Gareth Hughes

Enjoy the ride, it’s a wonderful place to be. Whatever era you check out, there are gems upon gems - along with a few that will make you question why you’re listening to this in the first place. Personally, I can happily listen to all of it - 200 Motels included - but I get why some folks won’t dig it. Personal album favourite is ‘One Size Fits All’. All time favourite track is ‘Oh No’ in any of the various guises it has appeared in. The ‘Lumpy Gravy’ version are sooooooo good.

As much as I love them, this one always sticks out - a Paul Stanley lyric from 'C'Mon and Love Me' by KISS - 'You were distant Now you're nearer I can feel you face Inside the mirror.' Oy vey.

Nice one. Looks great. Can’t beat a beat of clank - I’m still loving the Steve Harris pedal I got from you last year. Hope the bass has turned things around for you a bit.

I could be not the most observant person, but in 20 something years of playing with a bow, 10 of them teaching daily, I’ve never noticed rosin on the carpet or clothes, unless you bang up against the string. Arco is definitely worth doing, if for no other reason than to build hand strength and intonation. Just playing long, 4 beat notes at 60bpm, forces your left hand to hold the string down the entire length of the note. It’s weight training for fingers.😀

Thanks for that, that is more detailed and helpful than I could have hoped for. I had the same GK combo for a while and had the exact same response - to the point where, in mid tour in Germany, the sound guy we had knocked up a tweeter with a hard wired cable that just sat on top of the combo, plugged into the extension output. Did a great job of brightening everything, even if it did look rather uncouth. Thanks again, plenty of food for thought there.

Thanks Jay - already been in touch with Daf after writing the last comment. Did you go for the Ehrlund preamp too or just use the EBS Stanley Clarke? And, if you don't mind my asking - what adjustments to the rest of your rig did you have to make? I'm loving the sound, but I'm also thinking ahead of how practical it might/mightn't be with some of the gigs I do - volume wise.

Thanks for doing this - I'm about to pull the trigger on some upgrades and this has just given me a serious pause for thought. And your playing - I love it, I could listen to that just for the tone and the playing - beautiful.

Yes - love that record. To the point that, talking to anyone named Barry, I can’t help but say ‘the way I see it Barry’. And it has various versions of my favourite Zappa tune, ‘Oh No’.

Nice one with the metallic finishes. I was coming on here to say the same thing!!

My 6 was delivered in mid 2017 and has had some issues, which I won’t blame Maruszczyk for - but I would just recommend that, if it’s a six string you’ve ordered, I would advise you go for the carbon rods for added stability. Aside from that, my 6 has no issues and my fretless is great. Both feel great to play - and light. My 6 is as light as both Fender Precision 4 strings I have, and lighter than my US Fender Jazz 5. One possible issue is that my fretless sounds quite dark, but again - that’s personal preference and not a manufacturer issue. Could be as simple as I don’t like the pickups or the wiring setup.

The 6 covered 4 strings, from E to G. It’s off getting a repair done so no photos sadly. Here’s the fretless -

Both my Maruszczyk’s - a fretted 6 and a fretless 5 - have non-angled headstocks and retainers. Both times told they didn’t need them, but I feel they do. Obviously only the 6 has a zero fret - haven’t noticed any negative side effects of having a string tree, only positive ones.

True. Along the same lines, in both Maruszczyk basses I have I spec’d plain maple for the neck wood and received beautifully figured wood, one with quite a bit of flame and some bird’s eyes. Who knows why I got these upgrades? Maybe the wood wasn’t extensively figured enough to be classed as flamed or whatever.

It’s impossible to know, and given my bass was 3.5 years old at the time, that’s why I didn’t pursue anything with the maker. The OP sounds like a different story altogether. The Warmoth picture you posted should be a standard manufacturing approach I think - the options being reinforced and very reinforced. 😀

I completely agree. I think it’s an oversight on their, or any builders, behalf.

Great points. I’m kicking myself that the €50 cost for the rods I didn’t pick is now a repair cost many times that. The upside is that I’ll know for again. The option of thicker neck/no rods and thinner neck/with rods would be very helpful for potential buyers who aren’t well versed in construction limitations/practicalities.

The old SWR RedHead combo - think that was it's name. And the SWR Black Beauty.

Hey - you're not alone! The truss rod on my Maruszczyk 6 string snapped about 6 weeks ago. Bass is a few months shy of 4 years old. I bought direct from Maruszczyk but I didn't get in touch to see if they could do anything simply because it was a 3 and half year old bass and I did it - not much room to argue with that. The luthier I've taken it to was surprised there was only one truss rod for a 6 string, and that it didn't have carbon stiffening rods. I spec'd the bass, so again that would be my fault, not theirs. He was also of the opinion that most steel used in truss rods is fairly poor these days. IMHO I do think there shouldn't be an option NOT to have strengthening rods when you order a 5 or 6 string bass from them, or any builder. So given the tension on the neck, and the lack of strengthening, and my thinking "I've done all my own set ups for 20 something years so I'll be grand" - led to me continually tightening and not thinking I was doing any harm. In fairness, I reckon I turned it a fair bit more than you've done though. On a side note - here's a similar one: the tightening screw on the end pin of my double bass was stuck once. I kept working at it until I finally felt it give and thought 'yes, loosened it'. And then snapped right off. I'm not a strong guy by any stretch, some metal just isn't as strong as I think it is!

If you can, please do tell. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the few Farida basses I’ve played.

I have a Japanese reissue, probably early 2000’s, that I do most recording with, despite having better quality/more expensive instruments. Something about it just fits really well in recordings, better than a P-bass in most instances. Live, however, it doesn’t keep up with a P or a J, IMO. I got turned onto them for recording by repeatedly being asked to use a 70s one in a studio. It was the studio owner’s, and despite it having decades old strings of different brands that had visible and tactile dings, and a neck afflicted with severe leprosy, it had a tone to die for. I’ll find a photo if I can stomach looking for it - it really was that bad.

Love it. Always worth a watch. Not the same, but this is worth watching too, IMHO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc7-aIzFSg8

Nice one Phil, I watched that late last night. Bass geeks and old mates catching up - a great combo. Thanks for sharing.

For the higher strings - take riffs you know and stick them up an octave. Try that in normal 4-string territory, then move that onto the higher strings. For example - Livin On A Prayer - open E starting note becomes 7th fret, A string. Work out riff there. Then move it to start on to D string, 2nd fret. That will have you playing the whole riff now from D string to C string. Saying note names for every note will help solidify things. Chords are also a good starting point - simple 10ths, so E on 7th fret A string, add the 10th/G# on the 8th fret, C string.