Each musical instrument has its own making. The degree of wood required for their formation has another story to tell. And, one must not neglect any substantial factors which should be adopted for the preference of wood for that particular instrument.
In this article, we are going to talk about the factors which should be considered before buying the best wood for bass guitar body.
The bass guitar which is also known as electric bass, or sometimes simply bass is a transposing instrument and the lowest-pitched guitar available around. The bass guitar has similar recognition as of electric guitar or acoustic guitar in terms of looks and establishment. It has longer necks with four to six strings. It is usually used to play soft musical sounds such as jazz, country, and many more.
The bass guitars are majorly constructed from wood. The wood which is used for the formation of the bass guitar is Tone woods, which enhance the sound, tone, and quality of bass guitar. There are several bass guitar tonewoods available in the market which are further characterized into soft wood and hard wood.
The wood which is required for the building of the guitar is very crucial to consider. It’s imperative to know the major features of guitars that are made out of wood to ponder upon best wood for bass guitar body.
The wood body, the largest part of the guitar, where the sound traverses and emerges from, along with the neck and fingerboard, where the frets reside. The neck of the guitar is a home to guitar’s fretboard, frets, headstock, tuner and truss rod.
This article will fundamentally talk about the six things to consider before buying the best wood for bass guitar body.
Hardness And Softness Of Wood
Most woods used on the basses are recognized as ‘hard woods’, but the relative hardness or softness of the wood is something else to deal with. The hardness or the softness of the wood must be considered; let’s check upon the mere difference.
Harder woods have a lighter and quicker sound to them. Various species of harder woods are available in the market such as Hard Maple (or Rock Maple), Ebony, Walnut, Paduak, Wenge, Koa Bubinga, Purpleheart, Zebrawood and Rosewood. These woods give a bass a nice percussive tone.
Rosewood is bright and clear, it gives more justifiable service to fingerboards of bass guitars.
Softer woods have a euphonious and warmer tone. The species of softer woods include Alder, Swamp Ash, and Basswood. Softer woods have their major significance for bass guitar bodies as they have fair resonant qualities.
There are also some medium-hard wood species such as Mahogany which are used for bass guitar bodies worldwide.
Weight Of The Wood
The weight of the wood affects the sound of the guitar the most and it’s consequential to the musician followed by the luthier, who makes the guitar. For electric guitars, the more the wood is heavier, the brighter and lighter the instrument will propagate sound—eventually being the best wood for bass guitar body.
The more the wood is lighter, undoubtedly they are easy carrying and have good portability features, they also sound more or less grimy.
Furthermore, there comes the third scenario when the weight of the wood fluctuates in the middle. These woods are the best wood for bass guitar body, the reason being the amalgamation of the features heavier and lighter woods. Moreover, these woods have a fat and rich tone which usually sustains well.
Density Of The Wood
The density of the wood must be considered as an imperative factor before buying the best wood for bass guitar body. It’s the most important acoustical property for selecting materials for musical instruments, where the speed of the sound within the material is very crucial.
The grain of different species of the wood and its direction in it affects the speed of the sound. For instance, Ebony has a crisp attack with the density of Maple, but with more brittle grains, oilier pores, and a stronger fundamental tone than Maple. Also, Mahogany makes for a very stable neck due to its even density reducing the risk of warping.
Sound Of The Wood
The body and the neck of the bass guitar, both contribute to the sound. The guitar makers attain certain tonal aspects by cautiously matching the neck and body woods.
There are also chances that the wood of the same species cut from different trees or sustained in different regions in the world will have a difference in their sound, along with different weights and densities.
This is because the sonic variable exists not only between woods but, in subtler degrees, between different guitars made from the same wood—which is part of the magic in searching for your dream guitar amidst ten of the same model hanging on the guitar store wall.
Appearance Of The Wood
There’s no denying that sound, weight, and density have their immense importance in the musical instrument. Then again, sometimes, the looks of the guitar will always have the exterior strength of visibility. They are noticed by the crowd.
Finishing Of The Wood
Each and every species of the wood have different finishing capabilities; the shape and structure they turn out to be. The musical instruments such as guitars will eventually fall in the hands of musicians and it will entirely be his decision, how he wants his bass guitar to be.
Conclusion
It’s vital to know what aspects one wants with the guitar which will eventually lead them all the factors to be considered before buying the best wood for bass guitar body.
Exotic Wood Zone has all types of bass guitar wood blanks in the house which are of harder wood and softer wood such as East Indian Rosewood, Honduran Mahogany, Flame Maple, Chechen, Bubinga, Leopardwood, Zebrawood, Cherry, Purpleheart, Brazilian Mahogany, Cocobolo and many more.
The verdict must be yours to decide and consider all the factors based on your needs and requirements before buying the best wood for bass guitar body.
