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Joel Larsson
04-16-2009, 01:35 PM
I read through the post on Bosnian spruce, and it kind of made it clear that it could be near impossible to determine which part of the world this particular piece of wood came from. Now, what different woods are there that look so similar to each other that sometimes you need an expert's eye to tell them apart? I have for instance heard it rumoured that some kind of African mahogany can look almost identical to maple, which - according to the rumours - has resulted in some basses been built with the cheaper mahogany but sold as maybe even highly graded maple. Anyone knows if this is true, and are there any similar pitfalls out there to be wary of?

Anselm Hauke
04-16-2009, 02:08 PM
i don´t now what kind of african mahogany you mean, but your post made me think of anigré, an african wood that looks like maple and is sometimes used in bassmaking.
you can identify it at it´s dark pores, similar to mahogany

Ken Smith
04-16-2009, 02:52 PM
aka Aningeria..

Similar density to Mahogany and Soft Maple.

I believe Pollmann uses this wood on some of their Back's and Ribs because that's what it looks like to me. I had a Pollmann Bass from the 70's not long ago that I believe had Aniegre' on the Back but Maple on the Ribs. The wood is beautiful.
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/doublebasses/Pollmann/images/poll_back.jpg

Anselm Hauke
04-16-2009, 03:20 PM
i know some pöllmanns from the 70s where the wood looks exactly like the one you posted. nice flame. a little bit too nice for my taste

Joel Larsson
04-16-2009, 03:43 PM
Yes, hm, maybe Aniegré is what I was referring to, although the guy who told me said it was some sort of mahogany. I also heard that some 70's and perhaps 80's Pöllmanns has that wood. Question is, is it as good as proper maple, or a cheap replacement? There are three Pöllmanns at my school, two from the 70's and then my 82er. One is VERY average but needs some fixing before a final judgment is in place, quilt figuring on this one which might imply that the good Günther put some effort into it; the five-stringer is unplayable thanks to some rubbish luthier varnishing the neck and curving the fingerboard WAY too much (and maybe even putting epoxy or something on it, it does look suspicious) but it sure sounds good, and then there is mine, which is the best. :cool: On the pic at http://smithbassforums.com/showthread.php?t=768&page=2 there is a fourth one, another institutional instrument in need of some care (it seemed to develop a sound post crack...) which was from the 70's too. This one was real good though. There are more pics of mine. Can anyone tell whether mine is maple of aniegré (I won't ever learn that word) or maybe the pics aren't detailed enough? The flames do look a lot like the one on the pic Ken posted here, but then again, I have seen even thicker maple flames. What you people's experience of basses made from aniegré?

Anselm Hauke
04-16-2009, 03:48 PM
Can anyone tell whether mine is maple of aniegré

if you can make/post a closeup pic it would help

Anselm Hauke
04-16-2009, 03:50 PM
lWhat you people's experience of basses made from aniegré?

looks nice, sounds good. lets wait 200 years to get a final judgement

Martin Sheridan
05-22-2009, 11:08 AM
Ash is a fairly hard wood and has been used for solid body electric basses.

Does anyone know if it's been used for double bass backs, sides, necks?

My arborist son in law tells me that basswood is called that because it was originally used to make double basses.

One reason I'm interested at this time in exploring other woods is that he has access to quite a lot of urban wood. The ash borer is killing ash trees, but they also cut down a lot of maple, some birch etc that is now just getting chewed up into mulch because they have to get rid of it.

It'd be nice to think we could find some musical instrument use for some of this wood.

Ken Smith
05-22-2009, 12:30 PM
Ash is a fairly hard wood and has been used for solid body electric basses.

Does anyone know if it's been used for double bass backs, sides, necks?

My arborist son in law tells me that basswood is called that because it was originally used to make double basses.

One reason I'm interested at this time in exploring other woods is that he has access to quite a lot of urban wood. The ash borer is killing ash trees, but they also cut down a lot of maple, some birch etc that is now just getting chewed up into mulch because they have to get rid of it.

It'd be nice to think we could find some musical instrument use for some of this wood.

Martin, there are several species and varieties of Ash. In the Guitars, they usually try for the lighter and softer 'Swamp' Ash which is completely different than Hard (baseball bat) Ash.

On the DBs, I have seen an Attributed H.Amati II (? son of Niccolo) with Ash back and sides. I saw another attr. Italian bass at Kolstein's with an Ash Back as well but he called it Walnut. I saw yet another old Italian bass with an Ash neck graft. What kind of Ash? I assume it was local growth or something they just got their hands on. These Italians, anything is possible.. lol.. Oh and I believe Horst Grunert once made a bass in Ash as well. I read it maybe on his website a few years ago so Ash is in use, just not that much. Walnut is and has been in use as well. I have one Italian bass with Walnut back and sides now, probably local wood as it's lighter in color and totally a different look than American Walnut.

Back to the Guitars, the ones made in Harder dense Ash regardless of species are less resonant in my opinion. I have seen a few Guitar necks in Ash as well. I am not ready to try that myself with our Basses as the maple we use (hard sugar) seems to be less brittle than Hard Ash. Tone is one thing but life in service is another.

On density withon my own Basses, the ones with harder maple backs flat or carved round seem to project more than those with softer backs. The softer ones are sometimes sweeter sounding or maybe less ring in the harmonic range. Hard to describe but my Hart and Gilkes are both louder than my Martini. The Martini is the sweeter of the three basses. The Hart has the most low end spread but the Gilkes projects more at a distance. Go figure..:confused:

Basswood named after Basses? When was it named that? Sounds like an olde wives tale.. or tail..;)

Arnold Schnitzer
05-23-2009, 09:13 AM
I have seen and sold a couple basses with ash backs/sides. To me they sounded the same as maple. One of them developed some back cracks, which I think could be endemic. A few years back I bought a huge ash plank and cut it into bass backs. If anyone wants to try it, I could be convinced to sell some of it.

Aren Winebrenner
05-23-2009, 12:13 PM
A few years back I bought a huge ash plank and cut it into bass backs. If anyone wants to try it, I could be convinced to sell some of it.

This sounds interesting. PM sent!

Joel Larsson
05-23-2009, 01:28 PM
This sounds interesting. PM sent!
This sounds interesting. Further reports requested as things are proceeding. ;).

Martin Sheridan
05-26-2009, 12:36 PM
Ken,
Do you have the latin name for the swamp ash? I need it for the arborist son in law.

Arnold,
Is the Ash you have flamed?

Ken Smith
05-26-2009, 01:04 PM
Ken,
Do you have the latin name for the swamp ash? I need it for the arborist son in law.

Arnold,
Is the Ash you have flamed?

Ahh, Swamp Ask is NOT a species. It is a 'trade name' for a variety of the Southern grown Ash (Tennessee, Alabama, etc.. I think?) that is a measured portion of the Lumber or part of tree or measured individual pieces of Kiln Dried Lumber of Ash that weighs about 2.8-3.2 lbs/bdft.

In other words, Swamp Ash is what every the seller calls it because there is little exact rule of at what stage the wood is weighed and from what exact species or region they actually got the wood from.

Is every Fender Guitar or Bass and the Clones on the market made from so called 'light-weight' Ash, aka Swamp Ash? Not from what I have seen.

In my Website wood pages for Ash (http://kensmithbasses.com/woodpages/swampash.html), we have only what I have been told it's called, Fraxinus Nigra as I was told it's 'Black Ash' that the wood comes from. I cannot verify that for sure so feel free to correct me. In the last 12 years, no one has even mentioned it, so there.. :p