Hi everyone there:

I`ve been visiting a luthier, here in my city, who builds well crafted instruments for a very reasonable price.

In one of his top models he uses a combination of
Ash and CANYARANA, for the body.

I`ve never heard that name before, but I had the chance to test that bass and sounded really amazing (besides it was on sale for $550).

Can anybody tell me some info about that wood ?

You can see the full specs (in spanish) here:

http://www.rockcenter.com.ar/productos/bajos/JohnsonCustomPro5.htm

Thanks

Papersen

never heard of that wood. there are tons of common and regional names for various woods, but there are also many woods that have not risen to commercial prominence. sounds like the latter in this case.

bottom line is that if the bass sounds and plays great, then it could be pallet wood and still probably be worth the $550.

Do a web search on the name + "wood" and see if you get any hits.

It's pretty tough to say, especially without being able to see a picture of it.

Based ontranslations, my best guess is that it's a poplar, especially considering the price of that guitar.

I would think the luthier can tell you what it is.

the bass in the picture looks like lacewood to me...lacewood has a really nice low-mids and sweet, sorta compressed highs...makes for a really nice sounding fretless, but i've played some lacewood tobias basses that really sounded great. here's a picture from the ken smith page for comparison:

lacewood ksb (http://www.kensmithbasses.com/woodpages/lacewood.html)

All I found (the USDA Forestry woods index is down) was
canyarana = spondias cytheria
also known as cajarana, ambarella, golden apple, and several other names
sumac family
native to Asia and Africa, introduced to Central America
produces fruit that is sold as food
height to 18m (one source), or 75 ft (another source)
All references I found were as a food crop, or sites selling the fruit - didn't find any reference to its use as timber (which is not to say that it is unsuitable - how about cherry trees!)

Found an entry for a different spondias, but sharing a common name of "hog plum," so it might be what you're talking about:

http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/TechSheets/Chudnoff/TropAmerican/htmlDocs_tropamerican/Spondiasmombin.html

i think the wood you're looking for is called "cancharana", which do grows here on argentina.

ignacio