Jackzucker20000

I tried to get jamie to build me a 30" version of his ST-6 but he didn't seem to be interested. He doesn't speak english and I don't speak spanish so I'm not sure if it was a translation issue or not. I just sold my 6 string JCR but have 2 other ones. They needed a little TLC at first but i love both of them now. Adrian at mensinger was not not able to provide much info when I was thinking of building a custom joker so I've put that project on the backburner. I'm just going to live with the cazpar as is for now...

another clip of the mensinger on the beatles Norwegian Wood

as promised, here's the mensinger cazpar, i'll also update the original thread so folks can compare the tone...

mensinger cazpar 6

But I think i'm going to order a custom build like this. It's the joker model which does come in a 30. I like the buckeye burl better but my experience with guitars is that mahogany back and maple top is a magical combo. Buckeye probably doesn't contribute anything to the sound...

Maruszczyk emailed me back. 32 is the smallest they'll go on a singlecut...

But I did reach out to mensinger / Maruszczyk and asked him about making a 30 or 31" sputnik bass. The sputnik is more similar in construction to the JCR...

He didn't seem to be interested...

regardless of "challenges" there's the reality that there is almost no way to play this voicing without getting my elbow almost touching the neck...

It's a bit difficult with them because he doesn't speak english and I don't speak spanish so we are always tripping over each other but yeah, it's definitely worth reaching out to him about that.

yeah, i'd consider swapping the pickups and adding a preamp on the mensinger if I knew for sure it would bring it up to the JCR tonally. However, i think physics is at play here with a huge difference in string length (jcr is 3" longer scale and uses a through the body design). Also, the neck through design and complex body materials whereas the cazpar is a bolt on with simple ash body/maple neck. Sustain is way better on the JCR. One surprising thing, harmonics jump out much more on the cazpar... Yeah, I have been hesitant to go that route because I've had spectacularly bad experiences with custom basses but it's probably worth looking into. Swan makes something that is 30.75 which I really like but it's very expensive and i'm not sure i'd get my money back out of it if I end up being disappointed. Manne also makes a 31 that looks great. I'll have to look at ACG again...

Wanted to give a little update. I practiced with the cazpar for several hours today. It's a great bass but it's not in the same league as the JCR. I put the JCR up forsale but i'm agonizing over it. In almost every way, the JCR is a much better bass. Better build quality, better hardware, better attention to detail, better sustain, tone, etc. The cazpar is way easier to play solo bass on due to the scale length though. When I do my solo stuff on the JCR, due to the wide neck and the 33" scale, it ends up hurting my left hand because a lot of the chord voicings I use stretch 5 or 6 frets. The cazpar is much better suited for that. But the tone of the JCR really is in a different league...