Yesterday I was given a real treat. As some of you know I recently lost my beautiful Roscoe SKB 3006 6 string bass while on tour in Greece. I've since replaced it with a MTD Kingston Z6 6 string bass. When I bought it, the dealer was going out of business and had no gig bags or cases that fit it, or were worthy of protecting the bass. I went to MTD's website and called the number, thinking that I might be able to drive to the factory and get myself a nice gig bag in a hurry, because I was traveling with the bass so soon that ordering the bag would get it to me too late.
When I called, to my surprise, but who answers the phone? That's right Michael Tobias himself. He said he had some gig bags that I could come and pick up. I said thanks and the next day I packed up my bass and my wife and we went on a 2 hour drive to MTD's Kingston NY shop.
When I arrived, I was greeted by Charlie Knicely, who is exactly that, a real nice guy. He pointed out the shop door, which happened to be on the front of a free standing 2 car garage and led me into the shop.
Once entering the quaint and dusty shop, I heard Michael's voice talking on the phone on the opposite end of the shop, so my wife and I chatted with Charlie for a while longer while we waited for Michael to get off the phone. The whole time driving up to the shop I tried to think of things to say to Michael. One of which was, can I take a tour of the shop? It was obvious as soon as I walked in the door, that just a few steps to look around and that was the tour.
Michael soon ended his conversation and came over to us and I introduced myself and my wife to him. We shook hands and he started moving some gig bags around and showed me a few. All of which I thought were perfect for the job plus they all had a neat MTD logo on them. I was sold.
I asked him if he wanted to see the bass I had just gotten, knowing it was one of the basses he has made in China, I thought maybe he'd like to get a look at the work they are doing for him over there. He picked it up and I felt like I was putting it in the hands of it's father who the bass had never met. He asked me if I minded if he worked on the bass at all. I didn't hesitate for a second and said, "Sure, of course". He looked it up and down, ran his hands up the neck and laid it on the work bench. He asked me what string were on it. I turned away for a moment to talk to my wife and when I turned back, Michael had already removed the strings and was taking the neck of the bass! I thought for a split second, "Hey! What are you..... Oh he knows what he's doing"
By the time he had finished working on the bass, he had sanded the frets, oiled the fretboard, adjusted the truss rod, adjusted the action and intonation and put on a fresh set of strings. He handed it back to me and said, "play it for while, so the strings can stretch out". When I picked it up it was like I was playing a completely different and much better bass than what I had originally bought, which wasn't bad at all, but now this thing was like butter! Smooth and so easy to play, I was in awe, extremely thankful and more than ever a massive MTD fan.
Michael didn't charge me for the set up work he did or the strings. Just the gig bag. I will never forget that day and the kindness and generosity of a man who I thought may not have had the time of day for me. Boy was I wrong and I strongly suspect that MTD basses will be the only basses I ever own again.
I will be posting some pics on my website when I get back from my current tour. I'll let you guys know when they're up.
Thank you Michael Tobias!
When I called, to my surprise, but who answers the phone? That's right Michael Tobias himself. He said he had some gig bags that I could come and pick up. I said thanks and the next day I packed up my bass and my wife and we went on a 2 hour drive to MTD's Kingston NY shop.
When I arrived, I was greeted by Charlie Knicely, who is exactly that, a real nice guy. He pointed out the shop door, which happened to be on the front of a free standing 2 car garage and led me into the shop.
Once entering the quaint and dusty shop, I heard Michael's voice talking on the phone on the opposite end of the shop, so my wife and I chatted with Charlie for a while longer while we waited for Michael to get off the phone. The whole time driving up to the shop I tried to think of things to say to Michael. One of which was, can I take a tour of the shop? It was obvious as soon as I walked in the door, that just a few steps to look around and that was the tour.
Michael soon ended his conversation and came over to us and I introduced myself and my wife to him. We shook hands and he started moving some gig bags around and showed me a few. All of which I thought were perfect for the job plus they all had a neat MTD logo on them. I was sold.
I asked him if he wanted to see the bass I had just gotten, knowing it was one of the basses he has made in China, I thought maybe he'd like to get a look at the work they are doing for him over there. He picked it up and I felt like I was putting it in the hands of it's father who the bass had never met. He asked me if I minded if he worked on the bass at all. I didn't hesitate for a second and said, "Sure, of course". He looked it up and down, ran his hands up the neck and laid it on the work bench. He asked me what string were on it. I turned away for a moment to talk to my wife and when I turned back, Michael had already removed the strings and was taking the neck of the bass! I thought for a split second, "Hey! What are you..... Oh he knows what he's doing"
By the time he had finished working on the bass, he had sanded the frets, oiled the fretboard, adjusted the truss rod, adjusted the action and intonation and put on a fresh set of strings. He handed it back to me and said, "play it for while, so the strings can stretch out". When I picked it up it was like I was playing a completely different and much better bass than what I had originally bought, which wasn't bad at all, but now this thing was like butter! Smooth and so easy to play, I was in awe, extremely thankful and more than ever a massive MTD fan.
Michael didn't charge me for the set up work he did or the strings. Just the gig bag. I will never forget that day and the kindness and generosity of a man who I thought may not have had the time of day for me. Boy was I wrong and I strongly suspect that MTD basses will be the only basses I ever own again.
I will be posting some pics on my website when I get back from my current tour. I'll let you guys know when they're up.
Thank you Michael Tobias!
