An amateur luthier friend of mine is building his first bass (uilt guitars before) and was asking me about tonewoods, and seeing as I have minimal knowledge I came here:smug:

These are his plans so far:
Semi-hollow/semi-acoustic, Mahogony top and back, maple sides with an ash core under the pickups and bridge, and where the neck will bolt on.

Bolt-on maple neck with fretless ebony fingerboard with slap plate on the end.

He's looking for something that can be pretty bright sounding when attacked harder/slapped, but can warm up nicely when treated a bit nicer.

I really have no clue about this kind of thing, and he just didn't want to join just for the one thread.

Thanks from both of us :D

Their are a lot of variables in there. Make it active and add a pre-amp. That way you can control how you want it to sound.

If Wilser was building this sucker, he'd know what combo of woods would get that baby in line. maybe he'll swoop by with some advice....

Yeah he is really good at which good gives you which sound ;)

Their are a lot of variables in there.

thats what i thought too. 3 different woods with different densities and tones.

why try a flamed maple body for attack and match it up with, i dunno... wenge for the neck and fretboard? it would warm it up a bit, especially around the middle.
~gR~

He's looking for something that can be pretty bright sounding when attacked harder/slapped, but can warm up nicely when treated a bit nicer.

alder