The fundamental acoustic sound quality is vitally important to the final sound of both guitar and bass. If it doesn't sound good acoustically, then you can only use marginal pickups or else you'll hear all of the inadequacies of the sound, and you won't like it. But, if you have a good acoustical foundation, as do our Masters Design guitars and basses, then you can use good pickups and get a great sound! The acoustical quality is overlooked in most import guitars - their building for price, not performance. This is one of the things that makes Masters Design different, the design priorities are performance, sound quality and playability, not price point and style.
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Truss Rod Adjustment is as easy as it gets no parts to unscrew, no loosening or moving strings, using a standard allen wrench. But wait, there's more! Notice that the truss rod adjustment is at the heel, not the head. A lot of wood must be removed from the weakest part of the neck with a truss rod adjusting at the headstock. With the slot at the bottom, our neck is stronger and it remains rigid up through the tuning machines helping to eliminate neck resonances that rob tone and response. We use graphite nuts for better tuning and pitch stability. This is our EPiB4-2: a sparkling pearl white finish, black chrome hardware, maple fingerboard and black pearl inlays; real pearl, not plastic. Look at it in the lower left photo. This picture shows the unrestricted access players have to the entire fingerboard with our EP body design. There is no heel and the neck profile remains the same all the way to the body! It plays low, fast and easy from the 1st fret to the 24th.
Unobstructed
Access
It's not just about better access to the fingerboard, it's about all of
the inter-related and critical details U.S. Masters employs in determining
the ultimate dimension, shape, profile, feel, responsiveness and uniformity
of our necks, guitar or bass, made in the USA or imports. How
they play is absolutely critical, it's one of the things that sets us
apart from other guitar companies. It is a hallmark of U.S. Masters and
Masters Design.
After developing the foundational acoustic quality of our Masters Design Bass Guitars, we fit them with high performance electronics to achieve sound quality that puts these basses in a completely different league from their contemporaries. Not satisfied with what was available, we did our own pickup development.
Our Masters Design P pickups (1) are fully shielded, humbucking and provide a timbre that you'll find inspiring. Our Masters Design J pickups (2) are also a custom-designed fully shielded noise-cancelling single coil. Designed in sets specific to either our 4-string or 5-string EPiB series bolt-on basses, the sound quality and performance doesn't just exceed what has been provided in affordable basses, they set a new and professional standard. Both of our EPiB bolt-on and EPiN neck-thru basses (3) use a high performance 3 band active EQ, have active/passive bypass and a high quality blend control assembly. The pickups of our EPiN neck-thru basses (3) are fully shielded soapbar-style humbuckers that provide substantial depth, clarity and power.
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The neck is rock solid so it won't absorb the energy from the string's vibration robbing the bass of sustain, tone and resonance and reducing the damping factor. With Masters Design's construction method, the energy from the string drives the body to create more resonance, more tone, more sustain, a stronger attack - in short, a bigger sound. And we use linear carbon fiber instead of woven carbon because only linear fibers act like they're part of the wood structure. Woven fibers act like plywood sending energy across the neck instead of along the length of the neck.
We've determined how to make a neck fast and thin and rigid, so the resonance shows up in the body where it belongs, not in the neck. We use linear carbon reinforcement in our bass necks. Most of our guitars and basses have ebony fingerboards. Then we set standards for workmanship, materials and attention to detail - and pay extra for it - so they're made to sound and play better. First, we make it sound good unplugged…
High-end, high quality components, like this top-load (easy to string) bass bridge, improve sound, hold their setup better, last longer, and are more dependable and have fewer failures. Compare this bridge with those used on a lot of the American-made and boutique basses and you'll be even more impressed with Masters Design!
Wilkinson
Tuning Machines
Made to tighter tolerances and specs using better quality metals and plating;
the feel, stability, precision and quality of the Wilkinson tuner is unquestionably
the best you'll find among any competitor's guitar or bass. They're Easier
to Tune & Stay In Tune Better
EPiB 4D comes in a top quality pro gig bag. Check out these feaures: it has a lot of space in the outside storage pockets; the material is very heavy and dense with heavy, rigid padding; protection of the interior lining at the headstock from the ends of the strings; very heavy duty zippers; 2 handles; and a pair of well-padded shoulder straps. Maybe best of all, the bag does not open along the bottom so the bass won't fall out if the zipper fails or if you forget to zip it up!
A detail you rarely find in guitars anywhere close to this price range. It's hard to make with a white pearl finish, but the look is so outstanding it's worth the extra cost.
U.S.
Masters Guitar Works is a product of M-Tec Corp.
2324 Pinehurst Dr. Unit B Middleton, WI 53562
608-836-5505 Fax: 608-836-6530
Toll Free (877) 716-0000 • email: sales@usmasters.com
These products are covered by U.S. Patents Nos. 5,886,272 & 6,051,765
2324 Pinehurst Dr. Unit B Middleton, WI 53562
608-836-5505 Fax: 608-836-6530
Toll Free (877) 716-0000 • email: sales@usmasters.com
These products are covered by U.S. Patents Nos. 5,886,272 & 6,051,765
