Tiger vs same wood body

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by todd richmond

So I'm about to pull the trigger on a Black Tiger 5, walnut/maple/walnut. Typically I'm a walnut body guy, but I did play a GN that was all walnut and didn't quite send me. From reading here, it seems like sandwiching walnut and maple (in either direction) tends to bring the "best of both worlds" thing. Since I tend to lean more walnut than maple, I'm assuming that going with the maple core is probably the way to go. Since I'm buying long distance, no ability to test with my own hands so I need to make the best guess.

A GN in all walnut? Or do you mean over a walnut core, 5pc wings with maple laminates?

If so, those body wing sets made around 2001-2002 were with western grown Claro Walnut and not eastern grown Black Walnut. The cores were Black Walnut on those basses and the Maple, I don't remember. We used all species for laminates as we saw up 1" top or neck woods with less or no figure and use these pieces for laminates as opposed to using slices veneer which is thinner and not book matched.

So, it is a different wood laminate construction entirely. The rest of the bass betwen the GN and TN are the same. It is the body that makes them different.

It is usually the Top wood that makes the most difference with the sound as the Core under it flavors the top. The fingerboard wood is also on the top of the neck under the strings. That matters too.