Michael Tobias doesn’t chase the spotlight - but his instruments have found their way into the hands of some of the most respected bass players in the world. From the earliest Tobias models to the evolution of MTD, he has helped shape the voice of the electric bass more than most players will ever realise. In this episode of Life With Strings Attached, Michael sits down with Jamie Gale to talk about the moments that defined his five-decade journey: rebuilding smashed guitars in D.C., working inside a burger-scented shop over a Burger Chef, surviving corporate chaos at Gibson, and building an entirely new philosophy around tone, touch, and wood. Along the way, his son Daniel steps into the story and the shop, pointing toward the future of one of the most quietly influential names in luthiery. They talk tonewoods, zero frets, psychoacoustics, trade tariffs, hand carving, and the burden of scaling a business when you’d rather just build. This isn’t a product pitch. It’s a rare look at what it means to live a life shaped by craft - and how the instruments we build end up building us.