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Malden Mozak
Twang 10!
Amongst the new wave of guitar brands, Malden seems to be
turning the most heads. Their guitars not only have a look
that references the classics without getting out the
cookie-cutter but also boast tones and setups that belie
their offshore origins. The Mozak, equal parts pawnshop
prize, country classic and gnarly surf plank, thoroughly
embodies this philosophy.
THE MOZAK MOJO
Much of the Mozak can be traced directly to Leo Fender’s
drawing board. The single coil pickups, ashtray bridge, and
six-in-line tuners hark back to Fender’s first classic,
while the offset double-cutaway body design has the vibe of
those '60s models so beloved by that era’s surf bands. Yet
the tastefully skewed curves and the yellowed pearloid
pickguard suggest, almost ironically, the first wave of
Japanese imports from that same era. The guitar's
impeccable three-toned sunburst finish highlights a
remarkable amount of grain for a basswood body, giving the
Mozak a kind of upscale pawnshop vibe, it looks like
something you might have found in the hands of
Muddy Waters circa 1963.
Once you play the Mozak, you'll experience yet another kind
of mojo. The neck’s full C contour, 1-11/16” nut width, and
tall, narrow frets make the playing experience more akin to
that of a chunky single-cut. There's an incredible
attention to detail here, the perfectly cut Micarta nut, an
electronics cavity shielded with neatly applied nickel
paint, and a fine out-of-the-box setup. Sticklers for
intonation might fuss over the three barrel bridge saddles,
but we found the pitches they rendered to be more then
acceptable. Of course, the bridge surround will accept an
upgrade to six individual saddles if that's your preference.
MO’ CLUCK ‘N’ SNAP
The tone, while pretty darn close to what you’d expect from
an American-made axe with a similar pickup configuration, is
filtered ever so slightly by the warmth of the basswood
body. The bridge pickup has loads of stringy snap, the dual
pickup setting delivers a henhouse full of cluck, and the
neck position is clear and clangorous, yet just a bit
reserved. The pickups do, however, lack some of the thump
of top shelf transducers, and their low output will tend to
generate more fizz than aggressive bark when overdriven.
But keep this axe on the clean side, and you’ll find plenty
of settings suitable for hot country, well-mannered blues,
and wide-collared funk.
There exist traditionalists who insist on “playing with
their eyes,”--these players wouldn't accept an axe outfitted
with this pickup configuration if it jumped off of the cover
of Springsteen's Born To Run. Fortunately, Malden is
more open-minded in its design approach, and the Mozak gives
similarly open-minded players an axe worthy of their tastes
and techniques. If you lean toward the clean-toned
variants of America’s roots music, or if you want to carve a
whole new path of cluck and clang, the attractively priced
Mozak could be exactly what you need. |
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