Chambering

[strangedejavu]

Now with weight becomming a very popular and understandable concern it appears that wherever you go, you see threads asking about basses weight...

As a result, chambered bodies are becomming increasingly popular. Yet every luthier has their own method of going about chambering a guitar. Some use small chambers, some create a practically hollow body...

I wanted to start a thread that everyone can discuss their methods and what they have found in regards to tone and resonance.

It seems in a variety of different builds people are experimenting with chambering to find that "perfect" tone and weightloss... What have you found?

 

[Musiclogic]

Chambering is basically about weight loss and has very little to do with sound unless you are making a resonant top, in which there is interplay with a piezo pickup. Just my opinion, but I have found very little difference in tone unless the top resonates. Magnetic pickups these days react very sparsely with the wood due to potting, and encasement. Vibration doesn't effect the coils like in the old days when coils were more loose, and not potted, or at least potted as well as today.

 

[ponticat]

I'm building this body for a 34" scale bass. My main intent is to build the lightest instrument I can make. The blank was a 1.375" thick piece of basswood. The perimeter shape and dimensions are similar to a Jazzmaster guitar. The chambers, pickup cavity and control cavity are 1" deep, hogged out with Forstner bits and routed for final depth and clean up. The top will be 1/4" redwood. At this point the body weighs 2 pounds, six ounces. The neck is coming from a solid mahogany P bass body I built that weighs 7 pounds.

 

[efe_gallagher]

I'm interested in this as I can't seem to be able to play my bass for longer than two hours. I'm only 25 and shouldn't be having back issues just yet!
Not to mention, I think a semi-hollow/chambered body might add a nice round sound to my tone.

 

[miziomix]

I do chambers as standard unless I am asked otherwise. A light bass is a bliss so I make it a point to build light basses. My basses weigh 7lbs and below - the lightest being 5.2lbs.

Chambers are important to wight reduction but they are not the only way. Body thickness has a considerable impact too and so do contours. I use a combination of all three.

I have tried a few styles and decided that the almost hollow body way is not for me and that other ways were boring to make

This is the way I chamber a body. It works for me and I'm having fun

The lay out changes for each build, depending on how much weight I want to shed.

I am not sure about the impact on tone though and I would agree with Musiclogic. Even chambered a solid body does not behave as an acoustic one.

I have noticed a slight difference only on one heavily chambered body, but only when playing the bass unplugged. It might just have to do with slight vibrations my chest picks up from the body. But that's just speculation. As soon as the p-ups kick in that too disappears.

Maurizio

edit: and lets not forget the electronics cavity. Some are so large that one can save more than 1lbs on that alone.

 

[tmc2300]

I do chambers as standard unless I am asked otherwise. A light bass is a bliss so I make it a point to build light basses. My basses weigh 7lbs and below - the lightest being 5.2lbs.

I have this crazy thought of glue squeeze-out drying, flaking off and then rattling around inside the chamber. Sound possible or am I just paranoid?

 

[HaMMerHeD]

I have this crazy thought of glue squeeze-out drying, flaking off and then rattling around inside the chamber. Sound possible or am I just paranoid?

Possible, but not likely. The glues used don't really flake. They squeeze-out in globs and stick together. Having removed a lot of squeeze-out from body layups, I do sometimes wish it wasn't so tenacious.

 

[Big B.]

The problem I find with many heavily chambered basses is that while the overall weight is decreased, the neck is usually constructed with normal materials leading to out of balance basses. I'd personally rather have an 11 pound bass that hangs in playing position than a 7 pound bass with neck dive. I would only consider chambering one of my basses if it was a pretty heavy body to begin with.

While I'm not convinced I hear a direct amplified difference in the tone, many chambered basses, including the couple I've built, have a different feel to the strings that affects how I attack the strings. That is something that for me does affect the tone indirectly. The chambered basses seem to have a bit shorter sustain and a bit more delay to the attack. Its a slight effect that many wouldn't notice and just as many would prefer, but it doesn't mesh with the attack and feel I want standard on my basses.

Not trying to encourage or discourage anyone here, just throwing out my personal experience.

 

[klaus486]

I really like my chambered Warmoth made J bass. It has an Alder body with a Redwood top and is VERY resonant with sustain for days! I love feeling the notes in my chest as I play.

 

[JIO]

I chambered my heavy alder '89 Signature J hoping for weight loss. It was surprising how little different it made. Didn't hurt it in any way so maybe it's just a good place to stash ... something I cut a custom designed '51P/Jaguar hybrid pg to cover the upper cavity.

I did some major routing/chambering on a couple more basses, one a converted maple Tele guitar body...

...and another custom build short-scale bass

The maple is heavy and the other thin alder body is light. With a large plastic pg on both, they actually benefit both in weight and tone - almost like a capped hollowbody. The Tele is a fretless and very resonant due to large cavity and the short scale honks in a audibly acoustic way.