Paulownia Precision

[McCreed]

I think this will work, but I may have to accept the dents.

No more stage diving and hitting the cymbals with your bass. Problem solved .

[Stuart D]

I think that's what has put me on the lookout for a lighter bass. I thought chambering might be the thing. Warmoth advertises that it's chambered bodies reduce weight by 25%... but that's 25% of the *body* weight, not the assembled bass weight. At best that brings most chambered basses down into "swamp ash" territory...a reduction of about a pound overall.

By contrast my ES body basses (one from Pit Bull and one from Fret Wire) are MUCH lighter. The assembled basses are around 3.4 kg. My swamp-ash precision weighs in at around 3.9 kg. A Gibson Midtown bass (closest commercial bass to a PB ESB-4) weighs in at around the same as my swamp-ash precision--about a pound less than the PB equivalent. The primary difference? The PB and FW bodies have a paulownia center-block, whereas the Gibson has a maple center-block.

I built the 2nd ES to get a neck and weight that I liked, and it worked pretty well.

I am now trying to get I neck and weight I like with the contoured comfort and simplicity of a P-bass. I think this will work, but I may have to accept the dents.

I'm with you on that. I've always been a JB player, but after playing the Pitbull PB I'm a convert... but a lighter one. I think after my current build, I'll look to do a scratch P Bass (though I may consider buying some templates for it) and consider the wood choice carefully. I like reclaimed wood, however Paulownia (for example) is pretty sustainable and with a top and bottom of something else (I've still got some mahogany type wood left over), that might just work.

Don't know much about Paulownia other than this thread, so I'll look into it. (Edit - Not really available in the UK, however the idea is sound so I just need to find something else).

[Rabbit]

I'm with you on that. I've always been a JB player, but after playing the Pitbull PB I'm a convert... but a lighter one. I think after my current build, I'll look to do a scratch P Bass (though I may consider buying some templates for it) and consider the wood choice carefully. I like reclaimed wood, however Paulownia (for example) is pretty sustainable and with a top and bottom of something else (I've still got some mahogany type wood left over), that might just work.

Don't know much about Paulownia other than this thread, so I'll look into it. (Edit - Not really available in the UK, however the idea is sound so I just need to find something else).

We have plantations here. When I was making my canoe the go to hull timber is Western Red Cedar. I discovered some places here that offered Paulownia strips. Looking into it the strength was similar to WRC but so much lighter. If Paulownia is hard to get, you could try Basswood. My Epi has a Radiata body and it's not much of a strain on the back or shoulders.

[fender3x]

...Not really available in the UK, however the idea is sound so I just need to find something else...

It may be marketed under a different name. It can be called Kiri, empress wood, or alternate spellings of "paulownia."

The body I am using from ebay was called "maple" but the weight (less than 1.3 kg) was impossibly light for maple...and it was cheap, so I gave it a go on the thinking that at $33 I was not losing much.

AUS is a big exporter, and I know there are plantations of it in Germany and Spain...not sure about the UK...

[Simon Barden]

My Harley Benton JB body weighs in at 1.7kg. The body wood is supposed to be basswood, but the latest info on the Thomann site says they are now made from Rengas, which is a bit heavier than maple.

[Rabbit]

My Harley Benton JB body weighs in at 1.7kg. The body wood is supposed to be basswood, but the latest info on the Thomann site says they are now made from Rengas, which is a bit heavier than maple.

holy crap, that's a radical difference in weight from basswood. There's no way you could mistake one for the other!

[fender3x]

I just took a look at the average weight of a cubic foot of paulownia (18lbs) and the average weight of a cubic foot of basswood (26lbs). So, on average, basswood should be 1.444 times heavier than paulownia. My paulownia body weighed 1.19 kg before finishing. Sure enough, 1.7 is just about 1.444 times heavier.

I had never heard of rengas, but I looked it up in the wood database. Probably just as well that you got the basswood version. It sounds like rengas is not only heavier than than maple, it has some toxicity issues...

https://www.wood-database.com/rengas/

I have never seen rengas (to my knowledge, but from the description the color should be different too.

[Simon Barden]

Yes, it certainly looked a lt darker on the Wood Database site, but the Thomann pics haven’t changed. Looks far less suitable for a body wood. The kit comes pre-sealed, so unless you sand it back to stain it, you won’t be rouching the wood directly. By the time it’s dried and cut to shape, the sap issues should have disappeared, so it’s more a problem for the raw timber workers, and I doubt they’re issued proper safety equipment.

[fender3x]

Not surprised that the pics haven't changed. In my searches for inexpensive bodies, I have found the same pics used with different companies, often claiming they are using different woods. The body I am using was not the one in the pic on ebay, in the description it was listed as "maple" although the pic and the weight given in the listing made it clear that it could not be maple--and when it arrived it was clearly paulownia.

I just made another such purchase. Claims to be maple, but the pic and the weight don't come close to maple. I can find a half a dozen "brands" that use the same pic--including Muslady which is a frequent flier on Amazon. I am also seeing a lot of sycamore bodies that are impossibly light. I am guessing that some or all of these are actually paulownia.

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.

[Stuart D]

Yes, it certainly looked a lt darker on the Wood Database site, but the Thomann pics haven’t changed. Looks far less suitable for a body wood. The kit comes pre-sealed, so unless you sand it back to stain it, you won’t be rouching the wood directly. By the time it’s dried and cut to shape, the sap issues should have disappeared, so it’s more a problem for the raw timber workers, and I doubt they’re issued proper safety equipment.

The pics on the Wood database (and the description) make it out to be quite an attractive wood? I take it that's not the case?