JamesBass Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 This may lead to my looking like a right dunce here but; Has anyone ever experimented with Oak as a body wood? I'm looking at all the options available to me in terms of my next bass, even looking at maybe going down the custom route with which I've been pondering what my ideal Bass would be made from and I notice that no Luthiers are advertising the use of Oak, is there a reason other than the density and price as to why there aren't oak basses out there? What's Oaks tonal qualities as opposed to Maple, Ash or Mahogany? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBobTTD Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Wouldn't it be heavier than ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Oak is very heavy and needs to be "green" to be workable. That would mean that there was too much moisture content in the oak to be stable in an instrument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 [quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1354405489' post='1885723'] Oak ... needs to be "green" to be workable. [/quote] If you mean you can't work with seasoned oak, I'd have to disagree. I do it all the time. I'm talking about air-dried or kiln-dried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 It corrodes metals screwed into it, can be kind of bad for making things, iron goes black, brass greens and disintegrates. Think most of the problems are in other parts of the function and construction than 'tone'. Those need to be got right first. All those examples of making fine sounding electric instruments from wood from various other objects, the common factor is they are also objects that are made from fairly strong workable wood. Don't think it finishes in an especially nice to handle way either, might just be context though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 It's just more trouble than it's worth. It's not particularly pretty when finished, it's tough to work with (not impossible, just hard work) and it's heavier than it needs to be. I think I remember my dad (or someone with an equal amount of woodworking wisdom) saying that it doesnt take painting very well and you'll end up with an uneven finish because it has weird absorption properties. I think Ritter made a bass out of 5000 year old oak? Looks stunning. Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 I don't make instruments, but I do hand-make furniture, and clients always seem to want oak, so I have a lot of experience with it. Observations from my experience: - 'Green' oak cuts is as soft as a turnip, but useless for anything other than outdoor applications, unless you want big, rustic movement. - Oak is heavyish, buy not bonkers heavy. I'd say on a par with mahogany or maple, but nowhere near as heavy as bubinga/cocobolo, wenge etc. - It is quite hard and open-grained, but works reasonably easily. Not the cleanest of cuts in the world, but nothing a bit of tidying can't sort out. - it contains tannins, which, when in contact with moisture and metal, goes black. The sort of moisture content in seasoned oak is that doesn't get wet has never been an issue. I've never had an issue with oak corroding metal. - It finishes easily enough. I've never had an problem with uneven finishing, unless it's a very heavily figured piece with wildly varying densities, such as a burr. - aesthetically, the tangentially sawn stuff can be a bit boring, but not always. The quarter-sawn stuff can have some spectacular medullary rays. - tonally? No idea, I'll leave that to the luthiers. I had no idea oak has such a bad rep! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nugget Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 [quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1354384253' post='1885453'] This may lead to my looking like a right dunce here but; Has anyone ever experimented with Oak as a body wood? I'm looking at all the options available to me in terms of my next bass, even looking at maybe going down the custom route with which I've been pondering what my ideal Bass would be made from and I notice that no Luthiers are advertising the use of Oak, is there a reason other than the density and price as to why there aren't oak basses out there? What's Oaks tonal qualities as opposed to Maple, Ash or Mahogany? Thanks [/quote] Oak is only (very) approx 10% heavier than ash, so make the body 10% thinner, so rather than a jazz bass being 42mm thick, simply make it out of oak but only 38mm thick. There is no need for a body to be standard thickness and reducing it down 4mm is not noticable when playing. Oak is one of the prettiest woods out there! A local exotic wood supplier near me has some outstanding highly figured brown oak which would make a great looking bass. Price certainly isnt a factor as oak is pretty cheap compared to most 'luthier' woods It's no harder to work with that some of the denser exotic woods such as wenge, ebony, cocobolo etc and easier to finish and glue than some rosewoods I dont know about tone, body material has such a small effect on tone that it's probably not noticable and any difference could be fixed with an eq tweek on the amp. My guess is that it would be similar to ash (tight low end) but with a touch extra brightness due to the stiffness and mass not damping out high frequencies. so probably really good. So there is no reason why a bass shouldnt be made out of oak, it's just we're all too hung up on ash / alder/ mahogany and maple to look too far out from the norm. Do it !!! and post pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Elm is also worth looking at: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesBass Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 Cheers for the replies guys, some seriously informative replies there and it makes me wanna try it even more! Anyone know of any decent luthiers in the Portsmouth area? This is certainly one project I'll add to the list to do before I reach say 30! I'm gonna stick around on here for a long time so you'll all see it! Dom, that Elm looks lovely! Would make an excellent top! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Walnut can be lush http://twitpic.com/b9xws5/full Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 There's oak and oak (and oak too for that matter...) , but there's no real reason any it can't be used to make guitars except it's mildly acidic, so you can't use steel screws or fittings although stainless is ok. Taylor made a proper acoustic guitar run out of scrap oak pallets - apparently they sounded pretty good, at least so far as Taylor guitars go. Martin did a somewhat nicer looking arts and crafts guitar in oak too. I've put aside a couple of chunks of European oak to make a guitar with at some point in the future. I reckon it'll look pretty good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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