cool wood site, and a question

The top on my fretless Subcontra bass is Jarrah,it's a very beautiful wood,but I know of no luthier that uses it as a body wood or fingerboard.there is a process that it has to go thru first before it becomes ready to be part of an instrument.it has tiny little creases and lines that need to be filled and evened out first and yes it can get expensive.

 

that's a nice lookin' contrabass, I dig.

 

Thanks

 

it is very nice!
like amboyna burl but with the little cracks, most australian burls have that cracked appearance.
I love the aussie woods.
I even sent some pictures of camatillo,carob and black and white ebony and a few others that I had around at some point or another to the hobbit house site!
he had never seen pale moon ebony, carob and camatillo, he wondered of camatillo really looked as it does in photos.
another one of my favs.
Todd
If you are curious about jarrah curly or burl, PM me. I'll be out of town until next friday.

 

It's an Australian wood. The burl, as Jaquo said, has big open voids that need to be filled.

The term "tonewood" has lost some of its meaning over the years, I believe. Builders of acoustic instruments have to pay much more attention to the woods they use -- their "tonewoods". Many of the unusual woods that electric instrument builders can use without a second thought can't be used as "tonewoods" in acoustic instruments because those woods they use have the primary requirements of amplifying and coloring the sound of the instrument as well as holding up to greater structural rigors (I'm talking about the sound box here).

For builders of electric instruments, the woods have a lot less to do with the tone and there are just about zero restrictions for what you can use (and end up with a good sounding instrument) for the body.

Sorry about the rant. At any rate, if you look into acoustic instrument builders down under, you'll probably see people who use jarrah for acoustic back & side sets. Not the burl, but the quartersawn lumber, which can be found mottled or curly. So, long story short, jarrah seems to be a good bet as a tonewood.

I see it from time to time in lumberyards but not that much. I don't get asked for it so I never have bought it. The burl is very expensive!

 

Do you have a pic to show what white or pale moon ebony looks like? and would pale moon ebony work as a FB(and if so would it's sound be similar to that of Gaboon ebony?)

Thanks

 

Thanks for the Link.

 

I agree, tonewood don't mean to much to a electric builder, although different wood will colour the sound, the body wood has less to do with the sound as the neck and fingerboard and a decortive top wood even less, I heard about a builder who build three basses from the same wood from the same tree and each one sound different, and another who built a bass from balsa wood and it sounded great (must if had some CF in the neck!!).and had great sustain!!

 

Just finished first learning project-jarrah on top and headstock.Going to start building second, a serious one, with jarrah again))

 

Sort of. Wood has less to do with tone on electric bass than on an acoustic instrument. I think a lot of bass players have a decent handle on the contribution wood makes, though it does get overstated in some places. But more importantly, since 99% of woods will not ruin your electric instrument as a top or body wood (like they might on an acoustic instrument), they're all good tonewoods - they might just not color the tone specifically the way you want.

Jaquo - here is a link to a bass with a pale mun ebony fingerboard. Hobbit House's pictures of this species are not very extensive. I couldn't tell you if it sounds like Gaboon. It's similar in its density and stiffness properties. http://www.fbbcustom.com/basses/1100-05/1100-front.jpg

 

Thanks for the link(I came across that pic last night)it's an interesting looking wood.