Mensinger is Maruszczyk Instrument's guitar division but they also make some really cool basses
This model is called JOKER BASS and it is one of Mensinger's most successful deisgns. It is based on a classic guitar and we love the carved top and semihollow construction with F Holes.
As you can see in the pictures this is a 4 string semihollow bass and one of the most striking features is the incredibly low weight of just 3.6kg. Of course the semihollow body design helps too.
The use of a maple neck that sets on an alder body is the perfect base for sustain and punch.
We love the gorgeous matt black finish and the white accent lines (binding) at the f holes.
The neck sports 22 frets and there's unrestricted access up to the end. Scale is short (30") which coupled with a 41mm nut and 19mm spacing at the bridge create an incredibly comfortable feeling.
Using a separate bridge and tailpiece is a great idea to transmit more of the string's vibrations to the body and the angle at the break point also helps heep the bass in tune.
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 nots 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 a set of Delano Delano SBC 4 HE/S pickups and they sound great. Deep and clear and completely noise free. Electronics are Maruszczyk's ownToneformer 3 band Active-Passive. You get Volume, Balance, 3 band EQ. As an added bonus, the Treble pot acts as Passive tone in Passive mode
String to string balance is exceptional.
To sum up: a High End 4 string semihollow 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.