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Double Bass AES Walnut

#42
Nice bass Arnold! Maybe Ken will sell us some wood? Sure makes a pretty bass.

In this picture:

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it looks like a brace through the ff-hole on the back. Do you regularly do this on carved back basses or was there something in the woods character that gave you thought to add?

Thanks in advance!
 
#43
eroy said:
Nice bass Arnold! Maybe Ken will sell us some wood? Sure makes a pretty bass.

In this picture:

Invalid Link Removed

it looks like a brace through the ff-hole on the back. Do you regularly do this on carved back basses or was there something in the woods character that gave you thought to add?

Thanks in advance!
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I had an old Italian Bass a few years back with a roundback that had a center brace/crossbar. Then I found out that both Arnold and Jeff use them as well. To fortify the 3-pc back on my Martini where one of the joints is just a few inches from the soundpost I had Arnold put in a partial brace in the Back as well. Most of the other Basses that Arnold and Jeff have made with the center brace have shallow curved backs. My Martini has a huge swell in the Back as well as the Top. My Candi in repair at the moment just got a center brace as well. I think this helps to project the sound like in a flatback as well as spread the vibrations from the Top across the Back better. At least with the Martini having it for over 3 years before the modification I can tell the difference with and without the brace. That Bass also had some other repairs and internal corrections done so I can't say for sure 100% that all the change is from the Back but I can feel the difference at lease.

The Walnut Arnold used in this Bass and the last one he made that I supplied was uncovered accidentally from my stock. What we look for in that species (Claro) is wild grain with figure. Usually there are a lot of defects and knots in Walnut. I had a few slabs that had one end that was wild and the other 2/3rds was kinda straight grained with a more handsome figure for a larger use than out regular smaller cuts that are 6" wide by 24" long or a bit smaller for our Electric Basses. Arnold wanted to try some Walnut so I brought him a few pieces. The results were fantastic. Another Bass I know about from Walnut was a copy of my Riccardi attr. Storioni made by David Wiebe. Nick Lloyd also makes Basses from Walnut but possibly more mid-western Black Walnut rather than the west coast variety that I supplied to Arnold.

I have also seen a few older Italian Basses made from European Walnut most likely from local growth. These were 18th and 19th century Basses so using Walnut as a species for a Double Bass is nothing new. I actually have on that's in restoration now with the Back and Ribs made from matching Italian Walnut.

In case anyone here is interested, from memory I will tell you that the Black Walnut is Juglans Nigra, the Claro (meaning 'clear' in Spanish and names I think by the Spaniards) is Juglans Hindsii, and the Italian or European Walnut is Juglans Regia which is also the Persian Walnut where it all started. In the 'Regia' variety it was originally the same seed all across the world brought over from Persia. If it grows in France it's French Walnut, if in England it's English and Italian is Italian Walnut etc. In America we have grafted varieties all throughout the country (English root stock mixed with Black Walnut crotch and above, a Texas Walnut grafted to an Arizona tree, etc) mainly for the Nut industry so finding a pedigree Black Walnut in Virginia or a Claro Walnut in California is not always easy as much of it is mixed by now unless it's of Virgin growth (and its offspring), trees I mean..lol

I am sorry to say that I can't offer this wood for sale from my shop other than when I find a piece 'by chance' that might be suitable for a DB. It must be long enough and without defect end to end. For my usages I am able to cut around this as we don't allow defects in our grades either. Needing much smaller billets (6"x24" max.) allows us much more leeway in lumber purchases than a DB maker can get away with. For this reason we cannot be considered as a supplier for this wood. Sorry..:crying:

Plus, that TB Commercial User Policy (aka, CUP) rule.. lol

'Not for Sale'... A message sponsored by TalkBass..
 
#46
Such powerful, creative, clean craftsmanship. Thank you all for making this lovely, responsive, instrument and for sharing it with all of us. Real beauty, there.

Looks like Belcantos, yes?

Ken, nice post on the walnut. The California varieties, especially, can yield some really large, figured, clear stock. I worked in the Northwest for a few years (in architectural millwork and furnituremaking, not luthiery!) and was repeatedly blown away by the Western stock. Ditto with the Pacific broadleaf maple; figure, warm color, and size.

For the Eastern varieties, as one of my suppliers says, "Walnut; O.K., its short, sappy, and full of knots. If you are good with that, we can sell you as much as you want!" Happily, the Pacific stock is a different flavor.
 
#49
Jeremy Allen said:
...and that is one sweet bass. I think it's been sold, but maybe he'll make another and I'll come to my senses this time and buy it.
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Boy is that ever true. That bass is fantastic. One lucky kid got that one.

This Walnut thing is very interesting. Both those basses had the best tone to my ear in a new bass.
 
#51
Years ago I built two electric basses with walnut wings and maple/walnut neck-through blocks. The thought was that walnut was slightly darker and less snappy-sounding than maple but not as squishy as mahogany. It worked nicely: They sounded good back in the day.

Does that play out for DB?

(Mahogany works great for electric guitars but I never played a mahogany-bodied EB that I dug sonically.)

(FWIW I still have the bass guitars and I still play them about once a year and I still suck but it still doesn't bother me and my wife, Kathy, still smiles every year when I strap one on.)
 
#53
Eric Swanson said:
For the Eastern varieties, as one of my suppliers says, "Walnut; O.K., its short, sappy, and full of knots. If you are good with that, we can sell you as much as you want!"
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Well, for buying commercially cut Walnut yes but I purchased loads of Logs a few years back and had most of it band-cut on the slab. I have about 25,000 board feet if not more of mostly 'pure chocolate' both faces with minimum sap. Much of it is 12-20" wide as well. We probably have the best supply anywhere but because we make special models featuring this wood, our stock is our 'blood bank' so we never offer it for sale.
 
#55
KSB - Ken Smith said:
Well, for buying commercially cut Walnut yes but I purchased loads of Logs a few years back and had most of it band-cut on the slab. I have about 25,000 board feet if not more of mostly 'pure chocolate' both faces with minimum sap. Much of it is 12-20" wide as well. We probably have the best supply anywhere but because we make special models featuring this wood, our stock is our 'blood bank' so we never offer it for sale.
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Sounds like you may be air-drying your stock, yes?

The supplies of air-dried walnut I've seen had a warm, pinkish tinge to it, but that may have just been a coincidence; perhaps those logs were just that color.

Do you notice any color difference between air and kiln dried walnut?
 
#56
KSB - Ken Smith said:
I had an old Italian Bass a few years back with a roundback that had a center brace/crossbar. Then I found out that both Arnold and Jeff use them as well. ...
Click to expand...

Interesting information about crossbars on roundbacks. I hope we can hear Arnold's reasoning first hand.
 
#59
Eric Swanson said:
Sounds like you may be air-drying your stock, yes?

The supplies of air-dried walnut I've seen had a warm, pinkish tinge to it, but that may have just been a coincidence; perhaps those logs were just that color.

Do you notice any color difference between air and kiln dried walnut?
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Yes, we air dried all of this Walnut in-house on sticks and much of it is still on sticks buried behind stacks of Tiger Maple that we stock for re-sale to the local furniture trade. The Walnut if chocolate when cut is chocolate when dried. No color effect. The problem with commercial walnut is that they mostly steam dry it to mix the sap and heart woods and maybe that's where the pink and tan shades come from. Not at all what I have in stock.

Also, the lighter walnut you have seen might also be a mixed species perhaps with English Walnut if not an American grown English throughout which I have seen as well. 'Butternut' is also sold as 'white' walnut in the trade as well. It too is a Juglans variety.
 

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