MARUSZCZYK BRIDGE ADJUSTMENT

[Skezza]

Hi

 

I recently bought a maruszczyk jake off here.

There was a little too much neck relief so i decided to do the relief and intonation.

but it has abridge i have never seen before with 4 tiny allen screws 

I think i have workede out which is the saddle locking screw but how do you turn it with the strings on ?

 

 

[ezbass]

You can slide the Allen key under the string as it is at an angle. However, you will need to loosen the string to move the saddle, as under tension it is hard to move. Here’s an extract from the user manual.

[Skezza]

the bridge on my MARUSZCZYK  is something the 2 pictures  at the top of the page 

thanks for that I will put a picture on later

[ezbass]

3 minutes ago, Skezza said:

the bridge on my MARUSZCZYK  is something the 2 pictures  at the top of the page 

thanks for that I will put a picture on later

Yeah, it’s the top 2 diagrams.

[Skezza]

[JazzLobster]

Yeah it's a useless POS, I wrote Adrian about it, and he, in typical frosty manner replied something to the effect of - what do you want, it's a cheap bridge, yeah you have to loosen the strings if you want to intonate. It's an old design, if you want something better go buy it -- brilliant.

[lemmywinks]

Seen those floating about on AliExpress for years, weird he chose those as they don't suit the bass at all and there's much better ones on there for not much money. Have a look at something like this:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/84mm-Metal-Electric-Bass-Bridge-Fixed-for-4-String-Bass-Guitar-Parts-Accessories/32888000438.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.1.3a616adewKvrwi&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_7_10065_10130_10068_10547_319_317_10548_10696_10192_10190_453_10084_454_10083_10618_10307_10820_10301_10821_10303_537_536_10059_10884_10887_321_322_10103,searchweb201603_52,ppcSwitch_0&algo_expid=30a103b8-9b0c-47a2-b5b9-a2a6853e8a7d-0&algo_pvid=30a103b8-9b0c-47a2-b5b9-a2a6853e8a7d

[JazzLobster]

Ah! A nice Hipshot A style copy 🤘

Yeah they're really junky, which is a pity cause the Elwood is such a nice jazz bass. Even a bent plate bridge would've been better.

[mybass]

I’m surprised these cheap bridges were ever used on those basses!

[Skezza]

I personally like the gotoh bent plate jazz precision style 

I may change it in the future

[JazzLobster]

36 minutes ago, Skezza said:

I personally like the gotoh bent plate jazz precision style 

I may change it in the future

Is the the 203b? 

[Cosmicrain]

Yes, Hipshot Kickass is my main choice of bridge for custom builds and retro fitting.

[Obrienp]

Reviving this thread because I just bought a secondhand Maruszczyk Elwood and it has one of these standard bridges. I was looking to lower the action a bit but loosening the top grub screws on the bridge saddles doesn’t seem to cause any reduction in height. I can’t quite make out if there is a little locking screw accessed from the front of the bridge saddle? Also intonation adjustment looks hit and miss. It’s a pretty horrible bridge TBH and somewhat disappointing given the quality of the rest of the instrument.

 

Has anybody worked out which decent after market bridges are a straightforward replacement for the standard Maru bridge? What 4 hole bridges are a direct fit without drilling? If they were wanting to save costs, why didn’t they go for a standard Fender fit 5 hole bridge? There are so many of them on the market for virtually nothing.

 

Viewed from a distance this looks pretty good but close up you realise the deficiencies.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Obrienp

[warwickhunt]

On 12/03/2023 at 16:46, Obrienp said:

Reviving this thread because I just bought a secondhand Maruszczyk Elwood and it has one of these standard bridges. I was looking to lower the action a bit but loosening the top grub screws on the bridge saddles doesn’t seem to cause any reduction in height. I can’t quite make out if there is a little locking screw accessed from the front of the bridge saddle? Also intonation adjustment looks hit and miss. It’s a pretty horrible bridge TBH and somewhat disappointing given the quality of the rest of the instrument.

 

Has anybody worked out which decent after market bridges are a straightforward replacement for the standard Maru bridge? What 4 hole bridges are a direct fit without drilling? If they were wanting to save costs, why didn’t they go for a standard Fender fit 5 hole bridge? There are so many of them on the market for virtually nothing.

 

Viewed from a distance this looks pretty good but close up you realise the deficiencies.

 

Your bridge is fine compared to mine... which was positioned incorrectly!  

 

 

As to the question of a 5 hole Fender style bridge... someone obviously tried it on my bass before fitting/refitting the factory bridge.

 

 

I've moved my bridge 10mm further back to fix the intonation issue but the saddles are flat to the base with no adjustment possible and yet I would ideally have liked to have dropped them a little further.  

 

[Woodinblack]

On 12/03/2023 at 16:46, Obrienp said:

 I can’t quite make out if there is a little locking screw accessed from the front of the bridge saddle? Also intonation adjustment looks hit and miss. It’s a pretty horrible bridge TBH and somewhat disappointing given the quality of the rest of the instrument.

 

There is an additional screw that stops it moving back and forward, but the two at the top control height, as long as there is height to take off.

Like all bolt ons, if you run out of height to take off at the bridge you need to shim the neck.

And if you do that on a Maruszczyk, be carefull of the screws!

[Obrienp]

1 hour ago, warwickhunt said:

 

Your bridge is fine compared to mine... which was positioned incorrectly!  

 

 

As to the question of a 5 hole Fender style bridge... someone obviously tried it on my bass before fitting/refitting the factory bridge.

 

I've moved my bridge 10mm further back to fix the intonation issue but the saddles are flat to the base with no adjustment possible and yet I would ideally have liked to have dropped them a little further.  

 

Wow! Yes, at least mine is roughly in the right place, although I am struggling a bit to get the intonation right. E string wants to go further back than the bridge will let it but I think the strings may have something to do with that.

 

After a lot of online research, I think I may have found a drop in replacement: Gotoh 510BO. Not cheap for a fairly basic design, at £69. It arrived today and an initial look suggests the screw holes line up. I am still a little concerned that it might not have enough travel in the saddles to get the intonation correct but at least it has conventional adjustment. I’ll post the results once I have fitted it.

 

 

[warwickhunt]

A consideration is, how 'high' is your new bridge?  I looked at fitting shorter Warwick saddles into the Maruszczyk bridge but they were 3mm higher.  I also had 3 other bridge designs in the house and all would have been higher, with no option to get the saddles lower.

[Obrienp]

55 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

There is an additional screw that stops it moving back and forward, but the two at the top control height, as long as there is height to take off.

Like all bolt ons, if you run out of height to take off at the bridge you need to shim the neck.

And if you do that on a Maruszczyk, be carefull of the screws!

Thanks for the tip. I’ve got the saddles to move a bit now but I was really struggling with the intonation adjustment. The locking screw seems to be hidden behind the string and once you loosen it, the string pulls the saddle forward. It’s not easy to keep it in place while tightening the locking screw. Anyway, as per my post above, I have got hold of a Gotoh bridge that I think will work and I have new strings on the way as well.

 

I saw some of your earlier posts about the quality of Maruszczyk screws, so I was very nervous when I first removed the standard bridge but it seems somebody may have waxed the threads on mine. Perhaps the previous owner had put on a different bridge. Anyway, to my surprise the screws came out cleanly and the heads are intact. I put plenty more wax on when I replaced them.  The neck screws will be a different story though, so I will be very careful if I ever have to tackle them. It puts me in mind of the screw bolts they used on Japanese motorbikes in the 70s. They were made out of a special vegan cheese! 

[Obrienp]

9 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

A consideration is, how 'high' is your new bridge?  I looked at fitting shorter Warwick saddles into the Maruszczyk bridge but they were 3mm higher.  I also had 3 other bridge designs in the house and all would have been higher, with no option to get the saddles lower.

Yes, good point. The baseplate looks as though it may be thicker but the saddles are not very deep, so I hope it will be OK. Otherwise it’s going to be a bit of credit card under the neck and then I’ve got the problem of the Maruszczyk stainless cheese screws, as articulated by @Woodinblack. 🤞

[Obrienp]

OK, so follow up. It took about 20 minutes to remove the standard Maru bridge and replace it with the Gotoh. I used the original Maru screws as they are longer than the ones supplied with the Gotoh. I didn’t install the two front screws on the Gotoh because I wanted to make sure it worked OK before drilling new holes.

 

I am pleased to say the Gotoh works well. It fits exactly with the original screw holes of the Maruszczyk bridge and the strings align with the pickup pole pieces about the same as they did with the OEM; not perfect on the two outer strings but acceptable. String height and intonation adjustment perfectly simple. Fortunately, the saddles will go more than low enough to get an acceptable action.  In fact it is a bit slappy at the moment but I thought I would let the neck settle before doing the final adjustments. The E string saddle is just about back at the stops, so I am hoping I don’t have to flatten the intonation anymore. However, it was with the OEM bridge as well. It’s on its way to being 33” bridge to saddle on that side and it’s about 32 1/4” on the G side. New strings may get it back closer to 32”. The Gotoh anchors the strings a bit further back, so the wound part only just makes it across the nut before the winding starts (see photo).

 

The Gotoh is about 20 grams heavier than the original Maruszczyk bridge, so it’s not going to make the bass feel any heavier, or fix the slight neck dive. I would definitely recommend it as a no modification replacement for the OEM standard bridge.

 

I have put a few photos on: comparison of the two bridges and the string alignment with the Gotoh. Photos taken before setting the intonation.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Obrienp