Iceman 5 MusicMan Style Body Wood?

[JimBeed]

Well next build will definately be a five string ice man with a music man pickup, active controls, and might aswell get the blade switch installed like actual music mans do have so have all the options.
But I wasn't quite sure on what body to go with, i was considering going swamp ash again, but i wasnt sure if i should go with something a bit more bright or warm at all.
But as this will have a black finish for various reasons i dont want to conceal lovely wood in a way... would feel evil of me  :evil4:
Now doing some thinking i thought, my warmoth gets alot of the older sounding stuff down, my fender does its part with the more clunky Maiden type sound,
But thinking missing a more modern sound, and having looked at various modern Metal/Rock/Punk etc bands alot seem to use some form of music man single pick up basses.

But yeah theres the backstory so basically not sure what body wood to go for, and im wanting to try get a bit more of a modern sound out of it, hence why ill also include active electronics i think would be safe bet.
Far as neck goes im considering Either purpleheart, bloodwood, or wenge, or mixture of two of them. If thats any extra help, but the body will be bought first, but ive got a good idea of what neck id like.
Ideally a full purpleheart neck.
Thanks for any help once again  :icon_biggrin:

P.S Im not trying to imitate a bassist's sound for a covers band, as hopefully both my current warmoth and this one when its built will be used for making originals not covers.

 

[tubby.twins]

If I were in your position, I'd go with an all-Purpleheart neck and a Poplar body.

A nice high-end pickup in the Music Man position can work well, even if it's fully passive (no preamp).  It's worth trying first, and you can always move to an active pre-amp later.  If you want a good modern sound, consider a Delano "MC 5 HE" MusicMan pickup.  They have a great upper midrange response and a really nice fundamental.  If you want something even more unique, go for their "Xtender 5" series, or a single Q-Tuner. 

 

[JimBeed]

Awesome, Looking at Poplar it has similar to ash and alder, any particular reason for poplar?
im just curious what makes you pick poplar, in a sense of curious, as i have partly no clue on woods more than what the description says.
Cheers for the pickup suggestion, id only looked at the  Seymour Duncan bassline five string before, but ill have a look at delano aswell then

 

[JimBeed]

Slight problem, going through the body builder for a iceman 5 string, its not showing poplar as an option, and for all the smaller designs even the Z bass five string it shows poplar.
Could Poplar be too hard to get in the size required for a Iceman? or would i need to special order it?

 

[tubby.twins]

It's entirely possible, but you should e-mail or call Warmoth to make sure.  It could simply be an oversight.  The body builder can get out of date sometimes.

I chose Poplar because it's a lighter wood, and doesn't necessarily have the best grain patterns;  for this bass, the solid finish would cover that up.  I've also found that lighter body woods and heavier (denser) neck woods make a great combination.  Alder would work as well.

 

[JimBeed]

Yeah when i get to ordering the body i will email them first, as im going to do that first of all considering the amount of work that needs to be done on it.

Ah right cheers all of that makes sense, and yup hence why i was limiting myself to ash, alder or poplar cause of the solid colour.
So purpleheart is one of the heavier/denser neck woods? i mean looked at the description but just double checking with you. That fits nicely cause itll go well with the black body.
Cheers very much ill ask about poplar and if not ill go for alder, would alder be lighter than swamp ash in this shape do you think?