A discussion on use of different timbers for building guitars and basses

Andyjr1515

Some of you will remember one of the more unusual builds I did - Tom's African Bass?





It was for a pro player who does a lot of work in Africa and was presented with a 'carved bass body' made by an African traditional drum maker out of the wood they make for drums.  Yes - quite.  A mix of balsa softness (the light bits) & glass hardness (the dark bits); 1" thick at its thickest; wavy; large, through cracks running all over the place as it was being worked on.

Here was one of the many cracks that appeared like in an earthquake movie during the build:


The answer was to build a decent neck and bolt everything important to that.  Of course, that's a challenge when the pickup chamber cuts right through the neck almost to fresh air the other side....

It's still being regularly gigged nearly 4 years later.

And it taught me that you can take a lot of liberties with body wood if you give it enough thought and respect...
 

Roland

Here's an interesting view on wood choice. It comes from a blog about making a violin. 

"The wood for this violin was bought by Peter in Mittenwald, Germany, around 20 years ago. The choice of wood is a fascinating process, and Peter is unusual in not considering the wood to be of much significance to the sound of the instrument. Instead, he pays close attention to the structure of the wood and how the tree is cut, as well as the visual beauty of the wood chosen."

http://theviolin2017.i-m-s.org.uk/2017/09/14/day-1-project-started/

WezV

Roland said:

Here's an interesting view on wood choice. It comes from a blog about making a violin. 

"The wood for this violin was bought by Peter in Mittenwald, Germany, around 20 years ago. The choice of wood is a fascinating process, and Peter is unusual in not considering the wood to be of much significance to the sound of the instrument. Instead, he pays close attention to the structure of the wood and how the tree is cut, as well as the visual beauty of the wood chosen."

http://theviolin2017.i-m-s.org.uk/2017/09/14/day-1-project-started/

so he focuses on the structure and the way the tree is cut to control the sound.   This is true of most acoustic makers - they understand that a thicker flatsawn top will be comparable to a thinner quarter sawn top (over simplification)... and the really good ones will be able to get their "voice" out of either. 

If you could find a piece of maple and a piece of mahogany with comparable weight, stiffness etc.. they would likely sound very similar.     But that would be unusual for either species, and that's where the generalisations can be a helpful starting point.  The acoustic maker can control similar woods to  match those key variables.   

Theoretically you could do the same with electrics, but it makes more sense to control the sound with pickups, amps, fx etc..

I do worry when I see electric builders ignoring the structure and how the tree has been cut.  You see it most with things like Braz RW.  People are happy to build with substandard wood because its a desirable species.  They totally ignore grain direction... they even get drawn to pretty bits you would reject in any other species

GSPBASSES

Roland said:

Here's an interesting view on wood choice. It comes from a blog about making a violin. 

"The wood for this violin was bought by Peter in Mittenwald, Germany, around 20 years ago. The choice of wood is a fascinating process, and Peter is unusual in not considering the wood to be of much significance to the sound of the instrument. Instead, he pays close attention to the structure of the wood and how the tree is cut, as well as the visual beauty of the wood chosen."

http://theviolin2017.i-m-s.org.uk/2017/09/14/day-1-project-started/

That's quite interesting, and would be even more interesting if the guy a picked woods that had nothing to do with violin making.

However, he has actually used all the classic woods that violins are made from, so what he said about how he chooses his wood is a bit of a contradiction. Although what he says about paying close attention to the structural the wood is all very true. The choice of wood for violins is always flame Maple or fiddle back Sycamore for the backs and sides. Although on cheaper models it may be just plain Maple. The front of violins is always spruce. I did a quite intensive course on violin making many many years ago, so what I previously mentioned as being the standard woods for violin making is what we were told about on the course. I no doubt there are other woods used, but I think it's fair to say there is a fairly standard choice of woods for violins. 

It could be possible that it's a miss interpretation of what the guy actually said, "close attention to the structure" could well mean that the spruce top has to be perfectly quarter sawn, plus a very tight grain formation. The Maple back would have to be perfectly quarter sawn, although some builders prefer flat sawn maple or sycamore for the backs.The maple sides I used on the course were actually flat cut, and were very difficult to shape whereas the quarter sawn ones were much easier to shape. The neck is also made from quarter sawn maple or sycamore.