Why is Basswood considered low end wood when it is on great ibanez guitars???

[jwoods986]

+1! These high profile players (EVH, Satch, Vai, etc.) have total say in their sig. guitars and what do they choose? Basswood! It can't be too bad of a wood.

[JJEMMER777]

Here we go again..........

Ya gotta love the woods (fav/better) threads

Endless agrument with no resolution and no common ground acheived. And of course at the end everybody will still prefer the wood they preferred at the onset

But it can be somewhat entertaining along the way and unlike the "which guitarist is better" threads, at least you can learn something useful

[Salamander In The Sun]

Originally Posted by bancika

I totally agree about that, for me the most sound comes from good pickups. But we're talking about wood only here. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I like my instrument to be rock solid, and I like materials that are proven to be good. Don't wanna make enemies out of this

While I do agree that Basswood is a soft wood, does it really matter when it has a super tough poly finish?

I don't see this as being an argument, I see it as a friendly debate. Nobody's making enemies.

[Algiman]

From the G&L world:

Originally Posted by G&L

"Our shop has a theory ~ 60% of the sound are the pickups, 30% the body, 10% the neck. "

I personally think they need to set aside a good % for the bridge, but other than that, they have a point, even if they are using very dodgy stats!

[JJEMMER777]

Originally Posted by Salamander In The Sun

I don't see this as being an argument, I see it as a friendly debate. Nobody's making enemies.

Stick around a while.....it'll turn hostile in no time

[bancika]

Originally Posted by Rich

Yea, 20 years of high profile players playing basswood sure hasn't proven anything to me!

Which is not much in a few century long "wooden instrument crafting period" (starting with Stradivarius, if not before).

Totally OT: anyone knows why some sites suddenly don't carry rg2550 any more. I ordered one on Friday and just day after that I noticed that page for it doesn't exist any more (on musi*123).
Cheers

[Salamander In The Sun]

Originally Posted by JJEMMER777

Stick around a while.....it'll turn hostile in no time

Nice attitude.

[jim777]

Originally Posted by Dee

Basswood can be good looking. See pic, although that's not your typical piece of basswood, I admit.

A 6 string Bongo? WTF? Is that a production instrument? And, are you sure that's basswood and not swamp ash? If that's production I'm betting Myung's contract with Yamaha is over

[Rich]

Originally Posted by bancika

Which is not much in a few century long "wooden instrument crafting period" (starting with Stradivarius, if not before).

Totally OT: anyone knows why some sites suddenly don't carry rg2550 any more. I ordered one on Friday and just day after that I noticed that page for it doesn't exist any more (on musi*123).
Cheers

Of course you must mean in the last 60 years of electric guitars, because I sure don't see and Strads built with black limba, alder, or mahogany, do you?

You do know Strats were made from alder because it was the cheap wood at the time?

[Dee]

Originally Posted by jim777

A 6 string Bongo? WTF? Is that a production instrument? And, are you sure that's basswood and not swamp ash? If that's production I'm betting Myung's contract with Yamaha is over

It's definitely basswood. Surprisingly nice looking, too. Myung will be using a Bongo 6. The one pictured is a prototype that was posted on the Music Man forums a while back. I don't think it's gone into production yet.

[bancika]

Originally Posted by Rich

Of course you must mean in the last 60 years of electric guitars, because I sure don't see and Strads built with black limba, alder, or mahogany, do you?

You do know Strats were made from alder because it was the cheap wood at the time?

But they didn't use basswood either

Yes, if anyone is a cheap a** it's fender. But luckily, they had alder and asian factories have basswood.
As I said, I have ordered basswood RG2550 few days ago. I *really* want to like it enough so that I don't need to build replacement body for it.

I give up, this isn't going anywhere

Cheers

[toshiro]

No wood sounds like "cardboard," I defy you to knock on a piece of cardboard.

[lashing]

Wow, it amazes me how guitar players cannot wrap their heads around this topic. Wood make a huge difference in tone, even on an electric solidbody. Basswood is a dead sounding wood. Not all Basswood is equal. The Asian stuff is really soft and every Asian guitar using it I've found to be dead sounding.

I've built many guitars out of many woods. The "mystique" is not that mysterious. Sometimes a really good peice of ash for instance will sound like crap and another will sound great. However 95% of the time I know what sound I will get using various woods.

Those of you who are talking about Steve Vai and Paul Gilbert - guys, for one TURN THE GAIN DOWN. With the insance amounts of gain and electronics these guys use you are correct - you probably are not hearing much of the wood. Also, you could string up a broom handle and these guys would make it sound good. They are not average players. They are exceptional musicians and I bet if I built them a cigar box guitar they'd blow away me on the fanciest Martin.

Anyway, wood totally matter if you turn the gain down and actually listen to the guitar. If you are going to use that fuzz fuzz Ibanez/5150/DS1 gain-o-rama then nope - you wont hear any wood anyway.

Plus as someone already mentianed the Ibanez guitars and all the other Korean models are coated in such a thick goopy plastic like paint it would be a waste to use good wood under it.

To say its all a myth is just aas ignorant as those who buy vintage guitars for the mojo. Buy the guitar not the hype and realize your purpose. If you are boosting your signal to the point Steve Vai or Gilbert does then talking wood is pointless. You are now playing electronica. Unfortunately the ungifted copy these guys and take the gain even further to mask their crappy technique. This is why the 5150 smps became popular. No dynamics. YOu can pick soft, hard - whatever the amp compresses the crap out of everything and you can slop away all night long with the same bass chunk fuzz fuzz. Personally that tires me out after about a song. I'd rather hear dynamics. Malmsteen for instance may be a total ****er but he has dynamics and you can hear the guitars tone. Uli Jon Roth is a master of dynamics. Notice those two still sound great with much MUCH less gain.

TURN THE GAIN DOWN if you are going to argue wood.

[Dee]

Here's the view from another luthier:

http://www.guitarnation.com/articles/calkin.htm

[GuitarBizarre]

Originally Posted by jwoods986

+1! These high profile players (EVH, Satch, Vai, etc.) have total say in their sig. guitars and what do they choose? Basswood! It can't be too bad of a wood.

Whats with the goddamn idol worship for these guitarists gear over their playing?

Heres my take on it - Basswood is a wood worth looking at. The original edge tremolos have their place in the world. Vine inlays look cool, chrome finishes are worth it to some people.

But for the love of god there is other stuff out there that looks cool and ISNT being played by Satch Vai or Gilbert!

I love basswood. SOMETIMES. Mostly I like mahogany.