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Bass 3
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Wood Choice
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I was on holiday
in Derbyshire, near to where Craft Supplies are located. I was so
close I decided to drop in and buy a little wood for my next project.
In fact I bought enough for my next three projects!
The first Bass I
bought the wood for is a fretless version of my "4 string" project.
In most details this Bass will be similar to its sister, but I can
improve upon the design a little (After 2 years use there are a
few details I would like to change, like where I put the jack plug-I
got it completely wrong first time around). Steve Lawson had a go
of the 4 string fretted and asked me what the body wood was. When
I told him that it was Mahoganny, he looked a little unimpressed.
I don't know why it's not used more in Basses, it's such a good
tone wood, although a bit heavy. I presume that in comparison to
some of the more exotic looking African woods, it does look a little
bland, and its name conjures up school cloak rooms. So I have desided
on Paduak for the body instead. It has a brighter red/orange colour
with lots of nice streaks running through its grain. It also has
a very nice tap tone.
I want to keep the
basic shape of the original and I like the contrasting colours of
the maple and darker wood, so I have stuck with maple for the neck.
It's so stable and I like the lighter colour running next to the
Paduak. I will also run a ½" Paduak stripe through the neck in the
same way to the first bass. I have bough some Asian Marbled Ebony
for the fingerboard, which is really impressive, but it may be a
bit fussy for this bass.
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