first bass

[michael a nelson]

im going to be building my first instrument its going to be a four string jazz bass made out of African mahogany for the body and black walnut for the neck and peg head are these good choices for an electric bass?
is their anything else i need to know before i start?

thanks ,mike

[Wes Grass]

Rob Allen has made a number of basses with Walnut necks. A friend of mine has one, and it's a wonderful sounding instrument (or maybe it's his playing). He has some notes about tone on his website if you look around. But for your question, is it a good choice? Depends on what you're looking for, obviously. Don't know about A.Mahogany for a body. Ash or Alder is more common, but it's certainly worth a try.

Only thing else you need to know, is once you hear the thing come alive for the first time you'll be hooked. So don't worry about getting the combination of woods perfect on this one, you'll be making more anyway.

[John Coloccia]

I don't think the choice of wood is going to make a great or lousy sounding electric bass or guitar. The pickups and electronics really do dominate here. I would look for a nice, straight grained piece for the neck, though.

[Arnold E Schnitzer]

Walnut is certainly stiff and stable enough for a bass guitar neck. However, you might not love the open-pore feel under your thumb. Maple has the nicest slick feel and the right combination of stiffness and weight; maybe consider that instead. The mahogany body will work great (been there, done it and loved it).

[Josiah Bartlett]

I don't think the choice of wood is going to make a great or lousy sounding electric bass or guitar. The pickups and electronics really do dominate here. I would look for a nice, straight grained piece for the neck, though.

I'm not entirely convinced about this, especially with basses. If there isn't enough mass in the headstock and the neck is flimsy you get some funny harmonics going on in the neck that either damp out the string too soon or sound terrible. It makes more difference with a 5 or 6 string but I don't think you want to cheap out. Walnut is nice and dense, though, so I think as long as you build it well it will sound good.

[John Coloccia]

Well, it's tough to argue anything as subjective as what does or doesn't sound good. I never suggested building a flimsy neck, and Steinberger would disagree about the importance of a headstock. I certainly wouldn't recommend balsa wood (though I don't know for sure....I've never tried it), but I'm having a difficult time thinking up a wood that I don't recall ever seeing used in a good sounding bass or a guitar, and bassists in this regard seem far more adventurous than guitarists. Guitarists want the purest of woods, grown by monks and harvested lovingly by specially trained Sherpa. I've seen basses made out of practically anything that looks good :)

I agree with Arnold about the feel of the walnut, though that's nothing some good pore filling can't fix. Mahogany has the same problem but most of my necks are mahogany nonetheless due to it's stability.

[Chris Fournier]

If you are building a bass to "sound like my friends '67 Fender..." then I would not mess around with the wood species or electronics on your creation. While I agree with most all of the comments in this thread I have found that it is best to stay pretty true to the instrument that you are trying to emulate if you are hoping to have the same tonal qualities as it has when you are done your build.

Of course there are many great sounding basses out there and they don't all sound the same! Good luck to you.