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Maruszczyk Jake 5 with 'tone cavitied' body.. MDF?


benjo

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Hi. Me again. Just had my Jake 5 apart looking for a buzzing/papery sound coming from the body area when I play low notes. Unplugged, that is. Anyway - looking into the holes where the pickups sit, it looks like the body is made of a few sheets of MDF laminated together (see pics - second one shows it best) ..the certificate that comes with the bass says it has and alder body with 'tone cavities' - can anyone shed any light on how these are constructed? If it's not MDF I'm looking at, it's definitely some kind of fibreboard. Also, still getting the papery/buzzing sound with everything removed apart from the bridge. Don't think it's the truss rod, what could it be? 

Thanks in advance, Ben.

pickup cavity 1.JPG

pickup cavity 2.JPG

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10 hours ago, benjo said:

Also, still getting the papery/buzzing sound with everything removed apart from the bridge. Don't think it's the truss rod, what could it be? 

I had something similar before and it turned out to be a loose tuner. Pluck the strings and then touch each tuner in turn to see if the buzzing stops.

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Is the buzzing sound you are getting on all notes or just open strings? (You need a sharp string break angle with a zero fret, otherwise the string can vibrate against the zero fret when playing open notes)

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9 hours ago, therealting said:

Is it definitely not just a rough edge on a rout that was done in stages, shallow first, then deeper etc?

Thanks man, thats a good shout. I'm a carpenter so I get what you mean. But.. I'm pretty certain I'm looking at the top - then 3 layers of MDF laminated together - then the back (the bottom of the rout) ..I've had a poke around with the tip of a knife and it looks and feels like MDF in there. I've taken another couple of pics where its a bit clearer, I'll post them if you like. Wouldn't blame you if not tho.. :)

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I had a buzzing on the string with my Maruszczyk, turns out that on a bass with a flamed maple neck, there isn't a break angle and for some reason mine never got string retainers, so if my string isn't at the bottom of the machinehead it vibrates against the zero fret

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1 hour ago, benjo said:

Thanks man, thats a good shout. I'm a carpenter so I get what you mean. But.. I'm pretty certain I'm looking at the top - then 3 layers of MDF laminated together - then the back (the bottom of the rout) ..I've had a poke around with the tip of a knife and it looks and feels like MDF in there. I've taken another couple of pics where its a bit clearer, I'll post them if you like. Wouldn't blame you if not tho.. :)

I’ve definitely had guitars where the cavities looks rough like this. Harder to sand and polish those interior bits after finishing I guess! I’ve always thought MDF was heavier than wood and also absorbs finish poorly - but I’m definitely not a carpenter!

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14 minutes ago, therealting said:

I’ve definitely had guitars where the cavities looks rough like this. Harder to sand and polish those interior bits after finishing I guess! I’ve always thought MDF was heavier than wood and also absorbs finish poorly - but I’m definitely not a carpenter!

I think the top layer might be alder, then the MDF below. My guess at this point is they rout out a big section, then make the cavities with MDF inserts - but without stripping the thing / chopping it up I might never know. 

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I still find it hard to believe they’d use MDF. It’s really heavy stuff, and the whole point of cavities is to make the thing lighter so this would work against that purpose. Plus, you just need a little bit of moisture through a screw hole or something and the whole thing would just warp. 

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if you put the B string back on and bring the strings back up to pitch and play it with pups and scratch plate off is the noise still there ?

I would expect that Adrian will answer any questions you have about the build if you drop him an email with some pics, when I enquired by email about a technical question he was forthcoming and helpful

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1 hour ago, therealting said:

I still find it hard to believe they’d use MDF. It’s really heavy stuff, and the whole point of cavities is to make the thing lighter so this would work against that purpose. Plus, you just need a little bit of moisture through a screw hole or something and the whole thing would just warp. 

Yeah, maybe I should be careful spreading dirty words around. I might ask the boss direct.

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10 minutes ago, Aidan63 said:

if you put the B string back on and bring the strings back up to pitch and play it with pups and scratch plate off is the noise still there ?

I would expect that Adrian will answer any questions you have about the build if you drop him an email with some pics, when I enquired by email about a technical question he was forthcoming and helpful

It is, yes. And definitely seems to be coming from the body/bridge area. I will email him - good idea

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On 03/03/2019 at 11:36, benjo said:

My guess at this point is they rout out a big section, then make the cavities with MDF inserts

Have I got this right,you think they cut out a square then drop in MDF pieces with the pickups already cut ?

That makes absolutely no sense. It would take the same time to rout out a big section as it would for the pickups. Then they'd be back with the router when the top was added.

 

Been a carpenter 35 years,the MDF pieces would be a huge waste of time and money.

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8 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

Have I got this right,you think they cut out a square then drop in MDF pieces with the pickups already cut ?

That makes absolutely no sense. It would take the same time to rout out a big section as it would for the pickups. Then they'd be back with the router when the top was added.

 

Been a carpenter 35 years,the MDF pieces would be a huge waste of time and money.

Unless I’m missing something, nothing would need to be inlaid. It’d be just a case of laminating enough thin (which means much cheaper) wood to make the central core. Then they can cut out the “tone chambers” with a jigsaw or similar. Then glue the top and back on. Not sure what type of tools they have there but for a small shop this would actually be quicker than routing out chambers, which would have to be done in multiple passes and still require a top to seal them. It would also save money as the timber wouldn’t be body blank prices.

Some 70s Gibson’s (known a pancake bodies) were made like this to save on costs of full thickness Mahogany.

As to whether or not it’s MDF, I can’t tell from the pics.

Edited by Manton Customs
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On 06/03/2019 at 20:01, Manton Customs said:

Unless I’m missing something, nothing would need to be inlaid. It’d be just a case of laminating enough thin (which means much cheaper) wood to make the central core. Then they can cut out the “tone chambers” with a jigsaw or similar. Then glue the top and back on. Not sure what type of tools they have there but for a small shop this would actually be quicker than routing out chambers, which would have to be done in multiple passes and still require a top to seal them. It would also save money as the timber wouldn’t be body blank prices.

Some 70s Gibson’s (known a pancake bodies) were made like this to save on costs of full thickness Mahogany.

As to whether or not it’s MDF, I can’t tell from the pics.

thanks for this. That's what I was getting at, didn't describe it half as well as you though! It's MDF in there man - I've given it a good prod etc

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