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The Official MTD USA Thread

#7,581
See what I got here! Here is my story.....

I have bought an older 535 from TB sometime back. It was a ash body with wenge neck/board combo. Later that year, GAS set me up once again to trade it for a Ken Smith. While the Ken Smith is great and I really prefer 34 inch scale, I can't help but miss the MTD.

I have been looking out for a US MTD 5 banger on the classified for over a year. Many a times, I was so close to pulling the trigger on a 535 but I never did after working out the hefty shipping charge and the tax that I have to pay (I reside in Singapore). Besides, I am not the most comfortable with the 35 inch scale and buying such a high end instrument without seeing it in person.

This 534-24 caught my attention as soon as it appeared on classified. I corresponded with the seller, b24mz while still having reservations on the issues mentioned. To my delight, b24mz offered to fly over from Jakarta to Singapore to deal in person!

I do not post often and I prefer to lurk quietly in these threads but I simply cannot contain my excitement even having received this a fornight ago.

Kudos to Mike and b24mz!

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#7,587
dessunx said:
See what I got here! Here is my story.....

I have bought an older 535 from TB sometime back. It was a ash body with wenge neck/board combo. Later that year, GAS set me up once again to trade it for a Ken Smith. While the Ken Smith is great and I really prefer 34 inch scale, I can't help but miss the MTD.

I have been looking out for a US MTD 5 banger on the classified for over a year. Many a times, I was so close to pulling the trigger on a 535 but I never did after working out the hefty shipping charge and the tax that I have to pay (I reside in Singapore). Besides, I am not the most comfortable with the 35 inch scale and buying such a high end instrument without seeing it in person.

This 534-24 caught my attention as soon as it appeared on classified. I corresponded with the seller, b24mz while still having reservations on the issues mentioned. To my delight, b24mz offered to fly over from Jakarta to Singapore to deal in person!

I do not post often and I prefer to lurk quietly in these threads but I simply cannot contain my excitement even having received this a fornight ago.

Kudos to Mike and b24mz!

2013-02-06115401_zps88979260.gif
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Congrats! One of the nicest redwood topped MTD I have ever seen! Did Adrian mentioned to you why he let this baby go? I thought he just got it recently.
 
#7,589
metallutca said:
Congrats! One of the nicest redwood topped MTD I have ever seen! Did Adrian mentioned to you why he let this baby go? I thought he just got it recently.
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GAS :D Adrian's a great guy and a great bass player, when this one first arrived I had the chance to play it for the first time, the chambered Makore and 34 scale makes it warm and punchy.

bass12 said:
I really like the top on yours, Anton. What are the specs (for both)?
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Thanks :)

My customer's spec are:
- 535-24 Tulipwood body, Myrtle Top, Natural color.
- Wenge-Wenge Neck
- World logo and matching wood knobs.

It's basically a 'Norm Stockton' with 24 frets and a killer top...

Mine are:
- 535-21 Makore Body, Walnut top, Natural color.
- Wenge neck w/ Maple Board
- Matching wood knobs.

This one is a combo I've never seen/heard before, but I took my chance as Mike told me that this will be an 'OK' Bass :D
 
#7,591
LeonD said:
I couldn't even guess what this will sound like. Did Mike give any indication?
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Me too :D Just imagining that the combination will be a bit of mid compression from the Wenge, a clear high from the maple, and a round bottom from the Makore, well at least that 's what I Imagined :rolleyes:

Oooo, but I'm not completely 'blind', I played a Wenge-BEM neck before with Black Limba body and ash top, belong to Widjajar, and the sound is very balanced, so when I'm spec'ing the Bass, I told Mike that I like the sound of that, but want a Walnut top and whatever body wood besides Limba.

Mike suggests Ash to me, he said that it will be more growly compared to Limba but gets warmer over time. But I never really fell in love with an Ash bodied MTD, liked but not loved. So I ask about other woods,and Makore came up, as I loved my Mahogany MTD, also I played Adrian's former Bass mentioned above and like the low end response.

Mike said he never made a 'wrong' bass with Makore, so I decide to pull the trigger, however to this day there is no description from Mike whatsoever about how the Bass will sound like. We'll just have to see then
 
#7,594
LeonD said:
With my recent bass, I took the leap of faith with Makore. Other than MTD, I don't know who else uses it so there's not a lot of history. After playing it for a month, I think it's a wonderful tone wood.

I'm sure your bass with sound great.
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I second what LeonD says about Makore being a wonderful tone wood. As a matter of fact, my 534 is has the same wood combo as LeonD's 434 except for the top and the chambered body. Mine is flamed redwood while LeonD's quilted maple.
 
#7,597
LeonD said:
With my recent bass, I took the leap of faith with Makore. Other than MTD, I don't know who else uses it so there's not a lot of history. After playing it for a month, I think it's a wonderful tone wood.

I'm sure your bass with sound great.
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After MUCH debate with Mike, I opted for makore on my latest 535, and I am just thrilled with the tone! It's full and rich, yet it has amazing attack and sustain. Of course, the multi-lam ash neck and the ebony top help, but Mike seemed pretty big on makore, and I'm really happy with it.

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#7,600
tombowlus said:
... I opted for makore on my latest 535, and I am just thrilled with the tone! It's full and rich, yet it has amazing attack and sustain. Of course, the multi-lam ash neck .... [/IMG]
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I'm starting to think of makore as an ideal neutral tone wood. It's more balanced and warmer than ash but is more articulate than alder. It seems to really enhance what the other parts of the bass (top, neck, fretboard) bring to the tonal table.

And Tom, while that's a beautiful bass, the neck is simply off the charts. :eek: :hyper:
 

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