My favourite from those kind of sellers is "Barrel Wood" WT_ is barrel wood?????????Caveat Emptor. Any purchase of an inexpensive item is a bit of a roll of the dice. The best defense I have been able to come up with is to try not to spend more than you are willing to lose on any single purchase.
Or in the description under "Material" it says "wood".
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
It should be. My HB JB kit was bought last year when it was sold with the body described as basswood, which seems very credible. The basswood used is not pretty (probably using a lower cosmetic grade of basswood to reduce costs), but it's fine for solid colours.
Now the kit wood is described as Rengas, which is a much heavier wood. I could see it being used as a fretboard material, but not for a body. But the Thomann photo still shows the original basswood kit. Being a lot darker, it would also be harder to stain, so you'd either have to like the reddy-brown look of the wood, stain it even darker, or else use a solid finish.
The Wood Database gives the average weight of Black Ash 545kg/m3 and White Ash as 675kg/m3 (the typical American Ash varieties, though swamp grown varieties of those are a fair bit lighter). Basswood averages at 415kg/m3. Rengas averages at 765kg/m3.
So my 1.7kg JB body would be over 3.1kg if made from Rengas (3.7lbs vs 6.8lbs). That's a huge increase. Add on the neck, hardware and strings and you end up with a very heavy bass. Using ash puts the weight up as well, but obviously not by so much. Fender generally have used swamp-grown ash wood, which makes it lighter, but even so, their ash bodies are considered reasonably heavy, and some of their non-swamp ash bodies from the 70s weigh a ton/tonne.
Oh that's easy. chances are "barrel wood" is oak.. could be American White Oak or French Oak. As for "wood" , that's what you use in a fire place.. Wood is for burning, timber is for buildingOriginally Posted by McCreed
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Not so easy as you might think...Oh that's easy. chances are "barrel wood" is oak.. could be American White Oak or French Oak. As for "wood" , that's what you use in a fire place.. Wood is for burning, timber is for building
"Polished Wood Type Electric Guitar Barrel DIY Electric Maple Guitar Barrel Body For Style Bass Guitar"
I have a feeling that in some dialects of Chinese the "guitar body" and "guitar barrel" may be written with the same characters.
Of course, a skeptic might also point out that at the advertised weight (1150g / 2.53lb) it can't be oak or maple.
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the US. Where I'm from, wood is a material, lumber is for building and "timber" is something you yell when the tree is about to fall. This time of year, you try not to burn anything at all.
"Andere Länder andere Sitten" as the German's say ;-)
Last edited by fender3x; 30-06-2021 at 06:08 AM.
Not guitar related but noticed the timber Paulownia, I have to comment.
I have just finished building a 17ft boat clad with strip planked Paulownia, remarkably pliable , light , strong. But soft. Had to fiberglass over the timber.
Good luck with the Guitar
Yup, paulownia is very soft. I won't use fiberglass because because my wife won't allow it in the house. I am using a water based finish that a lot of crafts people seem to be using in place of epoxy. Better than my first attempt, but good enough? Won't know until it finishes curing...
Not perfect, but the finish is as flat, shiny and hard as I am going to get it. So, I assembled it...
I already have the first tiny ding in it. Brite Tone is definitely harder than the first finish I put on, but it won't completely protect the bass from getting dented. That said, I do love the grain. It will, for sure, be my lightest bass. Completely assembled it came in at 6.5 lbs/3 kg. That's about like my poplar strat-ish guitar, and close to a kilo less than my swamp ash Fender P-bass. For those who thought there might be some neck-dive...you were right. It's not severe, and is about the same as my Fender. I think it helped to use the Hipshot ultralites and to make the headstock a bit smaller than a standard p-bass.
Since the pic, I have taken the strings, pickguard and pickup off so that I can install shielding and attach the bridge ground to the wiring harness. I am also gluing in a few strips of lamination where one of the pickguard screw holes was slightly over the route.
So there is a little more to do, including all the setup...but it is starting to look and feel like a bass ;-)
I wanted this bass to be a sort of lighter replacement for the p-bass I bought when I was 19 and the Epiphone Newport that I had from the time I was 13 until I sold it to buy the Precision. It feels like a bit of an tribute to those two basses.
I realize the neck is maple, but I am not unhappy with it. there is an eye in the back that has a cool chatoyance. The neck also reminds me of my ASAT bass, which has the best feeling neck of any bass I have ever put my hands on.
If the paulownia bass serves me half as well as any of these, it'll be a great addition to the family.
Looks great.Not perfect, but the finish is as flat, shiny and hard as I am going to get it. So, I assembled it...
I already have the first tiny ding in it. Brite Tone is definitely harder than the first finish I put on, but it won't completely protect the bass from getting dented. That said, I do love the grain. It will, for sure, be my lightest bass. Completely assembled it came in at 6.5 lbs/3 kg. That's about like my poplar strat-ish guitar, and close to a kilo less than my swamp ash Fender P-bass. For those who thought there might be some neck-dive...you were right. It's not severe, and is about the same as my Fender. I think it helped to use the Hipshot ultralites and to make the headstock a bit smaller than a standard p-bass.
Since the pic, I have taken the strings, pickguard and pickup off so that I can install shielding and attach the bridge ground to the wiring harness. I am also gluing in a few strips of lamination where one of the pickguard screw holes was slightly over the route.
So there is a little more to do, including all the setup...but it is starting to look and feel like a bass ;-)
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1, TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1.
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
What does it sound like? Still got that 'Black Gold' pickup on it? Any good?
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