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The Official MTD USA Thread

#5,761
LeonD said:
Thanks for the input guys.

I spoke with Mike and he got me pointed in a direction (mahogany and maple).

Actually I have a lead on possibly one of Tom's old basses. Tom, I hope you don't mind but I sent you a PM.

Thanks again,
Leon
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I remember the first time Mike called ME, at work, to talk more about the bass he was building for me. I was - and still am - very impressed by that.
 
#5,762
Vic said:
I use this stuff and it works really well... very very mild abrasive... won't mess up your fingerboards at all, and pretty much only removes the oxidation, doesn't remove metal, and super cheap and easy to find... and I think there are other brands that have similar products as well... just takes a bit of rubbing.

Planet Waves Fret Polishing System:
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Thanks Vic!

I emailed Mike yesterday evening and he suggested this:
Mike Tobias said:
I generally use 0000 steel wool and be very careful not to get it on the pick ups. I do that and then oil the board and restring it.
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BTW he also called me when I was at work, very surprised to hear him as it was an international call and he's kind of busy with building basses!!!
 
#5,763
Georges Abitbol said:
I emailed Mike yesterday evening and he suggested this:
Mike Tobias:
I generally use 0000 steel wool and be very careful not to get it on the pick ups. I do that and then oil the board and restring it.
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BTW he also called me when I was at work, very surprised to hear him as it was an international call and he's kind of busy with building basses!!!
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Yeah, I've done that before too, and it definitely cleans the frets, and probably faster than the polishing cloths, but it won't polish them like the cloths will, and you do have to be careful about the fibers. I usually stand the bass on its headstock over a piece of newspaper and then use a vacuum to suck the fibers from around the tuners and string guide and such. I just decided that, even though it's faster, I kinda' got tired of dealing with cleaning up the metal fibers.

Oh, and yeah, Mike is totally the real deal. I feel absolutely privileged to know him as well as I do.
 
#5,764
Hellow everyone.I sew a 535 have a dragon inlay on headstock about two year ago(special #10).Does anyone have the pics about the bass?I connected Michael this days.And he says his old files with those pictures are gone.He let me send the pics to him.So could anyone send the pics about the bass to me?Thanks a lot.:)
My mail is : [email protected]
 
#5,766
#5,768
Stunning!

Bassflute said:
Could you post them somewhere else that's a little more conducive to viewing them without the resultant data mining?

I'm sure Yahoo's got enough on me...:eek:

Thanks,
Cameron
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Sorry, as I've a yahoo account I didn't thought you were not able to see them. Here they are!
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I think I've seen one with a dragon on the fingerboard, but not on the headstock. Sorry, not had the time to check on my HD for now.
 
#5,772
Vic said:
Now that is MY kinda' 535!!!! Beautiful! Just curious, what's she weigh?
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I have to said around 8 or 9 lbs. I got to play it for the first time at rehearsal tonight and I was totally impress with the the tone. No wander these are hard to find used.

I must say and no joke this it the best playing bass made and what I like about the bass is now I can work on my tech-neat and not my sound anymore. I was very happy that I didn't have to use my Sansamp to get the sound I need; plus I had the amp set flat and never had a bass that used a flat EQ and sound this good.

This bass was worth every penny I paid and more. Thanks guys for this post. I learned alot about basses from this forum.
 
#5,774
bass4worship said:
I have to said around 8 or 9 lbs.
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If that's really true, that makes it, like mine, a VERY rare lightweight model for an ash bodied 535. I'd be very curious if you could get an accurate weight someday at a shipping place or even the post office (there'd be no charge, just go during off times.)
 
#5,775
Years ago I had an MTD 635 for about six months. Two things about that bass stood out. One, I am not a six string bassist. Two, the tone was to die for. Out of all the basses I've owned, it had my favorite sound. I record a lot of my jam sessions and whenever I hear a song with that bass on it, I just grin. But, the fact that it was a six had me selling it.

But I never forgot that tone. One of my other favorite tones is Anthony Jackson on Steve Kahn's The Suitcase. It's just wide and full and crisp. Kind of like my MTD. Which got me to thinking about extended scale lengths. Pretty much all my basses have been 34". Maybe it's the extended scale length that contributes to this wide/full/crisp tone (in addition to some modern electronics). So I recently set out to find another MTD.

And thanks to a local TB'er reaching out to me, I'm the proud owner of this 535-24.

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It has an ash body with an ash neck and Honduras rosewood fingerboard. It's currently strung E - C.

It was tough to tell exactly what it looked like from the original owner pictures (too much flash) and my pics are just OK. Definitely a hard finish to photograph. In person it looks very understated and elegant.

Regarding the tone, it has the wide/full/crisp tone I was looking for but it also has something else.

I tend to group my basses in two categories, band basses and solo basses. A band bass might not sound great by itself but put it in a band setting and it just drives the bus. My Sad Will Lee is like that. No matter how it's set, just plug it in and it's a player. A solo bass will sound like an angel by itself or in a duo but put it in a band and I'll be hitting the eq each song to get it to fit in.

I figured this 535-24 would fall into the solo category. And it does sound spectacular solo but just for yuks, I took it to band practice and it really held it's own. It's probably the only bass I've owned that can play in either setting equally as well.

Sorry for the long windedness, but I'm really excited to have this bass. :hyper:

I think this one will be around a while. Can I get a club number?
 
#5,776
LeonD said:
I figured this 535-24 would fall into the solo category. And it does sound spectacular solo but just for yuks, I took it to band practice and it really held it's own. It's probably the only bass I've owned that can play in either setting equally as well.
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Yeah, I think sometimes people underestimate the 535's and don't even really give them a chance based on assumptions that would be proven wrong once given that chance. In your case, I can also see how the ash neck and the rosewood board would combine to build in a little more of a classic sound and be especially good at more typical musical settings.

BTW, GREAT looking MTD, and welcome back! :)
 
#5,777
bass4worship said:
By the way I once owned a MTD Z5 that don't even come close. I'm still listening to our rehearsal this bass is that good..................Man!!!
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Meant to ask you... where did you get it, used or new?, and what are those inlays? Do you have more pics of it?
 
#5,779
LeonD said:
I figured this 535-24 would fall into the solo category. And it does sound spectacular solo but just for yuks, I took it to band practice and it really held it's own. It's probably the only bass I've owned that can play in either setting equally as well.
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My main 535 is like that: it sounds great on its own but it also works fantastically in a band setting. It also sounds amazing recorded. Almost a year-and-a-half in and the honeymoon is still on! Congratulations on finding a bass that makes you feel so excited (I'm not surprised it's a 535 ;))!
 

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