Wood options for neck thru bass

[Rudy T]

In the new year work will begin on a bass Gutierrez Guitars is going to build for me. While I have decided on a lot of what will go into the bass, body similar to aria sb ,Seymour Duncan spb3 passive p/u , 1 volume pot ,ebony fretboard, original Bad Ass bridge neck thru etc, I could use input on what woods will help achieve a tone with strong lows, growly mids, and a smooth top end. It won't be painted, oil finished neck, and I'm probably going for alder body wings, and 5 piece neck

 

[ShadowImage]

Sounds like you have the body wings and fret board figured out. For the neck a hardwood is best, for stability. Cocobolo, Goncalo Alves, or any Rosewood will be hard and have a warm tone which sounds more up your ally. If you're looking at tops, that would be more of an aesthetic feature so it's up to what you like the look of.

 

[Rudy T]

Ill check those out thank you, I used pbasses with alder bodies for 16 years, then aria rsb, love the tone alder gives when used with Duncan quarter pounders.

 

[jazzyvee]

Maple and purpleheart is a good neck recipe used on many alembic basses with an ebony fingerboard and I've read players hear that growl from it, though I still have no idea what is meant by growl tonally.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Maple and purpleheart is a good neck recipe used on many alembic basses

That seems to be a common recipe for a 5-piece neck: three maple laminates with two stringers of a darker hardwood (purpleheart, wenge, walnut, etc.) According to Alembic if you make those stringers out of ebony the instrument's timbre will emphasize the fundamental more, though I have yet to hear an example of what they mean by that. Ebony stringers will definitely increase the cost of the instrument!

 

[jazzyvee]

I have a bass with three ebony thick ebony stringers in the neck and whilst it does sound amazingly clear and I'm reliably told by Mica at alembic that the fundamentals are prominant. I don't have a similar bass without the ebony to compare it with. My other basses have the pickups in different positions and I don't know enough about bass to be able to isolate what I'm hearing to just a property of the ebony. I'm happy to have whatever it does to the tone.

 

[Nephilymbass]

In the new year work will begin on a bass Gutierrez Guitars is going to build for me. While I have decided on a lot of what will go into the bass, body similar to aria sb ,Seymour Duncan spb3 passive p/u , 1 volume pot ,ebony fretboard, original Bad Ass bridge neck thru etc, I could use input on what woods will help achieve a tone with strong lows, growly mids, and a smooth top end. It won't be painted, oil finished neck, and I'm probably going for alder body wings, and 5 piece neck

I'd ask this question in the luthiers section. Lot of bass builders there with plenty of experience.