- Thread starter Skinny
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beej
Moderator
Bad quality? Basswood is used in lots of great guitars my friend. Nothing wrong with it.
Your local retailer is full of it. Probably trying to get you to buy one of those "higher quality" Mexican made guitars
Your local retailer is full of it. Probably trying to get you to buy one of those "higher quality" Mexican made guitars
TheBassGuy
Well-known member
the thing that makes wood "cheap" is the age. Basswood is a cheaper wood, but when dried for a long time, the quality gets better and better, making it more expensive.
Don't get fooled by people who talk about things like ash is the best wood for guitars, and basswood is crap (i used to believe that ). The different wood's give different tonal versatility. For instance, ash is a very hard wood, which gives a bright sound. Basswood is softer, which absorbs sound making it sound lower/fatter.
It just depends on what you as guitarist want. For you're style of music alder might be crap and basswood the bomb.
Don't get fooled by people who talk about things like ash is the best wood for guitars, and basswood is crap (i used to believe that
). The different wood's give different tonal versatility. For instance, ash is a very hard wood, which gives a bright sound. Basswood is softer, which absorbs sound making it sound lower/fatter.It just depends on what you as guitarist want. For you're style of music alder might be crap and basswood the bomb.
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I'm not clear if Skinny meant that basswood is bad full stop, or that the quality of basswood used for the EX was bad (as opposed to "good" basswood used elsewhere)?
In any event:
A; Basswood can make superb guitars - one only has to hear the Axis/EVH. Allan Holdsworth chose basswood for his Ibanex AH10 and AH20 guitars, and he knows about tone. Suhr also raves about it. etc etc etc
B; I played an EX last year and it was superb,"bad" basswood or not.
As far as I know, the only downside is that its a little soft vs alder for example (which accounts for some of its tonal characteristics), and so takes the knocks less well, and it is slightly more difficult to paint (more porous IIRC?).
Steve
In any event:
A; Basswood can make superb guitars - one only has to hear the Axis/EVH. Allan Holdsworth chose basswood for his Ibanex AH10 and AH20 guitars, and he knows about tone. Suhr also raves about it. etc etc etc
B; I played an EX last year and it was superb,"bad" basswood or not.
As far as I know, the only downside is that its a little soft vs alder for example (which accounts for some of its tonal characteristics), and so takes the knocks less well, and it is slightly more difficult to paint (more porous IIRC?).
Steve
I meant bad basswood as opposed to good basswood. I don't say that basswood is generally crap.
I played the US made axis and it sounded badass - basswood + maple top worked ubercool.
But as far as I know Axis Ex has a laminated top not a solid maple one. Thus it affects the tone in some way.
Anyhow I will soon own this guitar. It will arrive from Japan in 3-4 weeks. And then I'll tell who was right and who was wrong.
I played the US made axis and it sounded badass - basswood + maple top worked ubercool.
But as far as I know Axis Ex has a laminated top not a solid maple one. Thus it affects the tone in some way.
Anyhow I will soon own this guitar. It will arrive from Japan in 3-4 weeks. And then I'll tell who was right and who was wrong.
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kompressaur
Well-known member
I think it would be cool if someone here owned an EX. To my knowledge, no one does so far
almost sure mine is an EX body with a regular Axis neck (No Axis legend on the EX necks I believe). Theres no tummy cut on the back. its a really sweet player and the only keeper guitar of mine in the last few years.I think it may be the EX steveh was referring to
the cheap strap buttons in this shot weren't stock.Long winded story but i lost the originals putting Schaller straplocks on it,took them off for another guitar and had to put cheapies on her for a bit.The guitar's now sporting dunlop ones.
I checked out the Japanese shop pages on the EX,even contacted them about a pearl lavender one but no response.
Colin
Well-known member
my question is, how would he know? does he have x-ray vision?
Well... seems like he got that info from somebody involved in the very manufacturing process. But still I doubt his words.
Tim O'Sullivan
Well-known member
almost sure mine is an EX body with a regular Axis neck (No Axis legend on the EX necks I believe). Theres no tummy cut on the back. its a really sweet player and the only keeper guitar of mine in the last few years.I think it may be the EX steveh was referring to
the cheap strap buttons in this shot weren't stock.Long winded story but i lost the originals putting Schaller straplocks on it,took them off for another guitar and had to put cheapies on her for a bit.The guitar's now sporting dunlop ones.
I checked out the Japanese shop pages on the EX,even contacted them about a pearl lavender one but no response.
Maybe it could be an EVH body?
MPM
Well-known member
I think the Axis EX body look like EVH body.. eg no tummy cut and toggle switch at the lower horn.
almost sure mine is an EX body with a regular Axis neck (No Axis legend on the EX necks I believe). Theres no tummy cut on the back. its a really sweet player and the only keeper guitar of mine in the last few years.I think it may be the EX steveh was referring to
Have you checked the neck pocket for clues?
kompressaur
Well-known member
my guitar cant be a EVH - a couple of years back I had the neck off to shim it and iirc its stamped sometime in April 1998.Two things not like the EX are that its not a veneer top but a 1/4" one and is also bookmatched and not one piece.The serial on the neckplate reads G01001 and is not on the EBMM database either.
the guitar had BP scratching his head a bit when I first asked about it
the guitar had BP scratching his head a bit when I first asked about it
Basswood gets a bad rap because it is used on a lot of low end guitars. You never see it in a trans finish, so it's possible that you are getting a piece of basswood plywood or a multipiece guitar when you buy a cheapo. Not going to happen on a EBMM.
kompressaur
Well-known member
none whatsoever between that and the flame topped Axis I just picked up
(or the pearl blue ASS I sold apart from the usual Axis vs Supersport differences)
The neck's maybe a little cleaner,thats all
Tim O'Sullivan
Well-known member
