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The Official MTD USA Thread

#7,262
Bubinga is actually fairly common. Rickenbacker basses have used it for the majority of their basses and guitars. It has a good tone. I think somewhere in the middle of rosewood and maple. IME

Hard to say with ricks exactly what the fingerboard contributes because there are numerous elements to that signature tone - maple body and neck, pickups etc.
 
#7,263
michricker said:
Bubinga is actually fairly common. Rickenbacker basses have used it for the majority of their basses and guitars. It has a good tone. I think somewhere in the middle of rosewood and maple. IME

Hard to say with ricks exactly what the fingerboard contributes because there are numerous elements to that signature tone - maple body and neck, pickups etc.
Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for the input. After Googleing, seems like quite a few are using bubinga for fingerboard as you mentioned. Guess it's only rare in MTDs :D
 
#7,264
michricker said:
Bubinga is actually fairly common. Rickenbacker basses have used it for the majority of their basses and guitars. It has a good tone. I think somewhere in the middle of rosewood and maple. IME
Click to expand...
I always felt that Ric took a lot of the tonal impact of the fingerboard wood out of the picture with that heavy gloss finish on it. Thick layer of plastic like that on the wood has to make a diff. IMHO anyway.
 
#7,266
Vic said:
I always felt that Ric took a lot of the tonal impact of the fingerboard wood out of the picture with that heavy gloss finish on it. Thick layer of plastic like that on the wood has to make a diff. IMHO anyway.
Click to expand...

It has raised my curiosity because I never thought about it before -- why fingerboard is the only unfinished part of a bass? (not counting fretless in...Rics either ;))
 
#7,268
Here is a sound file of my new MTD. Just got it and a new song we were trying so lots of mistakes! but give you an idea for the tone. Through a db750 and Berg HS410 with just a little bass boost on the mtd pre.

file:///Users/johnmcguire/Dropbox/Musica%20de%20ST/Eric%20JP%20and%20ST/Good%20Love%20fast%20take.mp3
 
#7,269
michricker said:
Here is a sound file of my new MTD. Just got it and a new song we were trying so lots of mistakes! but give you an idea for the tone. Through a db750 and Berg HS410 with just a little bass boost on the mtd pre.

file:///Users/johnmcguire/Dropbox/Musica%20de%20ST/Eric%20JP%20and%20ST/Good%20Love%20fast%20take.mp3
Click to expand...

That link isn't going to work for anyone.
 
#7,271
metallutca said:
Check out this bubinga fingerboard MTD. Bubinga as fingerboards are quite rare in the bass world I believe. Wonder how this sounds like...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

My first Skjold bass has a bubinga fingerboard. I visited Pete's shop in Texas, and played a bunch of his basses. Two of them really stood out as far as nailing the tone I was after, and the only thing they had in common was bubinga as a fingerboard wood. When I spec'd my custom build, we went with a bubinga board, and I am totally happy with this choice.

Now that I think about it, though, I am kind of surprised that this is my only bass with a bubinga board... I may have to go with bubinga on my next custom order (nothing planned at the moment, though).
 
#7,272
tombowlus said:
My first Skjold bass has a bubinga fingerboard. I visited Pete's shop in Texas, and played a bunch of his basses. Two of them really stood out as far as nailing the tone I was after, and the only thing they had in common was bubinga as a fingerboard wood. When I spec'd my custom build, we went with a bubinga board, and I am totally happy with this choice.

Now that I think about it, though, I am kind of surprised that this is my only bass with a bubinga board... I may have to go with bubinga on my next custom order (nothing planned at the moment, though).
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing, Tom. To start things off, another MTD 435 with bubinga fingerboard might be interesting for your next custom :D :smug:
 
#7,274
metallutca said:
Check out this bubinga fingerboard MTD. Bubinga as fingerboards are quite rare in the bass world I believe. Wonder how this sounds like...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

This is the first ever MTD with Bubinga board, which actually doesn't meant to be that way :D

This one belongs to my customer, he opted for a Honduran rosewood board, I have another bass in order (mine) with bubinga board, and Mike accidentally put my neck (this very neck on the bass) on my customer's Alder-Redwood body, and there you go!!! :D

None of us realize this until the bass came up on the web, coz we thought maybe the Honduran board can look like that, which is amazing looking in person. So Mike offered to return the bass and put the original neck, but my customer is already very happy with it, so he said no, and we settle it.

The sound? It's one of the best sounding MTDs ever... My customer who owns this bass has 5 other MTDs and my personal favorite among his basses, is this one, all the frequencies are balanced, bit compressed on the treble, rich & complex mids, and no matter how you boost the low, it remains tight.

I told Mike about this and I truly reccomend Bubinga board for anyone who wants to give it a shot, I don't know how it would sound with other body woods, but with Alder, it's a perfect match, all of us, including Mike are surprised and very happy with the result, and I can take credit as the person that talked Mike into making an MTD Bass with Bubinga Fingerboard :D
 
#7,275
antontanzil said:
This is the first ever MTD with Bubinga board, which actually doesn't meant to be that way :D

This one belongs to my customer, he opted for a Honduran rosewood board, I have another bass in order (mine) with bubinga board, and Mike accidentally put my neck (this very neck on the bass) on my customer's Alder-Redwood body, and there you go!!! :D

None of us realize this until the bass came up on the web, coz we thought maybe the Honduran board can look like that, which is amazing looking in person. So Mike offered to return the bass and put the original neck, but my customer is already very happy with it, so he said no, and we settle it.

The sound? It's one of the best sounding MTDs ever... My customer who owns this bass has 5 other MTDs and my personal favorite among his basses, is this one, all the frequencies are balanced, bit compressed on the treble, rich & complex mids, and no matter how you boost the low, it remains tight.

I told Mike about this and I truly reccomend Bubinga board for anyone who wants to give it a shot, I don't know how it would sound with other body woods, but with Alder, it's a perfect match, all of us, including Mike are surprised and very happy with the result, and I can take credit as the person that talked Mike into making an MTD Bass with Bubinga Fingerboard :D
Click to expand...
Well, if it sounds half as good as it looks... :)
 
#7,276
antontanzil said:
This is the first ever MTD with Bubinga board, which actually doesn't meant to be that way :D

This one belongs to my customer, he opted for a Honduran rosewood board, I have another bass in order (mine) with bubinga board, and Mike accidentally put my neck (this very neck on the bass) on my customer's Alder-Redwood body, and there you go!!! :D

None of us realize this until the bass came up on the web, coz we thought maybe the Honduran board can look like that, which is amazing looking in person. So Mike offered to return the bass and put the original neck, but my customer is already very happy with it, so he said no, and we settle it.

The sound? It's one of the best sounding MTDs ever... My customer who owns this bass has 5 other MTDs and my personal favorite among his basses, is this one, all the frequencies are balanced, bit compressed on the treble, rich & complex mids, and no matter how you boost the low, it remains tight.

I told Mike about this and I truly reccomend Bubinga board for anyone who wants to give it a shot, I don't know how it would sound with other body woods, but with Alder, it's a perfect match, all of us, including Mike are surprised and very happy with the result, and I can take credit as the person that talked Mike into making an MTD Bass with Bubinga Fingerboard :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing anton :)
So, what did you decide for your fingerboard? Did you settle with Honduran rosewood, or you asked Mike to use bubinga as well? ;)
 
#7,277
metallutca said:
Thanks for sharing anton :)
So, what did you decide for your fingerboard? Did you settle with Honduran rosewood, or you asked Mike to use bubinga as well? ;)
Click to expand...

No problem, it has been quite an experience for me, and knowing how professional Mike is when these things happened really made me a happy customer/dealer.

So, I have two more basses in order, scheduled for December shipping. The one is mine and the other is for a church I mentioned a few posts ago, after hearing what the Bubinga-Alder combined sounds like, and Mike offered me to change the spec if I want to, I decided to change the one for the church with Bubinga board, I just to have one of those (I'll be playing the bass most of the time, lucky me).

And since my Makore-Walnut has no neck now, I decide to go to my original spec, the one that made me want to have a custom made MTD; This personal bass of mine will have Wenge-Birds Eye Maple Neck-Fingerboard. Which to my ears is the perfect neck-fb combo.

Very excited to have them both to play with,,, :hyper: 3 Months to go :D
 
#7,278
antontanzil said:
No problem, it has been quite an experience for me, and knowing how professional Mike is when these things happened really made me a happy customer/dealer.

So, I have two more basses in order, scheduled for December shipping. The one is mine and the other is for a church I mentioned a few posts ago, after hearing what the Bubinga-Alder combined sounds like, and Mike offered me to change the spec if I want to, I decided to change the one for the church with Bubinga board, I just to have one of those (I'll be playing the bass most of the time, lucky me).

And since my Makore-Walnut has no neck now, I decide to go to my original spec, the one that made me want to have a custom made MTD; This personal bass of mine will have Wenge-Birds Eye Maple Neck-Fingerboard. Which to my ears is the perfect neck-fb combo.

Very excited to have them both to play with,,, :hyper: 3 Months to go :D
Click to expand...
So a maple neck with wenge stringers?
 

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