• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Anyone built a bass starting with a tree?

Y

YoMomma

Jul 15, 2010
53
0
#1
I live in the woods. Thousands of oaks and maples (mostly). I think I'm ready to build a bass starting with an actual tree. Anyone else done this?

How does one cut the body "blank" from the log? I'm thinking I'd use a chain saw, and cut diagonally so I had a slab large enough to make a body. Sound crazy?

-YM
 
#3
YoMomma said:
I live in the woods. Thousands of oaks and maples (mostly). I think I'm ready to build a bass starting with an actual tree. Anyone else done this?

How does one cut the body "blank" from the log? I'm thinking I'd use a chain saw, and cut diagonally so I had a slab large enough to make a body. Sound crazy?

-YM
Click to expand...

Well, if I recall correctly, John Paul Jones himself said that his first bass was one built from a great big slab of wood, just one piece of wood shaped into a bass shape, instead of several pieces fitting together.

But perhaps you should ask the Luthier's board... they'd probably help you much better than everyone here!
 
#5
Hi.

YoMomma, do You have the patience to wait for about 5 to 10 years before the wood is ready to be used as the material for an instrument?

If You do, then contact your local forest association or a very good lumber yard and ask for precise instructions that fit Your neck of woods.

Regards
Sam
 
#7
YoMomma said:
Sound crazy?

-YM
Click to expand...

Yes.

Aside from the issue of properly drying & preserving the wood so you have a finished lumber product that is free from cracks and other defects, there is the substantial investment in both your time and the tools needed to take rough lumber to a finished slab.

You would be way ahead of things if you just purchased a body blank from Warmoth.

I mean, in theory it's a neat idea. Reality is a bit different.
 
#18
OK, here's what you should do if you want to be cool.
Plant a tree today. Nurture it and watch it grow for the decades it takes for it to be a tall, strong tree. Then chop it down and start the whole wood preparation process. Then make your bass once the wood is ready.
Sure, it could take a good 50 years or so, but come on. How awesome will it be once it's finally done and playable?
 
#20
i kinda feel that i make my bases out of trees... most of the wood i use i find by the trees that have been cut down some where around me or some on says hey i will cut down this tree do you need it... i personally know most of the trees that i collect as wood for long time since my child hood most of the time...

but you cant just make a bass out of a freshly cut tree!!! the only thing you can do as a whole is just as some one above has mentioned... you make it out of one big wooden board...
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back