• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

The Official MTD USA Thread

#4,781
Just a semantics check here, to make sure I'm not muddying the waters (more than usual). Compared to other "tone" woods, I understand the sonic effects of buckeye to be minimal at best. Compared to not having a top/tone wood at all, buckeye would indeed add a bit of punchiness/focus. The theory/logic being that additional types/layers of wood simply effect the resonance of the body.

Total tangent/FWIW thing, but my absolute favorite MTD was an alder/maple (burl) body with a maple neck and rosewood board. Still had that MTD "Gotcha!" bite and sizzle, but with a lot of extra warmth and lower-mid happiness. Very versatile sound, and I recall thinking on just how many gigs I could use that bass. As much as I love my walnut beast, it's certainly a bull-in-a-china-shop for some of the stuff I do.
 
#4,783
Vic said:
Well, I definitely trust Mike's word on this, but this still comes as a surprise. I just figured every kind of wood does "something" to the sound... again, especially in an MTD. Interesting!
Click to expand...

Even if the buckeye lamination adds nothing, I would think that it does contribute to the tone equation by allowing (requiring?) the use of a thinner piece of body wood, which is something. Or, less of something, as the case may be.
 
#4,784
Vic said:
Well, I definitely trust Mike's word on this, but this still comes as a surprise. I just figured every kind of wood does "something" to the sound... again, especially in an MTD. Interesting!
Click to expand...

Have you ever held a piece of Buckeye in your hand? It weighs almost nothing. In fact, it's so soft and light that I'd think it would actually have an absorbing quality to it.
 
#4,785
VroomVroom said:
Total tangent/FWIW thing, but my absolute favorite MTD was an alder/maple (burl) body with a maple neck and rosewood board. Still had that MTD "Gotcha!" bite and sizzle, but with a lot of extra warmth and lower-mid happiness. Very versatile sound, and I recall thinking on just how many gigs I could use that bass. As much as I love my walnut beast, it's certainly a bull-in-a-china-shop for some of the stuff I do.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've played one of these too, and while I still prefer my ash/walnut/maple 535 to those, I've always said if I got another MTD, that'd be the combo. No doubt.
 
#4,786
LikeButtah said:
This is all fine by me.. I've always thought Buckeye basses looked like mold.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know buckeye burls are real popular with some folks and no offense to them, but it's by far my least favorite topwood. Just never got into the yellow/grey thing at all. :hmm:
 
#4,787
Halftooth said:
Have you ever held a piece of Buckeye in your hand? It weighs almost nothing. In fact, it's so soft and light that I'd think it would actually have an absorbing quality to it.
Click to expand...
But exactly! That's my point (and I think Tom's too). Having buckeye as a topwood, in theory, should have a different effect than other topwoods simply because it's different from them. And even if it's supposedly like having a solid body with no topwood (as one interpretation of "having no effect"), your description makes it sound like it's different enough from ash, alder, or poplar, that it WOULD change the tone from the alternative of having no topwood or a different topwood.

That's exactly what confuses me about your comments (and I guess Mike's).
 
#4,788
To understand buckeye, I think you need to understand the difference between tonal "properties" and tonal "qualities". Buckeye, just like a piece of plastic, has a tonal "property" but for the same reason very few people would string a bass across a plastic body (with the exception of BC Rich), the tone has very little "quality"; my guess is buckeye probably subtracts from what most people would consider "quality" tone, but alas it's in the ear of the beholder.
 
#4,791
LikeButtah said:
To understand buckeye, I think you need to understand the difference between tonal "properties" and tonal "qualities". Buckeye, just like a piece of plastic, has a tonal "property" but for the same reason very few people would string a bass across a plastic body (with the exception of BC Rich), the tone has very little "quality"; my guess is buckeye probably subtracts from what most people would consider "quality" tone, but alas it's in the ear of the beholder.
Click to expand...
Property is scientific, quality is subjective. Whether it's a positive or negative depends on what the player is looking for, so IMHO, property is all that matters. You have to know what it does to decide if it's what you want (or not). One man's pleasure is another man's poison, no absolutes, no right/wrong and all that kinda' thing. You know.
 
#4,792
Halftooth said:
I don't think many builders use a big enough piece of Buckeye that the top would alter the tone enough that it would be noticeable.
Click to expand...
I totally agree for someone like Roger, who uses a very thin piece, but Mike traditionally uses very thick pieces, so I don't think this holds true for an MTD... at least not a USA model anyway.
 
#4,797
Here are my two MTDs:

One is ash/tiger myrtle, maple/maple, and the other is alder/bloodwood, maple/ebony... Thanks for letting me in the club!!!! :bassist:
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back