Face Points of Woods For Bass Guitar Keyboards

When you play bass, some ideas come to mind and you apply them on the keyboard of the guitar. What happens when you press a string down on the keyboard - a note plays while at the same time another string is plucked or clapped with another hand?

But no matter what ideas you have, how technical the operation is, the keyboard is always the place to perform that action. Therefore, the material used for the keyboard, usually Rosewood, Maple, or Ebony, it can even be a composite material, plays an important role in shaping. into the sound as well as the feel of playing a bass.

In this article, VIET MUSIC will review with you some wood materials to use as a bass guitar keyboard. We'll start with the finest and most popular woods, followed by rarer and synthetic materials. Finally, a review of how fingers interact with those materials affect the sound of a bass guitar.

POPULAR WOOD TYPES FOR FINGERBOARD BASS:

Rosewood - Orange Wood

Rosewood is an oily, spongy wood known for its warm, tonal character, which can produce high-pitched tones. That's probably why it's the most popular choice for bass guitars. It also has a distinctive color - dark brown, chocolate-like, with some red - and comes in mainly two varieties: Indian rosewood and Brazilian rosewood. (The latter is harder and denser, but rarer, and therefore much more expensive.)

Yamaha BB734A bass

Maple - Maple Wood

This popular light-colored very dense wood usually has a tight grain pattern, but finer cuts can have a very nice flame, curl, or bird's eye pattern. Maple wood keyboard gives bass guitar a very bright, sparkling sound. However, unlike Rosewood, Maple does not have a high oil content, so it requires a glossy or satin finish. As the finish wears down over time, the wood in those worn areas will turn a weathered gray. The Yamaha Billy Sheehan Attitude 30 Anniversary bass guitar is a prime example of the maple's glorious aura.

Yamaha Billy Sheehan Attitude 30th Anniversary bass.

Ebony - Ebony

There are two types of Ebony that you often see on bass - Indian and Macassar. Usually in a deep, dark brown or even completely black color, Ebony delivers a powerful sound for both bass and treble. Hard, heavy and dense, Ebony withstands wire wear better than most other woods. Yamaha Nathan East Signature BBNE2 bass features a special all-ebony neck inlaid with abalone:

Yamaha Nathan East Signature BBNE2 bass

OTHER WOOD TYPES:

Laurel - Laurel Wood

A great alternative to Rosewood, the Laurel has a slightly clearer grain structure and similar tonal quality. Laurel wood keyboards are found on some Yamaha RBX Series basses.

Yamaha RBX170EW bass

Cocobolo

This tropical hardwood is similar to rosewood both in tone and oil content, and comes in a variety of colors. It has a straighter grain and is harder than ebony, which makes it an excellent choice for abrasion resistance of round wire sharpeners. It is extremely thick and hard, and like ebony, quite expensive.

Paul ferro

Import/export regulations imposed on rosewood to keep the wood from being over-harvested have helped raise the popularity of pau ferro as a suitable and inexpensive substitute. This is a relatively neutral-sounding wood that falls somewhere between rosewood and maple.

Walnut - Walnut Wood

Revered by furniture makers for its beautiful, undulating grain pattern and rich chocolate color, Walnut brings warmth to the sound, but it is an expensive material and perhaps a luxury. an aesthetic choice rather than an acoustic one.

Wenge

This looks like a luxurious version of rosewood with an earthy undertone.

Synthetic Materials

Ebanol

Essentially the same material used to make bowling balls, this looks and feels a lot like ebony, but is smoother and harder.

Phenolic

This synthetic is made from glass, cotton and/or paper cloth that is heated under pressure with a resin to create a highly durable material. This material delivers tight, clear highs.

Richlite

Produced from resin and phenolic impregnated paper, richlit is often touted as a synthetic substitute for ebony and boasts similar sonic qualities.

Rocklite

These man-made composite wood products, with their own unique “grains”, look and sound very similar to ebony.

TYPES OF WOOD - MATERIALS FOR GUITAR BASS STRAP:

While the keyboard has a big impact on your bass, so do the materials used to make the neck (usually wood, but sometimes synthetics like carbon graphite or metals like aluminum). The main job of the rod is to provide rigidity that can withstand the constant stress of the strings, but it also adds to the sonic character of the bass. Remember that the keyboard is linked to the neck, so combining different materials will affect the sound in different ways. A good way to illustrate these nuances is to compare the different bass tones of the Yamaha Signature model:

Billy Sheehan Attitude 30th (or relative model Attitude Limited 3), has Maple keyboard and lever. This all-maple guitar delivers a powerful, vibrant tone with tight bass, snarling mids and shrill treble, along with long reverberation.

The Peter Hook Signature BBPH features a Rosewood neck combined with a 5-piece Maple and Mahogany neck. Rosewood's sweet tonality, while mahogany accentuates harmonious mids and blends them with Maple's innate luminosity.

Yamaha Peter Hook BBPH bass

The Nathan East Signature BBNE2 utilizes a 5-ply Maple/Mahogany neck with an Ebony neck for strength and tone.

The John Patitucci TRBJP2 combines a three-piece Maple neck with an Ebony wood keyboard to create clear, sparkling joints.

Yamaha John Patitucci TRBJP2 bass

Each of these bass guitars sounds, looks, and plays great, but the selection of materials, necks, and bodies made by these Signature artists helps give the bass models the same sound. unique bars and their appeal.

Reference:

Bass Guitar