I love my Fender RBV, but it gets kind a heavy after 30 mins of playing. Last time I disassembled it for a good cleaning, the body itself felt like it was over 6 lbs. I'm entertaining the idea of building a body that's lighter; say 3.5 to 4 lbs..... swamp ash, lite weight alder, chambered body? Any suggestions, ideas? Wood types? Thanks, Steve
alder makes for a very light weight body. I recommend it. Also, do you know what that body is made of? I'm making a body out of solid zebrawood and it's 6.4 lbs before routing for pickups and neck pocket and before being carved. Final weight should be around 5.5 lbs or less, so your bass' body should be ash maybe?
Wisler, the RBV body is made of alder...it's got to be the heaviest chunk of alder I have ever held. Also, what's the stigma attatched to basswood? Maybe basswood capped with mapel?
most people just consider basswood to be "cheap". Although it is used in instruemts like MM bongo's. It dosn't have much of a noticable grain so it isn't to great for natural finishes. but a basswood body with a spalted top would have the best of both worlds
I know that a change in wood type/density, will chage the sound a bit, I don't want to radically change the "RBV" sound. The bass is shorelin gold, and the replacement body will look identical to the original.....one won't know the difference until one picks it up.
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