Smith Woods "The Vault"

[Ken Smith]

The last time I posted here was 4 years ago. Where have I been?

Earlier this year I started a thread on favourite Top woods.

It would be nice if more players posted here and there about woods. I would rather talk 'with' you than 'at' you so please, feel free to talk, ask, discuss woods or question my choices if you like.

Anyway, 4 years later, I am still pulling old wood out from my vast collection of maple, walnut and other woods to make every single bass we produce year round. Hundreds of basses have shipped out since I started this thread and all were made with beautiful old, aged exotic woods.

This week I pulled out some Quilted maple pieces for an order we have and in doing so, I couldn't make just one. The wood is so beautiful that I decided to make two other basses for stock rather then put the other pieces we split open back on the shelf to sit till whenever. This wood was purchased around 1992 and sat in a pile as lumber till about 1996 or so. Then, I cut all the long boards up into marked/matched pieces long enough (22-24") to make top & back sets. The set I pulled out yesterday had 5 pieces in it. Two of the pieces were highly figured so these will be the Tops as long as there are no hidden defects once we open the wood in half. The other 3 pieces ranged from nice to medium figure on the outside. We split the 5th piece as an alternate in case one of the others didn't make it. When split out today, all of the wood was just as nice inside as out. The 5th/odd piece will be split one more time, 4 matched thinner slices to make a set of maple laminates for the next time we need it.

Sometimes I feel that the wood actually talks to me. Should I see a shrink? .. "Put me in a bass" I hear it saying. "Don't put me back on the shelf to sit another 20 years", something else I also hear from time to time.

I have an old double bass with a real or forged 16th century label (the bass is 18th I think) and it says, translated from Latin something like;

Viva fui in silvis
(I was alive in the wood)
Sum dura Occisa
(I was cut by the cruel axe)
Securi dum vixi tacui
(In life I was silent)
Mortua dolce cano
(In death I sweetly sing)

So, imagine all the wood in my shop sitting from 10 to 20 years waiting to Sing. Wanna help that happen? You know what to do!

Your comments are welcomed. Lets keep this thread alive one way or another. Even if you wanna show your bass here for a brief explanation of the woods used. I will be glad to share my memories on the woods with you.

[Ken Smith]

I just got done moving some wood downstairs in case we have a huge flood which is possible if we get the maximum rain they are predicting, 1" per hour for a day or so at the height of the storm. I am hoping they are wrong about Hurricane 'Sandy'. We are only about 70 miles inland as the crow flies!

I had one stack of maple and walnut boards on the floor in an area that never gets wet. It was sitting next to one of the sump-pumps, one of five we have downstairs. This wood has been stacked there for about 10 years or so. I forgot already where it was stacked before. The walnut is figured Claro (25th woods), most boards about 22"w x 8-9'L or so. The Maple about the same or slightly bigger on some boards. All Tiger figure boards, slab cut across the tree so the outer 6-8" are tight straight grained high figure Tiger. I can't even remember the exact species the Log was from. We had dried it on sticks here for some time as I can see that we waxed the ends and then dead piled it to its current spot, off the sticks. Now, it's up off the floor up against a pile of Shedua that we use to make necks from.

Sometimes I move things around downstairs and find wood I barely remember but smile when I see it again. I worked up a bit of a sweat as I had to re-stack half of the Shedua to make room for the Maple beside it. The Walnut is up on the roller-feed table next to the big radial saw we use for cutting long stock before bringing it upstairs to process into neck and body woods as needed.. I dragged the walnut a few feet from pile up on to the rollers to get to the maple underneath it which I turned 90 degrees and dragged it over to the Shedua pile nest to it. The wood is all 5/4" thick on the cut so there is no way I was going to lift these boards my self. Usually it's a 2-man job to move and stack wood this size unless you are looking for a hernia.

So, when I run low on 5a Claro for Anniversary models, I know where it it!