Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi folks!

Please forgive my ignorance if these are pretty rudimentary questions...but I'm a player and know very little about guitar/bass constsruction.

I am looking at ordering a bass, which can be customized with a wide variety of woods. My question is; how do I know what woods to use to get the sound that I'm looking for? Furthermore, how much of an infulence will the electronics have on the sound versus the wood itself?

I am trying to get a sound similar to a "Wal" bass (Geddy Lee's sound on Power Windows and Hold Your Fire would be good examples of the sound I'm looking for), with good high and low end definition, but with a very punchy midrange, which makes it stand out it a mix. Oh...and I don't have several thousand dollars to order a Wal!

I'm also wondering, since this will be a neck-through instument, how much the sound will be influenced by the neck wood(s) versus the body wood(s).

I would greatly appreciate any opinions or advice that could be offered...I've been researching tonewoods on the internet and it seems that there are a lot of conflicting opinions about the tone qualities of various woods (what sounds "rich in hi-mids" to one sounds "harsh and brittle" to another), so I would love to hear about the experiences of some actual luthiers. Thanks in advance!

Are you going to be ordering a bass from a luthier, or some parts to assemble yourself?
If the former, I'd suggest you contact some specialist bass-builders for their recommendations.
Veronica Merryfield is one name that springs to mind.

Cheers
John

For the most part, I a specialist bass builder, albeit young, but I have a good number of basses under my belt.
Everything that follows is based on my experience, and is most certainly up for discussion:

Typically, if someone were to come to me looking for something along the lines of a Geddy Lee Jazz bass (I have never had the pleasure of physically playing a Wal) I would tend to pick denser woods - particularly if this person was looking more for the recording sound as opposed to the live sound (gigging basses should weigh less than 8 lb, studio recording basses can sometimes carry a little more weight in order to get more of the upper mids and high frequencies). Dense woods are more "transparent" if you will of all of the frequency spectrum generated by the vibrating string. Softer woods, more porous woods generally filter some of the shorter wavelength lower energy waves from the overall sound of the guitar.

Obviously, even electric guitars and basses have a complex interaction of vibration - body and neck wood affecting the overall input force and microphonic interaction with the pickups, pickups affecting the way the string energy is tranferred to a voltage, and onboard electronics affecting the way that voltage waveform is shaped.

All that being said, general rules of thumb -
1. stick with maple or maple and something for your neck. This is kind of a standard that you can count on and use as a foundation or base line comparator as you move forward.

2. The density of the body wood needs to be considered both for tone and for playing puroposes. Dense woods (even with a neck thru) will give a brighter, less rolled off, filling tone - softer woods generally tend to roll things together, if you will.

3. Electronics can only work with what is there to begin with.

We can talk more later if you want, but there is a little bit of a start.

Enjoy!
Stephen

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www.ziegenfussguitars.com

Thanks very much for the responses, this is the kind of information that I need!

I'm actually planning on ordering the bass from Carvin. The customer service person I've been dealing with has been quite helpful, but I'm not sure if he has the same expertise as an actual luthier would have.

I'm thinking about a 5 piece neck (maple/walnut), and a walnut body with a figured walnut top. As far as electronics go, it's an active system and I'm thinking of going with soapbar pickups. My concern is that this combination may be too bright, or, more to the point, lacking mids. I have had basses that have great high end and lows, and sound great by themselves, but either get lost in the mix, or mask other instruments in a band setting.

Any thoughts on this particular combination of woods? Anything that anyone would suggest modifying? Thanks again!

How much is it to order a custom Carvin these days?

You might find some other options from builders here in the same price range and completely hand built, if that interests you.

OK, and again from my experience, I do not think you will be lacking mids. Walnut, for me, is the ever classic "middle of the road" body wood. You will certainly not be lacking in highs - the active EQ package with the dual coil soapbars will treat you very nicely in that regard. Concerning the mids, the oh so hard to feel out 2 kHZ +, well, I think you will be OK there. The last walnut bass I built, that was completely walnut (including neck)- was very very midrangy - and consequently - that good solid middle of the gut punchy. It sported jazz singlecoils and a passive system, and was very represented. I think for you, the walnut will give you the solid lows and mids, and the active EQ will help you dial in your highs.

just my thoughts.
Stephen

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www.ziegenfussguitars.com

Thanks again for the information...It really makes it easier for me to make a decision. As far as the price goes, for the options that I want, the bass will be around $1400.00 Canadian/American, which seems like a pretty good deal to me, at least compared to mass produced instruments.

Well,

if in the future you are ever interested in something else, look me up.

Have a good one!
Stephen

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www.ziegenfussguitars.com