RotcanX Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 The Samick LPs made in the early '90s had basswood bodies. 2" thick, too. Very nice. Tinted to look kinda like mahogany but of course the grain was all wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochet Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Pretty sure it's not basswood. I concur ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Basswood is a relatively soft wood that is used a lot for carving. It is a favorite wood for carving duck decoys. As a tonewood, I don't know, I think they are relying mostly on the pickups there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twanger Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Whether the interior body wood is lauan or not I don't know. I do know that it's definitely not basswood. Basswood has a very light grain pattern to it that tends to be more broadly spaced...similar to poplar or some pine. Basswood has a rather uniform density which is one reason carvers like it. The other reasons being that is generally stable, the grain patterns are not pronounced and the pores are mostly closed. Basswood is generally abundant, inexpensive, generally knot-free over greater widths and lengths, stores well once properly dried and is fairly light in weight. It appears to take paint well but staining is best preceded by a sealer to prevent blotching. As a tone wood it is decent but not really spectacular as it tends to emphasize mids to low mids and tends to generally blend or muddy the sound of the strings. The highs are there but not as well-defined as they could be. Goldie said: "As a tonewood, I don't know, I think they are relying mostly on the pickups there." and I agree. Lauan or Philippine Mahogany has a more pronounced grain with generally open pores. A sealing coat is necessary before using stains or paints. Lauan is limited in abundance but when available it is generally available in wide and long knot-free sections. It is generally very stable when dried, light in weight, strong. A good substitute for mahogany however it lacks the striping or ribbons characteristic of mahoganies found in the Americas. Lauan tends to emphasize mids to lows sometimes making the lows muddy. Highs tend to sound a bit "grainy" making it good to great for electric guitars (again, relying on the pickup) but not so good for acoustic instruments. All in all,Lauan is probably a good match for limba/korina. More to the point, I think the Epi V and Explorer look totally killer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarpBoy Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Basswood is a relatively soft wood that is used a lot for carving. It is a favorite wood for carving duck decoys. As a tonewood' date=' I don't know, I think they are relying mostly on the pickups there.[/quote'] I can't help feeling like basswood has a lot of prejudice against it. Music man guitars are made pretty much exclusively from it, and by all accounts many of the Japanese Fenders of the 80's (and these were made by Fujigen, hardly a second class manufacturer). I don't think it's a low grade wood; more tradition shaping the group think than fact, is my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Nothing wrong with basswood. It's not particularly pretty to look at so you usually see it used on solid-colour guitars. For instance, G&L's Tribute series guitars are all made with ash bodies except the black ones which are made from basswood. Figure basswood to be in the same class as alder, poplar, Japanese ash, and the like. One advantage to basswood is that it's very easy to get a smooth surface with it; basswood is great for making vacu-form molds due to its easily-filled grain. It's also very light; sometimes they'll use basswood to make the spars in model aircraft wings since it's stronger than balsa without a big weight penalty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 I can't help feeling like basswood has a lot of prejudice against it. Music man guitars are made pretty much exclusively from it' date=' and by all accounts many of the Japanese Fenders of the 80's (and these were made by Fujigen, hardly a second class manufacturer). I don't think it's a low grade wood; more tradition shaping the group think than fact, is my opinion.[/quote'] There's no prejudice for it on my part, but it's not considered a premium wood, by any stretch of the imagination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 There's no prejudice for it on my part' date=' but it's not considered a premium wood, by any stretch of the imagination.[/quote'] Well, from an æsthetics standpoint, no, but sonically it's fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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