MÜB Custom

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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MÜB Custom, located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is where Maurizio caduto creates art in the form of electric basses and guitars.

Maurizio is an Italian born luthier living in Malaysia. He is a classically trained guitarist. He studied visual art, worked as an advertising creative director, a photographer and was a commercial film director all in what he may describe as “a past life”. But… throughout that life he has always been a bass player. When one of his basses needed refretting, “Mau” took it to a local shop where he met a well-known luthier named Jeffrey Yong. Rather than just hire Mr. Yong to fix the bass, he asked him if he could instead pay Mr. Yong to teach him how to do replace the board, insert carbon fiber spars, glue on a new board, add an intricate inlay and fret it. To Mau’s surprise, he agreed. It was this project that made Mau decide to become a bass builder. He channeled his visual arts background and conjured his innovative ideas which he into beautiful instruments.

MÜB Custom has become synonymous with innovative short scale instrument that are perfect for the traveling bassist. The now famous MIEZO model…”miezo” means “half” in Maurzio’s Southern Italian dialect and the Miezo is just that. Half the size of a traditional electric bass. The X3M and the Airborne models which can feature interchangeable multiple neck options for different scale possibilities. The detachable neck system allows the player to disassemble the bass in minutes and store it in an airline friendly mini gig bag.

MÜB Custom also makes standard size works of art. Single-Cut, Dual-Cut, Multi-scale; Headless, Headless-Hybrid or with traditional tuners; Bolt-on, Set-Neck, Neck-Through or Set-Through construction, and with as many frets and strings as you like.

SPOTLIGHT ON

Owner, Maurizio Caduto

  • A: Two things: For one, I was never fully happy with all the basses I have owned. They were all great - and I still own a few - but I always found something that could be improved upon. And, at some point I decided that I wanted to build basses as a hobby.

    My background is in art and design and I had no experience whatsoever in woodwork.

    Ever though all that I have learned in my previous job has eventually found its way into how we build our instruments, I first had to learn the craft. So, in 2008 I went to apprenticing with a well known luthier, Jeffrey Yong, who builds excellent acoustic guitars in Kuala Lumpur, where I had just relocated. That’s how I first met the router and the table saw.

  • A: I was on Talk Bass at the time I started apprenticing, and had posted a thread on my very first prototype - the Headless-Hybrid, a headless bass with a headstock, which amazingly enough we still build almost exactly as it was originally conceived. The support I received was incredible - I believe the thread Building The Über-Jay is still there - and by the time I had started posting about the second prototype, I received my first order. It was 2010, if I remember correctly. Fast forward a few years, and building basses had upgraded from a hobby to a full time job. In 2016 I left my previous job, set up a proper company alone and here we are.

  • A: I have, from day one, approached bass building from a designer's point of view rather than that of a woodworker. Does this work? Can it be done better? Can it look better?What’s the idea behind it? Is this really an idea? Or is it just decoration. I dislike decoration. I want our design to make the wood look good and not the other way around.

    So a Müb is lighter, slimmer, more compact, ergonomic, comfortable. It is also sensibly priced and totally open to modifications without having to break the bank - we love doing custom so we want it to be affordable.

    We have pioneered the modular, compact bass category. Our X3M and Airborne models are a system more than just an excellent instrument, allowing the musician to play different scale lengths from long scale bass to baritone, tenor, without having to change technique. All in one easy-to-disassemble instrument which can be carried onboard a plane, weighs 6.5lbs/7lbs, and it’s ergonomic and compact.

    We offer a fretless-only model, the F, that was totally redesigned to fully empower the fretless bassist (they are a different breed), instead of just a bass without frets. Our design approach is applied to small things too: for our detachable neck system we designed everything, including custom screws. Ditto for our headless and Headless-Hybrid system which feature design solutions that are unique in the industry. We have offered back cavities with tool compartment and magnetic covers since 2012; a chamber system that reduces weight without affecting tone. We offer three custom levels which can satisfy the most demanding musician. The Halo, for instance, allows the client to design the instrument from scratch and it’s quickly becoming one of our most successful offering.

  • A: I believe they are, in this exact order:

    1. Design

    2. Construction style and quality

    3.Wood

    4. Electronics

    5. Fretwork and set up

    6. Being OCD.

    I can elaborate. Design lays down the correct blueprint; Construction style defines the inherent tone; Construction quality delivers on the above; Wood combination enhances both tone and look; Electronics fine-tune the voice of the instrument; Flawless fretwork and exact set up allows for precise, personalized level of playability and tone; Being OCD keeps everything in check.

  • A: Aside from the above mentioned points, we build our custom basses one at the time - especially our Über-Fit and Halo series. The level of customization these orders allow demands that. It’s not easy - heck, it’s hard! But we are both geared for and committed to it. We love it.

  • A: At Müb we are all proficient in woodwork. Anyone of us can build an excellent instrument down to the smallest detail entirely by hand. This made me confident that we could (and should) gradually add CNC/3D to our workflow for two equally important reasons:

    Freedom and creativity.

    Freedom from mind-numbing repetitive work which only requires precision: cavities, channels, rough shapes. Precision is a machine’s quality, human beings should strive for excellence. So, while the machine does its job well, we focus on areas where we add value.

    Creativity might sound counter-intuitive when referred to a machine. It’s actually the opposite. Having a machine that can make what I never could by hand with both precision and consistency, frees up my mind from the limits imposed by tools and traditional techniques. We use CNC much like an artist uses a brush or a chisel: it’s a creative tool. I can let ideas run free without having to worry about execution. This approach protects the Idea from the bias one naturally ends up developing. We are an idea-driven company which happens to build guitars. So, in our world, ideas are King and Queen and we are ready to learn new techniques and skills if a new idea calls for it.

  • A: My personal goal is to make an instrument so right for the owner that it connects to an emotional level. It’s the kind of connection that you develop with your old guitar, that makes you want to pick it up and play every time you look at it, and by doing so become a better musician.

    Getting this right is the tricky part. It requires dedicate as much time as it’s necessary to talk about the concept, being good enough a bass player to understand exactly what the client is describing, open minded enough to not force a ready-made, fits-all solution upon the project, follow your designer instinct when putting everything together. I know, it doesn’t sound like a woodworker’s job description. But we build tools that allow people to create and that cannot boil down to just blades and millimetres. And the by-product of working this way is that, we make friends. Isn’t that wonderful?

    So, it’s a great joy when our friends tell us that their bass ‘gets them’. In those two little words is everything Müb is ultimately about.