Ash Neck Basses

[KJung]

Just curious if anyone has an ash neck bass. I know Fodera has been making them for a while. I had an ash neck MTD 535-24 (ash body with maple board) and ended up selling it. It was a beautiful bass, and sounded good fingerstyle... very aggressive and growly. However... when I slapped on it, the slap attack literally disappeared... in other words, there was almost a delay before the sound came out... absolutely horrible (and very strange... almost like a compressor turned to too high of a ratio). I never have had anything like that happen before, and am wondering if it was just this particular bass or if it's a problem with ash as a neck material. I have another MTD (a wenge 535 with swamp ash body and maple top) that is just a slap monster.

Anyway, what are your experiences with ash neck instruments.... how do they differ from the more traditional maple neck?

 

[MAJOR METAL]

Talk to Mike Dimin he has an Awesome MTD with an Ash Neck , it really is a great player.

 

[Christian Houmann]

Hey Kjung,

My Emperor 4 have a 5 piece ash neck and it have a ash body. It's a pretty aggressive bass but is sound really good when playing live. The slap tone on this bass is amazing and I have not experience what you are saying about your early MTD. The ash neck sound be more aggressive then maple. Lincoln Goines and Garrison have a ash neck on their main basses. If you talk to Mr. David B from gooveshooppe and he will tell you much more about ash necks. I think he likes ash necks very much

Just ordered a Epifani 4x10UL so my slap tone should be even more amazing

-Christian

 

[KJung]

Hey Kjung,

My Emperor 4 have a 5 piece ash neck and it have a ash body. It's a pretty aggressive bass but is sound really good when playing live. The slap tone on this bass is amazing and I have not experience what you are saying about your early MTD. The ash neck sound be more aggressive then maple. Lincoln Goines and Garrison have a ash neck on their main basses. If you talk to Mr. David B from gooveshooppe and he will tell you much more about ash necks. I think he likes ash necks very much

Just ordered a Epifani 4x10UL so my slap tone should be even more amazing

-Christian

Let us know how you like that 410! Thanks for the info... it must have just been that particular bass. It was very strange. I actually got interested in Ash necks because of the comments like yours... big, aggressive, etc. I hope I run into one in a store sometime so I can check them out again.

 

[Mike Dimin]

I find the ash neck to be the most responsive neck I have ever played. MY MTD 535-24 has an ash body with an ash/maple neck. Plyed wih a light touch, it soundds like a hollow body jazz guitar, if I dig in, it gets very aggressive. Mine has a great slap sound. Very articulate.

Kjung,
I find that with an ash neck, the notes jump off the bass. I am surprised at your findings. I wonder, did the bass have an exotic top? If so, what kind of top was on that bass. I think that some of the softer tops, like Buckeye Burl tend to compress the sound.

Mike