what is the deal with basswood

[Soylent]

sweet dude!

 

[rockskate4x]

That's killer! Sounds like an awesome tele shredder!

 

[briny001]

My brother has (read "had") an Ibanez JS1000 made of basswood.  One day his strap came unsecured and he dropped it on a hardwood floor.  It hit right where the control cavity is and it shattered (literally) the bottom quarter of the body and sent 2 cracks straight up to the neck pocket. Completely f****ed up. 
As an aside, it sounded really sweet before it died.

 

[kataar]

sounds like he shoulda had some strap locks...  :sad:

 

[rockskate4x]

dang dude... that really sucks...

 

[hannaugh]

Man, that is tragic.  Did he bury it with a 21 gun salute?

 

[rockskate4x]

hahaha...

no 21 gun salute... I think it'd be more awesome to have it resurrected, with a brand new veneer on top!

 

[jhumber]

That's killer! Sounds like an awesome tele shredder!

Ha - I hope so.
In reality I'm hoping to combine the best bits about my two current guitars (a hollow warmoth alder strat and a PRS singlecut) into one guitar.....with a few personal touches along the way. Thankfully Warmoth allows you to 100% achieve this. I'm getting excited, especially with all the threads about people receiving their good early at the moment!!

 

[DocNrock]

My Ibanez JS1000 is made from basswood.  Relatively loud acoustic tone when unplugged.  Great tone plugged in.

 

[rockskate4x]

Oh, yeah... I got one of the really cheap SAGA bass guitar kits, which has a basswood bod, and It's the loudest electric instrument I have when it's unplugged... you can hear it outside on a windy day...

 

[boaty]

what is there a negative connotation about basswood? especially with fender japan strats, teles etc.

how does basswood compare with alder, swamp ash etc?

I think basswood gets a bad rap because it's most commonly found on cheaper guitars.  Besides being affordable, it's a soft wood and so is very easy to work with and it doesn't cause machinery to wear out as quickly as harder woods.

It has a very neutral sound.  It has treble, but I wouldn't call it bright.  It has a deep bass end but less mids than mahogany, and the mids it does have don't really have character to my ear.  It works better with pickups that have more mids - guitars I've played with basswood bodies tend to sound sterile.  A guitar with a basswood body and mahogany neck would be interesting though. All the ones I've played have had maple necks.

I've been told that there is "high quality basswood" out there which is ideal for boutique guitars.  I've never played a very expensive guitar made out of basswood so I can't comment on it.

 

[Sustainerplayer]

The MIJ Fender J.D. Telecaster has a basswood body. And that's is one nice sounding tele! I should have some pictures somewhere.

My MIJ Strat is basswood - so is my Warmoth Strat and I have another coming (See Candy Tangerine in the strat section).

I Like it's light weight and good sound - gives lots of body (yeah) and not too much muddiness to the sound.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I have a basswood CIJ Tele, and will never own another basswood guitar.  The wood is so soft, light, and ugly, IMO.  Definitely give it a hard, solid color finish.

 

[AprioriMark]

I'm a huge fan of the two guitars and one bass I own with Basswood bodies.  They're really snappy and punchy... in a good way.

-Mark

 

[Sustainerplayer]

Here's a pic of my former Fender JD Tele make over:

with SD Vintage Rhythm STR-1 and Vintage '54 Lead STL-1 - 4 way switching - GOTOH 6 saddle bridge on a basswood body it sounded just great. Sadly I've sold it because I never got used to neck profile and 7,25" radius. ... never got my money and got screwed over by Paypal/eBay ... oh well ...

 

[jeffgtr]

Very mixed feelings on it,myself.
I've owned/played guitars with this body wood that I've liked and one's that I thought sucked totally. It depened a LOT on which pickups were in them. Tone-wise they seem totally dead unless certain pups are used with it.
But overall,to my ear-they are just too thin/weak sounding. None of that thick,heavy tone I seek.
One that I had years ago-a parts strat with a Floyd,was a nightmare. The body is way too soft for use with a heavy trem. During use,I once had the Floyd rip right out of the body when wiggling the bar. Came right off in my hands..

Epic Fail. :icon_scratch:

 

[scottosan]

I would think basswood would dent really easily... like, if you give it a dirty look, or drop a feather on it.  We used basswood for scenic model building, and you can write your name in it with a fingernail. 

:redflag: I agree.  It sounds great, but the wood just dents so easy

 

[edward2b]

I think basswood is denigrated as a body wood because Leo didn`t use it on the originals,so it can`t be any good (in the minds of the purists out there) !!!!!!!!

 

[mullyman]

Very mixed feelings on it,myself.
I've owned/played guitars with this body wood that I've liked and one's that I thought sucked totally. It depened a LOT on which pickups were in them. Tone-wise they seem totally dead unless certain pups are used with it.
But overall,to my ear-they are just too thin/weak sounding. None of that thick,heavy tone I seek.
One that I had years ago-a parts strat with a Floyd,was a nightmare. The body is way too soft for use with a heavy trem. During use,I once had the Floyd rip right out of the body when wiggling the bar. Came right off in my hands..

Epic Fail. :icon_scratch:

I'm in the boat with you, man. Over the years I've had 5 Peavey Wolfgang's and 2 EVH Music Man guitars (one of the MM is a Japanese model). In my limited experience with basswood I can honestly say that I would not own another guitar made of just basswood.  3 of my Wolfgang's were solid colors (2 specials and 1 standard) and I never ever liked the tone I got out of either of them. Not enough ass. Now, with that said, toss a maple cap on there and you've got something to work with. I loved my maple top standard and special and the Music Man guitars, I can't say enough good things about them. I have a small problem of buying guitars and selling them when I get bored with them. I still have one Music Man Axis EX (the Japanese model) and I'll never part with it. It feels good, sounds good, and, well...........Mrs. MULLY gave it to me for X-mas a number of years ago so if I tried to sell it she'd cut my danglers off. hehe!!

But yeah, not a fan of all basswood bodies. I think it needs maple.
MULLY

 

[exaN]

My Ibanez PGM301 is basswood and it sounds way better than a lot of very high end guitars that are made from more common woods. I think it would make an excellent Strat, especially if you like the advantage of a lighter guitar on stage.