Anyone tried hard maple for bass body yet? Am I nuts?

[fu22ba55]

First off, here's where I'm coming from.

My everyday meat-and-potatoes bass is a '72 Jazz Bass, hard ash body, maple on maple neck. This is the bass I developed my style on, so I'm used to a HEAVY bass. The Jazz is around 13 or 14 pounds, and I love it.

I've built a Warmoth Jazz bass before in hard ash, and it's weight wasn't even close. And since the warmoth necks are steel reinforced, they really throw the balance off and the headstock dips, even with Hipshot Ultralites.

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Well, now I want to make a Thunderbird bass, and since they're already prone to "headstock tipping", I figured I should go with the heaviest wood possible, either Walnut or Maple. I don't think I want to use mahogany... I think maple & walnut are heavier, and the mahogany can get muddy (for bass), but I could be convinced.

Am I nuts? Will maple be TOO BRIGHT for a bass body? I love the tone of my Jazz bass... it's almost like a piano, very hard and bright, but has anyone even tried this?

Is a maple bass body a bad idea? Is there anything heavier that sounds better (for bass?)  (Black Korina, Mahogany, Walnut?)

 

[neuftone]

.....Rickenbacker?

Of course, Rics tend to have a thinner body than you'll get on a Fender style, but I've no complaints on tone with my 4003.

 

[fu22ba55]

Looks like I AM nuts. I've been playing an Gibson RD Artist for about 12 years, and it's 100% maple. I didn't even know. All this time I assumed it was hard ash.

I've also had a Rick before, and didn't know those were maple either.

I loved the Rick tone, but the RD Artist is a tonal nightmare. I yanked out the original MOOG junk (sorry Bob), and currently have a DiMarzio Will Power (EB-O) in the neck, and NOTHING in the treble spot. It's a one-trick Fuzz pony.

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BUT... both of those are neck-thru basses. And I know the bolt on necks tend to add alot of that fender "twang"

So let me re-phrase the question: Has anyone had luck building a BOLT ON maple-bodied bass? Are they too dark & muddy? I know the wood description says bright, but my RD sounds like it's in a vat of molasses.

(A note about the RD. It SOUNDS awful, but it is hands down the most fun, and most comfortable bass to play (while standing up). I keep coming back to it, and do most of my writing on it since it's so fun to play. That's why I'm constantly trying different PUs in it. I want it to sound as good as it feels.)

 

[neuftone]

My money is on strings, scale length, and pickups/electronics having a bigger influence than something like set neck/bolt on/neck through.  Others may disagree, but I don't think a maple/maple bass is going to sound dark and muddy.  I can tell you the no1 reason your Gibson sounds dark and muddy...an EB-0 style pickup in the neck, dude!    I have an Epi EB-0 that I defretted, man that thing is a mud broom.  Good at what it does, in an excessively muddy sort of way, but not a whole lot of clarity.  Also, there could be other factors that make that bass sound muddy, individually.  I doubt it is the maple body though...meaning, if you rebuilt that same gibson with a replacement mahogany body, it is unlikely its going to be less muddy.

Good luck.  A Walnut t-bird would look pretty sweet.  You may still have balance issues even with a heavy body, but the T-bird doesn't tend to balance all that well anyway, so its just something the players learn to live with.  Tonally I think either a maple or walnut body would do fine...both are used for basses somewhat widely (maple in rics and others, walnut in just about every other fancy custom modern style bass).

 

[hannaugh]

I would think maple on maple would be the punchiest bass ever, not even close to muddy.

 

[rockskate4x]

I'm waiting for you to go for it. That would be funkypunchalicious, if that's your thing...

 

[fu22ba55]

I think I will go for it.

Since my RD Artist is already all maple. (who knew?), and the pickups are junk, I'll try a few different styles and combos of pickups to see which works best before I have warmoth route out the new bass body.

Thanks everyone for your input.

MAPLE!

 

[jerryjg]

I once owned a hard maple Gibson RD bass. SPankiest /brightests bass for slapping funk Ive ever heard. Sounded awesome! Wished I still had it.
Are you seriously gonna change those pickups in that RD OP? Are you nuckin' futts?? 

 

[fu22ba55]

I once owned a hard maple Gibson RD bass. SPankiest /brightests bass for slapping funk Ive ever heard. Sounded awesome! Wished I still had it.
Are you seriously gonna change those pickups in that RD OP? Are you nuckin' futts?? 

FIrst off, when I got my RD I paid $250 for it. It looked like it had been dragged behind a car for about 11 years. I don't think the previous owner had a case, or a strap, or a roof.

So it's not "mint" by any stretch of the imagination.

I used the stock pickups & electronics for a while... I don't slap AT ALL anymore (used to when I was a kid) so the slap sound is not important to me.

Lately I've been going for a nice vintage dirty single coil sound, and the Moog circuit didn't really provide that.

PLUS, I could pick up like THREE DIFFERENT RADIO STATIONS with the RD. Not like a litte bit of interference... I mean pick up radio LOUD AND CLEAR. We used to stop in the middle of rehearsals to check ball game scores off of my bridge pickup. (kidding).

My RD looks like it may have been refinished (or unfinished) at some point, so maybe there was sheilding missing... but between the lack of a passive SC sound, and the friggin' NPR pledge drive I could always hear on the PUs... they had to go.

I saved it all in a shoebox somewhere.

I put in DiMarzio EB-O style replacements since the string spacing was right, but they're not the best solution.

I'll probably save up $400 and put Darkstars in there. That will be mighty.

Again... it is my all time favorite bass to play... I just need to sort out electronics.

 

[fu22ba55]

Update:

Out of curiousity and thanks to this thread, I put my old RD pups back in the RD Artist, MINUS all the moog electronics. Just a standard Jazz Bass wiring.

Woof.

It sounds like a Rick 4001 on crystal meth with a migraine. (good). Think "Ace of Spades" era-Lemmy.

So all maple... for dirty tones, it sounds like a Rick with an attitude problem (good) and clean stuff it's VERY bright and poppy. I don't do much slapping, but I toyed with that sound a little, and it's super slappy funky.

Not very woody, though. When I slap with my Jazz Bass (Ash & Maple neck) it's got a nice crisp bite and pop, and a nice warm note behind it.

The RD is all snap and pop, but lacks some of the warmth. It still sounds great though. Like a super-Rick.

So I think all maple is good depending upon what you need.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I have a Warwick Fortress 5 string fretless with a Birdseye body and a Wenge neck.  It is quite heavy, but with the electronics in it you can get quite a lot sounds out of it.  Muddy never even crossed my mind though.  I'll have to try and see if I can find some sludge in there.  But back to the topic, it is very clear, and very heavy.
Patrick

 

[boaty]

Move the strap pin to the back of the neck, that should fix any balance issues.

 

[JaySwear]

this might be completely irrelevant but...

if you're using active electronics you might not notice a difference at all. i say this might be irrelevant because if you're asking about tone chances are you're going passive pickups anyway. but i've been told EMG's (in most guitars anyway) end up making 99% of the tone, wood/hardware being the other 1%. just something to think about, and sorry if i'm completely missing the gist of this thread.

definitely post on how this turns out though! i wanted to build a maple guitar a while back but was told maple would be absolutely horrible for a guitar's sound.

 

[Mapleg4]

I have a Maple G4 (as my user name shows) and I love it. I can get an almost upright-sounding clean on the high strings or a Geezer or Lemmy-like sound with distortion on the low strings.
I'm currently doing demos with a Bass Pod, the recording program Reaper and the drum sample program Toontrack. I have noticed that the d-string oddly enough has exactly the same frequency as the drum sample sound, but I suppose that has to do with the software I use.
Otherwise I can really reccomend using Maple.
I really like the sound of my bass. I like a little low midrange both from guitars and basses.
I have a Schaller bridge, EMG 35DC pickups and a BTC (I only use the bass control on it) and I use a the preset eq from a MXR M-80 DI when I'm not using the BassPod.

I'm adding an intro I just recorded with the BassPod. It's for a Symphonic/Progressive Metal song.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/mjikzjvojjz/bloodtown.mp3

 

[Mapleg4]

this might be completely irrelevant but...

if you're using active electronics you might not notice a difference at all. i say this might be irrelevant because if you're asking about tone chances are you're going passive pickups anyway. but i've been told EMG's (in most guitars anyway) end up making 99% of the tone, wood/hardware being the other 1%. just something to think about, and sorry if i'm completely missing the gist of this thread.

definitely post on how this turns out though! i wanted to build a maple guitar a while back but was told maple would be absolutely horrible for a guitar's sound.

I personally think it has a lot to do with the tone of my bass. I actually chose maple after trying a Spector Rex Brown Signature model wich is Maple.

 

[DangerousR6]

I built an explorer type bass in woodshop in highschool, made out of solid hard maple. And it's almost the heaviest thing known to mankind, 5 min of it on your knee and the circulation in you leg is almost nonexistent. And fogetabout playing it standing up...... :doh:

 

[Mapleg4]

I built an explorer type bass in woodshop in highschool, made out of solid hard maple. And it's almost the heaviest thing known to mankind, 5 min of it on your knee and the circulation in you leg is almost nonexistent. And fogetabout playing it standing up...... :doh:

My G4 is heavy, but I'm used to it. It's probably as heavy as a Les Paul, but I know that it has advantages in having a very clear sound, even with heavy distortion.

 

[paanmaan]

I needed a 5 string bass for a show I was playing so I built a all maple (body/neck/fretboard) one from a Carvin kit.  This is the finest bass I've played.  It sustains forever, no dead spots, great definition and response.  The low notes down to B have the clarity of a synth.  I would not characterize it as "bright" sounding, I can get any tone I want (like subsonic Reggae) by dialing in the EQ.  It's heavier than an Alder wood, but I play all night standing up without a problem.  Both Warmoth and Carvin salespeople tried to talk me out of an all maple bass- I'm glad I didn't take their advice.  It's just physics.  Harder woods don't absorb energy.

 

[stubhead]

I'm surprised that being a Gibson fan, you hadn't seen... their Ripper and Grabber basses of the mid-70's were maple, one was set-neck and one was bolt. I still consider it to be one of the finest underutilized shapes available. Their L6S guitars were also maple, and similar in that it was a wide thin shape. It's a shame that the quality control was slipping, because they were well-conceived instruments.

Bigsby:

I had an original B.C. Rich Mockingbird in the early 80's made out of solid quilted
maple, so rare I've never been able to find a pix... sigh.

The Ripper, Grabber, Artist RD, L5S and L6S were all from the Bill Lawrence era at Gibson. He essentially designed the production methods of their new Nashville plant and did some great electronics innovations - the deluxe version of the L6S was the electric guitar that introduced the idea of combining coils from different pickups in series & parallel configurations. Since "borrowed" by Ibanez, Paul Reed Smith, Music Man, Yamaha, Taylor and who knows how many others. But the cost-cutting obsessiveness of the Gibson MBA guys drove him out, and he was careful to devise a "consultant" business relationship when he designed Fender's reintroduction to quality in the 90's.

That Ripper/L6S idea of a large, almost 335-shaped body but thinner has been revisited by the original Dean guy in his DBZ Imperial guitars. Poke the edge shot:
http://www.gbase.com/gear/dbz-guitars-imperial-artist-model-2010-trans#
I'd like to try one, I certainly had better luck with 1.5" thick SG's than Les Pauls, and this is even... more so.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I guess this is one of those cases where your mileage may vary (YMMV).  I've got 2 Warmoth J basses with ash bodies, maple necks, steel reinforcement rods, and Hipshot Ultralites, and the bodies are chambered.  Neither have neck dive issues.  Both weigh in at around 9.5 pounds.  One originally had a Wenge neck that did feel neck heavy.  They both have identical hardware, pickups (EMG), body woods, and neck woods, though one is rosewood and the other is pao ferro on the fretboard.  I tried to have 2 identical sounding and feeling basses, and they are close but no cigar.