Basswood.. should i be scared? Cv60s bridge question too

[thebuckets]

Thinking of picking a squier p bass (cv60s) great reviews but im put off by the bodywood. Bongos are basswood so it cant all be like cream cheese. Have i anything to fear?

Also can you fit a std bbot bridge to the 5 hole fixing on the cv60s bass
Ta muchly

[ezbass]

Nothing wrong with basswood, Ibanez use it on a wide range of basses and guitars and it withstands having monster whammy bars being fitted and used.

[Mykesbass]

Only reason for Basswood being cheaper, and therefore seen as inferior to alder and ash is that it is very plain and boring, so is only really suitable for solid colour finishes. It is used on many great instruments.

[Schnozzalee]

Basswood has a great even tone across the strings and I really like it. People say stupid stuff about it like "it's the cheapest timber" etc. The only thing I would mention is that it's soft, so it can ding/scratch up easily, but it's structurally sound.

I had a Basswood Superstrat for 3 years and you could see indentations where it had been sitting in it's stand (the metal has started to come through the foam).

[gjones]

Bass wood is cool. I have a MIJ, Silver Series Squier Jazz Bass it as tough as any other bass I've owned and has a great sound.

[kodiakblair]

Strange thing about basswood is Saxon & Viking warriors used Linden wood for their shields and Linden is another name for basswood.It's hardly balsa no matter what some claims are.
The few basswood bodies I have are standing just as well as the chipped & dented mahogany,poplar,ash and alder basses here.

Another thing is nobody with £2500 Steve Vai JEM guitars complain about it.

I'd say nothing to fear from basswood.

[cocco]

Nothing wrong with Basswood. Well, apart from being flammable, buts that's inherently true of most woods (IME).

[keefbaker]

They made a strat out of cardboard, so I wouldn't worry about it.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1458075184' post='3004532']
They made a strat out of cardboard, so I wouldn't worry about it.
[/quote]

To be fair that strat was made out of just as much epoxy as it was cardboard.

[Manton Customs]

Nothing to fear, it'll dent fairly easily (compared to the alternatives) if the bass takes a knock, as it's a pretty soft wood, but that's not really an issue unless you're very clumsy! It will also be comparatively lightweight, which you may or may not like.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Manton Customs

[thebuckets]

Sorry double posted thanks for the replies

[thebuckets]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1458074377' post='3004511']
Bass wood is cool. I have a MIJ, Silver Series Squier Jazz Bass it as tough as any other bass I've owned and has a great sound.
[/quote]
My first bass was a silver series p. Wish id never sold it. Didnt know it was basswood. Happy days

[Telebass]

As everyone else has focused on the body wood...the bridge ought to be similar.

[ikay]

The CV 60s hi mass bridge has 20mm string spacing and different mounting holes to a standard BBOT. The screws holes are slightly wider apart and would need to be filled and redrilled. It's very annoying, I don't know why they did this.

[Musicman20]

I had a MIJ P Bass which was basswood and was used on and off for a good 10+ years. No worries at all. It did get two dints in the front (hardly noticeable) but they could have happened just as easily to any wood.

I have two Bongos - both sound superb.

Apparently, Basswood is quite a good starting point for a neutral tone if you are interested in the whole tonewood discussion.

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1458116652' post='3004763']
The CV 60s hi mass bridge has 20mm string spacing and different mounting holes to a standard BBOT. The screws holes are slightly wider apart and would need to be filled and redrilled. It's very annoying, I don't know why they did this.
[/quote]

This is not the case, or at least not on my CVP and CV Jazz. Both took a BBOT, and then a Gotoh 201 without any need for drilling or filling. The holes are very slightly, and i mean [i]very[/i] slightly different, but neither of my basses needed any re drilling or filling. Maybe not all CV's are the same.

[ikay]

Hmm, that's interesting. The hi mass bridge with brass saddles on my Squier Matt Freeman (which I thought was the same as a CV 60) definitely isn't interchangeable with a BBOT. I know because I tried! The centres of the two outer holes are 75mm apart compared with 70mm for a BBOT. You could just about squeeze screws into the inner two holes which are about 1mm out but the outers would definitely need drilling. Maybe the CV 60 has a different bridge with 19mm spacing instead of 20mm?

Edited March 16, 2016 by ikay

[dave_bass5]

Both my CV bridges are 20mm spacing, that was my reason for changing them as i prefer 19mm.
If i can still find a bridge at home ill take some measurements.

[dave_bass5]

This probably doesn't help but its all i have at the moment.

[ikay]

The bridge in the pic with brass saddles is the same as mine and clearly wider than the BBOT. I can only assume you succeeded in screwing the BBOT into the same holes as the basswood is so soft! It didn't work for me, but I wasn't happy with the 2.5mm displacement each end so didn't try and force it. It clearly is possible as you've done it! Here are a couple of pics showing the outer hole measurements - 75mm for the Squier bridge and 70mm for the standard 19mm spacing Wilkinson.
[attachment=214820:022.jpg][attachment=214821:024.jpg]

[dave_bass5]

I think the fact that the BBOST isn't as wide as the HM bridge isn't an indication of the hole spacing. The first time the bridge on my CVP was changed I got thre Gallery to do it, as I had read that it wasn't a streight swap.
They were the ones that put their BBOT on for me.
I was very surprised when I took the BBOT off to put the Gotoh on and saw the same holes had been used. I don't think they would have done this if it had been the wrong way of doing it.
I suppose the outer screws might be at a very, very slight angle but the edges of the holes are not damaged or enlarged, and all 5 screws are screws down flush.

There are others that have done this over on Talkbass, I'm not the only one.

Maybe Squier change something over the years. Mine were brought very early on.

Edited March 16, 2016 by dave_bass5

[Cygnus x-1]

I have a CV P and a Matt Freeman P and have put Gotoh bridges on them both using same method as dave bass5, with no problems.

[ikay]

Hmm this is a bit weird, I'm not the only one either! - [url="https://www.talkbass.com/threads/squier-cv-bridge-mounting-screw-hole-spacing.1029797/"]https://www.talkbass...pacing.1029797/[/url]
Although there are plenty of other posts on TB that say the holes line up exactly!
Best advice the OP is probably to check measurements on the bass he's thinking of buying

Edited March 17, 2016 by ikay

[oldbass]

Ah basswood.My VM P is basswood and its great, light weight and sounds good too..BUT its soft as hell. When I changed the bridge I had to make sure to put slivers of wood taken from an old floorboard to give the screws some bite cause without it they just would not tighten up nicely...sfine now, and one of my fav basses of all time very resonant.

[Chienmortbb]

One of the early posters was right. The English name for it is Linden, the Anerican name is basswood (pronounced like the fish not the instrument).

I now only have Linden basses because of the weight.

Edited March 18, 2016 by Chienmortbb