Apologies for the title's crap pun but a friend of mine has cast a sneering judgement on a new guitar of mine that he has neither seen nor heard because it has a basswood body (with a sonokeling top - whatever that is).
If basswood is good enough for £3.5K Suhr guitars, I can only presume it's down to how it's used, rather than simply being 'crap'.
I've owned enough cheap mahogany guitars that didn't sound great to know that weight means nothing. This Ibanez sounds terrific and is incredibly light. Maybe even light enough to wield effectively as a club to beat the ignorant bastard with...
Anybody else in the basswood is simply crap camp or anybody enlightened have an opinion?
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Ibanez is a famous historic user of basswood.
Basswood is also the default wood on Dennis Fano's flagship Novo model, the Sectis, which is around £3.4k. If it works for him...
The reason tends to be that under a clear or semi transparent finish, Basswood has a very very very boring grain. None, really- so much so it makes Korina look like the belle of the ball.
As a tonewood, I have been told it's great though.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Reminds me of a friend who thought Cubase was only used for recording the bass guitar track....and...basswood was only used for making bass bodies.
Yes, he was educated. In fact head of History at a private school...and a good musician.
I think it can vary as much in weight as ash- happy to be corrected by knowledgeable guitar builders, but my Tele is very light & sounds beautiful.
Lots of the great old Japanese guitars were basswood & as you say some quality makers like Ibanez, who made your guitar, are still using basswood. I didn't know about Suhr, but there you go.
I think it was (maybe still is) quite cheap, it is also fairly soft so was probably a good choice for mass manufacturers who wanted to get the most out of their tools. It doesn't look that exciting either, but neither does alder usually.
Personally, if I was in a position to have a Fender made specially for me I'd go for basswood.
Just a thought, it is now quite acceptable to have Fender guitars made from pine (like the very first Tele)- a few years back I think a lot of people would have said this was some kind of cost cutting scam & pine is for floor boards & sheds.
Enjoy your Ibanez.
To concur with the above, the grain is non-existent, dull as ditchwater.
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