The Official MARUSZCZYK CLUB!

[david1711]

So here is a tragic story. Acquired a lovely Elwood from this site about a year ago. Action has never been right. Mid to upper positions appreciably higher than first position. I hate that. Neck isn’t straight. Truss rod tightens anti clockwise and was already maxed out when I bought it.  Bridge saddles can’t go any lower.

So being the idiot that I am, I took the neck off yesterday, loosened the truss rod then re tightened and, bang, the nut came off with an inch of rod with it. ?

I will contact Adrian tomorrow, I guess my options are limited to ordering a replacement neck unless miraculously someone can fit a new nut as the break is so close to the nut..unless it’s a welded unit.

if anyone has any experience of a situation like this, knows a great fixer in the London area, knows what the nut size is, or has bought a replacement neck from Adrian, I would be eternally grateful for any advice you can provide.

These basses have a lovely sound and nice feel so I do want to sort unless economically stupid.

Thanks, David

 

[pierreganseman]

21 hours ago, david1711 said:

So here is a tragic story. Acquired a lovely Elwood from this site about a year ago. Action has never been right. Mid to upper positions appreciably higher than first position. I hate that. Neck isn’t straight. Truss rod tightens anti clockwise and was already maxed out when I bought it.  Bridge saddles can’t go any lower.

So being the idiot that I am, I took the neck off yesterday, loosened the truss rod then re tightened and, bang, the nut came off with an inch of rod with it. ?

I will contact Adrian tomorrow, I guess my options are limited to ordering a replacement neck unless miraculously someone can fit a new nut as the break is so close to the nut..unless it’s a welded unit.

if anyone has any experience of a situation like this, knows a great fixer in the London area, knows what the nut size is, or has bought a replacement neck from Adrian, I would be eternally grateful for any advice you can provide.

These basses have a lovely sound and nice feel so I do want to sort unless economically stupid.

Thanks, David

Martin Petersen at the Gallery is still one of the very best I have met. If somebody can fix it in the UK its definitely him.

If you wanna order a new neck be aware they'll need the Body anyways. 

21 hours ago, david1711 said:

 

 

[NickD]

I'd hazard a guess that Shuker could sort it out too... I love the idea of the worlds first Maruszczuker!

[david1711]

Thanks both. Appreciated. I always thought you tightened truss rods clockwise but I guess not.

I wonder if I was just unlucky ( as well as being a numpty) with the neck. They are quite a soft wood so must be prone to more movement? Has anyone else had problems with low action consistent across the fretboard with Elwoods?

Such a shame because as everyone says, the sound, feel, look and quality for the price is great. 

I have emailed Adrian. Let’s see if he has the Christmas spirit.

 

.

 

 

[Mossiebass]

I finally have something to contribute! Just paid the deposit on my Elwood 4p Custom. 

Some specs

32" Medium Scale

Ash body

Birdseye maple neck and board

Seafoam Green with matching headstock

Haussel pickups with bridge humbucker

 

 

[ezbass]

53 minutes ago, Mossiebass said:

I finally have something to contribute! Just paid the deposit on my Elwood 4p Custom. 

Some specs

32" Medium Scale

Ash body

Birdseye maple neck and board

Seafoam Green with matching headstock

Haussel pickups with bridge humbucker

 

 

 And there I was thinking I was GAS free. Damn you, sir! 

[pierreganseman]

18 hours ago, david1711 said:

Thanks both. Appreciated. I always thought you tightened truss rods clockwise but I guess not.

I wonder if I was just unlucky ( as well as being a numpty) with the neck. They are quite a soft wood so must be prone to more movement? Has anyone else had problems with low action consistent across the fretboard with Elwoods?

Such a shame because as everyone says, the sound, feel, look and quality for the price is great. 

I have emailed Adrian. Let’s see if he has the Christmas spirit.

 

hard to say. 1st time i hear about such problems as a dealer and a customer however if bass was bought used i suppose its hard to know what happened to it before you owned it.

hard to say. 1st time i hear about such problems as a dealer and a customer however if bass was bought used i suppose its hard to know what happened to it before you owned it.

 

18 hours ago, david1711 said:

 

 

Edited December 15, 2017 by pierreganseman

[scrumpymike]

1 hour ago, pierreganseman said:

hard to say. 1st time i hear about such problems as a dealer and a customer however if bass was bought used i suppose its hard to know what happened to it before you owned it.

 

 

My Cazpar and Elwood have the best actions I've ever played.  I'd suspect that somewhere in its history david1711's bass has been attacked by someone with not much skill and no knowledge of reverse-action truss-rods.  My basses came with a little maintenance & care booklet that explained how to adjust the action.

[wateroftyne]

As y'all know, I love these basses.

I do think they should come with a sticker to warn of the reverse truss, mind.

[Woodinblack]

I have a rattle on mine at the moment, which I think is related to the lack of tension across the A string (as I can just push it out of the slot easily, which I can't do with any other bass), and it goes away when fretted (anywhere). 

Action everywhere is fine though (on an elwood 3+2 24fret neck)

 

[pierreganseman]

55 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I have a rattle on mine at the moment, which I think is related to the lack of tension across the A string (as I can just push it out of the slot easily, which I can't do with any other bass), and it goes away when fretted (anywhere). 

Action everywhere is fine though (on an elwood 3+2 24fret neck)

all you need is a round file and 76 seconds. Take off the string and carefully make the nut "deeper" on the A string. Step by step ... until it goes away.

I have had that 3 times on customers basses. 1st one went to a local luthier and got told it needed a refret / levelling for 300 euros. Adrian sorted it in 39 seconds at his HQ.

do make sure you have enough winding around the tuning peg. 

 

Quote

 

 

Edited December 15, 2017 by pierreganseman

[Wilco]

 My two Elwood's ready to do their most awesome thing yesterday evening.

Edited December 17, 2017 by Wilco

[CameronJ]

6 hours ago, Wilco said:

 My two Elwood's ready to do their most awesome thing yesterday evening.

Ooh that 5er is lovely. There was a time when I used to hate red basses but now I really have a thing for them - especially with maple necks!

[Merton]

I really have a feeling I’ll be joining this club next year. Some form of Elwood medium scale but still deciding on colours...

[Paul S]

I'm into week 10 after paying my deposit!  Keep looking at the mock-up picture...

[Wilco]

2 hours ago, CameronJ said:

Ooh that 5er is lovely. There was a time when I used to hate red basses but now I really have a thing for them - especially with maple necks!

It is a great bass. Plays sooo very nicely - a beautiful neck. That pic doesn't really show the body wood of the 4 string, which is very nice too!

 

 

Edited December 17, 2017 by Wilco

[CameronJ]

50 minutes ago, Wilco said:

It is a great bass. Plays sooo very nicely - a beautiful neck. That pic doesn't really show the body wood of the 4 string, which is very nice too!

 

 

My god that is nice! The first picture really didn’t do it justice at all.

[mrtcat]

5 weeks into the wait for this. Carbon rods in neck, Aguilar 60s j pickups, swamp ash body, passive electronics (I have an easy j retro sitting here waiting to go in) , luminlays. Looking forward to it.

 

[Wilco]

11 hours ago, mrtcat said:

5 weeks into the wait for this. Carbon rods in neck, Aguilar 60s j pickups, swamp ash body, passive electronics (I have an easy j retro sitting here waiting to go in) , luminlays. Looking forward to it.

 

Nice! Remember to share the sofa shot when you get.

[Woodinblack]

On 15/12/2017 at 18:25, pierreganseman said:

all you need is a round file and 76 seconds. Take off the string and carefully make the nut "deeper" on the A string. Step by step ... until it goes away.

I have had that 3 times on customers basses. 1st one went to a local luthier and got told it needed a refret / levelling for 300 euros. Adrian sorted it in 39 seconds at his HQ.

do make sure you have enough winding around the tuning peg. 

I have a file, and more than 76 seconds, so I will give that a try.

 

There actually isn't much winding around that tuning peg - is that a problem?

[pierreganseman]

9 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I have a file, and more than 76 seconds, so I will give that a try.

 

There actually isn't much winding around that tuning peg - is that a problem?

"isn't much" is hard to say but can be yes indeed ..... so try changing strings and put enough (more?) winding around the peg before going for nut filing

[Woodinblack]

Tried the string, slight improvement, filed the nut a bit, took a bit longer than 76 seconds, but all is good now as long as the string comes out from the base of the tuner.

I think it is probably lacking one of those string tree things to hold it down, I suppose that is a problem with a non angled fender style neck.

[pierreganseman]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

Tried the string, slight improvement, filed the nut a bit, took a bit longer than 76 seconds, but all is good now as long as the string comes out from the base of the tuner.

I think it is probably lacking one of those string tree things to hold it down, I suppose that is a problem with a non angled fender style neck.

 

Maruszczyk standard heads are slightly angled so you specifically do not need one of those but you must have enough winding and sometimes some minutes of nut filing are needed.

[NickD]

I think it's just their preference for a slightly shallow cut nut. My Jake headstock is angled, but no rattles and everything was fine until I played an old part with a 2nd fret bend on the A string... popped straight out. luckily it was rehearsal rather than a gig.

[Woodinblack]

Mine is certainly not angled. Most of my basses have angled heads and there is no way the string could come out, this is like the fender and G&L, but they both have string trees