Gwilym Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Greetings all... I had the camera out this afternoon so took the opportunity to take some pictures of my newish MTD 535. It's a "Marilyn" model, which means the body is chambered. The woods are: redwood burl top, alder body, maple neck, ebony finger board. Standard US MTD/Bartolini electronics. The other interesting thing is that it's one of the "Audi" MTDs because the top wood was originally destined to be used on Audi dashboards until Michael Tobias got hold of it. Purchased from Dave Scovell at Ultimate Basses in Canada [url="http://www.ultimatebasses.ca/"]http://www.ultimatebasses.ca/[/url], who I would highly recommend to anyone who haven't heard of them or if you're considering using them. It's an awesome bass, and will be the last one out of the door if it ever comes to that. I also consider it to be my "mid-life crisis" bass, as my excuse for buying it was a certain landmark birthday Anyway, here's the prawn! [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v722/Gwilym/Basses/Marilyn/DSC_1052.jpg"][/url] [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v722/Gwilym/Basses/Marilyn/DSC_1053.jpg"][/url] [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v722/Gwilym/Basses/Marilyn/DSC_1188.jpg"][/url] [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v722/Gwilym/Basses/Marilyn/DSC_1187.jpg"][/url] [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v722/Gwilym/Basses/Marilyn/DSC_1186.jpg"][/url] [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v722/Gwilym/Basses/Marilyn/DSC_1185.jpg"][/url] [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v722/Gwilym/Basses/Marilyn/DSC_1184.jpg"][/url] [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v722/Gwilym/Basses/Marilyn/DSC_1183.jpg"][/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Looks great Gwil - love that redwood burl top I didn't know Mike T was making chambered bodies now. I'd never really thought of MTD's as being heavy basses, is he doing this in order to use different tonewoods that are traditionally heavier than regular MTD woods? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwilym Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 [quote name='molan' post='1083372' date='Jan 9 2011, 06:00 PM']Looks great Gwil - love that redwood burl top I didn't know Mike T was making chambered bodies now. I'd never really thought of MTD's as being heavy basses, is he doing this in order to use different tonewoods that are traditionally heavier than regular MTD woods?[/quote] hi Barrie, how's it going? As far as I know the chambered bodies weren't developed as a weight loss tool, rather an experiment with creating a more resonant instrument. I seem to recall recently reading (probably on TB) that MT was going to phase out making these models, I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm sure it would probably always be available as a custom option anyway. This is around 8.5 lbs, probably about a pound lighter than the others I've played, and on the light side for a 5-er I imagine. Cheers G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 [quote name='Gwilym' post='1083383' date='Jan 9 2011, 06:14 PM']hi Barrie, how's it going? As far as I know the chambered bodies weren't developed as a weight loss tool, rather an experiment with creating a more resonant instrument. I seem to recall recently reading (probably on TB) that MT was going to phase out making these models, I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm sure it would probably always be available as a custom option anyway. This is around 8.5 lbs, probably about a pound lighter than the others I've played, and on the light side for a 5-er I imagine. Cheers G[/quote] Hope it sounds as good as it looks Reason for asking is that I read an interview with Roger Sadowsky and he said that he started working with chambers because he simply couldn't find wood of the quality he wanted that didn't weigh a ton. I saw Mike T (along with Joey Lauricella, Jimmy Coppolo & Jens Ritter) speaking at Bass Player Live last year. Seemed a really nice guy and, unsurprisingly had a huge amount of knowledge about luthiery. I've shown the event below purely because it's the only official pic from Bass Player that I managed to sneak into - it shows the back of my head, lol : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platypus Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Stunning MTD you got yourself there, Gwil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KERMITNT Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 gwil! megia as we say in greek means have a good one on your new toy i still love my F bass so maybe i chamber mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Beautiful bass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlat Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 [quote name='molan' post='1083410' date='Jan 9 2011, 06:39 PM']Hope it sounds as good as it looks Reason for asking is that I read an interview with Roger Sadowsky and he said that he started working with chambers because he simply couldn't find wood of the quality he wanted that didn't weigh a ton.[/quote] I have one of the Marilyn basses. Mike uses the chambering as a sonic "effect" rather than a weightloss tool. In that way its the complete opposite of Roger who doesn't beleive that the chambering affects the tone of the bass other than making it lighter (that said, you can order an unchambered Sadowsky). My MTD Marilyn certainly isn't any lighter than my unchambered MTD (in fact its heavier). I think it just depends on the woods used. There was a picture out there with Mike's chambers shown and they are quite diferent in design to the type that ROger uses. That said, the MTD marilyn I havei s the most "huge" soudning bass I have ever played - its almost too "big" to use in a band setting! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 (edited) [quote name='Mark Latimour' post='1085618' date='Jan 11 2011, 03:44 PM']....That said, the MTD marilyn I havei s the most "huge" soudning bass I have ever played - its almost too "big" to use in a band setting!....[/quote] Hey Mark and Gwilym, any gigs coming up where we can hear these beasts in action? Edited January 11, 2011 by chris_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwilym Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 [quote name='Platypus' post='1083440' date='Jan 9 2011, 06:58 PM']Stunning MTD you got yourself there, Gwil.[/quote] thanks Paul! [quote name='KERMITNT' post='1083506' date='Jan 9 2011, 07:49 PM']gwil! megia as we say in greek means have a good one on your new toy i still love my F bass so maybe i chamber mine [/quote] hey Manos, thanks! you know that F is a killer bass, no need to chamber it [quote name='7string' post='1085599' date='Jan 11 2011, 03:29 PM']Beautiful bass![/quote] thanks 7string - the colour of the top actually reminds me of your Sei! [quote name='Mark Latimour' post='1085618' date='Jan 11 2011, 03:44 PM']That said, the MTD marilyn I havei s the most "huge" soudning bass I have ever played - its almost too "big" to use in a band setting![/quote] Hopefully not! By the way did I read on TB that you're thinking of selling yours? [quote name='chris_b' post='1085661' date='Jan 11 2011, 04:12 PM']Hey Mark and Gwilym, any gigs coming up where we can hear these beasts in action?[/quote] Lol, no I will only play it at home But seriously, I do intend to gig it so I'll let you know, more likely I will record our next band demos with it before we play another gig (which have been infrequent of late), so I will draw your attention to them once the boss is ready to put them up on the web site. Cheers Gwilym Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Lush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Really digging that. Looks nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Horton Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I recently hat the oppatunity to play this bass and it sounds and feels just as good as i looks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.