Hi, I'm building a bass and I wanted to use some warwick-esque woods to get that tone, but wenge and bubinga are out of my budget. I was going to do a wenge neck & fingerboard with a maple skunk stripe, and bubinga wings, but that's too expensive. What can get similar tones that isn't as expensive? I'd prefer a darker looking neck wood with a brighter tone, and I think I might just use swamp ash on the body.
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Inexpensive woods for warwick tone?
- Thread starter J03YW
- Start date
Hopkins
Commercial User
If you want it to sound like a Warwick, get the same electronics as the Warwick you want it to sound like, and mount the pickups in the same position as in the Warwick. Any differences in tone influenced by body wood will be trivial at best.
Hi.
I'm also in the "wood doesn't matter (much
)" camp, but tight grained red oak should get You in the ballpark in both weight and appearance.
Total PITA to work with though, but that shouldn't be news to anyone.
Regards
Sam
I'm also in the "wood doesn't matter (much
)" camp, but tight grained red oak should get You in the ballpark in both weight and appearance.Total PITA to work with though, but that shouldn't be news to anyone.
Regards
Sam
you might try Jatoba for the neck . very stiff and has the
exotic appeal you're after , but inexpensive compared to the likes
of bubinga and padauk .
exotic appeal you're after , but inexpensive compared to the likes
of bubinga and padauk .
Warwick uses many different woods and combinations of woods. The one you heard and liked could be any of many different models. Like explained above, the wood contributes very little to the tone. Pickups, pickup placement and electronics are the main ingredients you need to concentrate on. I think you love the look of the Warwick more than the tone.
I think the exact wood species does not matter but if you are aiming for the tone of a bass with heavy woods like wenge and bubinga you should use something with similar weight.
IMO maple is the best inexpensive wood for necks and body caps. If you're going to finish natural, then you want something that looks nice. Cheap woods like poplar and basswood are OK for bodies, but only if you're finishing the bass in a solid color. Body woods like Ash and Alder are not cheap, but cheaper than exotics like bubinga, rosewood, wenge, etc. and make great bodies.
Tone is also effected by tone woods...it's not trivial at all.
Maple is a lot brighter than Wenge. Ebony fingerboards has a different tonal character than Rosewood. Sure, every other component effects the tone as well, including string and fret wire choice. But the resonance is in the wood first and that's what the pickups and everything else is bolted to.
My concern here is that the original poster is looking for "cheep" tonewoods. If you want that tone, go get a warwick...making one your self will be more expensive unless you already have a fully fitted wood workshop at your disposal and a lot of time on your hands.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Yes, body wood, and to a lesser extent, neck wood is completely trivial compared to pickups, pickup location and strings. Even people that believe in tonewood will agree with me on this one. Build a bass out of the exact woods that Warwick would use, but make it passive and use a P pickup in the traditional P position. Then build one with Warwick electronics with Warwick pickups in the Warwick pickup position, then tell me which one will sound like a Warwick.
Strings vibrating in a magnetic field created by the pickup is what causes sound. It doesn't matter if they were screwed down to a brick of cheese. The wood has zero effect on the magnetic field.
Strings vibrating in a magnetic field created by the pickup is what causes sound. It doesn't matter if they were screwed down to a brick of cheese. The wood has zero effect on the magnetic field.[/QUOTE]
Would laminated beam scrap make a good body then? I'd assume if the brick o cheese will-- it will to? (easier fit, in my case, carpenter and all).
fnord!
Would laminated beam scrap make a good body then? I'd assume if the brick o cheese will-- it will to? (easier fit, in my case, carpenter and all).
fnord!
Hopkins
Commercial User
In my opinion the body wood has zero, or at least so little effect on the vibrating string that it has no effect on what the human ear hears.
I have a custom that I built with maple in the center and walnut for the wings. Has that nice, dark, rich look to it and walnut finishes really well.
Would laminated beam scrap make a good body then? I'd assume if the brick o cheese will-- it will to? (easier fit, in my case, carpenter and all).
fnord![/QUOTE]
Ok...to follow the idiocy of this reasoning on...if the wood doesn't matter then sure neither does the construction...bolt on or all through...Wood or Carbon Graphite...
Back in the real world...of course the wood does have an effect on the tone. There is no such thing as a perfect nut / bridge isolation. If you can feel a played note in the wood, then the wood is effecting the tone.
Hopkins
Commercial User
