El_JimBob

13 hours ago, Jakeyc said:

So im looking at a little something to do over the Christmas period

This little jimmy caught my eye. Has anyone got this or had experience with it?

https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Engorged_Gherkin_Fuzz/p847124_14535415.aspx

 

Cheers

I built this board a while back - sound-wise, it's that classic Muff-style sound with tons of tweakability. Can sound monstrous on bass...

Anyway, I think I've derailed this thread more than I ever deserved to, so for the sake of keeping a personal issue out of a public forum (and not getting either side too worked up), I'll give Adrian the benefit of the doubt and we'll keep this matter private until it's resolved. 

Besides, seeing how content all his other customers are gives me hope it'll all turn out ok in the end... 

1 minute ago, wateroftyne said:

How long 'till it started shifting? Did anything happen beforehand? Did you speak to Adrian straight away?

Sorry for all the questions 🙂

It was after a few months that the movement became obvious. I'm very particular about a nice straight neck as I don't play particularly hard, so I can feel when there's more relief than there needs to be. 

No, foolishly, I didn't. I decided to give all concerned the benefit of the doubt given how happy everyone else was with their instruments, so it's my bad for not raising the issue before it was too late... 

5 minutes ago, bubinga5 said:

Personally if the neck kept moving as you say I would have left the truss rod alone. Not your fault of course but adjusting the truss rod, and bending the neck back and forth a few times a week was putting the wood under a lot of stress. Did you adjust the neck under string tension.?? i.e. you can see the neck is pulling toward the E string with the most tension.. But of course its the neck and the builder that is at fault and he should know this.. 

No, I've always slackened the strings first before any adjustment, plus I'm keen on balanced tension strings just to keep everything nice and even... 

I took delivery of it just about a year ago now. Several weeks earlier than expected, actually. All seemed fine initially. 

40 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Ouch.

Daft question - did you turn it the right way?

Yes. The right way is the wrong way, right? At least, it works in the opposite direction to any bass I've used before...

(fortunately I'd read about that in advance, otherwise I'd have found out the hard way) 

1 minute ago, wateroftyne said:

That’s a really unfortunate thing to happen. Did you tweak the truss at any point?

Unfortunately, I was having to do that constantly, sometimes several times a week - the neck was just constantly moving - some days as flat as a pancake, others it was noticeably bowed again. Something just didn't seem right. Of course, I should have done something about it right there and then, but I figured not having owned a brand new hand-built bass before that we still might be in the 'settling in' period people talk of, however long it lasts...

So, eventually the inevitable happens and the truss seizes up. At his point, the neck seems to be forcing itself into a back bow, so I give a set of slightly heavier strings a go and that seems to do the trick - at least making it playable again. I contacted Adrian at this point, waiting nearly a week for him to respond. When he does, he simply says to take it to a luthier, maybe they can fix it. We exchanged a few more emails, but to be honest I just found the whole process exhausting - he's clearly far better at discussing specs and taking orders than any kind of follow-up service. Foolishly, although for the sake of my health, I let the matter go again...

Now there's a full-blown twist in the neck (see attached pictures - I think it's pretty obvious, Adrian's not convinced) so it has to go back to him, and that's where we are today. He's sending it back to the Mensinger workshop for them to take a look, but he has cautioned me there will be a cost.

I'm not after any kind of witch hunt here - clearly the majority of owners are extremely happy with the instruments Adrian has had built for them (although the number of owners who had their luminlays forgotten is slightly alarming - that happened to me too) and I can't dispute the quality of work done on the body of my own instrument, but the neck is an absolute lemon. Perhaps his aggravation comes from the fact that he's simply not used to hearing criticism, who knows. But he has rubbed me up the wrong way, and accusing me of blackmail when I was simply pleading for him to consider the fact that the bass neck itself might be at fault was the final straw. I won't ever be giving him any more of my hard earned money after this is resolved. 

(Plus he really should have someone else answering and replying to emails, promptly and courteously... After all, he boasts of employing over 20 people - perhaps someone else in the team would be suitable for this role - especially as he seems to be spending more and more time gallivanting around the globe with his buddy Wojtek... That's just my opinion, though)

1 hour ago, El_JimBob said:

Glad to see you got things resolved to your liking... 

Adrian's currently taking the 'customer is always wrong' approach with my issue, which is disappointing, but I'm going to persevere and see what happens...

Just had a reply back from him - he won't accept responsibility for any of the neck problems I've had with my bass, not even the high fret that it initially shipped with (my fault for choosing stainless steel frets apparently). 

The short of it is I've asked him (pleaded, even) to do the right thing by his customer - he's now gone and accused me of threats and trying to blackmail him... (okay, so perhaps again he's been lost in translation, but these are pretty serious words to come from a business owner towards a customer)

Honestly, this is not how I saw this conversation panning out - anyone got any advice?

Edit - full disclosure - this is what I sent him... 

"When you initially shipped the bass to me, I mentioned there was a high fret, and you were prepared to admit then that problems could occur, so why not now? When I was experiencing further problems with the neck, you did indeed just tell me to take it to a luthier, that there was nothing you could do for me which led me to believe that you are not interested in your customer once you have their money. I was despondent...

On 25/07/2018 at 13:11, mrtcat said:

Yes on this occasion a refund. Still leaves me needing a 5 string but I'll take time to consider options before jumping in lol.

Glad to see you got things resolved to your liking... 

Adrian's currently taking the 'customer is always wrong' approach with my issue, which is disappointing, but I'm going to persevere and see what happens...

Comms doesn't seem to be his strong point - he's (presumably) had my faulty bass since Monday afternoon and despite me emailing him several times to confirm he received it, I've had no reply... 

I thought Public Peace/Mensinger just invested in a load of cnc kit a while back (there were videos up somewhere)? No excuse for poorly fitting neck pockets now, surely 

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

I personally would take that more something said in jest that didn't really translate well, rather than a sign he didn't care.

Oh, for sure, we discussed that - it just wasn't the right moment for it is all... 

Having a little buyers' remorse at the moment...

Whilst I've found Adrian very approachable whilst speccing my instrument, he's been somewhat colder and distant when trying deal with issues my Jazzus has had since I received it. Emailed him a few months ago when I was having problems with the neck, and was pretty much told it must be my fault, as the bass was fine when he received it...

Having decided to put up with the issues for the time being, it's now experiencing quite a severe twist by the headstock end and I've dropped him another email saying I'm pretty upset now. His response? 'why upset? There are much bigger problems in life than this'... I've pulled him up on this and he's claimed he was just trying to cheer me up. Weeeeell, that's not really helping... Anyway, he's offered to look at the neck if I ship it to him, so we'll see what happens... 

Perhaps for elegance and aesthetics' sake, something like [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuhlWTD1htQ"]THIS[/url] from Haeussel...

I wouldn't personally use linseed oil as its job is to seal and preserve wood - unless of course that's what you're looking to do - lemon oil (or similar) will do a better job of conditioning, although you will need to re-apply as required...

Not had any experience of such a setup, but absolutely no reason why it couldn't be done... i imagine soundwise there'd be less of a mid-punch than the average MM pickup, but it's all still pickups and preamp at the end of the day...

[quote name='scrumpymike' timestamp='1502474110' post='3351755']
Maybe they all get shipped to Adrian in Germany for their final quality check/set-up.
[/quote]

That's pretty much what I believe happens...

[quote name='Wilco' timestamp='1502046229' post='3348974']
I know this thread has a crazy amount of posts, but I couldn't find a specific Maruszczyk thread in the gear porn forum so I started one.
[/quote]

Bravo! I shall post pics of mine there as soon as it turns up

Thank you! The crazy thing is... I knocked up a photoshop of what I wanted it to look like, based on the top wood choices Adrian gave me... And they've only gone and nailed it perfectly. I'm seriously impressed...

Bought a GK MB200 off Tony. Item was packed well and sent promptly. Pleasure to deal with you, sir. Best wishes.

Pm'd

Sold a G&l Tribute L2500 to Joe. Nice chap and a pleasure to do business with. Much appreciated.

SOLD!

Price £350 (not looking for trades at the moment, thanks) - cash or bank transfer


G&L Tribute L2500 - Swamp Ash body with natural gloss finish and maple board. Purchased new direct from uk supplier in 2007 and has spent most of its life at home. Apart from some slight marking on the headstock end and around the trussrod adjustment area and slight swirling in the finish in some areas, this is in excellent condition. One of the last run of Korean instruments before production moved to Indonesia - has the updated white G&L logo with the older style 'Tribute' stamped bridge. These are from the same Cort factory that produces the Skylines for Lakland, so is as sturdy and playable as they come...


34" scale
nut width - 45mm
string spacing at bridge - 17.5mm
21 frets
Maple neck and fingerboard- modern C shape - uniform thickness from nut to body joint of about 22mm - so looks chunky but very comfortable to play
Twin G&L MFD humbuckers in modern location - with pickup selector switch/ series parallel switch/ passive;active;active w/ treble boost switch - treble cut/ bass cut and overall volume control
Weight - around 4.5kg/ 10lbs

Any questions (or anything I've missed) - please ask away...

Collection only at the moment - I'm based in Gravesend in Kent, but travel to London Bridge area daily for work.