The Official MTD USA Thread

[Bass Viking]

I think you have to take the tonewood thing with a grain of salt. To me there's no question that "wood makes a difference" but predicting how a bass will sound based on specs is guesswork. It might be informed guesswork, but it's still guesswork.

Well said!

 

[MattLplaysBass]

I have two 534's.

One is Makore body with Amboyna burl top, maple neck and ebony fingerboard. Hipshot A bridge.

The other is Ash body with Olive top, maple neck and birdseye maple fingerboard. Hipshot B bridge.

You can tell they both share the same inherent DNA and start from the same tonal palette. To my ear, the Ash body/maple fingerboard 534 is the brighter and more aggressive of the two. It's the better choice for slap style. It is the more open sounding of the two.

The Makore/Ebony isn't really darker sounding, but more subdued might be a way to say it. It is the rounder sounding of the two.

That said, with some tweaking of the EQ they both end up in the same ballpark.

While we're all lining up for dibs on the olive topped one (I am not, I am happy with my 535), which other 534 do you have?

 

[scubaduba]

While we're all lining up for dibs on the olive topped one (I am not, I am happy with my 535), which other 534 do you have?

Makore with Aboyna burl top. Maple neck and Ebony fingerboard.

 

[jTrolt]

Beautiful. That amboyna is my favorite burled wood.
Curiosity: anyone know the species of the thin, dark brown cross-band layer between the top and core materials on these? I've always guessed it was thick Wenge veneer.

 

[MattLplaysBass]

Makore with Aboyna burl top. Maple neck and Ebony fingerboard.

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Gorgeous! But you do take good pictures...

 

[red_rhino]

Curiosity: anyone know the species of the thin, dark brown cross-band layer between the top and core materials on these? I've always guessed it was thick Wenge veneer.

Might be wenge. It is on my Tobias classic, but it's also much thicker (like, 3/8"). It's a common element on many MTD builds, but I think it's more of a visual accent than a consequential tone element.

 

[Nolan Tremblay]

Makore with Aboyna burl top. Maple neck and Ebony fingerboard.

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Your 534 is gorgeous! It makes me curious to see what one would look like with all roasted woods - roasted ash body, roasted maple neck, roasted maple burl top and maybe one of those really dark roasted fretboards... I think some companies can get maple and purpleheart almost black to sort of replace ebony as a fretboards, at least looks wise.

 

[Eneade]

Curiosity: anyone know the species of the thin, dark brown cross-band layer between the top and core materials on these? I've always guessed it was thick Wenge veneer.

I already asked Michael about this dark layer and this was his answer :

"The veneer is black dyed anigre."

 

[DrGroovenstein]

Makore with Aboyna burl top. Maple neck and Ebony fingerboard.

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That was my bass It's a winner.

 

[g4string]

Delivered to me today. NY crotch maple top over eastern ash body. Maple neck and the craziest BEM board Ive ever seen.

 

[scubaduba]

Delivered to me today. NY crotch maple top over eastern ash body. Maple neck and the craziest BEM board Ive ever seen.

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Very nice. I love that. How does it sound?

 

[scubaduba]

Gorgeous! But you do take good pictures...

Thanks. Just an iPhone.

 

[bass12]

Delivered to me today. NY crotch maple top over eastern ash body. Maple neck and the craziest BEM board Ive ever seen.

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I love it - and you weren’t kidding about the fretboard! Amazing.

 

[g4string]

Very nice. I love that. How does it sound?

Sounds like a typical MTD. Kinda reminds me of my modulus. The bart eq on the preamp is extremely tweakable.

 

[Aram]

Morning, and happy Friday!

I ended up having to list my 434 to free up funds for my home studio -- if anyone is interested hit me up, happy to hook up a TB discount. I have to do local NY/metro area, though, the box I bought is 50" long, which does not leave enough room for sufficient padding on the top and bottom as the new MTD gig bag is too long for it. (I had picked it up directly from MTD so never have a box to begin with). Other boxes I've found are longer but then too narrow to sufficiently pad the sides...

Here's the link (mods lmk if this is not okay to post, I don't believe is any rules against it but happy to take it down if there is now):
MTD USA 434-24 - Transparent Black | Reverb

Aram

 

[Combinator]

Who's got video of a 632? I wanna see/hear that sucka.

 

[Pablo Primo]

Who's got video of a 632? I wanna see/hear that sucka.

Hey man, i tried to have it built and Michael said he only builds 30, 34 or 35 inches, unless he did a special made.

 

[Taustin Powers]

A few NAMM basses have now been listed on Kurosawa's store in Japan.

MTD - Michael Tobias Design -


Really loving this macassar ebony top, finally we get some good pics! But the specs would not be for me.

 

[Justin Keoni]

So on a recent trip I saw this beauty sitting in a store and thought it was a very interesting combo for an MTD. Quilted maple top with a full gloss finish, maple body, wenge fingerboard and headstock, maple neck. This thing played like butter. I thought it was priced a bit high, but I don’t know if it’s a rare one with the full gloss top. What would be a good offer I could put in on it? Any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks!

 

[Benjamin Koshy]

A few NAMM basses have now been listed on Kurosawa's store in Japan.

MTD - Michael Tobias Design -


Really loving this macassar ebony top, finally we get some good pics! But the specs would not be for me.

I wasn't considering a mac ebony top on my build but this bass changed my mind. I'm thinking alder body, roasted maple neck and maple (or rosewood) fretboard on a 535.