Grateful Dead Music Forum

Hey guys,

I'm building a bass in the style of the one below, but I don't know what body wood I should use. I'm buying a Modulus 6 string bass neck, and want to preserve the modulus tone, but still have a nice looking bass. I'm also torn between making the bass black, putting carbon fiber veneer on it to look like graphite, or to give it a black tint. Your input is greatly appreciated. This is my first time building a bass. or at least the body.

Depends on what tone you're after. I'd say Swamp Ash might be a nice match for the graphite neck, it has a nice natural mid-scoop which would be a nice head-start toward Phil's 90's tone. But if you want a warmer tone, alder and mahogany are both nice.

Or you might want to see what Modulus uses for a body wood on the Quantum basses.

Swamp Ash is good for just about anything. If you want to get fancy and black match it with an Ebony top

My vote is for mahogany. I made a mahogany body for my Q6 neck and it sounded great. I replaced it with a Modulus body (ash body with burl maple cap), which is ergonomically a bit better but definitely a down grade in tone. My Starfire, Alembic and David King fretless 5 all have mahogany bodies and all sound great.

The neck of a (bass) guitar has more effect on tone than the body so you can can put that on anything and it will still sound like a Modulus.

Swamp Ash, Alder, and Mahogany are the Big 3 when it comes to solidbody electrics. Describing "Tone" with words is always subjective but Warmoth does a pretty good job here...

http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies/Op ... tions.aspx

My recomendation would be Alder since it's less porous than the other two and easier to finish.

As for the top I like the ebony idea but I'd probably go with black dyed Flame Maple and then spray the back black with a very slight burstover on the front.