Maruszczyk is one of the brands that we've been exclusive dealers for in Spain for a longer time. We've always loved these instruments and it is great to see that they do not just sit on their laurels but keep improving and growing. Every year we get a lot of new Maruszczyk basses and it is great to see that the quality and number of options just keep improving but the price tag remains incredibly affordable.
Adrian Maruszczyk is a professional bassplayer and a true visionary when it comes to bass designing. The headquarters of his brand are in Aldenhoven, Germany. Maruszczyk's motto is "From Player to Player" and it basically means that they are bassplayers who really understand what bassplayers need and can react to those needs really fast. Just check Public Peace's Youtube channel and you'll find Adrian himself doing most of the demos of his basses. We love this personal approach.
The basses are built in a small factory in Poland and Adrian Maruszczyk is really on top of the whole production system. For him it is simple: "if my name is on the bass, it has to be good".
Right now these instruments are already considered as some of the best European made basses.
What other brands call "Custom Shop", "Custom Built", "Masterbuilt", etc., means just standard at Maruszcayk basses. This means you won't be charged extra money just because a paticular component of piece of wood is a bit different. Yuo just pay what you get for, We love this honest attitude. Also each bass is made to order, meaning they are actually all Custom Shop Basses. No standard series here or runds of dozens of similar instruments.In short: these are Custom Shop basses at Standard series pricing.
PLEASE NOTE: When you order a new Maruszczyk bass you have two options:
1.- Order the instrument you see in our webshop (immediate delivery)
2.- Order a custom bass from us. We'll guide you through the whole process and will give you a quote of the bass with the specs you need. We ask for a 30% downpayment to start the building process. The balance due needs to be paid when the bass is finished and prior to shipping it to you. You can use Public Peace's configurator to get an idea of the options and pricing of your bass but this configurator doesn't show all the options so we recommend you contact us for advice. Also we've ordered dozens of Maruszczyk basses over the last few years so we are well acquainted with the different options and you can benefit from our professional advice. Just send us an email and we'll help you out. Lead time is 10-12 weeks once the firm is order.
This model is called ELWOOD L and it is one of Maruszczyk's most successful designs. It is based on a classic bass but with a lot of different appointments.
As you can see in the pictures this is a 5 string Multiscale bass and one of the most striking features is the incredibly low weight of just 3.8kg. Wow! Actually the "L" in the name comes from "Light"
The use of a bolt on maple neck on an alder body is the perfect base for sustain and punch.
We love the gorgeous poplar eye top with matching headstock.
The neck sports 24 frets and there's unrestricted access up to the end. A 45mm nut and 18mm spacing at the bridge create an incredibly comfortable feeling.
Instead of the usual bridge this instrument comes with 4 individual bridges. This helps to transmit more of the string's vibrations to the body.
The whole multiscale or fanned fret system consists of giving each string the proper lenght and tension for optimum performance. Physics dictate that you need thicker AND longer strings in order to get lower notes on a stringed instrument. That's the basic principle that pianos and harps are built on. On an electric bass this is achieved by using the same method as on a piano: using individual bridges for the strings and placing them in a "fan" arrangement. Of course the frets on the instrument need to follow that pattern, hence the "fanned fret" arrangement. In practice each string has the right ticknes and length for it to sound full and clear but without having extra tension. It is simply perfect and it works.
Despite the unusual look of this system, you actually don't have to do anything to accomodate to this arrangement. It feels completely natural and ergonomic. Actually some lines are easier to play than on normal basses.
Following the German Tradition (Höfner, Framus, Marleaux, Sandberg, etc.) there's a zero fret. There are two main advantages for using this: first of all, open strings will sound the same as fingered ones. But most importantly, a zero fret means perfect string height at the nut. A poorly cut nut can either damp the string's vibration and even cause buzz if the grooves are too deep or it can make the notes up to the 5th fret (aprox) sound sharp if the strings sit too high on it as you have to press harder than needed to make the note ring. An added advantage of the zero fret is that if you decide to use an alternate tuning such as EADGC you don't need to change the nut.
Maruszczyk basses always use top notch electronics. In this case we get two Delano JSBC 5 humbuckers. These pickups are really clean and deep as well as absolutely noisefree. We also love the new Maruszczyk Toneformer preamp which performs flawlessly and offers 2 bands of EQ. In passive mode you get a very traidional type of sound but when you kick in the active mode you get that cool Super Jazz Bass type of sound. Also the Treble pot acts as Passive Tone in that mode, making the bass even more versatile.
String to string balance is exceptional. The Low B is strong and clear as you would expect from a bass with an extra long scale. But the good news is that the other strings don't suffer from excessive tension because the scale is different in all of them. The Multiscale concept really works.
To sum up: a High End Multiscale 5 string bass that is gorgeous, lightweight, versatile, powerful and has an amazing low price tag.
This bass comes with a quality padded gigbag, tools and documents.