What is this wood???

[Killing Floor]

Bass wood?

 

[Fender_Bender]

Could be ramen (what you see in cheap pool cues and cheap dowels and reasonably hard).

 

[TakeABreak]

Yes, the neck pocket has a red tint and appears unfinished.



I’ll post some photos when I get the shellac on. I never really liked the finish so I took some 120 grain sandpaper and got the color off in about 2 hours by hand. There is still something on the body, it’s definitely not bare wood. I could use grain filler but there’s no real grain to fill. I might do it anyway.

The shellac is just going to be a barrier between whatever sealer is on there and the nitro paint I intend to use.



I’ll check that out, thank you! The original finish slightly showed the grain through the paint. That flat finish just never looked right to me, plus it got damaged over the years.

View attachment 3960666

Really interested to see how your project turns out. My Schecter has a similar flat finish, except, of course, for all the wear areas that are now shine smudges. Didn't consider a refinish, but maybe I will now!

 

[Bassist59]

Really interested to see how your project turns out. My Schecter has a similar flat finish, except, of course, for all the wear areas that are now shine smudges. Didn't consider a refinish, but maybe I will now!

I built a bass from a kit last year and it turned out pretty good finish-wise. I made a few mistakes such as using old spray paint, not sealing the body with shellac after applying and sanding grain filler, etc.

This bass had the same issues as yours - flat all over except for shiny wear spots. I think I am doing way more than necessary.

You could take the body, go over the whole thing with 400 grit sandpaper, wipe with napha, spray a coat of shellac as a barrier then spray paint on a dry day. I bet it’d look fantastic.


I’m causing deep sanding scratches in getting the color off.


Oh - wear a really good mask!! My dust mask didn’t filter enough out so I’m using a paint respirator. You don’t want to breathe any old paint crap in!!!

 

[Bassist59]

Regardless of what kind of wood or woods make up this body, the more I look at it and work on it, the more I like it. I’m considering cleaning it up the best I can and finishing it in a clear gloss. True, it isn’t a buckeye burl Spector bass or spalted maple Warwick - but it doesn’t need to be, lol!

I don’t think you can tell from photos, but the body is still encased in epoxy or poly or something. There’s no way to apply stain unless I got after it with a belt sander or something and got the sealer or whatever it is off.

I bet that’s the look they were going for with this body back in 2008 - the Warwick-type. That might be why the wood has the grain pattern. It was designed to show through the translucent finish....I guess. FWIW the bass was a Guitar Center exclusive.

Could it look almost like this??

 

[charlie monroe]

Certainlywood.com

 

[Fender_Bender]

I couldn’t find anything under the name of ramen wood, but the wood I was thinking of also goes under the name of rubber tree wood. It does sorta look like a very blonde mahogany or white korina. Another possibility is agathis.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

I’m considering cleaning it up the best I can and finishing it in a clear gloss.

I'm generally a fan of this approach. I like wood, so I personally am not that into solid-color paint jobs that could be over bondo or plastic for all we know. Letting the tree speak is good by me, so I say go for it.

 

[RSBBass]

I have an inexpensive Yamaha guitar with grain that looks like that in the neck pocket. It was marketed as Agathis

 

[wraub]

I also prefer real wood, but you might consider a skin or wrap... they come in woodgrain looks, too.

Regardless of what kind of wood or woods make up this body, the more I look at it and work on it, the more I like it. I’m considering cleaning it up the best I can and finishing it in a clear gloss. True, it isn’t a buckeye burl Spector bass or spalted maple Warwick - but it doesn’t need to be, lol!

I don’t think you can tell from photos, but the body is still encased in epoxy or poly or something. There’s no way to apply stain unless I got after it with a belt sander or something and got the sealer or whatever it is off.

I bet that’s the look they were going for with this body back in 2008 - the Warwick-type. That might be why the wood has the grain pattern. It was designed to show through the translucent finish....I guess. FWIW the bass was a Guitar Center exclusive.

View attachment 3966481

Could it look almost like this??

View attachment 3966498


View attachment 3966480

 

[Bassist59]

Before you finish, just rub it down with some water and take some pics. The grain will pop and it will dry in a few minutes. It's the easiest way to see the natural color/grain of the wood.

Thanks for all the input, gents!

I finally got a little time to work on it. The body has been sanded from 120, 150, 180, 220 and 320. I am not down to bare wood, I’m sanding off sealer or clear epoxy os something. Whatever it is, the body is smooth now.

I wiped the body down with a damp rag soaked in naphtha and this is what it looks like:

This might not be necessary but really, just for fun, I mixed up some of my Stew Mac water based grain filler and brushed it over the body. When dry, I’ll sand with more 320 grit paper and might reapply and sand again. I think my goal at this stage should be to get rid of all scratches.

Here’s what the thing looks like with a coat of wet grain filler on it:

I think I’m sold on the idea of leaving this natural. If I’d known this was going to be a natural finished bass, I would’ve bought black hardware instead of chrome. Oh well, I think it’ll still look good.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Yeah, that looks more than good enough for natural finish. In your shoes I’d stain it to even out the difference between pieces, but you never know what it will look like until the stain goes on. It might have the opposite effect, accentuating the different tones between wood pieces.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Stain can be very chancy in exactly that way - plus, without a lot more work to get through whatever sealer is on there, won't be effective. A tinted clear if you want to change the color is an option (without having to get down to bare wood), but not changing the color is a perfectly good option.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

That's a great idea, a tinted clear wouldn't soak unevenly into the end grain or denser pieces. I forgot he still has sealer coat on there too, so straight stain wouldn't work.

 

[Bassist59]

That's a great idea, a tinted clear wouldn't soak unevenly into the end grain or denser pieces. I forgot he still has sealer coat on there too, so straight stain wouldn't work.

I wasn’t considering using a stain but now I might break a few rules and use it as a touch up to darken these spots where I definitely did sand down to the wood.

As somewhat expected, the grain filler slightly darkened the body and revealed the areas I sanded through:

I believe this contrast won’t be so bad once I sand the grain filler smooth, but what would be the harm in, say, just carefully staining those light colored sand-thru spots? Even if it darkened the spots, that’d be preferable to this “pretzel” look....don’t ya just want to take a bite out of that?

Wait - one of those furniture touch up pens would work for this , no?

 

[Bassist59]

Oh - and back to the original question, “What type of wood is this?” Here’s what we’ve got so far: (I should do a poll now, lol!)

Lauan
Meranti
Ash
Red cedar
Basswood
Poplar
Alder
Raman
Agathis

and....”Asian Mystery Wood”. Thank you all for the responses!

 

[Gilmourisgod]

The furniture pens would work for touchup, but start out really light, the end grain on the horn will soak up stain like a straw. You have nothing to lose at this point, if it looks like crap in the end, you can always either sand it back to wood and start over, stain it really dark with something tinted like Minwax Poly shades, or just go opaque color. Welcome to the painful and lengthy world of guitar refin. You have my sympathies.


Oh, and I still think its one of the 10k mahogany variants, so I'm right whatever it is.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

I would expect the clear you will put on to have a similar darkening effect on the bare wood to the clear/sealer/whatever that you sanded through - so darkening those spots before clear is more likely to make them stand out later, IMHO.

Or, it's time to sand through everywhere.

Have fun.

 

[Bassist59]

I would expect the clear you will put on to have a similar darkening effect on the bare wood to the clear/sealer/whatever that you sanded through - so darkening those spots before clear is more likely to make them stand out later, IMHO.

Or, it's time to sand through everywhere.

Have fun.

Lol, thanks guys. No way in hell am I sanding all that plastic/epoxy/sealer s**t off. I don’t think that’s even possible, it’d take weeks....definitely not worth it.

Here’s the plan. Sand the grain filler coat smooth, that’ll make the body lighter again. (I know this from experience). If needed, I’ll take a Q-tip dipped in stain (I happen to have some handy) and try to even out those spots and get it as good looking as possible. I’m going to spray with shellac as a barrier.

If the shellac causes discoloration and it still looks like a bucket of crap after all that, back to the original plan - black nitro, black clear. It’ll be 100% prepped for it. I have tons of stew Mac black nitro that I need to use anyway.

 

[Bassist59]

I just sanded the grain filler smooth with 320 grit paper. I got out the stain and just wiped down the whole thing.

Hey...it’s good enough for me. Now, I hope the sealer stuff that’s on the body, the grain filler, the stain, and shellac are all compatible!