nothinggod_bassist

This kind of makes the whole thread redundant really, but I looked up Conklin's custom options and guess what? They have an option for purpleheart and zebrawood neck construction. Also I found this; http://www.tradingbasses.com/webalbumtradingbasses_027.htm

I can understand why you would be asking this of us if you have not lined up your Luthier yet. You want this to be a special Bass, that you have a lot of direct involvement in. That makes sense. When you find the right Luthier, and by "right" I mean someone who is skilled, and not a knucklehead built 5 guitar hobbiest or wannabe guitar tech that does set ups off and on at your local music store(no offense to highly skilled techs that have building experience). You should discuss your thinking on wood selection, design and so forth with that person. Don't rely on random bits of info you pick up along the way. Use the knowledge and experience they bring to the plate. That is how you will get a fine instrument. They will know what will make a differnce in the overall sound, reliability, and playability of your bass. Much of the info you get will need to be put in perspective as to its actual impact(many things make little or no difference, and some can pose real poor performance). Put your faith in their experience(if you don't trust them find someone else, because you need that trust). Have fun with it, and good luck with your recording. Peace,Rich Cheers, Rich. Of course I am not pinning all my hopes on what is said on some internet forum, but I was hoping to find some ideas and opinions, albeit objectively and constructively given, from as many sources as possible. Obviously I am not going into this build with a hobbyist builder in mind. I have one or two in mind that I have also been in contact with already and they both have a good record of custom builds. I also know that the internet is full of people that like to argue about nonsense just for the sake of it. But then again there are some people out there that are worth sharing ideas with. By the way, Supernova I never asked about the suitability of purpleheart for instrument building I was asking if it would be a dense enough wood for a neck-through construction to use with zebrano. I have played instruments that have purpleheart neck-through constructions but they are usually with ash. Anyway, that said I have pretty much got what I wanted out of this thread. Thanks everyone, especially Rich.

On the contrary, you missed my point about the session completely. If I am hired to do something for someone I'm not going to dictate to them how to compose a piece of music even if I can analyse and theorise music more than they can. I am going to do my best to play what they want. Much in the same way I expect, and given I am going to be paying good money for this project, that the luthier will do their best to accomodate me and give me what I want. I really am not interested in what some certain individual here thinks they would and wouldn't do. All I wanted was some advice on what kind of combination those woods might make together. I have played plenty of instuments made of zebrano and purpleheart, tobias and alembic to name a few, incidentally, but I see your point, hence my asking for opinions. I wasn't looking for your critique of my methodology at all though, thanks. Also try reading, it's a bass, not a guitar, which makes me a bass player. The so called scrap piece of wood you are refering to, is something you haven't seen incidentally so where you have any room to call me a joker I don't know. As for any of that other crap, I have no intention of doing anything with the wood other than making sure I approve of the wood selected. I don't want to rock up to see my bass being built and the guy says oh well sorry I just decided that I'm not going to use zebrano, I think I will use ash instead. It's my money and my bass just like if i was being paid on a session it's the producer or songwriter's music. How many forums do I have to visit though where some super sensitive hero has to try and use insults in place of objective and constructive discourse? Can the moderator do something about this stupidity? Oh yeah, and I play drums bass guitar and keys all quite well thanks, I also sing.

Firstly I already have the wood for the body wings, the Jarrah. One of the reasons I want to source the wood is that I have a very good idea of what I want, and what I am going to use it for. The way I see it is that I am not an amature looking for a nice piece of furniture just because I am a collector, but I am looking for a particular type of thing that I will use as a working instrument. From experience, playing different instruments with different woods I have an idea of which woods I think will have a certain tone and feel to them. As far as sourcing the wood I want to take any compromise on the luthier's part out of the equation. Either the luthier can do this build or they can't. I would like to have this thing made but I'm not going to compromise on it. I will use as much advice as I can get in making a selection on the wood including the luthier who makes this instrument, but at the end of the day I at least want to be there to say, yes that is the wood I want on this. after that I am leaving preparation and so on in the builder's hands, with the exception of my consultation on design and such. I see it like this, if I am called to play a session and a come to the session and say, "well I will only play this scale in that key and I think that because I can play it and so on you just have to take it my way and like it", chances are I won't be too popular. Some people were saying something about luthiers saying "well it's what the customer wanted" I guess you guys could build a lot of instruments to sit in your loungerooms and look pretty but at the end of the day if you want to sell them you have to strive to give the customer what they want, especially when the customer knows what they want. Also thanks for the advice there, Rich.

I'm not actually going to luthier this project but I am going to source the wood and provide a lot of input on the build. I am definitely going to have a twin truss rod and the fingerboard will be a cutaway of the neck laminate. I plan to have all hipshot hardware including the individual bridge setup. As for the Zebrawood, I have seen Conklin use it in some of their builds I think with Bubinga. So now I am wondering in sourcing the wood, and assuming that I am going to use Zebrawood, should I look for a piece that has been preaged? The reasons I want Zebrawood are that since Purpleheart and Jarrah are both very dense I want something that will be slightly less so and give some resonance to the bass. It is also an aesthetic thing too, obviously.

Hello people I am looking for some advice on a project I am looking into at the moment. My project is this, an 8-string single course, 36-fret bass, Tuning BEADGCFA#. I have a piece of Jarrah, an Australian hardwood which is glued in 3cm sections and used to be part of a counter in a bank. I am pretty sure this will have to be recut and glued due to the age and previous use of the piece. I intend to use this as the side wings of the bass. I propose to use a neck through construction consisting of Zebrano(Zebrawood) and Purpleheart. I pretty much have my mind set on using the Zebrano but I am wondering if the Purpleheart is dense enough in combination with the other woods. Also note that I am not intending to have a fingerboard wood. I am wondering what thoughts and opinions any of you might have.