bass woods

[Stewmc5222]

How about pine???

hey Carey!

well, that's true: pine was quite a knockout on your amazing fretless. was the fingerboard pink ebony? was the neck spruce?

from the awed low end,


Stew

 

[Carey]

correct on both points Stew. Except it's called pink "ivory".

BTW, I'm not sure pine would work at all with any other combination of woods, or for a fretted instrument. Of course, I will have to try it someday...

 

[Stewmc5222]

hey Carey,

thanks for the clarification. to my ears, that is an ideal fretless tone. and the combination of woods is amazing for its weight and responsiveness. I know I've told you before and I'm sure I'll tell you again, but that instrument really floored me!



now back to my agonizing...



from the lows,


Stew

 

[dave251]

How about pine???

What kind of pine did you use? And did you have any trouble with finish?

I've been using Western Red Cedar, simple because it interfaces so well with my "MagPi" system...and it's very light weight and highly resonant, even in the thicknesses used in my bass design.

 

[Carey]

As close as I can tell it's northern white pine. I get it from my local lumber yard, when they have it. It's the cleanest pine I've ever seen and it's very light and resonant. I think the bass weighs about 6.5 lbs.

I used polyeurethane for the finish and that stuff will stick to almost anything.

I may have to try some red cedar now too...

 

[Stewmc5222]

whatever species Carey used made for a revelation of an instrument!

from the lows,


Stew

 

[dave251]

FWIW, this bass uses WRC for the body and Doug fir for the neck. Pao Ferro board and tailpiece. I'd appreciate any comments on the sound....but please forgive my ham fisted bass playing. Invalid Link Removed

And here's a photo of a body cross section.

 

[Stewmc5222]

hey Dave,

it's an interesting tone, but I'd need to play it myself to really judge. I like the roundness in the bass frequencies, though.

from the lows,


Stew

 

[Shri]

Patrick - If you've seen Queen, you've seen that little red guitar played by Brian May, "The Red Special"?. The central section of the body is oak from an old table and the fretboard is oak, (the body is covered with mahogany veneer, so it all looks the same).

The few comments I've read by the few builders/luthiers who have tried it said;

- white oak sounds better than red
- it isn't stable enough for necks (remember, I said "few" as in "a couple of" comments; plus you're using it with good ol' steady maple)
- it has a lot of tannin. So some said it oxidizes/rusts metal parts except stainless steel, some said only if there's moisture
- the most consistent complaint was that it splintered way too much and was hell to use a scraper on, and with many so better woods available they won't bother with it again.

I've seen some beautiful oak furniture (even in my house). Hope it works out well for you.

FWIW, I saw another plug today for cocobolo by a luthier who tested the tap tones of 5 different woods he bought.
He rated cocobolo above the others in a class by itself. (BTW, please don't think I'm implying that my selection of cocobolo is THE best choice).

But he said, "The Cocobolo has it all, the sound is rich, deep and ballanced with as much sparkle as bass."

As with any wood, YMMV with respect to the level lutherie skills handling it.

Rickbass, i'm choosing woods for my next bass. I talked to the luthier and decided to put mahogany for body and cocobolo as a top. How would you think cocobolo as a body would be compared to what i decided? Cos my luthier told me that cocobolo would have a more aggressive tone than maple.

 

[McHack]

Wow, so little love for the Korina woods...

 

[rusty]

Wow, so little love for the Korina woods...

I was wondering that myself...
some people describe its tone as mahogany deluxe - resonant, deep, warm and smooth. Others describe it as a very mid-rangey, cut-through-the-mix wood.
I guess it's pretty much a love-hate relationship with this wood then

 

[McHack]

I was wondering that myself...
some people describe its tone as mahogany deluxe - resonant, deep, warm and smooth. Others describe it as a very mid-rangey, cut-through-the-mix wood.
I guess it's pretty much a love-hate relationship with this wood then

Honestly, I don't really see either description as a bad thing... I suspect the truth is somewhere between, or a combination of both.

 

[Blademaster Dez]

I didn't read through the entire thread, so I'm probably reiterating a lot of things.

I picked alder. I've played only a maple bass and 3 alder basses. Maple is nice for the brightness and punch, but it can get heavy and I'm not getting any younger. I like alder because you can get a bunch of great sounds out of it and it's relatively light weight, which my shoulders and back appreciate, especially since I play a 6-string. Whether the genre of music is jazz, metal, or anything in between many use alder-bodied basses.

And depending on electronics, different characteristics of alder can come out. My housemate's Yamaha BBG5S can dial in sounds quite different from my Samick Fairlane 6.

I'd love to try a light-ash bodied bass, though.

EDIT: And for pure aesthetics, I love the look of quilted maple, especially with a transparent light blue finish. It looks like tropical water.

 

[cnltb]

For me it's alder , as it seems to be the most resonant wood which is still hard enaugh.
I'd like to try spruce if it wasn't so soft...maybe on a set neck with gut strings...and only piezo pickup...
We'll see

 

[Webtroll]

Only 1 choice? I chose mahogany but woulda liked to add alder

 

[Mystic Michael]

This really should be a multiple choice poll...

I'm partial to maple & walnut. But I think I'd also like Northern hard ash as well, from what I understand about its tonal properties...

MM