Oiled burl?

SoonerMatt

SoonerMatt

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So while going through the custom shop options I noticed that you guys said you cannot oil your burl tops but have to pay for the satin finish. However, the Streamer LX SE has a burled redwood top and an oil finish. Have you all started offering oil on some of your burls or is it just for this one occasion?
 
juuuuuuuuust that one. Burls in general are pretty soft (and also therefore not good tonewoods). Redwood not ;)
 
Figured (no pun intended). I always knew burls were soft (gotta use that botany degree!) and had a hunch redwood was the exception, since they wouldn't have done oil otherwise. Perhaps they'll offer an oil option if you were to order a CS bass with a redwood top... and while they're at it offer afzelia as a core wood instead of swamp ash... nudge nudge wink wink ;)

Thanks for the info!
 
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you can order an afzelia core, if you want so. The standard option is with swamp ash back, but for +$ you can get whatever you want.
 
Good to know; I guess I shouldn't have solely relied on the price list .pdf.

Also, I saw your custom Streamer. She's gorgeous!
 
Thanks :)

Well... in fact it's stated in ne pricelist... I'm just too lazy to look it up now, but it says something like "for other back then ash: same price as for top"
or something like that. so you order two tops,... but one is the back.... cool, huh? :D
 
Hahaha, gotta love semantics! Let's just say I'd love to hear how a Streamer II would sound with an afzelia core, redwood top, and wenge neck ;)
 
imo the main characteristics would be the same, wenge is a little brighter then ovankgol imo. I don't think the redwood top would change the sound much. It wouldn't be just the same as an SSII, but pretty close.
 
Glad to hear it. This is all long-term planning, mind you; grad school doesn't exactly give me the income Id like to have for this sort of purchase :/

Also, I find it strange that I'd have to pay extra for the normal core wood. It's like paying a surcharge to use a different wood and another to revert it back, although I'm sure there's a reason for it.
 
boebl said:
imo the main characteristics would be the same, wenge is a little brighter then ovankgol imo. I don't think the redwood top would change the sound much. It wouldn't be just the same as an SSII, but pretty close.
Click to expand...

Wenge has a darker sound than ovankol, but tighter.
 
I think when you're considering a stage 2 as a basis for your CS bass, you need to take into account the hidden neck through aspect.
Hidden NT means the bridge & tail piece are recessed into the top, rather than the neck, as with conventional NT's. I believe this construction lets the top wood have a stronger influence in the overall tone. While a conventional NT has the nut, bridge,pickups all attatched to the same piece of wood, making the neck the strongest contributing factor. I think this is what helps set the hidden NT's apart. The construction allows for a wider blending of tonewoods.
Sorry to derail the thread, but this has been something I've been trying to get my head around for some time now.
 
I don't consider it a derail, since this thread's purpose was to add to general CS knowledge. It also help explain why Warwick automatically defaults all core woods to ash when you order a custom top as opposed to the bass' normal core wood. After all, even if it was a BO or SN model the pickups and bridge would be drilled into the top wood rather than the core.
 
Greg, that's some thought I also had for quite a while - I think I even mentioned it when thinking about my CS ( as I wanted it to sound a little more towards the SS2 side - then the LX)
But lately I'm starting to doubt this influence is too big. On the one hand it just seems logical. In the visible NT - you got resonance "circulating" only in the neck, being the "main" influence - as opposite to the hidden version.
Somehow this theory implies the resonance can be isolated in different parts of the wood - at least if it should work that way, imo. And that can't be right.
I think the system is far more complicated - in visible neck construction ( with a multiple-laminated neck!!) you could argue the bodywings are not that much influential to the sound, but regarding their mass and position this also doesn't seem to be true. I won't say they have a huge influence, but dampening effects of ~2kg (?) wood can't be too small - especially considered the resonance we hear/feel is the result of all dampening and resonance effects in the whole construction.
So if you have a hidden construct, the topwood will be the "first" place the bridge transmits the oscillation to - but the topwood is completly connected to the backwood and the neck - the resonance won't be that one the topwood would produce, but a mixture influenced by all woods involved.
But not the be understood the wrong way - I think visible/hidden constructions have a different coloration to sound. But I don't think an SS2 with hidden neck would change his sound dramaticaly with an visible option. In fact I don't think one could hear the difference if the main woods are not changed.
 
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SoonerMatt said:
I don't consider it a derail, since this thread's purpose was to add to general CS knowledge. It also help explain why Warwick automatically defaults all core woods to ash when you order a custom top as opposed to the bass' normal core wood. After all, even if it was a BO or SN model the pickups and bridge would be drilled into the top wood rather than the core.
Click to expand...

I'd rather say the reason for the ash backs is economics --> that they produce them as standard backs and have them lying around and can produce them in larger quantities
no matter what top wood you choose.
 
Yeah, ash makes a good back wood coz of cost & it also blends well sonically, with most woods.
A top on a BO is 3/8" while the top on a NT is a full 1" coz of the contoured body.
The sonic stew sure is a complex thing, & that's without even taking into account the way the different woods are cut.
WW neck laminates are cut & glued with the grains running at different angles. I forget which laminates run in which directions, but I thing this also has a big affect on tone, sustain, attack, etc. The neck tension alone has a major influence on sustain. A neck with zero tension, like that Henman Bevilaqua bass, has no neck tension, & has possibly the longest sustain of any stringed instrument. Our WW necks are under immense tension, & we all know how much bloody sustain we have, especially when we've fitted new strings.
I wish I knew more about luthiery & whatnot. It really boggles the mind.
 
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