The Official MTD USA Thread

[XavidmanX]

He mentioned that tombowlus i THINK, and Justin from the Bass Exchange, thought so too.

I mentioned Vic and Justin (good to see you hangin' around the MTD forum!!).

For the record, Tulipwood/myrtle or maple burl/wenge/wenge is Justin's favorite wood combo. He said he notices the compression with dead strings, but mentioned that he changes the strings often enough that it's really not an issue for him, IIRC.

 

[Halftooth]

I do remember xavidman telling me that he would need fresh strings on his wenge/wenge because once the strings got dull, the compression would kill the tone of the bass.

FWIW, I thought just about the same thing with my Wenge/Wenge MTDs...I couldn't really put my finger on where the compression was but rather just a general sense of overall compression, and I made that statement in several posts about the topic.

As I stated in that prior post, I hadn't been playing my MTDs much in favor of playing my two Skjold's. At any rate, I realized that it had been a good long time since I had changed the strings, so I changed them and put on some SS DR LR's.

I can pretty much say now that I feel stupid for my comments...the upper mid "choke" is pretty much as plain as day and the Wenge characteristics really were brought out again...low mids push and bright, crisp highs (which I always associate with Wenge). I would also say that the switch went from NP to SS strings as well, and for whatever reason, I was using NPs on my MTDs and that really dulled things up.

Anyhow, I guess that was a lesson learned about trying to make tonal statements with dull or dead strings.

Still diggin the Wenge/Wenge FWIW and would still be interested in comparing them with the Ash.

 

[Vic]

...the upper mid "choke" is pretty much as plain as day and the Wenge characteristics really were brought out again...low mids push and bright, crisp highs (which I always associate with Wenge).

Totally concur.

Still diggin the Wenge/Wenge FWIW and would still be interested in comparing them with the Ash.

I'd love to hear your comments on that neck myself.

 

[XavidmanX]

Still diggin the Wenge/Wenge FWIW and would still be interested in comparing them with the Ash.

We really have to hook up sometime and play...we're close enough and I would love to hear your Skjolds!!

 

[Halftooth]

We really have to hook up sometime and play...we're close enough and I would love to hear your Skjolds!!

You bet! Only problem would be the GAS that you'd acquire from hearing and seeing them in person would be hard to deal with.

Pete makes a hell of a bass...now back to our MTD talk!

 

[xkimsungminx]

I mentioned Vic and Justin (good to see you hangin' around the MTD forum!!).

For the record, Tulipwood/myrtle or maple burl/wenge/wenge is Justin's favorite wood combo. He said he notices the compression with dead strings, but mentioned that he changes the strings often enough that it's really not an issue for him, IIRC.

Haha yup, hanging around the MTD thread is giving me lots of information on what I should/shouldn't look out for in my pursuit of an MTD, and all the things you guys are telling me are very insightful, even the stuff dealing with frequencies and what not .

So on that note, I guess, unless I plan on spending a lot of money on fresh strings, I should try to stay away from Wenge/Wenge , even though I REALLY do like the slapping tone of that combo.

 

[livingstone]

unless I plan on spending a lot of money on fresh strings, I should try to stay away from Wenge/Wenge

Just a string change once every three months with DR Hi-Beams is all it takes with my wenge/wenge. I just can't imagine a sweeter tone!

 

[neptoon]

hmmm...i think i only changed the strings on my 535 (wenge) twice, but that's more personal preference than anything else...i also used d'addario xl's, which kinda goes against the 'mtd' grain...on the same note, my mtd jazz will be shipping with the new mtd nickels, so i may end up changing my brand after all

 

[Vic]

Re: string changing frequency...
String death is a REALLY individual thing... I know guys who can play a bunch and go months between changes. Their hands are just not that deadly towards strings (except for special circumstances like outdoor gigs on hot humid summer days). I also know guys that can just about wipe a set of strings completely out in one night... even if they wash their hands and wipe the strings down between sets.

Also, this thing about wenge and dead strings... I do believe it's very real, especially since many unrelated people have said so... HOWEVER, I also think this is very individual and depending on the sound you go for, your technique, and of course the strings you use.

I'm actually a little surprised it took as long as it did for a wenge MTD'er to speak up and say it wasn't an issue, to be honest.

Anyway, my .02 as usual.

 

[KJung]

Re: string changing frequency...
String death is a REALLY individual thing... I know guys who can play a bunch and go months between changes. Their hands are just not that deadly towards strings (except for special circumstances like outdoor gigs on hot humid summer days). I also know guys that can just about wipe a set of strings completely out in one night... even if they wash their hands and wipe the strings down between sets.

Also, this thing about wenge and dead strings... I do believe it's very real, especially since many unrelated people have said so... HOWEVER, I also think this is very individual and depending on the sound you go for, your technique, and of course the strings you use.

I'm actually a little surprised it took as long as it did for a wenge MTD'er to speak up and say it wasn't an issue, to be honest.

Anyway, my .02 as usual.

I too found that my wenge MTD was 'hard' on strings, and I changed mine often. I think this is due to the incredible range of the wenge instruments... from the deepest lows to the most sizzly 8K high end. Those are the frequencies that go first on strings... the deep deeps and the sizzliest sizzle, and since the MTD/wenge 'transmits' those extreme frequencies more efficiently than any other bass I've ever owned, you really notice it when the strings start going dead.

This is much less of an issue with other basses, and in my limited experience, with other wood combinations with MTD's. However, as I've said before, that light ash/tulipwood body with wenge MTD seemed to be the 'classic' MTD tone that Mike 'had in his head' when he designed these basses, and that wood combination is the only one to my ear that does that 'wire on wood' sort of tone... big, aggressive, but with lot's of organic wood in the tone.

However, you do pay a price in that the 'magic' can disappear when strings start to 'dull' up a bit. I usually changed my MTD strings every 5 gigs or two weeks, whatever came first.

With my J basses and DR Hi Beams, I can go double that now

 

[vision]

I have the same issue with wenge and dead strings. As others have stated, it's not that the strings go dead quicker, its that dead strings on a wenge neck sound much more "harsh" than dead strings on another neck wood. It was a big problem at first, until I implemented the PVC pipe/denatured alcohal method for string cleaning...I've been switching between two sets of strings on my MTD since August of last year and have gotten GREAT results! I change them once per week.

 

[Vic]

I have the same issue with wenge and dead strings. As others have stated, it's not that the strings go dead quicker, its that dead strings on a wenge neck sound much more "harsh" than dead strings on another neck wood. It was a big problem at first, until I implemented the PVC pipe/denatured alcohal method for string cleaning...I've been switching between two sets of strings on my MTD since August of last year and have gotten GREAT results! I change them once per week.

As a side note, this is actually saying a lot more than it appears, 'cause Jason is PARTICULARLY hard on strings.

 

[xkimsungminx]

I have the same issue with wenge and dead strings. As others have stated, it's not that the strings go dead quicker, its that dead strings on a wenge neck sound much more "harsh" than dead strings on another neck wood. It was a big problem at first, until I implemented the PVC pipe/denatured alcohal method for string cleaning...I've been switching between two sets of strings on my MTD since August of last year and have gotten GREAT results! I change them once per week.

Hm.. interesting. Where do you get denatured alcohol and what exactly do you need to do? (Just let your strings sit in it for a while and use reuse them?)

 

[Bassflute]

Hm.. interesting. Where do you get denatured alcohol and what exactly do you need to do? (Just let your strings sit in it for a while and use reuse them?)

works great! And you can just use methyl hydrate - just as good, and 1/10th the price.

http://www.tunemybass.com/strings/bass_string_cleaning_tube.html

Cheers,
Cameron

 

[vision]

As a side note, this is actually saying a lot more than it appears, 'cause Jason is PARTICULARLY hard on strings.

Yep!!! When I say I change my strings every week, that's like a string change for every gig, sometimes just for rehearsal...depending on the gig I can hear my strings start to go dead after two or three songs...

The denatured alcohal with PVC pipe method has saved me a FORTUNE!

 

[xkimsungminx]

works great! And you can just use methyl hydrate - just as good, and 1/10th the price.

http://www.tunemybass.com/strings/bass_string_cleaning_tube.html

Cheers,
Cameron

Wow, nice!! I'll definitely give this a try. Haha, if this works out for me too, I just might give getting a Wenge/Wenge MTD a shot since the string life/compression thing was my main concern.

And by the way, do you guys know if this works the same or will work properly for coated strings? (Namely DR Black Beauties since that's what I have on my Roscoe currently)

And from your guys' experience do the strings "after" treatment last just as long as a new set of the same kind of set before having to re-do the alcohol treatment again?

[Sorry if this is going too off topic from MTDs, but since it might be useful to other people as well.. ]

 

[vision]

Wow, nice!! I'll definitely give this a try. Haha, if this works out for me too, I just might give getting a Wenge/Wenge MTD a shot since the string life/compression thing was my main concern.

And by the way, do you guys know if this works the same or will work properly for coated strings? (Namely DR Black Beauties since that's what I have on my Roscoe currently)

And from your guys' experience do the strings "after" treatment last just as long as a new set of the same kind of set before having to re-do the alcohol treatment again?

[Sorry if this is going too off topic from MTDs, but since it might be useful to other people as well.. ]

I'm not sure if it would work on coated strings, because it may wear off the coating. As far as how long they last, I actually get better results with a freshly cleaned set than I do with a new set. A cleaned set won't have that "brand new" zing that a new set will have (too zingy for me anyways) but they will have that sound from right after the initial "overzingyness" wears off. A cleaned set will stay in that stage much longer than a new set for me.

This is completely different from boiling strings. I tried that years ago and never got good results. Some of the strings would sound new while others were still dead, and all of the strings would die out way quicker than with the denatured alcohol method.

There are tons of threads on this in the strings forum if you need more info...that's where I learned about it. I think there used to be an anchored thread about it, but I'm not sure now.

 

[maconbass]

Yep, I've been doing the denatured alcohol thing for a while too. Changing strings every week was getting a bit expensive. I just use a Tupperware container large enough to wind the strings up and immerse them.

 

[tombowlus]

Re: string changing frequency...
String death is a REALLY individual thing... I know guys who can play a bunch and go months between changes. Their hands are just not that deadly towards strings (except for special circumstances like outdoor gigs on hot humid summer days). I also know guys that can just about wipe a set of strings completely out in one night... even if they wash their hands and wipe the strings down between sets.

Also, this thing about wenge and dead strings... I do believe it's very real, especially since many unrelated people have said so... HOWEVER, I also think this is very individual and depending on the sound you go for, your technique, and of course the strings you use.

I'm actually a little surprised it took as long as it did for a wenge MTD'er to speak up and say it wasn't an issue, to be honest.

Anyway, my .02 as usual.

That's a very good point. My hands really don't sweat to any appreciable degree, and I can go a long time without changing strings (unless, as Vic mentioned, the gig conditions contribute to early string death).

But, I do know certain other players (who will remain nameless, for now ) who played some of my basses for like 5 minutes at a GTG, and took strings from new to deader than a doornail. Of course, the primary individual involved did so while coaxing some of the best tones I have ever heard out of those strings, so it may be that he just makes strings use up all their good tones more quickly than the rest of us.

Tom.

 

[XavidmanX]

I can hardly contain myself. I just spoke with Mike "The Man" Tobias and he shipped out my bass today. I sprung for next day air so it should be here tomorrow by 3pm!!

I'm charging my camera as we speak and I just bought a set of XL Depends for when I open the box. I'm set.