The Official MTD USA Thread

[Vic]

What is that?! VERY nice, and quite different looking.

Walnut.

 

[anezthes]

NO! Dude, the flamed blistered gaboon ebony on the Marilyn is PERFECT for that wood combo and chambered design, IMHO.

Close-up pic of board of fingers we can haz, yes?

 

[bassistck]

Man, I can't wait to see that with a finish on it. That is some of the best looking walnut I've ever seen. Wow, what a cool figure!

Thanks Vic, I am glad that you like the top as an exprienced MTD Owner...It's getting hard to wait

 

[Vic]

Close-up pic of board of fingers we can haz, yes?

Well, since it's mostly black gaboon ebony (except for the blistering), the flaming (diagonal striping) is kinda' hard to capture, but you can kinda' see it in the glare of my pics. The blistering is the lighter colored spots. I'll see if I have a better pic or provide one.

 

[Vic]

Close-up pic of board of fingers we can haz, yes?

You can see the blistering (lighter colored brown spots) in several of these pics, and also the diagonal flame stripes if you look closely in some of these.

 

[anezthes]

Thanks for the pics! I gotta say, though, even as amazing as the Marilyn looks, that fingerboard on your "main" is probably the nicest BE maple I have ever seen.

 

[Vic]

Thanks for the pics! I gotta say, though, even as amazing as the Marilyn looks, that fingerboard on your "main" is probably the nicest BE maple I have ever seen.

Thanks! Yeah, the ebony board is more about its rarity than visual appeal. The BEM is pretty highly figured, and of course that was by specific design/selection as well.

 

[Kirk P Brosius]

Hello Vic (and all),

Not only is the "drool factor" off the charts for the basses but the photo quality is great, also!!

Brother, you got 'em!!!!!!

Kirk

 

[tombowlus]

I really need to take some better pics of my Marilyn (#3, and one of the first three Mike originally made), but this shows the "blistering" fairly well:

Here's a shot of the board (mine is the bottom ebony board, I believe):

 

[Vic]

...my Marilyn (#3, and one of the first three Mike originally made)...

Ok Tom, you KNOW I can't let this one go... LOL!!!!!

 

[bass12]

Walnut.

That makes sense. I'm really not used to seeing walnut in the "before" stages of construction.

 

[kuma9]

WOW!!! Very nice!

I really need to take some better pics of my Marilyn (#3, and one of the first three Mike originally made), but this shows the "blistering" fairly well:

Here's a shot of the board (mine is the bottom ebony board, I believe):

 

[b24mz]

can i join?

here are mine :

 

[Vic]

can i join?

here are mine...

Wow, I should think so!

 

[b24mz]

Wow, I should think so!

Wow, thank you vic.

 

[bass4worship]

Are these basses just active or can you get both A/P?

 

[Vic]

Are these basses just active or can you get both A/P?

Just active. I don't think a passive option is possible with these because the output level of the pickups due to their design is very low... that's why there's a third module in the cavity... it's a pickup preamp much like the one EMG uses, except it's not inside the pickups (where it actually used to be a long time ago, as I understand.) These are actually considered "active pickups" as a result, and still as far as I know, the only "active pickups" Bill currently has on the market (and are only available on a USA MTD.)

I suppose it would be possible to bypass the main preamp/EQ and such, and still leave the pickup buffer where it needs to be, but not sure it's worth it.

Question; What's the goal? Is the goal to have a way to play if your battery dies?

If so, no way to do it on an MTD. The pickups need their active module. If not, then maybe what you really want to know is if a passive tone control could be put on one of these, and I'd think the answer would be yes, as a small custom option.

 

[bass12]

Question; What's the goal? Is the goal to have a way to play if your battery dies?

The other week I got to my sound check only to find that my speaker was fuzzing out and sounding awful. I switched cables thinking, "there's no way it could be the batteries - I played a gig last night with no signs at all of the batteries going". It wasn't the cables, so I pulled out my spare nine volts only to discover that they had both leaked! Luckily there was a convenience store close by and I was able to get what I needed. After making the switch I realised that, sure enough, the problem had been the batteries. So yeah - always carry spares when gigging an MTD! Of course, you could also just be responsible and change your batteries regularly (as I failed to do)...

 

[Vic]

The other week I got to my sound check only to find that my speaker was fuzzing out and sounding awful. I switched cables thinking, "there's no way it could be the batteries - I played a gig last night with no signs at all of the batteries going". It wasn't the cables, so I pulled out my spare nine volts only to discover that they had both leaked! Luckily there was a convenience store close by and I was able to get what I needed. After making the switch I realised that, sure enough, the problem had been the batteries. So yeah - always carry spares when gigging an MTD! Of course, you could also just be responsible and change your batteries regularly (as I failed to do)...

WOW! Those batteries musta' been in there a LONG time! I guess that's good and bad news, huh? Efficient user of batteries, but long enough to have them fall off the mental radar. LOL!

Seriously tho, yeah, I always have spare batteries.

 

[bass12]

WOW! Those batteries musta' been in there a LONG time! I guess that's good and bad news, huh? Efficient user of batteries, but long enough to have them fall off the mental radar. LOL!

Seriously tho, yeah, I always have spare batteries.

Yeah, the batteries were the ones that came with the bass (that I bought second hand). I'd been using that particular bass for a little over a year as my main instrument so I can't really complain!