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poplar vs. adler: what I recently found

ToneMonkey

ToneMonkey

Sep 27, 2003
1,798
2,093
70
Eugene, OR
#1
So I've been playing a MIM J Bass since late 2001. I cherry picked this particular one off the wall at GC. It's been a good friend all this time.

But I've always felt like the bass was kind of weird somehow. I've always wanted a little attitude on the E string. It always seemed overly warm and rolled off to me. I've gone through a bunch of pickups and bridges, finally settling on a Fralin neck PU, Bart bridge PU, Audere Pre and a Fender vintage style bridge with threaded steel saddles. This is definitely a poplar body. I always wondered if that could be part of the problem.

So a few weeks back, I'm looking at the Fender web site and I see that they've done a limited run of alder J bodies in White Pearl Chrome. I bit.

I installed the new body on Saturday and got a chance to play it with the band last night. Just subjectively, I have to say that the difference was beyond minor. It seemed like a whole other (much better) instrument to me. It just seemed to sit in the mix way better than it did with the poplar body.

I know this is contrary to conventional wisdom. That poplar is supposed to be much like alder. Anyway, my direct personal experience (albeit with one instrument) tells me something else.

BTW, when I was setting the instrument up with the new body, I could tell it was something special. The intonation, saddle height, everything just seemed to fall right into place. I've done a gazillion setups over the years, and some instruments just fight you the entire time. Not this one, it just came together like the parts had been waiting for each other.

YMMV. Peace.
 
#4
mongo2 said:
Due to the variability of wood, different pieces of wood (even cut from the same plank) can have different characteristics.
Click to expand...

+1 Body wood definitely matters. The problem is, it is impossible to predict 'how it will matter'. Even the same species of wood can have high variability, per your comment above. Add different weight/mass, and it becomes a random crapshoot as to what the exact impact will be.
 
#7
ToneMonkey said:
So I've been playing a MIM J Bass since late 2001. I cherry picked this particular one off the wall at GC. It's been a good friend all this time.

But I've always felt like the bass was kind of weird somehow. I've always wanted a little attitude on the E string. It always seemed overly warm and rolled off to me. I've gone through a bunch of pickups and bridges, finally settling on a Fralin neck PU, Bart bridge PU, Audere Pre and a Fender vintage style bridge with threaded steel saddles. This is definitely a poplar body. I always wondered if that could be part of the problem.

So a few weeks back, I'm looking at the Fender web site and I see that they've done a limited run of alder J bodies in White Pearl Chrome. I bit.

I installed the new body on Saturday and got a chance to play it with the band last night. Just subjectively, I have to say that the difference was beyond minor. It seemed like a whole other (much better) instrument to me. It just seemed to sit in the mix way better than it did with the poplar body.

I know this is contrary to conventional wisdom. That poplar is supposed to be much like alder. Anyway, my direct personal experience (albeit with one instrument) tells me something else.

BTW, when I was setting the instrument up with the new body, I could tell it was something special. The intonation, saddle height, everything just seemed to fall right into place. I've done a gazillion setups over the years, and some instruments just fight you the entire time. Not this one, it just came together like the parts had been waiting for each other.

YMMV. Peace.
Click to expand...

Did you install new pots, or use the same old ones?
 
#8
KJung said:
+1 Body wood definitely matters. The problem is, it is impossible to predict 'how it will matter'. Even the same species of wood can have high variability, per your comment above. Add different weight/mass, and it becomes a random crapshoot as to what the exact impact will be.
Click to expand...

Exactly, hence the first part of my sig...;)
 
#9
awilkie84 said:
This is funny, because poplar is touted by luthiers as being VERY close to alder. It just tends to be less expensive and has a greenish tinge to the wood.
Click to expand...

Not really funny. Two virtually identical pieces of alder can sound quite different. Again, every component of a bass has something to do with the sound, just often in not expected ways (i.e., alder always sounds like this and poplar always sounds like this).

That being said, like in all those other threads, a sample of 1 each of two pieces of wood tells you pretty much nothing that you can use to describe that wood type in general. So, +1 that this would give no guidance to choosing a body wood, only a description of the OP's experience.
 
#12
R&D guys at FMIC told me personally that there is no (0) tonal difference between poplar and alder bodies of the same approximate density.

With glued up scrapwood, especially, I should imagine.

There are numerous possible explanations for the OP's results aside from wood species, all of which are more probable and too numerous to go into here.
 
#13
I've been wondering about something regarding guitar & bass components. Quite by accident I checked the "pitch" of a recently cut alder/maple body with a digital tuner. At first I was surprised that knocking on it produced a note, then thought about all the instruments that produce notes without strings, reeds, etc. The xylophone comes to mind, producing tones from wood blocks.

Having noted the phenomenon, I wondered if components of a guitar, mainly the neck and body, should be tuned to produce specific pitches to function the best. I know about phase cancellation and harmonics, and am questioning how important this is, if at all.

Thanks,
Tom
 
#15
KJung said:
Not really funny. Two virtually identical pieces of alder can sound quite different. Again, every component of a bass has something to do with the sound, just often in not expected ways (i.e., alder always sounds like this and poplar always sounds like this).

That being said, like in all those other threads, a sample of 1 each of two pieces of wood tells you pretty much nothing that you can use to describe that wood type in general. So, +1 that this would give no guidance to choosing a body wood, only a description of the OP's experience.
Click to expand...

Concur. No definitive answer to this unless a person has tested every piece of wood on the planet that has been turned into a bass. Different grain, weight, multiple pieces, etc.
I believe the OP's observations. I have built dozen of basses from parts and 90% of those are alder. They are not the same and I could never make any claims about how all alder-bodied basses sound based on the samples I have at home.

kurosawa's sig line says it all.

Now, fingerboards are a horse of a different color......!
 
#19
Poplar is super different than alder in looks, workability, and tone. Great with graphite and wenge necks. I call the sound furry and punchy.

I disagree with the deconstructionists on this, wood species and weight is a good if imperfect indicator of tone.
 

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