Maruszczyk Elwood 5 Jazz review. Edited.

[bubinga5]

I would like to do a short review of this instrument.

Maruszczyk Elwood 5a Jazz bass.


Adrian is German i believe. But the instruments are built in Poland. Im sure a few know these are value for money big time. First impressions are very good. Ive had a few great basses through my hands ike Sei's, STR's Sadowsky's, Suhr's Modulus,s or Moduly. as alan partridge might like to say.

This instrument on first look is top notch. The first thing i look for is the neck pocket. There is a very small gap on the top of the neck to the body, I'm talking point 5 of a mm but I'm a stickler. The second thing i look for is frets. Impeccable.! this is a very well made fret board. Lovely maple 1/4 sawn i believe.

The neck is just superb. My last bass was a Lakland 55-02 and they are known for there great 5 string necks, this is as good if not better, i haven't played it enough to work out the difference, I'm not a fan of the Fender 5 string necks, way to chunky. this bass has a great matt finish on the neck and is very much like a 55-02/SR5

The body is ash with a cherry translusent matt finish.

The weight is great. i can weigh it but its not heavy at all. Very comfortable. I have a Sadowsky strap (the best strap ever imo) on it. Im not sure what the bridge is too be honest. Its Maple Maple Ash, with Delano single coils. I was told the preamp was a Glockenklang.

But i have had the preamp out and its actually a Delano 2 band. I have edited this post, because after a few times playing the bass the Delano (personally) is not doing it for me. For me its way to hifi, It has a huge bottom end but its doesn't sound like a proper jazz bass. The Delano Sonar 2 band is too transparent also, coupled with the pickups, its a little too clean sounding. There isn't a lot of Jazz bass grunt or growl. Very clean sounding Jazz bass. I will be changing the preamp and the pickups to either Bartolini, Or Sadowsky.

Apart from the Delano, this is quite an incredible bass. Im not quite sure what category of bass to put it into. If you were to to see and play the instrument without knowing the price, you would think it was in the £2000 + catagory . its that good.

Would i play this over my old Sei, (for personal reasons), No, its not that good but do i prefer it over my old Sadowsky Metro.. Yes. but not the preamp.

These basses are amazing imo. When you think of the price brand new, Adrian has Roger Sadowsky and a lot of luthiers on there back foot. i didnt want to say its all incredible amazing,as I'm not a fan of Delano but this is not about the feel of the bass. Its about my personal tone preference.

Im quite amazed Adrian makes instruments like these for the price he sells them for. Im guessing the prices will go up for sure.

Edited February 2, 2016 by bubinga5

[spyder]

Thanks for the great review.
As you can see from my signature Im also a great Elwood fan.
Play and enjoy.

[cocco]

I literally cannot wait for my Jake now.

[grayn]

Looks a really stunning bass.

[ezbass]

This review is music to my ears. I'm having a fretless Elwood L built at the moment and I'm really looking forward to when it's delivered.

[M@23]

Glad to hear this as I'll be getting one of these shortly. I'm leaning towards one of the L models. This one looks great too.

[CamdenRob]

I think it is inevitable that I'm going to end up with a Maruszczyk P bass at some point in the near future...

[keefbaker]

If I don't end up blowing 15 quadrillion quid at the London Bass show I might have to see if I can get him to build some kind of Stingray/P hybrid.

[keefbaker]

Holy crap, looks like some of the Jake's are already set like that. *heavy breathing*

[Mattpt85]

Hey Keef, I'm hoping to have a picture to show you in the next couple of days that could be of interest to you!