slab cut pine top

[Arnold Schnitzer]

+1 to Ken's comments above. I think there is a certain lush character to the sound of a slab top, due to its inherent floppiness. Unfortunately, slab-cut top plates seem to have more of a tendency to sink under the pressure of the strings. In olden times this was no big deal, as the repair shop would simply make a new top. But now, with antique bass prices so high, players inevitably want to salvage the old wood regardless of cost. So re-arching has become the standard way to deal with the problem. This said, I am personally aging some slab-cut Scottish pine which I plan to use for a future bass top. I am going to graduate it a little bit on the thick side and keep the arching fairly high, to counteract its tendency to sag. At the 2003 ISB in Richmond, Rumano Solano showed a Klotz-style 4/4 bass with a slab-cut pine top. It was so loud and deep that every time someone bowed the open A string I had to cover my ears! I believe Barrie Kolstein uses some Canadian slab-cut white pine in his basses also.

[Flint Buchanan]

Thank you very much.

as a decidely "amateur" luthier I understand the desire to use a more economical cut for the top. I know I can get good wide white pine boards, aged well, for a lot less than even an economical quartered filch of fir.

I'm sure the difference was even greater when everything had to be floated down rivers, and carried on mules backs!

[Arnold Schnitzer]

Originally Posted by Flint Buchanan

I know I can get good wide white pine boards, aged well, for a lot less than even an economical quartered filch of fir.

Would you be so kind as to share your source?

[Mike Pecanic]

I once found a 16" wide by 8/4 thick by 16 FEET long slab cut pine board in the "Molding Grade Pine" pile at my local hardwood connection...

[Ken McKay]

I have a local lumber supplier with a couple stacks of it out behind the buildings. It is properly stickered and covered. I might go have a look one day. They also have stacks of willow and redwood. Lots of good wood here in northern Michigan, but not much is cut to our specs. It actually takes a tremendous amount of work to get the wood workable and ready to make a bass.

I would have to see an individual slab to decide if I would go to the trouble of using it.