Basswood is only for cheap rubbish guitars? Suhrly not?

Sassafras

I've played a few basswood guitars and they've been very light, resonant and less mid-rangey than mahogany. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one (if I needed a new guitar).

xSkarloey

Basswood (lime in the UK) is fine.

Cheap, plentiful and many uses, notably in Europe the carver's wood of preference. The Wikipedia entry is very good and worth reading.

As a tonewood it does a fine job. Add Jeff Beck to the list of high profile players using it. His no 1 live Strat of some 20 years now has a basswood body.

Dave_Mc

Enough high-end guitars are made of it that i'd be a bit sceptical that it's crap.

Sambostar

Skarloey said:

Basswood (lime in the UK) is fine.

Cheap, plentiful and many uses, notably in Europe the carver's wood of preference. The Wikipedia entry is very good and worth reading.

As a tonewood it does a fine job. Add Jeff Beck to the list of high profile players using it. His no 1 live Strat of some 20 years now has a basswood body.

This. Think Lime tree, think easily snapping branches even when the sap is up.  But it sounds great and density and quality, like everything can vary.  Always a little wary of Floyd posts on Basswood though from experience.  But it varies.

citizen68

I played a borrowed '79 Gibson LP Deluxe for first half of gig last night & my '87 (basswood) RG550 for 2nd half - gotta say I much preferred my sound in the 2nd half 

 It's a daft argument

earwighoney

historyisjunk said:

My favourite guitar is probably my MIJ Tele which is definitely basswood.

I had a MIJ Tele which was basswood.  Sounded superb.  

I regret selling it

underdog

earwighoney;1019718" said:

historyisjunk said:

My favourite guitar is probably my MIJ Tele which is definitely basswood.










I had a MIJ Tele which was basswood.  Sounded superb.  

I regret selling it

Exactly what I was going to post, the best tele and probably one of the best guitars I've ever owned was a MIJ made of basswood. Sold it during money problems and it's the only guitar I miss.

ennspek

It's neutral in tone in that it's equally comfortable with all frequencies. This makes it very flexible in terms of amps and pedals.

I'm pretty sure the Charvel Guthrie Govan is Basswood.

He can play a bit.

Your friend is wrong.

tabbycat

 

WezV

imalrightjack;71752" said:

(with a sonokeling top - whatever that is).

Plantation grown rosewood

DanR

I'm sure I read somewhere that Fender used alder as it was, cheap and easy to get hold of in the states.

Ibanez and the other Japanese companies used basswood as it was cheap and easy to get hold of in that part of Asia.

No thoughts on tone, just what wood was the easiest to get hold of in large quantities in that region.

WezV

There is probably a lot of truth to that, both alder and ash were new woods for guitars at that time.

But saying "it wasn't chosen for tone" does not mean it has none.

Basswood is fine.

Sporky

tabbycat said:

but i think basswood is unfairly looked down upon not because of any innate deficiencies in its own  tonal qualities, but because some of the things that get built from it are often lacking in quality.

Certainly true for some people. I had an acquaintance who was generally quite sane about such things but dismissed basswood guitars on the basis that shipping pallets are often made of basswood. He didn't like it much when I sent him an email full of awful things that had been made of mahogany.

I'm not even sure he was right!

DanR

I own a basswood Jackson with Juggernauts in and it doesn't sound much different to my ash Skervessen with Nailbombs in.

It could really be argued that the differences in sound are mainly due to the pickups.

Ive three mahogany PRS all with different neck combinations and I couldn't tell the difference listening to them.

I still prefer the maple neck ones over the rosewood though and I honestly think that's due to the fact when I only owned one guitar it had a maple neck so for 8 years that's all I played and something feels right for me.

I could also have shit ears.

Neil

There is a school of thought that body woods have no effect on tone anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFyQXy74xz4

WezV

Neil;1020085" said:

There is a school of thought that body woods have no effect on tone anyway.

All it proves is you can build in a way where the wood becomes less important. Its been factored out of the equation, but its still a factor for most of us.

Non wood guitars can sound awesome. Some sound similar, some sound different.

Everything affects tone.... Don't go down the rabbit hole

ChrisMusic

^^^ agreed @WezV.

Everything affects tone, there is a reciprocal transfer function to every part of the instrument.  To a greater or lesser extent, every part will contribute to the final tone of the finished instrument.

Then we put it through a fuzz or a high gain amp, and beat the crap out of it !

≈  ≈ rabbit hole alert !!!

Interestingly in the video at 4:20, they describe the bridge as "Tone wood construction" as a sales point.  Wooden bridge with wood saddles, do take a look at it.

The use of the bandana is questionable, as is the tuning stability of their concrete guitar, nice video though @Neil, and thought provoking.

thomasross20

A real man can make any guitar sound good

Sporky

No true Scotsman owns a basswood guitar.

thomasross20

There can only be one (basswood guitar owning Scotsman)