Nordstrands in a MIM P-bass

[Coward Of Reali]

I put Nordstrands in an old '95 p-bass, now while it drastically helped the tone I still feel like it sounds a little hollow. Mid nineties MIM fenders used poplar wood right?
What if I took out the nordstrands and put them in an alder Sx or something with better wood, it'll sound better right?
Or maybe I'm wrong about the poplar.
Thanks

[Rocky McDougall]

I think the vast majority of MIM basses were made of Alder. But, don't hang your hopes of hearing a noticable difference in different woods. Ash and Alder have been used extensively buy most makers. Boutique basses have used beautiful, exotic woods, but not for their tone value but their beauty and to justify some of the pricing necessary to support a small builder. IMHO my preferance would be, mahogany, then ash and then alder of the common woods.

[troyus]

Just because the wood is Alder doesn't make it all the same.

SX (Chinese) Alder, from my experience of having a half dozen of them in my hands, is consistent, but the tone is very different than the Fender (American) Alder. The SX Alder has a deeper more mellow tone, I am not sure if that is because of the wood quality or the 4 piece bodies, or what.

The Fender stuff is higher pitched and has more pop to it. In my experience.

If you want wood with more pop I would say buy a 2 piece body made in the USA that has been dried properly. They aren't too expensive. Just do that.

Pickups and your neck and your strings and your body all work together to give you your tone.

Nordstrand pickups are nice, I have a few of them too, but they need a good bass to shine. In fact I would take a resonant bass with mediocre pickups any day over the mediocre bass with nice pickups.

[r379]

Originally Posted by troyus

If you want wood with more pop I would say buy a 2 piece body made in the USA that has been dried properly.

USA Custom occasionally gets air-dried wood as opposed to kiln-dried. Call Tommy. Nice guy and he'll take the time to talk to you.