Newbie here...need a couple opinions.

[Malta]

Good morning guys,

New here, first real build and hoping to get some input and opinions from you more experienced guys on what might sound/look best with what I'm working with. A little reference info, my 2 main basses are twin passive Spector Performance DLX 4s. My band plays hard rock and my tone leans more to the heavy side (drop c tuning) with a hint of grit mixed in. I love the classic look of the Jazz bass and I've always drooled over the feel and sound of Warwicks, but they are out of my price range (for the time being)...so I guess the easiest way to summarize my project would be a Spector/Warwick inspired Jazz bass.

-Body-
I picked up an unfinished 2pc black walnut jazz body on ebay. Haven't decided how I'd like to finish it, but definately open to suggestions.   

-Neck-
Now I'm looking for a neck to go with it. I have decided it will be the Warmoth angled 2+2 headstock and I'm stuck on which wood combo to go with. I spotted a few showcase necks that I like particularly the wenge/bloodwood:

wenge/ebony:

purpleheart/ebony:

and Indian rosewood/brazilian rosewood:

But I am still a bit unclear on the tonal differences of each neck/fretboard combo, especially once paired with the black walnut body.

Haven't decided on hardware or electronics yet.

thanks!
Joe

 

[AndyG]

In my opinion, nothing feels, plays, or sounds better than wenge.

I had a Warwick bass that had a wendge neck and fretboard.  When I build my Warmoth, it too will have a wenge neck and fingerboard.

Best part is that it needs no finish ... raw wenge is a joy to play!

 

[Malta]

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I'm definitely leaning towards the wenge neck...looks like I forgot to mention that the neck are listed in order (1st choice up top on down). I've never really worked with wood, so the fact that I wouldn't need to finish the neck is a big deciding factor.

-Joe

 

[Mor Paul]

An oil finish will be fine on the body. I think walnut looks it's best that way.

And my vote's for #2, but #1 will work fine too.

 

[Soylent]

if you read any of my past posts, at least 10% of them are me loving wenge/ebony.. so you know how I'm voting!  :icon_thumright:

 

[Malta]

The more thought I put into it, the more I'm leaning towards the wenge/ebony. As much as I love the look of bloodwood (and the name rocks too), I think the fretboard will stand out a bit too much between the wenge headstock and walnut body...plus I haven't a clue what pickguard would look good with bloodwood either. I'm eyeing either a brownshell pickguard, which should tie everything together pretty well aesthetically, or having an ebony pickguard made up similar to this one, but in ebony of course:

Thanks for the input guys.

-Joe

 

[Tempest]

I'd say the wenge/ebony and the all rosewood ones look the best.  Wenge would seem to get you the sound your looking for, maybe a little more note definition than rosewood.  I'm not sure the one with the bloodwood fretboard would look very good myself...

 

[Malta]

An oil finish will be fine on the body. I think walnut looks it's best that way.

And my vote's for #2, but #1 will work fine too.

This is all new to be, any suggestions/tips on the oil finish?