MJT NBD and total disappointment

[JIO]

Absolutely, agreed. I’m going to remain neutral and optimistic as you mentioned and hopefully the project will turn out well.

I did see your earlier post, I’m anxious to see the results of your BMM body finishing as well. Please keep us posted when you receive it in June! I’m not sure on the exact ETA of mine yet, but I would imagine it’ll be sometime later this summer (maybe July-Aug).

Dan's the man You can tell him Geo said so!

 

[JIO]

Ive had 3 custom MJT orders with mixed results: mid-60s Lake Placid Blue, translucent brown (George Harrison tele), and mid/60s burgundy mist metallic. The BMM was knocked out of the park-perfect, the LPB didn’t have the depth I wanted and seems to lean a little towards ocean turquoise (slight disappointment) but I still like it, the brown was quite disappointing and I sold it

I also have a charcoal frost metallic and sunburst I bought from their eBay shop, which are both great (might be the beat way to go with MJT). Helpful to keep in mind that their specialty is aged finishes, not exactly custom finishes

sorry about your disappointments. I think if I were to work with them I’d include a picture reference with every email correspondence throughout the process. It helps that they’re good people

I'm not generally a "blue" person but that LPB finish looks great! The BMM looks good too - I'm going for a slightly more amber'd version. But I agree with you, the reason I was drawn to MJT is because of their specialty doing 'aged' finishes. Pat and Marty do wonderful finishes, but not that - it is a speciality. Speaking of which, of course Marty is the king of sparkle finishes.

 

[JIO]

I've only dealt with MJT once. And I'll admit that I was really nervous about getting a color that didn't meet my expectations. I was going to go with Daphne blue, but ended up going for Oly White because I thought there was less chance of being disappointed. They knocked it out of the park. View attachment 3837267

You'd be surprised - even Oly white has many variations. See! There are people happy with what MJT did for them!

 

[JIO]

For the record, I have ordered several bodies from MJT over the past 8 years or so, and MOST of them have been the color I wanted. I don't want to smear them online, that's not my purpose. Hopefully your bodies will be exactly what you want. I just wanted to tell my experience because the last body a few weeks ago was way off the color I asked for, described, and sent pics for reference to what I wanted. And since I had trouble with the chocolate brown body a year or 2 ago, plus the OP's Sherwood green coming out ocean turquoise, personally I don't think I'll be continuing business with them. I hope this is not a trend.

I get it - anyone dealing basses/guitars should know they have sites like tb to keep a sharp focus on their biz. You and I are in that category as well. But as an counter-example I have a close friend who managed a small local cafe for years. Then there was Yelp! which lead to a whole lot of very unreasonable on-line performance criticisms by type-A people, as in - it goes both ways. In general being in biz is a thankless job most of the time and nobody has a perfect record of pleasing their customers/clients. It's alway nice to please people when everything aligns.

I enjoy doing what I do and working with people who want my services. But, I would never - never ever consider being a high-end car finisher. No way - no how. You're life would be a nightmare as car guys are brutally anal retentive AKA ...unreasonable.

 

[Bass4ThePublic]

One thing I will say about MJT is their customer service is excellent. I’ve only dealt with them a couple times and they really excelled at asking me questions and updating me on what I ordered.
Here is a MJT finished P bass project that I sold a while ago.

 

[JIO]

One thing I will say about MJT is their customer service is excellent. I’ve only dealt with them a couple times and they really excelled at asking me questions and updating me on what I ordered.
Here is a P bass project that I sold a while ago.
View attachment 3837330

So far I have found the same thing to be true.

 

[Flooflox]

Speaking of which, of course Marty is the king of sparkle finishes.

View attachment 3837307

Man, what a pleasing looking bass.

 

[Iofflight]

My intention was not to smear Matt and Mark Jenny's business either. I found them really responsive, I think they stay in touch well, I had email responses within the day or 24 hours maximum, the personal sales assistant assigned to me did a good job with her communication and understanding my requests. And once I had to take things up the chain to the owners they were responsive to concerns as well. I wrote a pretty thorough email detailing my issues laying them out and how it left me feeling overall without beating anyone up or casting aspersions. I found their customer service more than satisfactory though I wasn't happy about the extra money I had to spend in shipping, but I also did not ask to be refunded that amount. However the lack of drilled holes for the pickups and ground wire and the color being off twice with having to pay to have it shipped back and redone left me unimpressed. It also cost me a lot of extra time for this build which should have been done by the end of Dec not April.

I tried to do my due diligence reading about other's experiences with them, there is one user with a gorgeous aztec gold and sherwood green bass (that came out much darker than mine.. almost too dark from the pictures it looks like forest green to me) who seemed to be pleased with his experience. I've concluded that if you have a body you want redone with a relic finish they are your best bet, as that is their primary business, otherwise I can't recommend them for the bass body and primary color based on my experience.

 

[JIO]

Man, what a pleasing looking bass.

Which is part of the process. Marty is known for his sparkle finishes. I trusted that reputation and worked with him to determine exactly what I wanted and I was more than pleased with the result. These guys are pros - since the '80s - hundreds of finishes - maybe thousands. Trust me, I've had to return things but not very often. And it's how they dealt with that that makes me keep sending them business. My work is only successful (sellable) because of their work - it's a thread we are both part of. I can't recommend Marty or Pat highly enough. They are at the pointy end of the pyramid of great guitar finishers in the US.

 

[2saddleslab]

MJT has done 3 projects for me starting w/ the evil twins in 2013 [black] & 2014 [Inca Silver] and last years 51 rest-o-ration.

Each project I supplied the parts and all turned out exactly as I wanted. But it's also easier to allow for variances in color with heavier relics vs NOS finishes.

 

[JIO]

MJT has done 3 projects for me starting w/ the evil twins in 2013 [black] & 2014 [Inca Silver] and last years 51 rest-o-ration.
View attachment 3837399
View attachment 3837400

View attachment 3837401

Each project I supplied the parts and all turned out exactly as I wanted. But it's also easier to allow for variances in color with heavier relics vs NOS finishes.

That '51 restoration looks awesome.

 

[2saddleslab]

That '51 restoration looks awesome.

Thank you, sir!

 

[JIO]

Thank you, sir!

I've followed your posts (about your basses) for years now and didn't know MJT did the finishes ... gives me hope that mine will b a success.

 

[2saddleslab]

I've followed your posts (about your basses) for years now and didn't know MJT did the finishes ... gives me hope that mine will b a success.

Hope your's turns out as you expected. Mine were a bit easier being silver, black, blonde, and the fact I'm colorblind.

 

[JIO]

Hope your's turns out as you expected. Mine were a bit easier being silver, black, blonde, and the fact I'm colorblind.

I worked with a decorator for years who is colourblind. He was successful because he understood how he was cb and worked around it. His palette was always creams, light beiges, taupes and tans. When completed the spaces always looked great. He just avoided the colours he didn't see the same as everyone else, or counted on me to keep them in the scheme.

 

[Evanforbass]

Well, this thread is freaking me out a little bit.

I have a “Bass Kit” on order through MJT at the moment. I ordered it back in April before ever seeing this thread.

Interestingly enough my order also includes a Sherwood Green precision style body (along with a Musikraft neck). I’m really hoping it turns out well, this thread is making me wonder if I made the right choice.

The kit already ended up being more expensive than I had originally hoped, so I’m really going to want it all to be right. I will keep you all posted with any relevant updates as I move through the process. Crossing my fingers it turns out well...

they should be sending you updates with pics- if they havent been Id ask for them. I'd also respond to any correspondence they send with your picture reference, or even shoot them a check-in with a reminder of your desired outcome. On some of their mid-project update pics, I noticed that the color didn't look too close, but I thought maybe it'd change at the next phase--those ended up being the ones I was unhappy with. So don't be shy about expressing your concern/restating your desires, I do think they want to get it right

 

[JIO]

Ok, so I just got 'progress pics' from MJT yesterday. So far this is the way I would do it considering I would be trying to keep my client 'in the loop' as it develops. For a standard finish that is agreed on - this step would be an option. For a 'relic' look - it is a visual confirmation and necessary. The body is not done, but has been initially finished. The colour looks ok, again - my view on my screen is a digital representative and I know it will look different in person. It's very difficult to represent a colour with a pic. It's 'close enough' to what I'm imagining, so the base finish/colour is acceptable.

I returned an email requesting more visual 'wear' and included additional examples with what I consider medium relic-ing. Terms like 'light', 'medium, 'heavy' are subjective - everyone has their own take on what each represents to them. The next step is where it gets important - how will they translate what I wrote and sent into what they 'think' I am after. See how tricky that is?

There is a few very small 'nicks' and the artificial chequing/polishing will follow the relic-ing.

Examples sent -

 

[2saddleslab]

@JIO, I did the same process w/ MJT, sending pics of examples of similar wear. MJT would send updated pics where I would request a bit more wear, or confirm the level of wear was complete.

Keep us posted!

 

[JIO]

Getting close - just got these progress pics and sent one more request for more wear on the elbow bout and belly-bevel. I also requested showing more of the white undercoat around the elbow bout wear. I like the believable minimal wear they have done so far but want a bit more in the places where more believable wear happens. I feel the next time they send pics I'll be able to ok it. Once ok'd they will do the artificial chequing and polishing. As they stated as much as 10 weeks turnaround, so far they are on schedule. If they finish it this week it will have been 9 weeks. So far no complaints - their tact/process has been very professional.

 

[OnederTone]

I had a good experience last year with MJT for my aged tts Precision body, and I’m 6 weeks out from a Burgundy Mist Metallic and Fiesta Red that I’m building for a buddy. For the burst, I used pics from their site, and as lame as it sounds narrative examples of what I was thinking. For the burst I said something like “three tone sunburst like the late 60’s Fender, but done on a Friday when they had to spray 20 bodies, but only enough red for 10 so they had to make it stretch” I think they nailed it and got a laugh out of my request! It’s the very faintest of reds into the black... exactly what I was looking for