Ken Smith
12-26-2011, 01:57 PM
I was recently contacted by my Distributor in Japan so answer some questions for Player Magazine (http://www.player.jp/index.html) (This is best sales music magazine in Japan.)
Since this will be published in Japanese I thought the readers here might want to read it in a language they can understand and because most here do not get home delivery of the magazine either. ;)
Q. How you select wood and decide combination of wood?
A. >>> First off, ask WHY I use the woods that I use and why I do NOT use some woods that others use. Then, we can mix them together.
I use the woods for neck and body that I think work the best and not for cost or convenience but really, what works. Not all neck woods used for Guitars are best. Some just buy what is easy to get or use. For Bass we need the neck strong and fairly stiff because it is long. Also, the wood can not be too brittle as mild or gentle knocks might crack the wood. Maple comes in many species and the nest for necks overall is Hard/Sugar maple. This wood has many natural defects as far as cosmetics go and we try to avoid them. We buy only pure white sap maple but still inside, we find brown streaks known as sugar spots because the tree sap makes sugar. The careful selection of grade and color makes this wood even more expensive and difficult to find but, it is the best we know of. The neck strips used for extra stiffness are chosen for their harder and stiffer qualities than maple. Mixed together, they work well for strength. Adding the hardwood fingerboards like Morado or Ebony makes the sandwich/lamination even stronger. Just in case, we add special precision custom made (not commercially supplied) Graphite inlaid bars on all neck thru models and some bolt-ons as well. They way we put the graphite in the neck is special as well. Sorry, I will not tell how! A bass that might travel around the world needs to be as stable as possible. The Graphite helps this happen.
For body woods I think of tone like a Violin, Cello or Double Bass. These instruments rely only on their acoustical properties and not by amplifiers. Volume and tome are two different things with a Violin so why not respect this 400+ year old science and use the information already discovered. My original idea was inspired by my 300 year old Italian bass that had the most beautiful sound, clear, free speaking and colorful sounding. That bass today is at home in a European Orchestra at the Principal stand. I played that bass professionally for 15 years. In that time I wondered, why cant I have an Electric bass made as fine. It seemed that not a single bass builder even had a clue that the Double Bass (violin) and Electric bass (guitar family) were ever or even related. But, they are. Wood and strings = tone. I wanted comfort and even sound with all tone registers. I wanted to have the 400+ year old science in MY personal bass so, I started to search this out. Maple is a great projecting tone wood but if too dense or too thick, it will absorb too much tone. The beauty of striped maple (tiger/curly/flamed) was my dream wood. It was on the backs of many great violins in a book I had when I was previously studying Double Bass and it's repairs before starting my company. I had also seen the figured maple occasionally on the backs of old Double Basses but due to its cost, was rarely used. Later German and French imported basses over the last 150 years showed much of this maple but most often, the maple was left too thick and killed the sound. Thinning out the maple and the top spruce as well proved to help the sound come alive after being dead for 50-150 years. Production for price was the cause as the wood came cheap at that time in those countries and labor was more. Just like now, labor is more except in places of mass production like China today, Korea and Taiwan before China and once upon a time, Japan as well. Looks were more important than sound because an amplifier will fix this. Maybe true for the average player but for me, I wanted an equal to me 300 year old Italian bass. Matching Maple and other woods that would enhance or just be neutral in the mix was the search I went on. From laminated maple bodies to solid maple to top and back with various core woods I found what worked best in all areas. Today with over 6,000 hand made basses produced, I have a much better idea what makes a better Smith bass tomorrow than yesterday. Then, there is age. Basses I produced 20 and 30 years ago that sounded good acoustically but not great have matured and now sound great. The thicker the woods, the longer sleeping beauty will sleep! Once awoken, she will sing like never before.
I think here, concept is more important that the details. The WHY is more important than the HOW.
Q. And how grain make difference for tone.
A. >>> I am not 100% sure about grain for tone. What I am sure of is how you use and glue the woods is more important than anything else. A child does better doing what they like more than being forced to do something they don't. So, don't force the wood. Let it dry, age, acclimate and join the pieces together effortlessly without tension built into the instrument. Force will cause resistance.
Since this will be published in Japanese I thought the readers here might want to read it in a language they can understand and because most here do not get home delivery of the magazine either. ;)
Q. How you select wood and decide combination of wood?
A. >>> First off, ask WHY I use the woods that I use and why I do NOT use some woods that others use. Then, we can mix them together.
I use the woods for neck and body that I think work the best and not for cost or convenience but really, what works. Not all neck woods used for Guitars are best. Some just buy what is easy to get or use. For Bass we need the neck strong and fairly stiff because it is long. Also, the wood can not be too brittle as mild or gentle knocks might crack the wood. Maple comes in many species and the nest for necks overall is Hard/Sugar maple. This wood has many natural defects as far as cosmetics go and we try to avoid them. We buy only pure white sap maple but still inside, we find brown streaks known as sugar spots because the tree sap makes sugar. The careful selection of grade and color makes this wood even more expensive and difficult to find but, it is the best we know of. The neck strips used for extra stiffness are chosen for their harder and stiffer qualities than maple. Mixed together, they work well for strength. Adding the hardwood fingerboards like Morado or Ebony makes the sandwich/lamination even stronger. Just in case, we add special precision custom made (not commercially supplied) Graphite inlaid bars on all neck thru models and some bolt-ons as well. They way we put the graphite in the neck is special as well. Sorry, I will not tell how! A bass that might travel around the world needs to be as stable as possible. The Graphite helps this happen.
For body woods I think of tone like a Violin, Cello or Double Bass. These instruments rely only on their acoustical properties and not by amplifiers. Volume and tome are two different things with a Violin so why not respect this 400+ year old science and use the information already discovered. My original idea was inspired by my 300 year old Italian bass that had the most beautiful sound, clear, free speaking and colorful sounding. That bass today is at home in a European Orchestra at the Principal stand. I played that bass professionally for 15 years. In that time I wondered, why cant I have an Electric bass made as fine. It seemed that not a single bass builder even had a clue that the Double Bass (violin) and Electric bass (guitar family) were ever or even related. But, they are. Wood and strings = tone. I wanted comfort and even sound with all tone registers. I wanted to have the 400+ year old science in MY personal bass so, I started to search this out. Maple is a great projecting tone wood but if too dense or too thick, it will absorb too much tone. The beauty of striped maple (tiger/curly/flamed) was my dream wood. It was on the backs of many great violins in a book I had when I was previously studying Double Bass and it's repairs before starting my company. I had also seen the figured maple occasionally on the backs of old Double Basses but due to its cost, was rarely used. Later German and French imported basses over the last 150 years showed much of this maple but most often, the maple was left too thick and killed the sound. Thinning out the maple and the top spruce as well proved to help the sound come alive after being dead for 50-150 years. Production for price was the cause as the wood came cheap at that time in those countries and labor was more. Just like now, labor is more except in places of mass production like China today, Korea and Taiwan before China and once upon a time, Japan as well. Looks were more important than sound because an amplifier will fix this. Maybe true for the average player but for me, I wanted an equal to me 300 year old Italian bass. Matching Maple and other woods that would enhance or just be neutral in the mix was the search I went on. From laminated maple bodies to solid maple to top and back with various core woods I found what worked best in all areas. Today with over 6,000 hand made basses produced, I have a much better idea what makes a better Smith bass tomorrow than yesterday. Then, there is age. Basses I produced 20 and 30 years ago that sounded good acoustically but not great have matured and now sound great. The thicker the woods, the longer sleeping beauty will sleep! Once awoken, she will sing like never before.
I think here, concept is more important that the details. The WHY is more important than the HOW.
Q. And how grain make difference for tone.
A. >>> I am not 100% sure about grain for tone. What I am sure of is how you use and glue the woods is more important than anything else. A child does better doing what they like more than being forced to do something they don't. So, don't force the wood. Let it dry, age, acclimate and join the pieces together effortlessly without tension built into the instrument. Force will cause resistance.