wood porn warning

[matthew]

Redwood. One piece. Vertical grain right across the plate.



This is a stunning new bass by Arnold Schnitzer of NYC.

[Allen]

Wow!

You know anything about using curly wood like that on a bass? The pieces that I've used on guitars wouldn't have been my first choice for a top. But customers picked them based on looks even though I warned them that I though better options were available. Not near enough long grain stiffness for my liking.

[matthew]

I don't know how it sounds. Arnold is a leading contemporary bass maker and he knows his stuff, so it must have something going for it. Perhaps like a cedar top? Arnold writes about how it is to work: "Unbelievably difficult! It tears out all over the place, and it's impossible to scrape."

Long grain stiffness perhaps isn't so critical on a bass because we have the arching to take the weight of the strings. And in fact I'm always trying to REDUCE long grain stiffness at the ends of the plate to get the "speaker cone" pumping nicely.

A one-piece quarter-sawn ANYTHING big enough for a bass is a rarity. And if killer looks alone sell an instrument, that's one's sold!

[matthew]

...cannot delete my own dupe post, of course

[liam_fnq]

I would have thought a redwood sapling would be big enough for a bass

[kiwigeo]

...cannot delete my own dupe post, of course

What dupe post?