LUTHITE OR BASSWOOD ERGODYNE ?

[Makatak]

Any experience or opinions on which one to get , there is one of each at a secondhand dealer for a good price but a bit of a trip to go check them out . Both EDB400`s , the Luthite one is black gloss , the later model Basswood one is a Cherry flat , passive Ibanez soapbars with active 2 way eq etc , I think ill go that way , cant see myself with a " plastic " bass . Thanks in advance

 

[Wademeister63]

I had two of those luthite ergodynes. They were ok basses but smelled like gasoline. yech.

 

[AngusTikka]

The luthite ergodynes aren't great from experience.. Something about the feel and sound feels very synthetic (I know, duh its made of plastic). I have no experience of the wood ones but my old luthite ergodyne is not a very good bass. Try them out though and see what you think though. Hope this helps. Oh, and fun fact - luthite was used in WWII as shielding for anti air guns! I found that interesting... good luck!

 

[Ian Perge]

If it's an EDB, go with the Basswood version - the only good Luthite-made bass was the Magnetic/Piezo-equipped EDA-900/905s, for some reason. Perhaps the small-sized body helped minimize the negative aspects?

 

[FunkyMan]

I've to disagree here. Forget the "Plastic bass statment" I own a EDB-605 Ergodyne, and is one of the best sounding bass i've ever played IMO, without exaggeration.. tell you why? This Ibanez is a REALLY versatile Bass. I've played lots of gigs of diferent kind of music, from salsa, merengue, latin to funk, jazz and rock (Men this baby really rocks) , the 3band EQ has a really nice response, the bass pot has a big output, very useful mid range, and nice highs, a nice Slim-Fast-Comfortable neck, you can get a very low action, balanced to bridge pickup, you can get a very nasal tone ala Jaco Pastorius, very durable, well balanced, can tell more?

The cons: A little heavy, but bearable. The grey paint will may disappear in some spots (where the arm rests) with time, but don't worry, this happened to me 5 years after I bought the bass, the difference between this material and wood, is very minimal, but is there..

Other than that, in overall is a VERY nice axe, for their prices! Good luck! (I can give you recordings if you want)

 

[Happynoj]

One of my friends has a Luthite Ibanez guitar and it sounds nice. It does smell weird though.

 

[Kink Rimson]

I bought an old EDA905 a while back, when it arrived the body had snapped clean in two

So beware, they can be fragile if knocked in the wrong way.
(Don't worry, I was refunded!).

 

[jgsbass]

The luthite is notorious for dissolving. A student of mine bought one when they first came out. The strap pin came out and the bass fell causing damage to the electronics. Ibanez was nice enough to fix it but the problem remains: its just sawdust and glue. Not much different than particle board. Screws dont stay in it for long and there seems to be stability issues because of the body material.