Smith Woods "The Vault"

[Ken Smith]

About 30 years ago I bought my first batch of wood to make the first run of The Smith Electric Bass. Ever since then I have searched out the best structural and most beautiful tone woods I could find. I think that my initial hunt was a success as the Basses made from that purchase have held up beautifully after about 28 years of use.

After passing 25 years in the business of producing handmade Basses I stepped back and took visual stock of my wood supply and realized that we had accumulated a fantastic collection of some of the most beautiful woods we have ever used.

At that point I decided to make a conscious effort to kick the figured woods up a notch on the grading scale.

Curly/Tiger Maple used to start with low figure on the J and M models with book-matched low-medium figures on the MW Bolt-on series. All of these models had an up-charge fee for AAA grade Tiger figure. Now, the lowest Grade used for any model is a AA-AAA combined piece on average (AA+) with many Basses shipping out at AAA at no extra charge. Only the AAAA Grade Tiger figure is up-charged now so there is no question as to the visual value of the added beauty.

On the Walnuts, the main laminated models are the MW and GN with the Black Tiger getting that rare figure found in and around the Black Walnut Crotches. With 10s of thousands of board feet or Black Walnut produced from Logs we purchased and had cut-up we constantly hunt for that rare Walnut figure. While making up Body Wings and searching for suitable pieces for the Black Tiger models we find many border line Tops that end up being down graded for usage in the GN and even MW models. Almost every MW Bolt-on Walnut Bass today has an attractive Walnut Top with at least some figure present or presence off an attractive Book-matched Crotch patterned grain. The Grade seen in our Walnut Tops today is above the Specs in which the models have been advertised in the past. The single page Brochure we produced about a decade ago shows only the minimum grade wood seen on our latest Basses.

The Black Tiger was started when I decided to pedestal this rare natural beauty that comes from the Black Walnut tree. We did not sell this model by Grade in the beginning. We used what we would call 3, 4 and 5A figure pieces for each Oil Finished Black Tiger model without any grading distinction. Then, we decided that the 5a Grade was too rare to use at random and developed the Black Tiger Elite model. Earlier Lacquered Elite Basses with Figured Walnuts prior to the inception of the Black Tiger name were produced at random as well. Now though, it was time to conserve this rare part of nature and use each Grade accordingly. The 5A figure was to only be under Lacquer where all the various and mixed figures within a piece of wood could be seen thru our transparent high gloss finish. The 4A grade are the pieces that do not appear to make 5A so these are made up as 5-piece wings as well but used in the regular Oil/Varnished Black Tiger series and an up-graded body wing.

Back in 1998 I found a small batch of Flamed Shedua which I used in place of Figured Walnut. It was a hard sell and finally we had used it all up. A few years later customers started requesting it. Now, we have a small supply of Figured Shedua once again. When the BMT model came out in 1993 we used Shedua for the thinner strips in the 7-pc laminated Neck. Last month we brought in another load of Shedua and have decided to use it as Neck Strips in place of Bubinga for the GN and Black Tiger models.

The 25th Anniversary Model is another example of the 'open vault' syndrome where no piece of wood be hidden from our Top model purchaser. Pieces that I thought were unique and rare are now used each time with make one of these timeless works of art. From Quilted Maple to Figured Claro Walnut we have picked out the best from my private collection for the 25th models.

This is just some of the slight and maybe un-noticed changes we have made in providing the attractive woods seen on todays Smith Basses. I will update this Thread as News becomes News. In the mean time, feel free to post and discuss this amongst yourselves. Direct questions are welcomed as well.

[Bob Faulkner]

Very interesting. I'm hoping to put in an order for a fretless BSR5EG or BSR5TNE with some of that exhibition grade walnut.

I think it will make a great compliment to my BSR4EG lined fretless which I ordered with AAAA quilted maple top, but I swear I can't fathom how this isn't exhibition grade.. 7 years later and I'm still in love with this quilt as is everyone who sees it!

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Bob Faulkner

Very interesting. I'm hoping to put in an order for a fretless BSR5EG or BSR5TNE with some of that exhibition grade walnut.

I think it will make a great compliment to my BSR4EG lined fretless which I ordered with AAAA quilted maple top, but I swear I can't fathom how this isn't exhibition grade.. 7 years later and I'm still in love with this quilt as is everyone who sees it!

Well, when I pick the woods it is in the Raw, unfinished. I spray it with quick drying Naphtha to get an idea of how it will look under finish. More often than not, they look better especially when Lacquered. In your case as with other Basses, I would rather give a grade slightly higher than slightly lower. If a 4A, turns out to look like a 5A, then that's ok. If it is less than expected it's not good. Enjoy your Bass, she's beautiful..

[Bob Faulkner]

Been enjoying her for 7 years.. It still amazes me that after all this time, no matter what bass I play, I always find myself wanting my Smith..

I just noticed on the woods page that Koa has been discontinued! I would be interested to know why.. I've been very happy with my koa core in my Smith.. It actually has a flamed figure to it which really makes it stand out.

It saddens me to know my bass will have no future brothers and sisters made with koa cores..

[Bob Faulkner]

ken, can you give us a little insight into the discontinuation of koa as a wood option? Just curious..

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Bob Faulkner

ken, can you give us a little insight into the discontinuation of koa as a wood option? Just curious..

Well, I bought some Koa in the '80s and early '90s. The wood was anywhere from plain for nicely figured with a few high figured pieces. Koa to my ear is no better sounding than Maple. In fact, I think Maple sounds better. Somewhere along the line, the people that have Koa or sell it decided it was as good as gold.

This is where I get off that train. Koa is nice and a flavor that sits on the shelf along with Maple and Walnut which are of similar densities.

Imagine having an Ice Cream Shoppe and suddenly the makers of 'Butter Pecan' decides it's worth 10x the price of Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry. Don't you think it would slide off that menu as fast as it went on it?

I get tons of requests for figured Maple and Walnut but even when I had Koa it was a hard sell or at least for me it was. The little I had left I used as requested and now the last few pieces which are mainly only long enough for the BT models have been ordered. Cut for BTs you ask? Yes, because this stock predates not only the BSR (1996) but even the BMT (1992/3). The BT was the only shape we made then in all of our models that we offered.

Koa is pretty wood. Nothing to get bent out of shape about. I will not miss it at all.