Timber suppliers north west

[Damonjames]

Can anyone recommend a timber supplier in the north west?
Also anyone who has built a bass from scratch, could you give me a guideline on price for a swamp ash/maple jazz 5 string??

[Pete1967]

www.exotichardwoodsukltd.com are in Chapel-en-le-Frith if you fancy a trip over Snake Pass. Kirk will sell you the bits you need cut to size rather than have to buy whole boards. Have a look at his instrument wood store.

The cost of Swamp Ash has soared recently, to around £200 a board so a single body would be £80ish, however I happen to know that Kirk has some very light White (American) Ash which is much cheaper (and sonically superior to Swamp). Hard Maple too has gone up a lot recently. Neck blank £30 and the same again for a f/b.

[Damonjames]

Cheers pete, certainly cheaper than warmoth! Although I'm not sure i have the confidence to try.... 150 quid is a lot to blow if I get it wrong!!!

[Jabba_the_gut]

I just made a bass with a swamp ash body - nice wood to work with. As Pete says though, price has soared recently. Be interested to see what you make!!

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Pete1967' timestamp='1378574911' post='2202046']
www.exotichardwoodsukltd.com are in Chapel-en-le-Frith if you fancy a trip over Snake Pass. Kirk will sell you the bits you need cut to size rather than have to buy whole boards. Have a look at his instrument wood store.

The cost of Swamp Ash has soared recently, to around £200 a board so a single body would be £80ish, however I happen to know that Kirk has some very light White (American) Ash which is much cheaper (and sonically superior to Swamp). Hard Maple too has gone up a lot recently. Neck blank £30 and the same again for a f/b.
[/quote]

I understand Jon Shuker gets most of his wood from Kirk and yes, prices have rocketed in the last year or so due to overseas demand for woods. Swamp ash always was a lower grade wood and the prices being charged now by wood suppliers generally are unbelievable. Alder is a nicer sounding alternative and can be paired with cypress for a sound very similar to swamp ash.

John Boddy timber may be worth approaching in North Yorkshire for any wood apart from facings.

[url="http://www.john-boddy-timber.ltd.uk/"]http://www.john-boddy-timber.ltd.uk[/url]

[timmo]

[quote name='Damonjames' timestamp='1378587627' post='2202255']
Cheers pete, certainly cheaper than warmoth! Although I'm not sure i have the confidence to try.... 150 quid is a lot to blow if I get it wrong!!!
[/quote]Maybe a lot of work, but if you haven`t got the confidence to try on an expensive bit of wood, couldn`t you get a cheap wood to practice on, and use as a template for the real thing?

[White Cloud]

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1378633658' post='2202535']
Maybe a lot of work, but if you haven`t got the confidence to try on an expensive bit of wood, couldn`t you get a cheap wood to practice on, and use as a template for the real thing?
[/quote]
I made the body of the my first bass build from Merranti (cheap-ish Mahogany type wood) for this very reason. It works well and sounds pretty good!

[henry norton]

David Dyke [url="http://www.luthierssupplies.co.uk/"]http://www.luthierssupplies.co.uk/[/url] or Touchstone [url="http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/"]http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/[/url]. They're both based in the Shandy Drinking, Big Girls Blouse wearing South East but they're world renowned and post wood all over the world. I don't usually bother driving down to Redhill (Touchstone) or Horam (David's) if it's just plain wood for an electric even though I'm only an hour or two away. The postage is pretty reasonable. Give them a call and talk through what you need - they're totally cool and deal with first time builders all the time.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1378636502' post='2202573']
I made the body of the my first bass build from Merranti (cheap-ish Mahogany type wood) for this very reason. It works well and sounds pretty good!
[/quote]
Hehe, its called a mahogany but its not really. It gets used for cheap furniture. But a good wood to practice on, there's loads of it out there and its easy to work,

[White Cloud]

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1378680828' post='2203269']
Hehe, its called a mahogany but its not really. It gets used for cheap furniture. But a good wood to practice on, there's loads of it out there and its easy to work,
[/quote]
Yes agree totally...very good to practice on & it's easy to work. I used it for a body and neck stringers on a fretless build....that bass sounds very good indeed. Wood snobs can sneer but if it sounds good then it sounds good lol.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1378759970' post='2204462']
Yes agree totally...very good to practice on & it's easy to work. I used it for a body and neck stringers on a fretless build....that bass sounds very good indeed. Wood snobs can sneer but if it sounds good then it sounds good lol.
[/quote]
Well the funny thing is, when I was in China I played an Atlantsia copy with what I figured was a meranti (aka Philipine mahogany) body and a maple neck, it had a nice bit of growl to it. I was impressed. But SE Asia region isn't a world leader in sustainable harvesting.