u/Camp-Creature

Here's my outdoor / big venue rig. I practice through it because why not (and I use the head for smaller 2x10" and 4x10" setups along with a Rockville RSX20 stand).

Details:

* Bergantino Forté HP Ultra head (2000W @ 4 ohms, 1700W @ 2.67 ohms, 1200W @ 2 ohms, 1000W @ 8 ohms)

* Mark Bass 104 Energy (4x10" speakers, 8 ohms, 800W RMS, 36lbs)

* AccuGroove El Whappo (1x15", 1x12", 1x6", 2xtweeters, 4 ohms, 800W RMS, 60lbs)

* Behringer BXL3000A (1x15", 300W RMS, 65lbs)

* Dingwall NG3 5-string guitar (one of several instruments I have)

* and of course the pedals; I don't use the BDDI as a preamp in this setup.

I also have other heads and other cabs (two Mark Bass 102HF cabs, F1 Limited head, Little Mark III head).

The front of house system I am using as song practice:

Two Peavey PVXP-15 tops (980W RMS each), QSC KW181 sub (1000W RMS), Phenyx Pro mixer)

Just received my new bass from The Vibrato Bar in Hamilton, ON. Good price, good service. It seems like other than Adrian Maruszczyk, everyone in the bass world I deal with is great!

Dingwall Combustion NG3 5-string, Adam "Nolly" Getgood edition. 37"-34" scale, with Darkglass preamp.

This replaces the Ibanez Fishman Blue EHB I had purchased a week ago. The shop wanted to repair it, and return the repaired bass to me over at least a week and with no discount. And complained that if I wouldn't accept it, they'd put it for sale at demo pricing.... WTH?! Yeah, so I came up with some more money and stepped up.

This thing has terrific build quality. I'll find out more about sound and playability shortly, as I finish up work so that I can have a good test with it. A quick play tells me that the reach to fret 1 is about the same as my Warwick Corvette $$, which is a 34.5" scale instrument.

Out of nowhere, the nut / retainer join on my headless Frog has split. This is my favorite instrument right now and I haven't dropped, bumped or abused this instrument. You can see the other screw point is also starting to crack. I am gutted, this is such a special thing and developed this in the last few days, right after I'm motivated to play more by seeing Rush perform.

Picture:

https://i.imgur.com/cMFr7DQ.jpeg

When I looked at this new, I did notice that the retainer didn't sit fully flush with the wood, but wasn't loose. I didn't tighten it, because I am no Luthier. So, in other words, this likely started before I received the instrument and I talked myself into believing it was normal. The neck is hard rock maple, painted matte with Macassar ebony fingerboard.

I contacted Mark @ Bass North where I bought the instrument, and we agreed to send the pictures to Adrian Maruszczyk and see what he had to say. We talked about it for a while and agreed that a new neck was probably the best outcome.

The instrument was at a tech some time ago to change the strings and do the first setup after a few weeks of playing, and because I disclosed that, Adrian has decided that the instrument was damaged by the technician somehow. I call *bullshit* on that for more than one reason, first it shouldn't be easy to tighten the screws beyond the wood's capabilities and second the bass was in use for weeks after that setup. I just talked to the tech who told me that he didn't touch the retainer because it's a zero-fret instrument, which means the nut doesn't need or want adjustment.

Adrian told Mark that he has made more than 100 headless basses this year alone without failures, but that is meaningless to me, I have had a design failure - end of story. There's no way for me to prove it or to compel him otherwise. So in short, the factory won't stand behind their product in this case and has decided to scapegoat the technician who did a setup and changed the strings. What a disappointment.

At Mark's request, I took it to an instrument repair business which is widely known (there were likely 50 instruments in view in the shop!) and in a small miracle, only 30 minutes from my home. He remarked that putting a screw that close to the edge of any wood is a carpenter's mistake and has a higher chance to fail. But he's confident that he can permanently repair it, so I am hopeful. However, other Luthiers have commented that the design may be aesthetically pleasing, but puts a lot of stress on the retainer screws that has been solved by other designs from companies like Ibanez and Steinberger, which screw a plate to the top of the neck or run the strings through a short neck head so that the plate takes the stress and not the screws that take stress from the string tension.

I'm gutted by how great this instrument sounds and plays, and to just throw that experience in the trash with the poorest of customer care and what looks like an obvious design flaw (at least in my instrument) is what kills companies. Adrian hasn't reached out to me at all, only dealt with Mark @ Bass North which also seems to be moderately convinced that the guitar tech did this, despite me telling him that I noticed that it wasn't fully flush when I received it (hindsight is 20/20).

For that reason, I would advise ANYONE with one of these headless basses to be sure that their retainer sits fully flat against the neck, because if it doesn't, there is a good chance that your instrument is developing a similar problem. Don't be like me and think initially "that's how it is, I guess", because this could be the result. Having said that, I sincerely hope that nobody else runs into this and my case is unique.

Pic of the bass just a little more than a week ago at its first gig:

https://i.imgur.com/iiagNfz.jpeg

URL for the Luthier that has my instrument right now:

https://www.rosschiasson.com/

Now, since I needed another 5-string bass guitar as a backup for my gigs, I had a Maruszczyk bass specced (Cazpar body with head, same pickups, adler body) but immediately went out and researched the Ibanez headless basses since I've played one and liked it despite it being an entry-level version. They're chambered and relatively light. I don't hang around when I want to do something and rather than spend my money with Adrian Maruszczyk, I've bought a Ibanez EHB5MSBSPMAM because numerous people as well as an accomplished 5-string / 6-string player I know told me that it's a really great instrument and that it's a special edition that looks better in person than in images (it's not my favorite looking thing, but practicality is more important for gigs).

So indulge me in this: get fucked, Adrian, you just turned an evangelist into a sceptic.