Ash Body v Alder Body for a Jazz Bass

[Dingus]

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1354221029' post='1883884']
I'm not sure about ash being the lighter option. My old Lakland DJ 4 had an ash body and was nice and light, but my current bass (a Stingray 5) is weighty. Very weighty, and whilst I'm aware that this is a Stingray trait I've also owned another ash P-Bass that again had a very heavy body. It might well be luck of the draw, a case of trying out a few instruments.

Whilst I'm saying that ash sounds like this and that, I'm more keen on just using my ears to judge what sounds good. Fairly certain I've played alder basses that sound aggressive as well as ones that sounded mellow, pickups, preamps, build quality, a lot of stuff to take on board.

One thing I am confident about is that the weight of an instrument to my ears indicates little if anything at all to with what it's going to sound like.



+1, this is the framework I'd work to when getting a new instrument.
[/quote]

Your Stingray will be Northern Ash , which tends to be very hard and heavy , as in all probability so was your P Bass , whereas your DJ will have been Swamp Ash which tends to be lighter on the whole .

[risingson]

Strange, I've replied to your post, but above the post I was replying to

[TRBboy]

I think that you can broadly categorise different varieties of wood by weight, tone, etc, but at the end of the day it is an organic material that is subject to significant variation even if it is top quality and has been seasoned and processed in exactly the same way.

As risingson says above, let your ears guide you (and your fingers!). As long as the bass feels and sounds great to you as an individual, it doesn't matter what it's made of.