Hi. Anyone have ideas about a good choice of body wood for a one or two piece body (no top laminate) that is light in weight, is conducive to an open sound (not compressed sounding), and which would take a black analine dye well? Aesthetically, I would like the result to look like unfigured ebony with an oil finish.

poplar?

Some people complain that poplar gets blotchy. I poked around a little bit, and I was not a big dye-on-poplar fan, but I'm certainly no expert on colored finishes.

Some manufacturers use pearwood dyed black for the ebony look. Pearwood is still kind of expensive, but it's the closest you get to the real ebony deal. I guess alder would be the next wood on my list. Then maybe soft maple.

Maybe basswood??? Superb warm lows but soft and dents easily.

Here's a Dean with a dyed basswood body -

http://www.donmack.com/Images/products/Dean/DeanNew/BassGuitars/Edge1J55StringLarge.gif

IMO, forget alder. I had a nice cherry sunburst bass with an alder lower plate and that underside still looked butt-ugly.

Is that Dean dyed or painted? Looks like paint to me.

Originally posted by FBB Custom
Is that Dean dyed or painted? Looks like paint to me.

Great question, Matt. You're the expert here. They say that finish is "transparent black" as well as their other finishes are "transparent."

I interpreted "transparent" in relation to other "transparent" finishes I've seen where the wood grain is apparent because the wood is dyed, not painted. I could be wrong, but painted finishes I'm familiar with are termed "painted" not "transparent."

Here's a better pic of one of their all basswood "transparent" bodies in a different color. It doesn't look painted to me. See what you think -

http://www.stevesmusiccenter.com/DeanEdge4FretlessBig.jpg

The black one looked opaque, the lighter colored ones looked dyed. Black can be hard to tell, I guess. At any rate basswood seems like a decent wood to dye.

Thanks for the replies. Anyone ever try dyeing mahogany black?

I've had success dying several species...even oak and northern ash, I don't see why mahogany, one of the easiest to stain woods, would be a problem at all.