building a body

stanger503 · #1 02-06-2008, 05:05 PM

ok well i plan on building a bass body probably in the jazz esque shape. my questions come down to what wood. i was thinking hickory and read on here that its just too flexible....which seems silly to say if its going to be the body. but what do i know. also i was thinking of black walnut too. the exact wood configuration is unknown to me just yet. and for good measure i may get some maple in on the adventure as well. if this body turns out nice im thinking of selling it if anyone would end up being interested it would be cool to see that i actually did somthing and can say i helped build that bass(you know...if someone used it to build on). any input on this cattegory at allllll would be much appreciated. i was also thinking of doing either a colored stain(or somthing but i dont know what to use at all along the lines of colored stains and such) or just keeping it natural depending on how the grain and everything looks.

Al Heeley · #2 02-06-2008, 05:19 PM

Alder, poplar or basswood are good inexpensive options for a body, as is sycamore and mahogany if you can take advantage of the 30% off sale that Boddys in York are currently having. There are loads of good tomnewoods available, cheaper ones are uglier but not necessarily less suitable from a tone quality point of view. maple caps on mahogany are great and never did les paul or paul reed smith any harm.

Wood Ascention · #3 02-06-2008, 08:55 PM

Hickory is fine for a body, as long as it is well dried. If you want to do a colored dye I suggest either maple or ash due to the fact that they are light colored and take color very well. As for stains check otu analine dyes. They can be a little tricky to get right but try them on some scrap pieces first to learn how to apply the.
Good luck

stanger503 · #4 02-06-2008, 09:01 PM

yea well the colors of the wood are i guess your typical black walnut, very dark and the hickory is actually super light almost rite on par with maple. what i was looking at were the minwax water based color stains they have. is that no go for that? ill look into the dyes too. and i suppose i need to design this with a certain neck pocket size in mind....so with that being said i think id like to keep in on a typical jazz style bass so any dimensions from anyone would be cool. thanks guys for your input too