What's with the Basswood bashing?

[hbucker]

Why is it so many people bash basswood as anything but a cheap wood to build guitars out of? Arguably, it isn't pretty so there is no motivation to show it off with a clear finish. But I've heard/read more than a few people refer to it as a less than desirable guitar wood.

I'm sure some of it has to do with the fact that some manufacturers don't offer guitars with basswood and representatives/deciples of those companies poo-poo anything those companies don't carry.

Keeping in mind that all woods have certain advantages and disadvantages, basswood just seems like a viable option for a quality guitar. Surely this arguement will find some support on the Music Man web site.

 

[robochimp]

You know, you raise a good point. Basswood is cheap, as in ' 'inexpensive". And I think we're just psychologically conditioned to associate lower price with lower quality. And although this is frequently true, I think Basswood is an excellent tonewood. I had a Jem BSB (Basswod) and it was one of the most resonant, musical instruments I ever owned- until I got my Silhouette, of course.

 

[cocobig]

I agree... since 3 out of 4 of my guitars have basswood body. I prefer the sound of basswood body (with or without maple top) to mahogany or alder. It's just a matter of taste... I think.

 

[Estin]

all the guitars i've ever owned were either basswood bodies or mohagany. i love basswood due to its great sound and light weight. i think its a great wood for bodies. hell even the parker fly's have a basswood neck and those are great guitars. i love all the inovative stuff out there as well, like the parker carbon and glass fretboard, graphite necks, acrylic see thru bodies etc... but i think basswood is a great wood and anyone who has played a EBMM knows their great.

 

[Estin]

oh yeah and i seen some moron "guitar builder" who reviewed a EBMM axis bad because he said "nothing like paying $1,500 for a bolt on guitar" what a moron. some people just need to be punched in the face and have their crappy guitars they play smashed over their head LOL! ;-)

 

[quackattack]

I bought an Axis SS last year w/ dual hums and a tremelo. I loved that guitar. It played nicer than my strat PRS cu 24 and tele. I still lust after that neck.

The tone was excellent when overdriven/distorted, but it did not clean up well. The bass strings [5 qnd 6] had no snap or twang. They sounded kinda dead.

I always assumed this was due to the basswood body.

Am I right or wrong?

 

[Estin]

i think the reason people think they don't clean up too well is for a few reasons. 1st the guitar was originally for van halen..... he's a solo freak....not a clean freak. his clean tones suck anyway, remember the original 5150 head? need i say more. lol 2nd is cause the pickups have a lot of output. and 3rd because the fretboard is maple. in my experiances maple fretboards are a little harsher than rosewood. anyone agree?

 

[nobozos]

Man, I don't know what you guys are arguing about, the tone of the guitar has nothing to do with the wood.
Just ask Roger Crimm at the Peavey Forum.
I got into a big pissin' contest with him last year on this very subject.
He posted some kind of ignorant statement like, "The tone comes from the pickups and electronics, and the wood has very little to do with the tone, just sustain, maybe."
The guy even works for Peavey!

I spent a great deal of time trying to educate the poor bastard, but in the end, he still stood with his original statement.

And all this time I thought I got ripped off in 1986 when I bought my first plywood bodied Kramer. ****, I should have just put a better pickup in it and it would have made it sound like a PRS.

What a poor diluted fool!

 

[Estin]

LOL LOL theirs peavey for you. i laughed when i seen the triple XXX head. for some reason a Mesa diamond plate recto came to mind.............hmm who knows. but yeah, if i would have known where the tone came from i could have saved alot of money and just went with a korean made $300 dollar ibanez, thrown a dimarzio or tom holms pickup in it and there you go. while i'm at it i'll throw some NOS mullard tubes in my solid state Randall Cyclone head. ;-) LOL!!!!

 

[hbucker]

I'm a proud PV owner (as well as a proud Musc Man EVH owner). I remember the thread you are referring to and I too disagree with Roger. If you recall, most of the people on that thread also disagreed with him.

While I think wood has to affect tone, it is only one of the variables. I don't think if you take two guitars with identical hardware and pickups but different woods that one could sound wonderful and the other would sound like crap. There would be differences but not like night and day the way some would argue. Heck, even identical guitars made out of the same wood coming off of the same production line tend to have some different sonic and tactile differences so why wouldn't completely different types of wood affect tone differently? I would just argue that while the differences are there, they aren't necessarily like night and day.

Wood, hardware, pickups, cords, picks, amps and most of all, the player will ultimately decide the tone of the guitar. An interesting test would be to blindfold a knowledgable guitar player and have them listen to different guitars through the same amp. Make him/her guess which kinds of wood each guitar is made out of and see if they can even get 50% right.

I come down on both sides of the arguement but do believe wood affects tone. It has to. I just don't think it matters quite as much as some people believe it does.

 

[Ekib]

Offcourse the kind of wood makes a difference.What a total idiot at the Peavey forum,no wonder Peavey guitars sound so horrible.I still can't believe EVH hooked up with such a company.
In fact,even the same guitars(same model I mean)can sound diferent...

 

[quackattack]

let's get back to the basswood controversy...is it resonsible for dead sounding 5th and 6th strings, when played clean, or not?

 

[CubanoSucio]

"Why is it so many people bash basswood as anything but a cheap wood to build guitars out of? Arguably, it isn't pretty so there is no motivation to show it off with a clear finish. But I've heard/read more than a few people refer to it as a less than desirable guitar wood."

Well, for me you can't compare to Mahogany and Alder. I have 15 guitars and most of them are Alder and Mahogany (Strats and Jacksons, 1 Les Paul) and my Super Sport is a great guitar and quickly becoming my favorite BUT if I could only get that Fender Strat tone from it. I always thought the MM sounded disgustingly flat and dead with NO feeling when playing clean. It was ok driven but I immediately changed the pickups when I bought it. I went with DiMarzio Evolutions.

The only real beef against MM is that they don't support us Leftys and even Jackson is starting to. Hell, they now make the Soloist in lefty WITH a Floyd and the new Soloist has ALDER wood. I have an old Soloist I had custom made in '87 with Khaler trem. it's really great. If I ever see a lefty Silhuette I'll jump on it since they're Alder.