Cherry body

Good, ....good as wood.

 

Sound similar to soft maple kinda like alder but a little brighter.
Wood does effect the sound, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, however there are many factors to the sound of your bass. Body wood being one of the smallest factors can be substituted (not replaced) by other such as electronics. Just remember the strings and your hands make the sound, everything else merely takes away/colors.

 

Mind your weight. Cherry can be quite dense. Might want to chamber that body.

 

A lot of American black cherry you buy now will be pretty light and soft, on a par with Alder, but you will occasionally run across the odd extra-hard board here and there.

But it makes a fine body and is easy to work with.

 

Cherry is extremely light reactive in its unfinished state, so much so that you can "burn" images into it by selectively exposing or masking parts of it in sunlight over a period of days or weeks. I once saw a cherry jewelry box that had shadow images of leaves imprinted this way, and then finished in UV resistant varnish. It was beautiful and kind of spooky, like old film images. If you go this route, just be aware that it will probably gradually darken over time. Best of luck with your build.

 

Seagull acoustic guitars have some models with a cherry body instead of the more conventional rosewood, mahogany or maple. Good guitars. Not quite the top end that rosewood or maple has, and not quite the warmth of mahogany, but very even and balanced. I didn't think it had quite the projection as some other woods, but that might be a good thing in a bass body.

 

I had a Tobias Killer B that was made of Cherry. French Cherry, I believe it was called. It was a nice bass that played and sounded good. It was no heavier than any other bass I've owned.

 

This is TB, of course someone will tell him otherwise!

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/does-wood-choice-have-any-sonic-effect.922187/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/wood-effects-tone.504978/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/how-does-wood-effect-tone.140531/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/q-what-effect-does-neck-wood-have-on-tone.47216/

Apparently it also affects tone!

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/how...d-of-solid-body-electric-instruments.1098409/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/how-much-does-wood-affect-active-bass-tone.920553/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/the-age-of-wood-does-indeed-affect-tone.919455/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/how-do-wood-types-affect-sound.624991/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/how-does-the-wood-of-the-body-affect-the-tone.568295/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/why-does-wood-affect-bass-tone.548185/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/how-exactly-does-wood-affect-tone-in-electric-basses.459735/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/how-does-the-body-wood-affect-overall-tone.385732/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/fretboard-wood-affects-the-sound.271520/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/help-me-understand-how-wood-affects-tone.230600/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/fender-wood-choices-affect-tone.164115/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/how-much-does-wood-choice-affect-the-tone.43344/

 

Surely looks good!

 

To affect is to cause an effect! It seems most people don't know the difference. It all changes if we are speaking of emotional affect, of course.
"The drought affected the crops. The effect was an increase in fruit prices. This left me with a sour affect."

I am rather surprised that no one made the joke that cherry has a sweet tone.

 

I always have to look up affect and effect because in my advanced years I just can't seem to keep them straight. Same with i.e. and e.g. I'm not sure it even matters any more given the current state of grammar and spelling.

And don't get me started on Squire and Squier!!!! Only kidding, I couldn't care less about that, although I hate the "recommend me a ..." I always want to post that I can recommend you a grammar book!

 

Man, that joke was the pits.

Wait...do cherries have pits?
I shouldn't throw stones.

 

Great info in Gilmourisgod's post.

Cherry is my favorite wood to work with - it smells wonderful, it has an almost creamy feel in hand, it looks fantastic, and it ages beautifully.

Pics!

 

Well the Godfather of the boutique bass, Rick Turner, uses cherry on some of his Ren basses and guitars. If it is good enough for him, it is good enough for everyone else!!! But, as someone already said, it will darken over time and exposure to air and light.

 

"Effect" is passive tense.
"Affect" is active tense.

So, if I cut the wood and build the bass correctly, I can affect what effect I want the wood to have on the tone.

 

I have built cherry furniture that I purposely left out in the sun for weeks to darken it. I imagine you could use an old fashioned sun lamp too.

They only problem I can see is it is hard to find North American Cherry with a really interesting grain.

 

(Effect is a noun. Affect is a verb.)

 

I used Cherry that I had sawn from a log a very good friend gave me for my avatar bass body.To me it gets much prettier as it darkens and gets redder.It's a little heavy but no moreso than maple

 

Beautiful! Love that big, wavy figure, and the multi-hued grain. Creative use of the heart wood, as well (it's typically discarded or used where it isn't visible).