Best wood for bass?

[35hundy]

Your fingers and the wood are the singer's voice and the pickups are only the microphone, I say.

Neck: Wenge or Rosewood for deep, growly tone OR Maple for bright, scooped slap tone
Fingerboard: I haven't noticed too much difference in tone or feel between woods for fingerboards alone, just aesthetics. That's just me, though.
Body: Maple for brightness and clarity OR Swamp Ash for growl and clarity

 

[davy4575]

Which ever wood is holding the pickups you want in the location you like them in. It has been proven on this site that people could not tell the difference between the usual tone woods and a neck bolted to a 2x4.

Ughh. seriously. How do you know he was looking for tone. could have been weight, aesthetics, what is commonly used in conjunction with other woods, etc. Ive been a woodworker for many many years, different species have different characteristics weather or not you personally can hear them.

 

[Canadian APII]

My first build surprised the heck out of me. I walked into a wood shop and saw an eighteen by two by twenty eight board. I asked what it was and they said Basswood. I was sold there, being young and dumb. I only bought three feet for my body. What I ended up with was a basswood body and Maple neck. The tone was immensely deep with great sustain. The Basswood was very easy to shape but time has dented the wood very easily. I just retired that body so I'll try Basswood with a flamed maple cap for durability.

 

[lordraptor1]

If wood didn't matter, all basses would be made of pine or plywood.

well considering the original telecaster guitars leo fender designed were in fact made of pine . with that being said though I have heard some DIY guitars and basses made out of 3/4" ply from lowes/home depot. that sounded no different than a P-bass when outfitted with similar electronics.

my personal preference for bass or guitar wood is mahogany, i love the massive sustain i get with mahogany.

 

[Neon Blues]

I always felt that Mahogany sounded the best. Adds a nice deep tone.

 

[friendlybass]

I've been playing with wood since I was about 12 (teehee) and it makes a difference and doesn't make a difference! Love quilt and burl figuring. Go knock on wood at a local warehouse, you'll fall in love with a slab

 

[bassbenj]

Which ever wood is holding the pickups you want in the location you like them in. It has been proven on this site that people could not tell the difference between the usual tone woods and a neck bolted to a 2x4.

This is certainly true and tone differences are certainly minor, usually so minor that you can't tell by just listening to a bass. However, that does NOT mean that a bass player after playing a given instrument for a year or more can't instantly tell the difference between different basses made of different woods. So people develop favorites for various reasons. Mahogany is one of my favorites for tone and feel. I also like swamp ash because the grain is really nice and I like the brighter tone (remember though that "bright" here is a very MINOR effect). I don't prefer softer woods (basswood) to reduce weight because they are softer and dent easy, my preference would be something like mahogany in a semi-hollow body to reduce weight instead.

Bottom line is that you can't just say that this or that is the "best" wood because different people value different things. For some it's weight, for others it's nice wood grain, for others it's certain "tinge" to the tone. And the effect is so subtle deciding what you like best takes a LONG period. So I like Mahogany for tone, I like Swamp ash for a brighter tone and also Alder for a more mellow tone. They all have their place. I really like the nice grain of swamp ash, and weight is not a huge concern to me. I don't like softer woods because they are more rolled-off in tone, they ding easy and often screws tend to strip and pull out.

But that said, let me say I'd not kick a bongo bass out of bed on any of those characteristics if one were given to me even though they are basswood. So YMMV.

 

[Doc Mojo]

I like Alder, Swamp Ash and Mahogany.

 

[AaronVonRock]

Pickups, strings, pedals, and amps will make a much more noticeable difference to the tone of an electric bass than the type of wood used for the body or neck. I have yet to see any hard evidence or data that shows the type of wood used significantly contributes to tone for electric instruments. Others have already shown that an electric bass doesn't even have to be made from wood to have great tone.

If you are concerned about weight, durability, or aesthetics, then the type of wood could make a difference.

 

[35hundy]

Pickups, strings, pedals, and amps will make a much more noticeable difference to the tone of an electric bass than the type of wood used for the body or neck. I have yet to see any hard evidence or data that shows the type of wood used significantly contributes to tone for electric instruments. Others have already shown that an electric bass doesn't even have to be made from wood to have great tone.

If you are concerned about weight, durability, or aesthetics, then the type of wood could make a difference.

No, a bass doesn't need to be made of wood to have great tone but that doesn't mean it can be made of anything. Pickups are just magnets and don't create tone, they are measured by what they "hear". Pedals and preamps/amps process what is heard by the pickups. Again, not creating tone. They may "colour" a signal but they don't lay the foundation of what you hear. Think of the wood as the voice of a singer and the pickups as the microphone. Different materials resonate at different frequencies and different woods have completely different properties. It's just common sense.

 

[GMC]

I think it's next to impossible to write down exactly how a pair of wood combinations effect the tone of an instrument. It's something which has to be felt and heard.
But there are some great guidelines to the general tone over on the Warmouth web site.
Lets face it, Leo invented the bass guitar as we know it today and he go so much right from day 1. Every bass in current production has the basic DNA which he laid down back in the '50's and in terms of tone woods...it's wise to not stray too far from his directions.
The classic woods are classic for a reason and that's because they work well for bass and are well received with a log heritage for success.
So for some of my preferences; I like swamp ash for it's lightness and beautiful grain / look. But I prefer Alder as a tone wood...but it's generally dull looking and needs painting to give it some visual appeal. Basswood is ok, but I find it a bit lifeless compared to Alder or Ash. A maple neck for both these, with either a maple or Rosewood board depending if I want a brighter or standard edge to my tone.
Mahogany is a great tone wood too, but a little on the heavy side. I like to marry this with maple if I can and the two work great, especially with an ebony fingerboard.
Maple bodies work well, but I find that I need to marry this to a walnut neck or vice versa. Walnut seems to give me a burbly / funky tone...which I really like. I think my ideal Jazz bass would probably be an ash body, walnut and maple neck laminate and an ebony fingerboard....but that's straying a little from the "textus receptus" of the Jazz bass tone wood handbook...but it works great.
Some basses like Rickenbacker and made entirely from maple but with a Bubinga fingerboard, which is also a brighter tone wood although darker in appearance.

Some fancy woods look amazing but I've been a little underwhelmed by their tonal characters. These include Amazaque and Zircote.
Some fancy woods look and sound amazing. Macassan Ebony looks incredible when highly figured, but sound just like regular ebony. Ovankol is a great looking honey coloured wood and can be found with some nice figuring, It sounds great too although it can be quite bright. So I like to split it with ash on a body to balance out the tone more. Paduak can look amazing too, but needs a UV inhibitor in the finish to stop the glorious wine red colours fading to brown. Tonally, it's quite neutral. Easy to work with as long as you don't mind bright orange dust every where in the workshop. Wenge is nice too, it can look great and it's tonal qualities are well known.

If you don't think wood effects tone much...then check out a bass with dead spots...that's in the wood and construction. If wood wasn't important then why are there Carbon graphite bodies and various tone woods available, again a nod to Leo Fender for his list of received "holy woods".

 

[cnltb]

Best wood for bass?
Basswood.
It's good for Fish too!

 

[lbbc]

walnut for the body (maple accent w/claro walnut topcap)--for resonance and aesthetics
maple with wenge for the neck (neckthrough for me)--great tone (bright but not harsh)
Madagascar or gabon ebony for the fingerboard--for feel
put it all together and got this...............

 

[SteveHeissner]

Any wood that makes me sound better than I am and covers up my mistakes - that's the best wood for me.

 

[MrLenny1]

Alder is my preference.
My basses are, one maple body, one mahogany, one quilted maple
&one bubinga , wenge , alder.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Ive been a woodworker for many many years, different species have different characteristics weather or not you personally can hear them.

This is very true, but they change depending on what the whether is doing outside.

 

[bassballs27]

There have been a number of great responses to this thread so far, so my response will echo much of what already has been mentioned as I share a similar preference in wood combinations.

A bass (or any instrument for that matter) truly is a sum of all it's parts, which in fact is called 'Timbre'

For an electric solid body bass guitar, all of these aspects of the instrument have the ability to change the sound:
Woods, pick-ups, electronics, fret (size), body size and shape, bridge, nut, number of strings, scale, finish, and nut. By number of strings, I was referring to more mass required for the neck to accommodate more strings.

If there is one thing I can strongly suggest to anyone looking the 'holy grail' in wood combinations is.......trust your ears!
You could literally have two basses built of the same wood combinations (and all other parts - electronics, pick-ups, bridge etc) and you might like one over the other, neither of the two, or maybe even both.
And you can even take both out to a gig and change your mind over either or not like either. You might like how one records, but like how the other sounds through your bass rig. It's all very subjective. However, through my personal experience, basses built of similar wood combinations will have similar sounds. So find the combinations you like best by playing as many as you can and you'll develop an ear for the combinations.

 

[Joedog]

what is the best wood for metal then?

Ironwood of course!

 

[los100malditos]

I like alder body and maple neck, BUT
IMHO
Pickups are by far a more determinant in your sound
of course it can not be balsa wood bass !!!
i have come to realize that i do not like too many rounds in the pickup coil, so i hate most of humbuckers
i hate the lack of clarity
i like most of the P-Bass style pickup tone
of course it can not be a 9$ pickup
I have soapbar pickup in my steinberger but actually it is a p-bass pickup cased in a humbucker enclosure.
I Hated the MEC tone pickups on my warwick ... (sold)

 

[AaronVonRock]

No, a bass doesn't need to be made of wood to have great tone but that doesn't mean it can be made of anything. Pickups are just magnets and don't create tone, they are measured by what they "hear". Pedals and preamps/amps process what is heard by the pickups. Again, not creating tone. They may "colour" a signal but they don't lay the foundation of what you hear. Think of the wood as the voice of a singer and the pickups as the microphone. Different materials resonate at different frequencies and different woods have completely different properties. It's just common sense.

Again, I haven't seen any empirical evidence that shows the type of wood makes a difference in tone. It's all anecdotal evidence and marketing by guitar companies that say different woods give different tones in electric instruments. Here's a good article backed with scientific research that debunks the myth of wood affecting tone.
Invalid Link Removed

From the article:
"it seems that most of the electric guitar research is done by manufacturers."

"the idea behind the research is that the "common" knowledge being spread by companies that market guitars go against the physics of how the electric guitar works."

"This research validates the opinion that the string setup, pickup type and pickup placement is what causes the various tonal differences that we hear between electric guitar models and brands."