How does that wood look with the bookmatch reversed (inner edges <-> outer edges)? It seems the grain would very closesly follow an average P-ish body shape, could be interesting.
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What woods go well with walnut?
- Thread starter Herbal_T
- Start date
+1000
A lot of builders will hold on to special pieces for many years, even decades. Almost always for the better. Save it til your fully prepared.
Yeah... you might want to save that piece for your 4th or 5th build. Or send it to me. I'll buy it off of you.
Given your time constraints, I would stick with just making a body.
First, I'd take the neck you have to a store, and measure to see if the heel shape and bolt pattern are a generic Fender pattern. Assuming that they are, then you will have about a gazillion future neck upgrade choices available. In that case, I would say build now, and upgrade to a better neck when you have the time/money. Who knows, if you really enjoy the experience, a neck may be your next project.
It's generally accepted that a thin top doesn't do much to change the sound of the body wood, and is more for cosmetic purposes. However, 5/8th inch is thick enough that the walnut will impart some tonal qualities to the finished instrument. In my limited experience, walnut sounds fairly dark and full when it's used in a bass. So I would go for something brighter-sounding for the back.
Out of the available options, I wouldn't go with something really dense, like hard maple (also known as rock or sugar maple), because you're going to have the thing slung around your neck for years, if the project goes well. Ditto for the denser tropical hardwoods, like bubinga, wenge, etc. Personally, I wouldn't go with mahogany or koa behind walnut either, because I think the combination would probably be too dark sounding. Ditto for basswood.
I would consider soft maple (also known as big leaf maple), although it's still pretty dense and heavy (it's the stuff you see on curly or quilted maple tops). The finished bass would weigh a ton, but it would probably sound good in an articulate, fairly bright sort of way.
In the end, though, I'd probably go for Alder. Or maybe a medium-weight piece of swamp ash. I wouldn't want it too light, because really light, punky pieces of swamp ash don't have very strong bass response. Either wood would make for a good tonal balance, in more of a Fender-ish vein. And they're nice and light.
Color-wise, Alder's boring, but you don't need a flashy back with that top. I would probably stain it brown, or maybe amber, so that the colour gave a nice contrast against the walnut. If I couldn't work up a colour match I liked, I might stain or paint it black, like a Zon.
Whichever wood you go with, a contrasting veneer line sandwiched between the top and back would give it a deluxe look, if you have enough $$$ left. If you did go with a veneer, you'd want to make sure that it was one made from a hard, structurally trustworthy wood- for instance, some so-called "ebony" veneers, are actually made from dyed pearwood, which is soft and punky. Fine for cigar boxes, but not a good idea in the body of a musical instrument. I had a buddy whose home-made bass started to let go along a glue line between a couple of the laminations. Pretty depressing, especially underneath a laboriously-applied nitro finish.
On the question of whether to save the walnut for later, only you can make that call. It's not like that's the last piece of figured walnut on the planet. One of the nice things about building for yourself, is that you can redo until you're happy with it. The bass in my avatar had three different finishes by the time I was completely happy with it.
On that note, it's the first (and last) electric bass I ever built. My luthier buddy had a theory about building with plain lumber: If it came out well, I'd wish I'd used better wood. And if it came out poorly, at least it would look good on the rec room wall. I used the best lumber I could afford, and it came out well (it's been my main axe for 15 years), so I'm pretty glad I took his advice.
First, I'd take the neck you have to a store, and measure to see if the heel shape and bolt pattern are a generic Fender pattern. Assuming that they are, then you will have about a gazillion future neck upgrade choices available. In that case, I would say build now, and upgrade to a better neck when you have the time/money. Who knows, if you really enjoy the experience, a neck may be your next project.
It's generally accepted that a thin top doesn't do much to change the sound of the body wood, and is more for cosmetic purposes. However, 5/8th inch is thick enough that the walnut will impart some tonal qualities to the finished instrument. In my limited experience, walnut sounds fairly dark and full when it's used in a bass. So I would go for something brighter-sounding for the back.
Out of the available options, I wouldn't go with something really dense, like hard maple (also known as rock or sugar maple), because you're going to have the thing slung around your neck for years, if the project goes well. Ditto for the denser tropical hardwoods, like bubinga, wenge, etc. Personally, I wouldn't go with mahogany or koa behind walnut either, because I think the combination would probably be too dark sounding. Ditto for basswood.
I would consider soft maple (also known as big leaf maple), although it's still pretty dense and heavy (it's the stuff you see on curly or quilted maple tops). The finished bass would weigh a ton, but it would probably sound good in an articulate, fairly bright sort of way.
In the end, though, I'd probably go for Alder. Or maybe a medium-weight piece of swamp ash. I wouldn't want it too light, because really light, punky pieces of swamp ash don't have very strong bass response. Either wood would make for a good tonal balance, in more of a Fender-ish vein. And they're nice and light.
Color-wise, Alder's boring, but you don't need a flashy back with that top. I would probably stain it brown, or maybe amber, so that the colour gave a nice contrast against the walnut. If I couldn't work up a colour match I liked, I might stain or paint it black, like a Zon.
Whichever wood you go with, a contrasting veneer line sandwiched between the top and back would give it a deluxe look, if you have enough $$$ left. If you did go with a veneer, you'd want to make sure that it was one made from a hard, structurally trustworthy wood- for instance, some so-called "ebony" veneers, are actually made from dyed pearwood, which is soft and punky. Fine for cigar boxes, but not a good idea in the body of a musical instrument. I had a buddy whose home-made bass started to let go along a glue line between a couple of the laminations. Pretty depressing, especially underneath a laboriously-applied nitro finish.
On the question of whether to save the walnut for later, only you can make that call. It's not like that's the last piece of figured walnut on the planet. One of the nice things about building for yourself, is that you can redo until you're happy with it. The bass in my avatar had three different finishes by the time I was completely happy with it.
On that note, it's the first (and last) electric bass I ever built. My luthier buddy had a theory about building with plain lumber: If it came out well, I'd wish I'd used better wood. And if it came out poorly, at least it would look good on the rec room wall. I used the best lumber I could afford, and it came out well (it's been my main axe for 15 years), so I'm pretty glad I took his advice.
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,019
- 1
- 31,734
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Okay, there's a lot of good advice here. In general, you should start out with something fairly pedestrian for your first effort. You're bound to make a mistake or two, and you probably want to make those mistakes with inexpensive lumber. Then, when your skills are honed a bit, you can use that experience to turn your walnut into a true artisan instrument.
On the other hand, it's your lumber. If you really want to use that piece, and you're prepared for the possibility of ruining it, then by all means, press on. We've all ruined a nice piece of wood or two along the way. And sometimes you can learn a lot trying to recover from these accidents.
On the other hand, it's your lumber. If you really want to use that piece, and you're prepared for the possibility of ruining it, then by all means, press on. We've all ruined a nice piece of wood or two along the way. And sometimes you can learn a lot trying to recover from these accidents.
Mahogany, but yes, these guys have it right. Maybe wait til you've had some experience with it. I know I wouldn't trust myself to not ruin a beautiful piece of wood like that. =P
on the topic of making the body for that factory neck and later replacing neck for a different one: the neck pocket is one of the more important areas of the instrument to have just right, and not knowing what depth or shape the future neck holds makes the idea of cutting a pocket for a neck not meant to be on the bass for the long term silly- wait and do the job right when you have a good neck, or have a luthier make one for you.
mikeyswood
Inactive
Just look around for woods and take the time, just watch for good structure in wood and what looks nice as well. Take the time and if I was you, I would build my own neck.
I have this lovely piece of figured walnut:
(It looks darker in real life)
...My question is what wood should i make the body out of? It will be a solid-body P-J bass.
Thanks!
ASH!!! I have a classic inspired version of my CC model in progress that's got a walnut top almost exactly like that (got it from Gallery Hardwoods some years ago) I called it 'vagina walnut'
, I have also built one more bass with a french walnut top and ash goes extremely well with it.mikeyswood
Inactive
I teach guitar building to high school kids: The number 1 problem they have is trying to shoot too high on their first build. One must walk before they run.
my advise to you is to get a 1-3/4" piece of ash (northern ash is fine, and i prefer it AND it's cheap.) and make up a solid ash body. use this as your first bass and put that neck on it. You're bound to make mistakes and it won't hurt too bad to make mistakes on 20 bucks worth of ash vs a 50+ dollar piece of beautiful walnut laminated to another 50 bucks worth of mahogany . You may be able to get some nice wood from your school.
practice every move (like routing neck, pickup, and control cavities) on some scrap wood prior to doing it for keeps. this way you'll get comfortable with the router.
stash that walnut someplace dry and safe until your skills are ready to make it into your masterpiece.
and by all means, have fun!
Karl
my advise to you is to get a 1-3/4" piece of ash (northern ash is fine, and i prefer it AND it's cheap.) and make up a solid ash body. use this as your first bass and put that neck on it. You're bound to make mistakes and it won't hurt too bad to make mistakes on 20 bucks worth of ash vs a 50+ dollar piece of beautiful walnut laminated to another 50 bucks worth of mahogany . You may be able to get some nice wood from your school.
practice every move (like routing neck, pickup, and control cavities) on some scrap wood prior to doing it for keeps. this way you'll get comfortable with the router.
stash that walnut someplace dry and safe until your skills are ready to make it into your masterpiece.
and by all means, have fun!
Karl
mikeyswood
Inactive
