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NBD! GFS Paulownia content

K

kevinsbass

Oct 28, 2011
19
4
Albuquerque, NM
#1
Not New Bass Day, but New Body Day!

I bought my surf greenish P bass in the late '80s. It had an '82 Bullet Deluxe neck and what I eventually determined to be a DiMarzio body with a solid brass pickguard. My shoulder could no longer stand that 11.5 pound monster and I looked for lighter alternatives. I loved the Road Worn P, but I'm sort of attached to this bass and its neck. A replacement body was in order. I decided to go cheap and try a paulownia body from Guitar Fetish. They didn't have surf green in stock, so I said what the heck, let's try something new: a sunburst. It was supposed to be 3.5 pounds but turned out to be 2.75 pounds! The neck pocket required a little trimming and shimming, but it is now ready to play at 7 lb 4 oz. Amazing! I tiny bit of neck dive, easily tamed by resting my right arm on the bass. I think I will replace the strat-style knobs with chrome barrels or maybe jazz knobs. What do you think? Here you can see the old bass in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU8BTgo_KFg
 

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#2
If you have never heard of Royal Paulownia it is a fantastic wood choice...It is a extemely fine grained, very light, and warp resistant. Not to mention Paulownia is extremely fast growing; some species of plantation Paulownia can be harvested for saw timber in as little as five years. Once the trees are harvested, they regenerate from their existing root systems, earning them the name of the "Phoenix or Dragon tree." Paulownia has the ability to reclaim ecologically stressed and degenerate patches of land relatively quickly. Its root systems run deep and penetrate compacted and contaminated soils which have resulted from industrialized development. Paulownia is also a highly developed phyto-remediator, increasing the organic content of degraded soils, processing and filtering contaminants through the uptake of its vascular system, and emitting oxygen into the atmosphere. The bark is made into numerous types of dyes, and the leaves are used in vermicide preparations. Tone wise it is very similar to Ash! It is also rot resistant and a has a very high ignition point. So from an ecological (read green tree hugger) standpoint this wood can't be beat! plus it's quite attractive

I have two Trabens made from this wood and no not neck heavy at all, they balance quite well...
 
#3
Snakeman1066 said:
If you have never heard of Royal Paulownia it is a fantastic wood choice...It is a extemely fine grained, very light, and warp resistant. Not to mention Paulownia is extremely fast growing; some species of plantation Paulownia can be harvested for saw timber in as little as five years. Once the trees are harvested, they regenerate from their existing root systems, earning them the name of the "Phoenix or Dragon tree." Paulownia has the ability to reclaim ecologically stressed and degenerate patches of land relatively quickly. Its root systems run deep and penetrate compacted and contaminated soils which have resulted from industrialized development. Paulownia is also a highly developed phyto-remediator, increasing the organic content of degraded soils, processing and filtering contaminants through the uptake of its vascular system, and emitting oxygen into the atmosphere. The bark is made into numerous types of dyes, and the leaves are used in vermicide preparations. Tone wise it is very similar to Ash! It is also rot resistant and a has a very high ignition point. So from an ecological (read green tree hugger) standpoint this wood can't be beat! plus it's quite attractive

I have two Trabens made from this wood and no not neck heavy at all, they balance quite well...
Click to expand...

Interesting. I now have a favorite body wood. Thank you for the information!
 
#4
kevinsbass said:
Not New Bass Day, but New Body Day!

I bought my surf greenish P bass in the late '80s. It had an '82 Bullet Deluxe neck and what I eventually determined to be a DiMarzio body with a solid brass pickguard. My shoulder could no longer stand that 11.5 pound monster and I looked for lighter alternatives. I loved the Road Worn P, but I'm sort of attached to this bass and its neck. A replacement body was in order. I decided to go cheap and try a paulownia body from Guitar Fetish. They didn't have surf green in stock, so I said what the heck, let's try something new: a sunburst. It was supposed to be 3.5 pounds but turned out to be 2.75 pounds! The neck pocket required a little trimming and shimming, but it is now ready to play at 7 lb 4 oz. Amazing! I tiny bit of neck dive, easily tamed by resting my right arm on the bass. I think I will replace the strat-style knobs with chrome barrels or maybe jazz knobs. What do you think? Here you can see the old bass in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU8BTgo_KFg
Click to expand...

You can probably fix the neck dive by adding a high mass bridge or ultra lite tuners
 
#5
Nice bass! Good job on the stain.

Paulownia is great. It's not bad looking; looks like pine & lightweight but stronger & slightly heavier than balsa. It's perfect for shaping paipo or alaia boards too. Water resistant & floats well. Coat with boiled linseed oil & you're good to go. Wait we were talking about basses.
 
#9
Snakeman1066 said:
If you have never heard of Royal Paulownia it is a fantastic wood choice...It is a extemely fine grained, very light, and warp resistant. Not to mention Paulownia is extremely fast growing; some species of plantation Paulownia can be harvested for saw timber in as little as five years. Once the trees are harvested, they regenerate from their existing root systems, earning them the name of the "Phoenix or Dragon tree." Paulownia has the ability to reclaim ecologically stressed and degenerate patches of land relatively quickly. Its root systems run deep and penetrate compacted and contaminated soils which have resulted from industrialized development. Paulownia is also a highly developed phyto-remediator, increasing the organic content of degraded soils, processing and filtering contaminants through the uptake of its vascular system, and emitting oxygen into the atmosphere. The bark is made into numerous types of dyes, and the leaves are used in vermicide preparations. Tone wise it is very similar to Ash! It is also rot resistant and a has a very high ignition point. So from an ecological (read green tree hugger) standpoint this wood can't be beat! plus it's quite attractive...
Click to expand...

Congratulations to the OP on a great discovery and what appears to be a fantastic bass!

Another interesting tidbit on Royal Paulownia, here in the United States, it has become an invasive species. It has taken hold along the Hudson River in New York and in urban lots in NY City. In appearance, it is somewhat like a Catalpa tree except it has round pods and blue flowers instead of the long beans and white flowers that the Catalpas are known for. The branches are brittle.

By the way, I wonder why I've never heard of Catalpa being used as a tone wood. It's not that common, but I would think it similar to Paulownia. I would not be surprised if both trees had developed from the same Genus.
 
#10
Snakeman1066 said:
If you have never heard of Royal Paulownia it is a fantastic wood choice...It is a extemely fine grained, very light, and warp resistant. Not to mention Paulownia is extremely fast growing; some species of plantation Paulownia can be harvested for saw timber in as little as five years. Once the trees are harvested, they regenerate from their existing root systems, earning them the name of the "Phoenix or Dragon tree." Paulownia has the ability to reclaim ecologically stressed and degenerate patches of land relatively quickly. Its root systems run deep and penetrate compacted and contaminated soils which have resulted from industrialized development. Paulownia is also a highly developed phyto-remediator, increasing the organic content of degraded soils, processing and filtering contaminants through the uptake of its vascular system, and emitting oxygen into the atmosphere. The bark is made into numerous types of dyes, and the leaves are used in vermicide preparations. Tone wise it is very similar to Ash! It is also rot resistant and a has a very high ignition point. So from an ecological (read green tree hugger) standpoint this wood can't be beat! plus it's quite attractive

I have two Trabens made from this wood and no not neck heavy at all, they balance quite well...
Click to expand...


seemingly a miracle wood! very cool.

and the bass looks awesome too!
 
#12
chuck norriss said:
Nice bass! Good job on the stain.
Click to expand...

Actually, I bought the pre-finished body, so the work was done by someone else. Others have asked about the finish. It looks great, but it is a hard and thin finish over a soft wood, so I would think it could be damaged easily if dropped or hit with something. I'll have to see how it holds up to gigging, but I'm pretty careful with my basses: my T-40 I bought new in '78(?) has two dings on it.
 
#17
Avalon said:
By the way, I wonder why I've never heard of Catalpa being used as a tone wood. It's not that common, but I would think it similar to Paulownia. I would not be surprised if both trees had developed from the same Genus.
Click to expand...

Catalpa in my experience is very pretty but not terribly strong. My parents got some fast-growing trees for their property several years ago that was called Dragon wood or something, and I don't know that I'd use that wood for anything that I was putting that much tension on. It hadn't occurred to me until just now that the Dragon wood could be Paulownia. The trees are mostly water and they break even more easily than Catalpas do.
 

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