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Just how heavy is bubinga? Yowza


Clarky
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I recently picked up a s/h fretless Warwick Corvette on BC, made in Germany in 2008 (as a cheap Wal alternative, having downsized recently). It plays beautifully (lovely thick ebony unlined board) and is immaculately made but jeez is it heavy!

5.3kg or about 11.5 pounds, despite having a not-very-large body footprint and relatively skinny horns. Bubinga is clearly nature's organic equivalent of lead. And I thought late 1970s Fenders were heavy ....

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[url="http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/bubinga/"]http://www.wood-data...dwoods/bubinga/[/url]

Quite heavy, my Sei is Wenge, Bubinga & Cocobolo all of this is some weighty wood, but it's a small body size so it's not so bad

Edited by Tankdave
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My Bubinga Schack comes in at 11lb+. and i have read that on the wood density scale which indicates whether a wood floats or sinks in water. Less than 1.0 it will float, it's listed at 0.88 I Have re checked this figure . but the hardware would tip it over the edge so dont go back for it. :(

Worth the pain though

[attachment=95752:Schackback.JPG]

Edited by deepbass5
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[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1324587161' post='1476082']
Oddly enough when I saw your thread title I knew it was gonna be about a Warwick bass! The Warwick Thumb has a tiny body but still clocks in at 9lb+ everytime... Bubinga is the 'black hole' of the bass world
[/quote]
Shame, as the figuring and coloration of bubinga really is quite beautiful. Unfortunately my glass back does not have such aesthetic sensibilities and instead yells "WTF"!

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Not too busy over Christmas? Hours of fun:

[url="http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/sea/products/AFDbases/wd/"]http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/sea/products/AFDbases/wd/[/url]

Just pop in the latin name for your selected wood and you can find the density in Kg per cubic meter (Bubinga - Guibourtia demeusei - around 800; Cocobolo - Dalbergia retusa - around 1020).

I'm just off to get my anorak out of the spinner

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My one attempt at a custom build was a "Thingray" built around an '80 MM Sabre neck with a 1-piece bubinga body and thuja top.
Nice bass, but significantly heavier than my Gibson RD Artist which as far as I know is the heaviest standard production bass ever! Made a tad too thick, with hindsight.

Last seen with Chris2112 on this forum, possibly now being used as an anchor for the QE2....

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This is the bass concerned. Played it again this evening with a fresh set of Status Hot wire half-rounds on. Plays fantastically and sounds great and in near mint condition. But I just don't think I can cope with the weight, so this will probably end up being moved on in the new year :(

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/160973-fs-2008-warwick-corvette-standard-fretless-4-gone/page__p__1460342__hl__bubinga__fromsearch__1#entry1460342

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[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1324730383' post='1477393']
That's heavier than the t40 I just shifted! It was just a bit to heavy to be enjoyable
[/quote]
Yep - and as if to hammer the point home - I've strained my dodgy lower back again and can barely even pick up this bass now. Definitely for sale in the new year. Shame as its a beauty and sounds superb ...

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The irony Jack is I had rather a nice letter from the taxman yesterday informing me I had in fact overpaid tax last year (this after they had sent me a demand a month or two back which seemed rather large to me but which I duly paid) ... so I needn't have sold gear to raise money after all, following car theft and tax demand

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