Paulownia wood

[paul_5]

Anyone have any experience of working with paulownia wood or know how it sounds? I’m considering getting a body for a cheap project and was after some info.

[Dazed]

If you do a search there's a few threads listed. The new search seems much better ?

 

Here's one to start you off  

 

 

Edited November 17, 2017 by Dazed

[discreet]

44 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

Anyone have any experience of working with paulownia wood or know how it sounds?

Paulownia: It's very light and very soft. It's not as light and soft as balsa, but it's definitely going in that direction. Softer than obeche, which is another light wood I'm going to experiment with. As for paulownia, you have to be careful with it. It's quite grainy and porous in its raw state, so you need to grain-fill it and apply sanding sealer before sanding and priming. It is very easy to work with apart from that. I'd recommend a final coat of something very robust and hard-wearing to protect it. A marine coating, or maybe Ronseal Hardglaze, something like that.

I really like it, the disadvantages are worth it because it's so light. As far as sound goes, that's a moot point  - in my opinion whether you use an exotic hardwood from the unobtainium tree, or a two by four from Wickes, it makes little or no difference to your 'tone'. This is a very short sound clip I made just after I finished the bass. I think you'd be hard pressed to identify which 'tonewood' this is, even though there are those who claim to be able to do so!

Edited November 17, 2017 by discreet

[tom1946]

I discovered this wood looking for a light bass and bought 2 that were reduced. They had necks on and a pickup and it played very well. Sadly they were rosewood which to me is awful so I bought a maple neck from the same place for 35 quid and I have a very light (7.2 lbs) P bass.

I can't tell the difference between this and alder or ash, except that it's a lot lighter. My only downside is that the neck pocket is only 61mm so a fender neck won't fit.

(anyone want a job widening a couple of neck pockets for me??)

[prowla]

I would steer clear of it.

I bought a paulownia Strat body and finished it quite nicely. I then picked up a Fender one for similar money, so the paulownia one sat in a corner.

I've then sold it on ebay (for less than I paid) and the seller has come back and said the wood at the Floyd posts has split.

IMHO, it's a light, soft wood, not suitable for making guitars.

[discreet]

45 minutes ago, prowla said:

...the seller has come back and said the wood at the Floyd posts has split. IMHO, it's a light, soft wood, not suitable for making guitars.

Obviously Floyd posts need to be anchored into denser body wood. So Paulownia is probably not suitable for guitars, or at least guitars fitted with that kind of tremolo hinge. I assume the main stresses on a bass body are going to be at the neck joint and the bridge anchor. So far both are fine on my Jazz, but I'll report back if anything untoward happens. I'll also report back if nothing untoward happens.

I want to try Obeche next, that's another light wood, but not as light as Paulownia. My Hayman 4040  was made of Obeche 42 years ago, clearly that has stood the test of time. I believe Basswood is relatively light and stable, too. It may be the case that chambered basses are the way to go if light weight is required. Luthite is a synthetic option, but more research needed!

 

Edited November 18, 2017 by discreet

[prowla]

28 minutes ago, discreet said:

Obviously Floyd posts need to be anchored into denser body wood. So Paulownia is probably not suitable for guitars, or at least guitars fitted with that kind of tremolo hinge. I assume the main stresses on a bass body are going to be at the neck joint and the bridge anchor. So far both are fine on my Jazz, but I'll report back if anything untoward happens. I'll also report back if nothing untoward happens.

I want to try Obeche next, that's another light wood, but not as light as Paulownia. My Hayman 4040  was made of Obeche 42 years ago, clearly that has stood the test of time. I believe Basswood is relatively light and stable, too. It may be the case that chambered basses are the way to go if light weight is required. Luthite is a synthetic option, but more research needed!

 

Well, the body was pre-routed for a trem, though I drilled the posts (but otherwise it would've been 6 screws). I'm not sure what the extra stress/strain of using a trem is, as you are just changing the angle around a fulcrum rather than forcefully heaving it backwards and forwards; however, that does have some interplay with the string/springs tension.

I wonder about on a bass, the tension might cause the bridge screws fittings to degrade over time.

Obeche does seem to be a current flavour.

[discreet]

2 minutes ago, prowla said:

I wonder about on a bass, the tension might cause the bridge screws fittings to degrade over time.

It might! I'm going to find out one way or another! For a light, well-balanced bass it may be an idea to go down the neck-through route, do away with the neck joint altogether and fit light body 'wings', similar to the neck-through Spectors et al. But then of course you're getting away from what a P bass or a J bass essentially is, assuming that's what you wanted. I'm sure some people wouldn't mind that at all. Headless basses are a good solution for light weight and strap balance, but... I just don't like the look of 'em. Or to be more accurate, I don't like the thought of what I'd look like playing one. Yes, I'm shallow.

 

[paul_5]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I was thinking of this from an ecological perspective, as trees can grow and be ready for harvesting in 5 years or so. 

[expirienced]

I played several paulownia bass guitars. Extremely lightweight and shoulder friendly! I loved the tone from those more expensive made from carefuly selected wood (like ArtAxe - just superior, but very hard to find), even  midpriced Conklins are very good. 

[therealting]

I think the Sandberg Superlights are now made of this too. 

[fretmeister]

4 hours ago, therealting said:

I think the Sandberg Superlights are now made of this too. 

Yup.

The original ones were cedar (I have one of them) but they've swapped for paulownia. Apparently they can offer more finish options with that.

No idea if they are supposed to sound different or not.

[Chienmortbb]

2 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Yup.

The original ones were cedar (I have one of them) but they've swapped for paulownia. Apparently they can offer more finish options with that.

No idea if they are supposed to sound different or not.

In my opinion it is the density of the wood that matters not the species and as there is more neck covered by the string, than body, the neck has more effect on the sound than the body. 

[Rexel Matador]

I made a bitsa P bass with a cheap Pawlonia body. With a normal P-Bass neck and tuners it was far too neck heavy, but otherwise ok - sounded absolutely fine.

With a shorter neck or lighter tuners it might be ok, but for me, something that light is not appropriate from a balance point of view.

[Chienmortbb]

As someone that suffers from neck and shoulder pain  I half agree about the balance but my solution is Gotoh Res-O-Lite machine heads. With typical machine heads weighing well over 1lb or 500+ Grams, hanging on the end of a long lever, the balance issue is mainly with there. Of course the Hipshot Ultralites weigh a similar amount as the Gotoh Res-O -Lites.

Another ways to improve the balance is 2L 2R headstocks and move the rear strap button closer to the top of the body.

Edited October 29, 2019 by Chienmortbb

[BrunoBass]

11 hours ago, Rexel Matador said:

I made a bitsa P bass with a cheap Pawlonia body. With a normal P-Bass neck and tuners it was far too neck heavy, but otherwise ok - sounded absolutely fine.

With a shorter neck or lighter tuners it might be ok, but for me, something that light is not appropriate from a balance point of view.

I did exactly the same and my conclusions were identical. Sounded good, but the neck dive made the bass problematic to play. 

However, the pawlonia has performed well with no sign of any issues, eighteen months later. I must admit I held my breath the first time I took the strings up to tension thinking the bridge might rip out of the body but it was fine, and still is.

Here’s the thread about the build, if you’re interested: