Build the heaviest bass ever?

[Nihilism]

Hi all. I've noticed that something which is really important to me in a bass guitar is weight! Why? i don't know. Perhaps the tone, perhaps the feel, I just like heavy guitars. My Stingray HH feels a tad light for me.
So I was wondering - what would be the heaviest bass ever?
And just to make myself more clear - the bass would have to be 1 piece, and the hardware would have to be heavy aswell. Heaviest as possible.
Thank you

 

[HaMMerHeD]

I have seen a bass made entirely out of gabon ebony. Quite hefty, I imagine.

 

[Smilodon]

Make the body and neck from something like Lingum Vitae or perhaps African Blackwood, then top it of with some brass hardware and you have a nice bass to ruin your back.

 

[Nihilism]

Oh and my actual question is what parts you would use to build the heaviest bass ever.
I was thinking maybe a full Bubinga\Maple\Koa

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Lignum vitae would indeed probably be heaviest. But I hear it's tough to glue...

 

[David Jayne]

Machine it from a block of steel? How heavy do you want to go?
Depleted uranium?

 

[daveman50]

My Rickenbacker 3001. Rock maple, 2 trussrods, extra lead bits in the neck, etc. Sounds amazing and has the best neck ever, but by the end of the night it adds up.

 

[Nihilism]

Well I was thinking of around 14kg or so.

 

[SamanthaCay]

One of these days I want to build a bass out of solid steel and finish it out to look just like a vintage sunburst Fender just to mess with people.

 

[powmetalbassist]

Depleted uranium?

yeah..you win, because not only is it heavy but you or the bass may glow too!

 

[Feral Feline]

Stone, Concrete, Metal Alloys, Lucite... it's all been done, heavily.

 

[Spectrum]

Depleted uranium?

yeah..you win, because not only is it heavy but you or the bass may glow too!

Only mildly radioactive and perfectly safe to handle once it's finished, but the dust from machining it is a nasty heavy metal toxin.

This would be the best bass for metal.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

This would be the best bass for metal.

As much as I think this "joke" has been done to death, and the dead horse is buried and quite rotted, I have to agree.

I was actually thinking of buying some uranium ore for use in inlays for the most METAL guitar possible.

 

[miziomix]

Lignum vitae would indeed probably be heaviest. But I hear it's tough to glue...

You can always carve it out of a single board.

Make sure it's thick. Add a large headstock - the extra weight up there will make the bass feel heavier than it is

Unleash your imagination and consider that, you can only go so far in making a bass light. But to make it heavy... oh boy...

 

[HaMMerHeD]

A 13" wide, 48" long piece of 8/4 Lignum Vitae. If my internet math is correct, the slab would weigh about 60 pounds. No telling how much it would weight once cut and carved. Maybe 20? Not as heavy as I had hopes.

Better go with uranium then.

 

[Hopkins]

Lignum vitae would indeed probably be heaviest. But I hear it's just about impossible to glue...

Fixed it for you

Start with something heavy like northern ash, then chamber the body, and fill the chambers with lead.

 

[Smilodon]

A 13" wide, 48" long piece of 8/4 Lignum Vitae. If my internet math is correct, the slab would weigh about 60 pounds. No telling how much it would weight once cut and carved. Maybe 20? Not as heavy as I had hopes.

Better go with uranium then.

You could make the body larger. Think acoustic bass, only with a solid body.

I did see a block of ebony at Bell forest products the othe day. I think it was 13x18x8". Making a body from that should do the trick. It only cost about 1000$...

 

[brorbjoern]

my bass is made of Wenge, ebony, maple (the least part of it) and bubinga. I think that's about as heavy as it gets only thing that's light about it is it's tuners (hipshot ultralights). it's a fairly common wood combination on Warwicks (mine isn't one though :b), but if you wanna go even heavier an all Wenge bass would be great you can occasionally buy large enough slabs of MI grade Wenge so... go ahead and then add Fender tuners, a G&L bridge, stainless steel frets and nut, ebony top and fretboard, and you should be in the region of "the Worlds heaviest bass"

 

[Splods]

If you wanted to do one using wood, I would highly suggest Western Australian Jarra, not the best woof for bodies, but great for fretboards.

 

[Reynoldbot]

One of these days I want to build a bass out of solid steel and finish it out to look just like a vintage sunburst Fender just to mess with people.

It would probably still be lighter than most 70's Fender basses.