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The Official MTD USA Thread

#4,482
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^ ^ That might be my favorite MTD. Terrific bass, and incredibly versatile. It also holds a soft spot for me because it was the catalyst for what has become a great friendship between the original owner and myself. Great bass.

Hard to pass on an opportunity to share mine. I love 'em both...

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Edit...forgot sound clips.

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#4,486
VroomVroom said:
Thanks! Nope, both are walnut burl. The 535 has a maple neck and the 635 has an ash one, otherwise they're nearly identical in spec...but quite a bit different in character. The 535 is just an absolute beast down low, where the 635 is voiced most strongly in the upper mids.
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Really spectacular tops. I'm hoping to get enough saved for a second MTD with a similar top to either of yours. Not sure whether the ash or maple neck would suit me best.
 
#4,489
For those of you who have ash necks on your MTDs, how do you find them stability-wise? I'm thinking about getting an ash neck on my next MTD and am trying to decide between ash and maple. I've heard lots of good things about the sound of ash, but very few comments about its stability. I live in Montreal, where an unstable neck would be a serious pain. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
 
#4,490
bass12 said:
For those of you who have ash necks on your MTDs, how do you find them stability-wise? I'm thinking about getting an ash neck on my next MTD and am trying to decide between ash and maple. I've heard lots of good things about the sound of ash, but very few comments about its stability. I live in Montreal, where an unstable neck would be a serious pain. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
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I've had three of them so far, and all three were at least as stable as any maple neck I've ever had on ANY brand of instrument. You have NOTHING to worry about. :)

Oh, and I live in Illinois, where the only thing that changes more radically and more quickly than the weather is the whim of a woman. :)
 
#4,491
Vic said:
I've had three of them so far, and all three were at least as stable as any maple neck I've ever had on ANY brand of instrument. You have NOTHING to worry about. :)

Oh, and I live in Illinois, where the only thing that changes more radically and more quickly than the weather is the whim of a woman. :)
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Thanks, Vic - I know you have a lot of experience with these basses so your input is appreciated. I'll also add that my desire for an ash/walnut, ash/maple combo was largely inspired by your lovely instruments and all the good comments I've heard about that particular wood combination in this thread.
 
#4,492
bass12 said:
Thanks, Vic - I know you have a lot of experience with these basses so your input is appreciated. I'll also add that my desire for an ash/walnut, ash/maple combo was largely inspired by your lovely instruments and all the good comments I've heard about that particular wood combination in this thread.
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Thanks! I'm just a huge fan of Mike's work. :)
 
#4,493
Vic said:
Thanks! I'm just a huge fan of Mike's work. :)
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I'm planning on ordering my 535 at the end of the week. I've never ordered directly from Mike before. Do you have any tips about the process (anything in particular I should be asking about)? I think I'm aware of all my options, but I'd hate to find out later that I "should have asked about the...". Thanks!
 
#4,494
bass12 said:
I'm planning on ordering my 535 at the end of the week. I've never ordered directly from Mike before. Do you have any tips about the process (anything in particular I should be asking about)? I think I'm aware of all my options, but I'd hate to find out later that I "should have asked about the...". Thanks!
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Start by telling Mike what sound you want, what music you play, what your style is like, and if you have any weight restrictions. Mike will then present you with some wood combo options from which you can then make your aesthetic and final tone choice from (he'll most typically offer more than one wood/tone variant).

Keep an open mind on woods as much as you can, don't get too hung up on a particular kind of wood in a particular place on the bass. Allow tone to come first, and trust Mike to come up with something stellar even if it's not necessarily what you might have initially thought of.

Where some folks get tripped up is they get so hung up on certain woods for certain parts of the bass, they put aesthetics above tone, and never have the proper "MTD experience". They often also do this based on the flawed assumption that something they have in their head is the only thing that can possibly look as good as they'd like.

Take my case, for example... I was never really into walnut tops all that much, and I never even heard of using ash for a neck. At this point, I think this walnut/ash ash/maple 535 is not only the best looking MTD I've ever had, or maybe even seen, but it's also the one that fits me better than any other I've played, and that's a lot of 535's at this point.

In short, trust Mike. Tell him what you want, not what to do.
 
#4,496
bass12 said:
For those of you who have ash necks on your MTDs, how do you find them stability-wise?
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Ok, I can definitely comment on this, although I think my experience is pretty uncommon. My previous MTD 535-24 had an ash neck that looked fabulous, but was not that stable or adjustable for low action. (In fact, it needed a refret, to stop buzzing!) I had it checked out by a number of reputable luthiers and their opinion was that the neck was not very strong front-to-back, as it had been slab-cut and had lots of grain irregularities and weak areas. Looking at the back of the neck, it had lots of lovely oval-shaped grain patterns, but not a lot of straight grain running from body to headstock. I've since bought another ash/ash MTD with mostly straight grain-lines and it's far more stable and the same luthiers have given it the big thumbs up as far as wood-strength goes.

Cheers,

EG
 
#4,497
evilgus said:
Ok, I can definitely comment on this, although I think my experience is pretty uncommon. My previous MTD 535-24 had an ash neck that looked fabulous, but was not that stable or adjustable for low action. (In fact, it needed a refret, to stop buzzing!) I had it checked out by a number of reputable luthiers and their opinion was that the neck was not very strong front-to-back, as it had been slab-cut and had lots of grain irregularities and weak areas. Looking at the back of the neck, it had lots of lovely oval-shaped grain patterns, but not a lot of straight grain running from body to headstock. I've since bought another ash/ash MTD with mostly straight grain-lines and it's far more stable and the same luthiers have given it the big thumbs up as far as wood-strength goes.

Cheers,

EG
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That's interesting. How did Michael Tobias respond to this (I'm assuming you discussed the problem with him) and why did you go back for another ash neck after experiencing problems with the first?
 
#4,498
evilgus said:
Ok, I can definitely comment on this, although I think my experience is pretty uncommon. My previous MTD 535-24 had an ash neck that looked fabulous, but was not that stable or adjustable for low action. (In fact, it needed a refret, to stop buzzing!) I had it checked out by a number of reputable luthiers and their opinion was that the neck was not very strong front-to-back, as it had been slab-cut and had lots of grain irregularities and weak areas. Looking at the back of the neck, it had lots of lovely oval-shaped grain patterns, but not a lot of straight grain running from body to headstock. I've since bought another ash/ash MTD with mostly straight grain-lines and it's far more stable and the same luthiers have given it the big thumbs up as far as wood-strength goes.
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What those guys are talking about is the debate between quarter-sawn and flat-sawn (slab cut is not correct terminology as far as I've ever heard or known, that's most typically used for fingerboard types as far as I've seen).

The expected stability of each cut type is is probably one of the most highly debated topics among luthiers. Here's the thing... that's not limited to ash necks. The same exact debate is also valid for maple, and other woods. The reason the debate persists is because nothing has been proven either way. There's been no definitive proof that a quarter-sawn neck is inherently more stable than a flat-sawn neck. In fact, most of my basses have flat-sawn necks, and I have NO stability issues whatsoever. None.

That said, sometimes a piece of wood will fool a luthier and be much less stable than predicted. This is where you have to give them the opportunity to build a replacement. It doesn't happen very often at the high end, but obviously, it does happen.

bass12 said:
That's interesting. How did Michael Tobias respond to this (I'm assuming you discussed the problem with him)
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I'm guessing he may not have done this because he lives in Australia, which would complicate the logistics of a "repair" greatly.
 
#4,499
FWIW, I've had no stability issues with my ash-necked bass. I've played three additional instruments since then, and all of them seem to really speak in the upper mids. Even by typical MTD standards, these basses have a lot of bark. I'm not trying to make a blanket statement about ash necks...just sharing my experience. :D By comparison, my maple-necked 535 is just a beast down low...it's actually an interesting experience playing them back-to-back.
 

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