My 'Neck' of the 'Woods'!

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Tom Albano

Hello, I was just wondering your thoughts on using Ash for necks? or even Mahogany?
Im seeing Ash used more and more and Mahogany it seems has been used for quite sometime .... anyway would you consider using these woods if requested by a customer?

thanks!
- T

Mahogany is just way too soft for a Bass neck in my opinion. Ash is on the brittle side and is very grainy.

Mahogany is easy to get in clean pieces or Lumber. Ash is much cheaper than Oak in the furniture world and rarely desired over it. Maple in white clean pieces is hard to get and expensive as well. Also, there is much waste in using the white Hard Maple we use.

I am guessing the Mahogany usage is due to economics and ease of manufacturing and Ash is maybe used because it is easier to get clean white pieces and probably cheaper as well all around over Maple.

Cheaper or easier doesn't make it better. It would be nice to have a wood that is cheaper than Maple and easier to use with less waste that gives the same results. Still, I don't think either wood measures up.

Now, imagine that I agree to use something new like you are suggesting. What do you think the time frame for completion would be if I agreed and with using the same methods of curing and acclimation that I've used for almost 3 decades?

Take a few minutes or whatever it takes and study the contents of this link;

http://www.kensmithbasses.com/ft/default.html ..

Click on each picture and read the captions. A picture they say is worth a thousand words. I used only a few for each pic. You can fill in the rest of the words..

Get back to me here when you've read it all and understand better what it is that we do different than most of the bass building world.