Question Mahogany going to make a difference on my incoming Bongo?

[Ben Bond]

Hey All,

I have a new baby coming in tomorrow, and I was wondering if and/or hoping that hog will have a better lo-mid anchor, and just a stronger tone, than the rather "eh" sounding basswood? Mahogany is my favorite wood for bass, and it's one of the reasons that I got this beauty right here (mine's on page 12 of the below link/thread):

http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-basses/58821-2014-pdn-neptune-blue-whos-ordered-what-12.html

 

[KevinM]

(Post #176)

That's a real beast if a Bongo.
The hog body will give it more warmth but from what I've read here the main tone from the Bongo is in the eq. That's why the basswood doesn't have much effect on the tone but will keep the weight down. The hog used is the lighter African variety so it's also lighter weight.

 

[sanderhermans]

Imo they should always use mahogany for the bongos. Imo they sound way better and the weight is no issue at all. Hog can be as light or even lighter as basswood and it sounds better to me. I wonder why ebmm made the choice to use basswood....

 

[tunaman4u2]

I would say no... as the basswood body tends to be on the warmer side anyway (And sounds FANTASTIC as it is)

Now hog in my Sterling vs the regular ash is a pretty significant change

 

[uOpt]

Mahogany is a term covering many different species of trees. And even for the same species mahogany is probably the wood that comes out most random sound wise. There are a lot of very bright Les Pauls and a lot of very dull ones. It really isn't predictable how the thing will sound.

Basswood on the other hand is particularly consistent IMHO.

 

[bdgotoh]

I've had a bunch of basswood Bongos and two mahogany Bongos, the mahogany sounds much better to me.

 

[JayDawg]

They sound slightly different. Maybe a slightly warmer tone over the basswood. I have had 5 Bongos and still own 3 with one being made of African mahogany and I can tell a slight difference in tone with it over the other ones.