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22 minutes ago, mrtcat said:

Neck is going back tomorrow to have Luminlays fitted. Adrian has been very apologetic and in the grand scheme of things it won't matter but is a bit sad having to take the neck off your brand new bass.

:( More waiting, boo! :shok:

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2 hours ago, Fisheth said:

I'm wanting a 5 string Jake to compliment my Lakland J-Sonic, what colour would be a good compliment for Gold chaps? 

You want it to compliment your gold chaps?

Edited by Cato
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Neck is off and on its way to mensinger workshop in Poland to have the luminlays fitted.

I'll admit to being a bit underwhelmed overall. Yes the luminlays was disappointing but I'm not particularly impressed with some other parts. 

The most important positive is that the woodwork side is very good. The neck and fit is solid. That said, Many of the components are pretty average. In removing the neck (bear in mind I'm no luthier but I am an experienced professional cabinet maker with a good working knowledge of tools etc) two of the five neck screws rounded out. They're very cheap plated ones. The pick guard screws are also cheap and one or two arent perfectly straight. The bell plate doesn't look like a quality piece either so will be replaced. Finally I can still see hints of the grain through the paint on the body.

Now these aren't deal breakers and guaranteed I probably wouldn't have noticed if there wasn't an issue that required removing the neck. I will be able to replace the parts I'm not happy with, with decent replacements at low cost but I definitely feel that the quality isn't as high as it was on my last Elwood L. 

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3 minutes ago, Wilco said:

Hopefully not a sign of standards dropping due to the fact they are a lot busier.

On the plus side, Adrian seems to have reacted in completely the right way to resolve your main issue. 

True, but with the price increases, the basses are getting into the same price brackets as other luthiers including some great UK based ones, when you go over the most basic specs, missing these details from spec sheets and using cheaper bits and bobs is not a good sign at all :(

Hope it's not a sign of a new direction.

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3 hours ago, mrtcat said:

Neck is off and on its way to mensinger workshop in Poland to have the luminlays fitted.

I'll admit to being a bit underwhelmed overall. Yes the luminlays was disappointing but I'm not particularly impressed with some other parts. 

The most important positive is that the woodwork side is very good. The neck and fit is solid. That said, Many of the components are pretty average. In removing the neck (bear in mind I'm no luthier but I am an experienced professional cabinet maker with a good working knowledge of tools etc) two of the five neck screws rounded out. They're very cheap plated ones. The pick guard screws are also cheap and one or two arent perfectly straight. The bell plate doesn't look like a quality piece either so will be replaced. Finally I can still see hints of the grain through the paint on the body.

Now these aren't deal breakers and guaranteed I probably wouldn't have noticed if there wasn't an issue that required removing the neck. I will be able to replace the parts I'm not happy with, with decent replacements at low cost but I definitely feel that the quality isn't as high as it was on my last Elwood L. 

Personally, I would have discussed the issues you have with them and maybe decided if you wanted to send it all back for them to review....it might be just a few issues they shouldn't have missed and they might put them all right.

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On 3/23/2018 at 07:01, mrtcat said:

Neck is off and on its way to mensinger workshop in Poland to have the luminlays fitted.

I'll admit to being a bit underwhelmed overall. Yes the luminlays was disappointing but I'm not particularly impressed with some other parts. 

The most important positive is that the woodwork side is very good. The neck and fit is solid. That said, Many of the components are pretty average. In removing the neck (bear in mind I'm no luthier but I am an experienced professional cabinet maker with a good working knowledge of tools etc) two of the five neck screws rounded out. They're very cheap plated ones. The pick guard screws are also cheap and one or two arent perfectly straight. The bell plate doesn't look like a quality piece either so will be replaced. Finally I can still see hints of the grain through the paint on the body.

Now these aren't deal breakers and guaranteed I probably wouldn't have noticed if there wasn't an issue that required removing the neck. I will be able to replace the parts I'm not happy with, with decent replacements at low cost but I definitely feel that the quality isn't as high as it was on my last Elwood L. 

 

I have to say that I feel the same about the screws they used on my basses. I was replacing the P pickup on my first Jake and I had to be very very careful not to damage the head of the mounting screws. One was particularly hard to undo, and it eventually started giving way... only it wasn't: the screw just sheared off. They're made of an alloy of iron and butter. It cannot add too much to the cost to use decent metal!

So, yes... be careful, always use the correct screwdriver head that fits perfectly, and be gentle. 

That's my only complaint about them, really. The 3 basses I owned were very well made otherwise. I still own two.

Edited by mcnach
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5 hours ago, mcnach said:

 

I have to say that I feel the same about the screws they used on my basses. I was replacing the P pickup on my first Jake and I had to be very very careful not to damage the head of the mounting screws. One was particularly hard to undo, and it eventually started giving way... only it wasn't: the screw just sheared off. They're made of an alloy of iron and butter. It cannot add too much to the cost to use decent metal!

Yes, I posted a few months ago, I went to change the strap locks and the screw just sheared off. I was pretty dissapointed with that., they didn't seem that interested when I told them,

I have no complaints with the woodwork, pickups, machineheads etc but it seems like a false economy to use screws made of cheese.

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2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Yes, I posted a few months ago, I went to change the strap locks and the screw just sheared off. I was pretty dissapointed with that., they didn't seem that interested when I told them,

I have no complaints with the woodwork, pickups, machineheads etc but it seems like a false economy to use screws made of cheese.

 

7 hours ago, mcnach said:

 

I have to say that I feel the same about the screws they used on my basses. I was replacing the P pickup on my first Jake and I had to be very very careful not to damage the head of the mounting screws. One was particularly hard to undo, and it eventually started giving way... only it wasn't: the screw just sheared off. They're made of an alloy of iron and butter. It cannot add too much to the cost to use decent metal!

So, yes... be careful, always use the correct screwdriver head that fits perfectly, and be gentle. 

That's my only complaint about them, really. The 3 basses I owned were very well made otherwise. I still own two.

This actually makes me feel a lot better. I can easily replace the ironmongery for minimal expense and as I said before it plays perfectly and sounds beautiful. 

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2 hours ago, mrtcat said:

 

This actually makes me feel a lot better. I can easily replace the ironmongery for minimal expense and as I said before it plays perfectly and sounds beautiful. 

As does mine. Just a shame that to have the that tarnish to the image. Luckily I had a friend who knew how to get the broken screw out otherwise I would have had to pay someone to do it. It was a little disappointing on a €1500 bass. It wouldn't stop me ordering another, even if I would probably replace the strap screws straight away (carefully)!

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12 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

As does mine. Just a shame that to have the that tarnish to the image. Luckily I had a friend who knew how to get the broken screw out otherwise I would have had to pay someone to do it. It was a little disappointing on a €1500 bass. It wouldn't stop me ordering another, even if I would probably replace the strap screws straight away (carefully)!

 

same here... in fact I bought two more after that incident... it just seems silly for them to use those screws when otherwise they make such nice basses.

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28 minutes ago, Fisheth said:

Oh er, these stories have given me qualms about ordering another Jake.

 

 

I wouldn't let it stop me (in fact, it did not), but just be extra careful when dealing with long and narrow screws.

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8 hours ago, Schnozzalee said:

What were the prices before? Apologies as I've only just come across these and I don't know a lot about them

The prices haven't risen dramatically from what I can see, maybe 10% over a few years. In my case I've still paid around £1400 for a very highly specced passive jazz (swamp ash body, carbon neck rods, mop block inlays, aguilar pups, matching headstock) built to order with equivalents from fender or musicman coming in a lot higher. 

I think it's the classic "rapidly growing business" issues I've encountered with waiting time that has increased considerably and basics being missed when reading the spec sheet. 

I've had no word on the neck yet and I'm guessing that to fit luminlays it's going to need refinishing so might be a while yet. I'm out of pocket for the £20 odd it cost me to send it back at the moment but will sort that with them. Adrian is going to send some new neck screws with it.

Unless there's some gesture to apologise for the pink torpedo up then it's very unlikely I'll order from him again tho which is a shame as my Elwood L was beautiful and this one will be fine too but I just don't have that confidence anymore. 

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23 hours ago, Schnozzalee said:

What were the prices before? Apologies as I've only just come across these and I don't know a lot about them

 

Very much the same. Perhaps a bit more on some models sometimes. The problem is the price is in euros and the GBP has lost a significant % of its value against the euro, so we spend more pounds to buy the same bass now.

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9 hours ago, mcnach said:

The problem is the price is in euros and the GBP has lost a significant % of its value against the euro, so we spend more pounds to buy the same bass now.

Agreed 100%. Any price rises have been down to exchange rate rather than any significant changes made by Maruszczyk. 

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1 hour ago, Mossiebass said:

COUCH PIC!! 

I am absolutely ecstatic, does anyone know how long shipping is to Ireland?

IMG_2634.jpg

Beautiful!!!

About 3 days to mainland UK so probably the same for you.  Should come with FedEx i'd imagine.

Edited by mrtcat
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