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Your Bass Wood and Neck Construction Preference

#21
Bass #1: Neck Thru 35 inch scale maple neck beams, alder wings, walnut stripe, rosewood fretboard, flamed maple top.
Bass #2: Neck Thru 35.25 scale mahogany with maple stringer neck beam, mahogany wings, ebony fingerboard, quilt maple top.
 
#22
Not sure I can point to a specific wood species, but I will say Im a fan of wood finishes. I'll take a nice grain and clear finish or a translucent color/stain than a solid color finish. Except for white...theres something about a white bass with a maple board.

As for fingerboards, I love the look of maple but prefer the feel of rosewood... On a bass. On guitar, I only like maple. Though I played an ebony board once and it was pretty sexy :)
 
#24
I prefer mahogany for bodies. I personally love wenge as a neck wood. I don't own any NT's but I prefer them to bolt-on designs. The tone is much richer and deeper, and the bass just feels more solid than if it had a bolt-on neck. Again, never tried it, but I very much like the idea of a snakewood fretboard.
 
#26
Bassdude15 said:
I prefer mahogany for bodies. I personally love wenge as a neck wood. I don't own any NT's but I prefer them to bolt-on designs. The tone is much richer and deeper, and the bass just feels more solid than if it had a bolt-on neck. Again, never tried it, but I very much like the idea of a snakewood fretboard.
Click to expand...

Mahongany and Wenge necks definitely sound good together. I'm assuming the fretboard is Wenge as well?

Very deep bass from the mahogany. Very deep. Also very warm sounding.

Ash body / Maple board / Maple neck is still my top choice, but this is definitely a cool combination.

I also really like Ash neck woods. Not to many builders offer this…..but it sounds really good.
 
#27
Bolt-ons are great if you like bending the neck or if you shake the whole guitar to create vibrato. I do this and so I'm a fan. I have both so no axe to grind here.

I have ash, walnut and alder bodied basses. I prefer alder and walnut as they are slightly more complex to my ear. I have maple and rosewood fret/fingerboards. I just prefer the feel of rosewood.

Cheers
Davo
 
#31
For appearance, koa is my favorite. A flamed koa top is the ultimate in beauty to me. Spalted woods are nice, too, and I like Spalted maple for it's looks.

Practically speaking, I have alder, ash and walnut bodied basses and like them all, although the walnut is a little heavy. I swear that ebony fretboards make a difference in tone that I really like ( a nice clear, but "round" high end) but I would never try to convince the bass playing world about this. Rosewood and maple are just fine for fretboards, too.

So, no single preference for me, and I'm sure there are other woods that work quite well that I just haven't had a chance to try. Like a kid in a nice cream store, I can't settle on just one "flavor." :)
 
#32
bassballs27 said:
Mahongany and Wenge necks definitely sound good together. I'm assuming the fretboard is Wenge as well?

Very deep bass from the mahogany. Very deep. Also very warm sounding.

Ash body / Maple board / Maple neck is still my top choice, but this is definitely a cool combination.

I also really like Ash neck woods. Not to many builders offer this…..but it sounds really good.
Click to expand...

The fretboard is actually rosewood.Madagascar rosewood I believe.
 
#34
I find that matching the woods used with the right pickups make all the difference. Once I got the right pups in my bass it just sang like it never did before. With that....

My preferences have become wenge neck and fretboard and mahogany body. My current main player though is wenge/bubinga neck, rosewood board and mahogany body.

I've also recently discovered that in the world of mass produced basses a NT is not really any better than a well made bolt on. I've had the chance to compare my guitarists NT bass to my main which is a bolt on and they both had the same tone and same sustain. My other two bold on basses did not keep up in the sustain department but those are much cheaper basses.
 
#35
bassballs27 said:
Here's an interesting combination, Alder body, Maple Neck, and Maple Fingerboard.
Apparently this is Geddy Lee's favourite combo. Anyone have any comments?
Click to expand...

Sure. Alder/maple seems to be my favorite combo, along with bolt-on construction.


I haven't had good luck with the past 3-4 lightweight ash bodied basses I've owned: they were okay, but didn't make me as happy as my alder basses. And right now I have alder basses with maple, rosewood, and ebony fretboards. I like them all and don't notice much difference, even though all are five-string fretted P-style basses.
 
#36
Fretted:

#1 Favorite: 35" Carbon fiber neck-through. Love the tone/feel/stability. Favorite bodywood is Mahogany. Nice Warm-sounding, not too heavy. Fingerboard is don't care if there is wood over the graphite.

#2 Second place: 34" Maple neck. (either bolt-on or thru-body. Love what each can do) Rosewood fingerboard. Ash body.

#3 Third place: 34" Bolt on maple, rosewood fingerboard, alder body. This when you want a more mellow tone with less edge.

Fretless:

#1. 34" multipiece maple necks. Ebony fingerboard. Mahogany body.

#2. 34" Oddball woods neck (Wishbass), Oddball hardwood fingerboard (Wishbass) Walnut body.

#3. 34" maple neck. Rosewood fingerboard, alder body (this for nicer more mellow tone).
 
#38
Alder body, quartersawn maple neck and maple fretboard are my preferences, though I have no issue with a rosewood fretboard. I also love bolt on necks, mostly for ease of modding/building. Passive and a 2 pup configuration, in the 70's jazz bass locations. Though I have one 70's and one 60's right now.

Pup location is not a deal breaker for me as there re a dozen other ways to change the voice of a bass.

And truth be told, I know I like a bass when I play it. then it doesn't matter about any of the rest. If it feels good and I like the sound....
 
#39
I can't comment on the "tone wood" front. I'm still relatively new to bass (two years), but more importantly, I'm not entirely convinced there's a difference when it comes to non-acoustic/electric instruments. I'm more convinced that the strings and electronics have the greatest impact. Heresy to some, I know.

That being said, I will say that the body woods I like are the lightweight ones. I have two basswoods (Aerodyne & CV Jazz), an agathis (Squier P-Bass Special) and an alder (Blacktop Jazz). The Aerodyne and P-Bass Special are very light and, by extension, a joy to play. The CV and Blacktop Jazzes are weightier, but still manageable. I don't know if I could play a mega-set with them exclusively.

I love the look of rosewood and ebony fretboards, even ebonol. (Again, more heresy to some) No slam on maple boards, it's just a matter of esthetics to me. Although a maple board with black block inlays does look rather fetching.

But on a purely "constructivist" angle, it's the neck shape and size that's probably the most important factor for me. I prefer a Jazz's 1.5" width over the Precision's 1.65". Also, a tighter/curvier radius works best in my hands. I started with the Aerodyne (7.25"), got a couple more with the current Fender standardized 9.5" radius and then tried a flatter 12" board. It's not that the latter is unplayable for me. Bob knows, I tried for quite some time. But when I picked up the Aerodyne again, after many months of using the flatter neck, it felt so much more comfortable in ways I had never noticed before.

I'm curious how well I'd take to a compound radius fretboard. However, they seem to be pretty expensive, or at least, reserved for more expensive basses.
 
#40
Out of my herd, the 3 that I find myself playing the most are ( in descending order of "most-ness"):
1. Maple laminate neck-thru, with mahogany body wings, 33.5" scale:
2. Maple laminate neck-thru, with mahogany body wings, 34" scale (different brand, different pickups);
3. Laminate maple/mahogany body, bolt-on aluminum neck, 34" scale.

I also have other basses with about every neck type (and material), from 30" to 34" scale, attached to bodies made out of all kinds of wood (including plywood and masonite). Just depends on what I want to play at the moment, usually. I don't have a bass I don't like.
 

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