Advice Needed In Planning My CS Thumb

maddrakkett

maddrakkett

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I think I have settled on it being a 5-String NT, and I love the Warwick Ovangkol neck. But I need advice about what tones to expect with the following body wood combinations:



This bass has a beautiful Ash back and Ovangkol neck, but uses Walnut for the top. I would rather use either Ovangkol or Bubinga (or Bubinga Pommele) for the top. Which would be better for looks and tone with the Ash?

The next Thumb has a beautifully figured and matched Ovangkol body. Of course I want mine to be a NT fretted version, but I LOVE the way the wood looks on this...



I really also like the looks of this beautiful Zebrano Thumb (though mine will be a 5-String). How would the tone sound compared to the above choices?



Other choices I haven't made yet are the fingerboard: Tiger stripe Ebony with dual Bass Clef Abalone inlays at 12th and 24th frets, or Wenge, with no inlays?

Black or Gold Hardware?

Or Maple fingerboard/Ovangkol neck, Ovangkol/Ash body, Gold hardware?

Finally, I plan to have a matching headstock and offset Bartolini J pickups with MEC 3-band electronics.

Thanks for any help/ideas...
 
Have you considered maple as a body wood?

Maple body/ovankol neck would give a nice bright/warm combination... and with a maple fretboard would make for a nice look...
 
Okay, so you definitely want an ash body, right? It's just a question of what to use for the top...?

If you're solid on combining a wood with ash, I would go to the other extreme... use a hardwood that doesn't have much in the way of big low-end... you want the woods to compliment each other as much as possible. That's why an Ovangkol top or a Walnut top would be so alluring on a Thumb with an ash body.

You seemed the most excited about the way Ovangkol looks... I'm guessing you already know how a Thumb sounds, so now imagine that sound with a new "basement"... the ash body is going to add some rumble to that tone, for certain.

Walnut would be a good choice too, especially for it's looks... you're not going to get as much mid-range 'honk' as you would with Ovangkol, but you won't lose it entirely, as it'd still be the neck wood.

Zebrano is also a great tonewood, but my guess is that it wouldn't be a good pairing with ash... in fact, you don't really see Zebrano paired up with other body woods too often... probably because it has such an identifiable and balanced tone of it's own.

As for fingerboards, you might be surprised at how much that contributes to the tone. Ebony is BRIGHT. Always... Ebony with those brass frets equals automatic "zing". Sometimes that's exactly what you want, especially on a Thumb NT. Wenge is beautiful too, but in a different way... it's more meaty and "woody" sounding.

No matter which way you go, I think your bass is going to be great though... keep us posted!
 
Thanks sethsbase, that's very helpful. I wasn't going to do ash at first, then I saw that CS with it paired to the walnut and it just captivated me.

Though the walnut is beautiful, I am indeed more attached to bubinga and ovangkol - perhaps because they are Warwick woods of choice - I just love how they sound, look, and feel with a natural oil finish.

Your observations have me settled on an ovangkol top and neck through an ash body. I do want to keep that Warwick mid growl. But I want the ovangkol to have a beautiful well-bookmatched grain.

Body and neck woods settled; now for the fingerboard. I still need to think about that one, whether I want "zing" or "woody." I have both already on my Corvettes, but the ebony one is a fretless. I'll have to try out an ebony fretted one this week at GC...

As for the CS project, I am awaiting the sale of a house before I can get the money from the estate. Once that is finished, then I can proceed with my dream bass, and I'll definitely keep you guys informed. I love this place! :D
 
Ovangkol can have many looks. I'm sure the CS shop would be able to find you a nice piece that will suit you.
 
Good day,

I was thinking about your bass too, and after reading Seth's comments, I came up with the following: if you really like Ovangkol and Bubinga Pommele................but want to use Ash as well...................how about a three piece sandwiched body with an Ash core, Ovangkol back, and gorgeous Bubinga Pommele top ?? Three piece sandwiched bodies can be made by Warwick:



I'm not sure whether sound would be ok, but we do know that Ovangkol and Bubinga work well, as proven by the Thumb NT and Corvette Bubinga...... :wink:
Concerning the fretboard wood. Seth is super right. Ebony is really bright. When I got my Thumb NT, the first thing I noticed was how bright it was even unplugged compared to my Thumb BO. Just slap on the open E string, and your pants will drop from how bright Ebony is............How bright do you want your bass ?? Cheers !!! :D
 
Interesting, but I prefer the look of that 2 piece ash back/walnut top, only with either richly grained ovangkol or bubinga pommele.

I do want to use the bass for funk, so slapping and popping is important, but my ash $$ with wenge fingerboard does that great already - very evenly balanced without needing a compressor, much better than my maple Jazz bass. I also like the growl Stu Zender gets from his Streamers on the first two Jamiroquai albums - not saying I need to get that exact tone, but it is sweet, so maybe something close...

When I look at the Thumb 5, with the offset J pickups and the curvaceous exotic body woods, I just think of it as having a very pronounced, specific, deep dynamic growl - outstanding and unique tone among basses. I just hope that ash and ebony won't sabotage that sound/image, but I'm guessing it will add to it, enhancing the beauty and overtones rather than diminishing them, am I right?
 
maddrakkett said:
When I look at the Thumb 5, with the offset J pickups and the curvaceous exotic body woods, I just think of it as having a very pronounced, specific, deep dynamic growl - outstanding and unique tone among basses. I just hope that ash and ebony won't sabotage that sound/image, but I'm guessing it will add to it, enhancing the beauty and overtones rather than diminishing them, am I right?
Click to expand...

I certainly don't think having partially an Ash body will not kill the Thumb 5's tone. It will only modify the basic tone. A bit less midrange, and a bit more bottom end as Seth has mentioned............... 8)
If it's possible, it would be nice if you can test drive the new Thumb 5 NT with Ebony fretboard, and a pre 2001 (I think) Thumb with Ovangkol/Bubinga neck and Wenge fretboard. You should get a good impression how these two fretboard woods sound. :D
 
Hey, i'll use this thread to ask something that's bothering me for quite a while.

Always when talking about woods in combination, i see people just summing up, i.e.: "this wood is good for low frequencies, the other one shows some of the mids and highs - so in combination you get a balanced tone"

But is it really THAT easy?! I just think somehow that combinations of different vibration characteristics influences the tone much more than just adding the different sounds.
And I'm totaly sure i'm pretty much missunderstanding this whole thing - else you all wouldn't talk about it like that, all the time.
Could anyone explain a bit?!
 
boebl said:
Hey, i'll use this thread to ask something that's bothering me for quite a while.

Always when talking about woods in combination, i see people just summing up, i.e.: "this wood is good for low frequencies, the other one shows some of the mids and highs - so in combination you get a balanced tone"

But is it really THAT easy?! I just think somehow that combinations of different vibration characteristics influences the tone much more than just adding the different sounds.
And I'm totaly sure i'm pretty much missunderstanding this whole thing - else you all wouldn't talk about it like that, all the time.
Could anyone explain a bit?!
Click to expand...

Good call. I guess the whole mixing of woods is done, knowing from experimental experience that the end result is an instrument that is going to sound predictable.....................I do think that theoretically some weird stuff happens..........however, this is also the case with standard instruments having a different neck, fretboard and body wood........... :D
 
its obviously never as simple as that, but i think it gives people a rough idea. a rough idea is better than no idea at all
 
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