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The Official MTD USA Thread

#7,281
Here is a real dumb question.:hiding:

In any case, I keep seeing USA MTD basses listed with a matching truss rod cover.....

My newbie question.... If you don't pay the upcharge for this option, do the USA MTDs ship with a black plastic cover under the neck like the Kingston models?

Just curious.

PS. I will be getting my first USA MTD in just over a week (David Wilson's non-Stockton 535 WITH matching TR cover) and I am super pumped!:hyper:i have had Sadowsky USA, Roscoes, Dingwall, Benevente, etc. but I am surprisingly really excited to get this beautiful bass. I have owned a KZ6 In maple burl and it was a cool bass, but I am expecting the 535 to be on a different level!:bassist:
 
#7,282
Baird6869 said:
Here is a real dumb question.:hiding:

In any case, I keep seeing USA MTD basses listed with a matching truss rod cover.....

My newbie question.... If you don't pay the upcharge for this option, do the USA MTDs ship with a black plastic cover under the neck like the Kingston models?

Just curious.

PS. I will be getting my first USA MTD in just over a week (David Wilson's non-Stockton 535 WITH matching TR cover) and I am super pumped!:hyper:i have had Sadowsky USA, Roscoes, Dingwall, Benevente, etc. but I am surprisingly really excited to get this beautiful bass. I have owned a KZ6 In maple burl and it was a cool bass, but I am expecting the 535 to be on a different level!:bassist:
Click to expand...

I think the truss rod cover, if it isn't matching, is made from whatever wood is used to make the neck (at least that's the case with the wenge necked 535s). And that's a lovely 535 you're getting from David. I drooled over that one myself when he posted the ad... :)
 
#7,283
Baird6869 said:
Here is a real dumb question.:hiding:

In any case, I keep seeing USA MTD basses listed with a matching truss rod cover.....

My newbie question.... If you don't pay the upcharge for this option, do the USA MTDs ship with a black plastic cover under the neck like the Kingston models?

Just curious.

PS. I will be getting my first USA MTD in just over a week (David Wilson's non-Stockton 535 WITH matching TR cover) and I am super pumped!:hyper:i have had Sadowsky USA, Roscoes, Dingwall, Benevente, etc. but I am surprisingly really excited to get this beautiful bass. I have owned a KZ6 In maple burl and it was a cool bass, but I am expecting the 535 to be on a different level!:bassist:
Click to expand...

AFAIK it will be made from Wenge, a match to fingerboard Truss Rod cover is a $50 upcharge, a match to fingerboard Headstock is $100 upcharge
 
#7,284
antontanzil said:
AFAIK it will be made from Wenge, a match to fingerboard Truss Rod cover is a $50 upcharge, a match to fingerboard Headstock is $100 upcharge
Click to expand...

"Match to fingerboard"? Don't you mean "match to top wood"? I've never seen a headstock that was matched to the fretboard wood, I don't think, on a 535 (unless it's been wenge). It's true that most of the 535s I've seen without matching truss rod covers have had wenge covers, but those basses seem to always have wenge fretboards. Here are links to two photos I found of 535s without "matching truss rod covers" that have covers matching non-wenge fretboards:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Link Removed
 
#7,285
bass12 said:
"Match to fingerboard"? Don't you mean "match to top wood"? I've never seen a headstock that was matched to the fretboard wood, I don't think, on a 535 (unless it's been wenge). It's true that most of the 535s I've seen without matching truss rod covers have had wenge covers, but those basses seem to always have wenge fretboards. Here are links to two photos I found of 535s without "matching truss rod covers" that have covers matching non-wenge fretboards:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Link Removed
Click to expand...
My first 535/24 had an Ebony cover (matched the FB), and I thought it looked great, but my personal preference is a cover that matches the top as long as Mike can find a piece that matches the grain reasonably closely.
 
#7,287
roadkill2309 said:
I don't get it. Surely, when he cuts the shape out of the top wood for the trussrod, that piece goes somewhere? I've never understood why the cover doesn't match the top as a matter of course.
Click to expand...
That's the problem... it's not a cut, it's a route. The wood that comes out is shavings.

Think about it. He doesn't cut the top and the body separate and then glue them together. He glues everything together and then uses a router to cut the neck pocket.

What about other slices of the same top wood? Sorry. Those are for other basses, so he wouldn't want to "burn" a whole top blank just to cut a rod cover out of it. So it literally is a mix/match game using other pieces of similar wood, or maybe if the piece is big enough, a piece from outside the body tracing. And each cover is custom fit to the route. There's a little bit of this process in the videos.

FYI.
 
#7,288
Vic said:
That's the problem... it's not a cut, it's a route. The wood that comes out is shavings.

Think about it. He doesn't cut the top and the body separate and then glue them together. He glues everything together and then uses a router to cut the neck pocket.

What about other slices of the same top wood? Sorry. Those are for other basses, so he wouldn't want to "burn" a whole top blank just to cut a rod cover out of it. So it literally is a mix/match game using other pieces of similar wood, or maybe if the piece is big enough, a piece from outside the body tracing. And each cover is custom fit to the route. There's a little bit of this process in the videos.

FYI.
Click to expand...

Ah, okay. I see now. And it makes perfect sense now that I think on it. Like, who the hell would cut out a top *then* glue it onto the body?
 
#7,289
roadkill2309 said:
I don't get it. Surely, when he cuts the shape out of the top wood for the trussrod, that piece goes somewhere? I've never understood why the cover doesn't match the top as a matter of course.
Click to expand...

Per Vic's comment, this is kind of the same issue with the Jerzy Drozd basses, which have 'non matching' neck pocket laminates.

My MTD's all had the 'matching neck' truss rod access covers. It was strange looking to me at first, but it is kind of 'the look of these bassses'. I actually prefer the neck matching covers to the 'not exactly' matching top veneer cover'. IMO there.
 
#7,290
It is possible to get exact or near exact matching neck heel, pu shell, and/or control cavity covers. I know some luthiers who do it all the time ;). The non-matching neck heel, (or matching to the fingerboard) never looks good to my eye. Never could figure out how Mike thought that looked "right".
 
#7,291
Dave Hill said:
It is possible to get exact or near exact matching neck heel, pu shell, and/or control cavity covers. I know some luthiers who do it all the time ;). The non-matching neck heel, (or matching to the fingerboard) never looks good to my eye. Never could figure out how Mike thought that looked "right".
Click to expand...

I'm assuming by "neck heel" you are talking about the truss rod cover at the base of the neck? So, yes, they are offered as an option to match the top. The control cavity covers do match the body of the bass. I cannot remember seeing one with matching pickup covers. But, that does not mean it has not been done. Here is one of mine that had the matching truss rod cover and another picture of the back to see how well the control cover matches

mtdclosefront_zps4078ed62.jpg


mtdcloseback_zpsc25c83e1.jpg
 
#7,292
rodneyat said:
I'm assuming by "neck heel" you are talking about the truss rod cover at the bass of the neck? So, yes, they are offered as an option to match the top. The control cavity covers do match the body of the bass. I cannot remember seeing one with matching pickup covers. But, that does not mean it has not been done. Here is one of mine that had the matching truss rod cover and another picture of the back to see how well the control cover matches
Click to expand...
I think the wood pickup covers was referring to another brand... just as an example that matching grain is something top luthiers can do without relying on cutting that piece from the exact slice of wood that is the figured top.

Just as an FYI, I think I've also seen where Mike's used Wenge as covers for the elex and batteries, but I think that's less common, and I think that's also just when the neck and fb are both Wenge as well.
 
#7,293
Vic said:
I think the wood pickup covers was referring to another brand... just as an example that matching grain is something top luthiers can do without relying on cutting that piece from the exact slice of wood that is the figured top.

Just as an FYI, I think I've also seen where Mike's used Wenge as covers for the elex and batteries, but I think that's less common, and I think that's also just when the neck and fb are both Wenge as well.
Click to expand...

+1 My orignal MTD had a wenge neck and fingerboard and truss rod cover, and a beautiful light colored ash body with wenge battery and cavity covers. Really beautiful, and those wenge pieces kind of pulled the entire look of the instrument together. I've seen Mike do very nice 'almost matching' covers, like the picture a few posts above. It all looks good to me.
 
#7,294
KJung said:
+1 My orignal MTD had a wenge neck and fingerboard and truss rod cover, and a beautiful light colored ash body with wenge battery and cavity covers. Really beautiful, and those wenge pieces kind of pulled the entire look of the instrument together. I've seen Mike do very nice 'almost matching' covers, like the picture a few posts above. It all looks good to me.
Click to expand...

Yup! I've seen some of those too and it is definitely a nice touch.
 
#7,295
Vic said:
Just as an FYI, I think I've also seen where Mike's used Wenge as covers for the elex and batteries, but I think that's less common, and I think that's also just when the neck and fb are both Wenge as well.
Click to expand...

My pre-700 serial number 535 has the wenge cavity covers (wenge/wenge neck). The three more recent wenge/wenge 535s I've owned, however, all had covers that matched the body wood.
 
#7,297
Were I ordering a bass from mike today, it would have to have the trussrod cover match the top wood. Simply because I've always found a non-matching one to be a visual weak spot on an otherwise damned attractive design. On the back, I don't really care. My CNCed basses have plastic covers, and the world hasn't ended. I like the look more when they match the body, but not enough to spend extra on it.

If I could afford a used MTD, I'd take whatever I could get under 9.5 pounds, and that had a sound I liked.
 
#7,300
LeonD said:
I'm in the process of ordering an MTD right now. I described the tone I wanted. Mike told me different wood combinations that would produce that tone. Now knowing the woods that'll give me the tone I'm looking for, I'm choosing based in aesthetics.
Click to expand...

Mmm - you might want to think twice about that. I would at least try to hedge my bets and get "in the ballpark". Choosing based solely on aesthetics might result in a lot of wasted money. What kind of tone are you looking for?
 

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