Basswood....on a strat?

Rich210

Basswood can be awesome! I've got a really light basswood g&l that resonates impeccably. Like anyw I guess it comes down to the tree DNA, growing conditions and proper seasoning. 

I wouldn't mind a nice pine strat at some point down the line. Hoping to stumble across something

drwiddly

I have an old Ibanez RG bitsa that has an RG270 body. It's basswood and it rings like a bell. One of the most resonant guitars I own.

imalrightjack

I started a thread on this a few years back. Definitely not just cheap crap.

TTBZ

I've only had one basswood guitar (Charvel Model 1C) and always struggled with the sound of it which was quite scooped and muddy no matter what pickups I had.

hollywoodrox

Look at all those high profile players like vai etc  who play basswood bodies 

earwighoney

Philly_Q said:

To be a bit contrary, the only basswood-bodied guitar I've ever owned was an MIJ '60s Strat and it was rubbish.  Looked great, but sounded like it was made of soggy cardboard.

I had a early 90's MIJ J Bass which was much like that, and also my friend's Jaguar was also a right royal stinker.

Not sure if it was the wood or not but all the MIJ Fenders of the era I played/owned were really poor instruments.

ICBM

earwighoney said:

Philly_Q said:

To be a bit contrary, the only basswood-bodied guitar I've ever owned was an MIJ '60s Strat and it was rubbish.  Looked great, but sounded like it was made of soggy cardboard.

I had a early 90's MIJ J Bass which was much like that, and also my friend's Jaguar was also a right royal stinker.

Not sure if it was the wood or not but all the MIJ Fenders of the era I played/owned were really poor instruments.

This is my experience as well, and as a result I have never understood why MIJ Fenders are rated so highly.

That's not an anti-Japanese snob opinion - I love some Japanese-made instruments, especially most of the output of the Matsumoku factory - ironically a lot of which used Sen ash, which Schnozz mentioned as to be avoided.

To be honest I'm not a huge fan of any of the alder/poplar/basswood-type softer hardwoods, I don't think any of them sound as good as harder ones like ash or mahogany... and yes I'm aware that includes a lot of the most revered 60s Fenders, including the '65 Jaguar I owned. It was a good guitar, but I never felt it had much resonance.

brooom

Not sure why sen-ash would have to be avoided, it's actually widely used for furniture and instruments and has very nice even tone, somewhere between ash and alder. It looks great and it has a nice range of weights.

I've played some greco strats made with Sen-ash that were superb, in fact I kept one.

skullfunkerry

Rich210 said:

Basswood can be awesome! I've got a really light basswood g&l that resonates impeccably. Like anyw I guess it comes down to the tree DNA, growing conditions and proper seasoning. 

I wouldn't mind a nice pine strat at some point down the line. Hoping to stumble across something

I had a Modern Player Tele which was pine bodied: sounded fine, but weighed an absolute ton!

stonevibe

The secret is you need to put the basswood in a fire, I think it did something to that particular guitar.

Gassage

A lot of 64 strats to 69 strats are Basswood. It's superb. It's just it has no real grain so not nice unless painted.

Fifty9

Had a mij oly white 62 ri strat I should never have sold as it sounded awesome in hindsight. One of the reasons was it was basswood not alder - and also poly. What a daft decision that was

monquixote

I think the Ibanez JS1000 is basswood and they sound pretty good.

Balanced and neutral is a good description.

Philly_Q

monquixote said:

I think the Ibanez JS1000 is basswood and they sound pretty good.

Balanced and neutral is a good description.

I remember when the JS1 came out they made a big deal about it being American basswood. 

As opposed to, er.... non-American basswood, presumably.  Lord knows how many types of basswood there are.

earwighoney

ICBM said:

This is my experience as well, and as a result I have never understood why MIJ Fenders are rated so highly.

That's not an anti-Japanese snob opinion - I love some Japanese-made instruments, especially most of the output of the Matsumoku factory - ironically a lot of which used Sen ash, which Schnozz mentioned as to be avoided.

To be honest I'm not a huge fan of any of the alder/poplar/basswood-type softer hardwoods, I don't think any of them sound as good as harder ones like ash or mahogany... and yes I'm aware that includes a lot of the most revered 60s Fenders, including the '65 Jaguar I owned. It was a good guitar, but I never felt it had much resonance.

Oddly enough, the MIJ Silver Series Squier I had was a far superior instrument to the MIJ Fenders I played/owned.

Something about that Squier and my basswood Tele Hybrid is they had very heavier basswood bodies that were quite resonant.

My basswood Tele Hybrid (which is around the 9lbs in weight) rings a little if I knock the body (geeky of course) whilst my Alder body Tele has the resonance of wet cardboard and despite all my efforts with trying different pickups, electronics it always sounds muddy to my ears when plugged in.

Rich210

skullfunkerry said:

Rich210 said:

Basswood can be awesome! I've got a really light basswood g&l that resonates impeccably. Like anyw I guess it comes down to the tree DNA, growing conditions and proper seasoning. 

I wouldn't mind a nice pine strat at some point down the line. Hoping to stumble across something

I had a Modern Player Tele which was pine bodied: sounded fine, but weighed an absolute ton!

I bet pine could be really heavy! Just thinking about the weight of it after cutting down a Conifer! Sappy

fandango

Philly_Q said:

monquixote said:

I think the Ibanez JS1000 is basswood and they sound pretty good.

Balanced and neutral is a good description.

I remember when the JS1 came out they made a big deal about it being American basswood. 

As opposed to, er.... non-American basswood, presumably.  Lord knows how many types of basswood there are.

1   American Basswood - Tilia americana

2   Silver Basswood, Black Pencil Cedar, Celery Wood - Polyscias elegans

3   New Guinea Basswood, kwara'ae - Endospermum medullosum

4   White Basswood - Tilia heterophylla

5   Linde, Lime, Basswood - Tilia glabra

6   Linde, Lime, Basswood - Tilia parvifolia

horsehead

Rich210 said:

I wouldn't mind a nice pine strat at some point down the line. Hoping to stumble across something

I'm hoping to get a tempered pine strat as some point....think it'd sound awesome

jeromegreenday

I had an early 2000's Fender japan Iron maiden strat, Basswood. Wonderful wonderful guitar...

bugileman

Yep my JV strat is basswood, plays and resonates like nothing else. Better sounding than any other strat I've ever owned.