Someone please help

[chrapladm]

Hi my name is David Chrapla. I am new here and trying to find the equivalent in properties to the woods I need for a bass but they must all be indigenous to Australia. I was told I need to have maple and thick purpleheart strips for my neckthru. I was thinking of using Karrah instead of purpleheart?! Dont Know. Not sure about what for the maple. I was told to use mahogany for the body. I am not sure which wood resembles mahogany. I am going to have a beautifully burled red river gum for the top. This I was told will be fine. I was told also to use Gaboon ebony for the fretboard. I was hoping that I could get away with a gorgeous burled or figured piece of jarrah for this. If anyone could help me I would greatly appreciate it. I tried searching but couldn't find any info regarding my needs. And to shed some light on my subject I am wanting these woods for a 7 string bass that will have a VERY VERY low tuning. My lowest string will be a .184 gauged E0. Once again thanks for anyones time who cares to read this and can help.

[Allen]

Welcome to the forum David. I've moved this topic to the main Instrument forum, as this is more of a a general question, and where most of the action takes place.

There is no shortage of very nice Australian woods to build either solid body or acoustic guitars. We've got some very talented members here that specialize in solid bodies, or at the very least have more experience than me, so I'll defer to them.

[jeffhigh]

Hi David and welcome,
You can definitely use all Australian timbers.
Rather than thinking in terms of equivalence to overseas timbers, try thinking of the properties you will need.
For the neck, stiffness and stability
For the fretboard, unless you are going fretless, any of the dense australian timbers will do, burl may not be the best choice due to stabilty in changing humidity. Some of the desert timbers are great. Tim Spittle (Australian Tonewoods)has a great selection of these
For the body, weight is often an issue so you may want to avoid some of the denser woods. many are using queensland maple.
Be guided by your aesthetic vision for the bass then check your selections against the functional criteria.

[Kim]

Hi David, welcome to the ANZLF.


I must agree with Jeff,

QLD maple is perfect for necks, and if you are capping will be fine for the body as well. It is light, stable, proven in instrument construction and is not too expensive. For the centre laminations you have many choices, QLD Walnut, Jarrah, Tassie Blackwood etc, as Jeff suggest let aesthetic vision be your guide and check your selection against function.

You 'could' use jarrah for the fretboad, it will work fine. However some of the more dense desert timbers like Mulga, Gidgee, Cooktown Ironwood, Beefwood etc would wear better and look beautiful, most are harder than ebony and just as attractive.

Give Tim Spittle a call, http://www.australiantonewoods.com. Tim has most everything you will need, much more than is listed on his website, and can offer some good solid advise.

Cheers

Kim