arent the easiest to setup, you can do everything you want, but it's not super user-friendly with the placement of some screws. Easily solved by picking another bridge, but for me its not worth it, I manage just fine and it saves me some money. The level of attention to detail, while absolutely fine, is not at a Ritter / Stradi / Ken Smith / ... Level, but that's why you pay triple for these brands, these are companies that go above an beyond what's expected, while Marusczyk is "only" a very decent fit and finish, absolutely comparable to the American Fender I owned for a while (though I vastly prefer the ergonomics of Marusczyk).

 

[Micha84]

It really doesn't though. People are paying the same amount of money for an inferior product. Why on earth would their reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt? Why would their experience be worth less than the positive ones? You can't just shove aside negative experiences because of some bias or cognitive dissonance towards a builder. It's absolutely absurd to say people who have negative experiences are just never happy and shouldn't really be listened to.

For what it's worth, I tend to value negative reviews more than positive ones. You never know who is writing something on the internet, what background, experience and knowledge they have. Did somebody just play his first decent bass in his life and is raving about it because he has no comparison? Did somebody just spend his last dime and just has to like the product? What experience actually backs up vague statements about "build quality" and "feel"?

Now, if somebody wrote "damn thing doesn't stay in tune for two songs in a row" or "POS has fret edges like knifes" THEN I know what to watch out for.

Says a very happy Elwood owner, by the way.

 

[xsnrg27]

I am ready to join the club !! Just got my first Maruszczyk and it is a beauty !! It is a Jazzus 4 in Walnut Burl. Great quality and the neck is amazing... I will admit it did take me a fiddling to dial in the sound I was looking for with the pickups, but that probably.more the configuration and not being used to the bass culture pickups and Maruszczyk transformer pre. All in all very satisfied. I am seriously considering one of their wal type builds for my next bass but I really would rather have a four than a five string and I keep seeing the Wal inspired in 5ers.. Here are some pice for the masses.

 

[Micha84]

I am ready to join the club !! Just got my first Maruszczyk and it is a beauty !! It is a Jazzus 4 in Walnut Burl. Great quality and the neck is amazing... I will admit it did take me a fiddling to dial in the sound I was looking for with the pickups, but that probably.more the configuration and not being used to the bass culture pickups and Maruszczyk transformer pre. All in all very satisfied. I am seriously considering one of their wal type builds for my next bass but I really would rather have a four than a five string and I keep seeing the Wal inspired in 5ers.. Here are some pice for the masses.

That is a very tasteful combination of woods and veneer, congratulations!

 

[Zooberwerx]

I'm back in the club. Disclaimer: I had something similar in a Frog platform a few years back...I see it currently for sale on Reverb. The Cazpar 5 below is actually somebody else's...thanks Bart!...custom build. Essentially, it's a shrunk-down Frog with a down-sized body and 32" scale. I wanted something along the lines of a Kubicki Ex Factor 5 and this comes pretty durn close. Unless I'm reading things incorrectly, I believe the Aguilar pickups are the 6 string version. Not a fan of wenge fingerboards for structural reasons but this slab is a healthy 5 mm thick. Again and per firsthand experience, I HIGHLY recommend considering the Cazpar body (any scale, conventional or headless) for those desiring a more compact body shape.

 

[foothilla]

I'm back in the club. Disclaimer: I had something similar in a Frog platform a few years back...I see it currently for sale on Reverb. The Cazpar 5 below is actually somebody else's...thanks Bart!...custom build. Essentially, it's a shrunk-down Frog with a down-sized body and 32" scale. I wanted something along the lines of a Kubicki Ex Factor 5 and this comes pretty durn close. Unless I'm reading things incorrectly, I believe the Aguilar pickups are the 6 string version. Not a fan of wenge fingerboards for structural reasons but this slab is a healthy 5 mm thick. Again and per firsthand experience, I HIGHLY recommend considering the Cazpar body (any scale, conventional or headless) for those desiring a more compact body shape.

View attachment 7375174

The 5-string Caspar I owned had Aguilar DCB soapbars, with passive electronics. Those pickups sat in a live mix as nicely as any pickups I ever owned. And while the tiny bass looked like a toy from the future on me, it was a joy to play.

BTW....what structural issues do wenge fingerboards have?

 

[TK4261]

I'm back in the club. Disclaimer: I had something similar in a Frog platform a few years back...I see it currently for sale on Reverb. The Cazpar 5 below is actually somebody else's...thanks Bart!...custom build. Essentially, it's a shrunk-down Frog with a down-sized body and 32" scale. I wanted something along the lines of a Kubicki Ex Factor 5 and this comes pretty durn close. Unless I'm reading things incorrectly, I believe the Aguilar pickups are the 6 string version. Not a fan of wenge fingerboards for structural reasons but this slab is a healthy 5 mm thick. Again and per firsthand experience, I HIGHLY recommend considering the Cazpar body (any scale, conventional or headless) for those desiring a more compact body shape.

View attachment 7375174

Very cool! I remember when Bart picked the top for that Cazpar. Hope you enjoy it. I absolutely love my 32" Cazpar that I recently received. I also have a Wenge FB on mine but I am a fan of Wenge FB's from owning a couple of Warwicks through the years.