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Thoughts on alternative materials...


jebroad

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  1. 1. For or against the use of alternative materials.

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On 4/21/2018 at 15:17, TheGreek said:

I had a fretless Hohner bat with an "ebanol" board back in the day - hated it - apparently it is the same as used by Status. I didn't mind it on my KBs...

I'll have to sit on the fence on this.

Thought those fretless Squier Jazz Basses had ebanol fingerboards for the last 10 years or so?

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51 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

I think for solid electric instruments too much emphasis is placed on the qualities of wood, when at best it is unquantifiable and most likely has negligible impact on the overall sound of the instrument compared with the electronics.

IME what a solid electric instrument is made out of is irrelevant so lang as it plays, feels, looks and sounds like you want it.

I have emphasized one of your criteria.

For me personally, the feel of an instrument can be the deciding factor as to whether it gets used or whether it is a trophy.  Never mind if it has the best pick-ups with the best electronic wizardry making signals from strings made of gold tape bound unicorn pubes.  The material needn't be wood but thin composites feel creepy.  Acrylic is cool.  The density of it does something for me.  It's a bit heavy though.

I doubt we'll see @Andyjr1515 do one of his ultralight carves on a slab of acrylic however.  Andy, if you have any inclinations towards doing that, please let me have first refusal on a build?

What about exotic strings?  With piezo, any material can be used to make strings within reason as long as it resonates and is stable.  I know there have always been non metallic strings of gut and nylon but recently we've seen neoprene becoming popular on uBasses and the like.

How many different materials are strings made from these days?

Edited by SpondonBassed
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The old Cort Curbow was luthite with an ebanol board, just sounded like a bass to me when I had one. Ibanez made the Ergodyne out of luthite also, although they're probably Corts in disguise. IIRC luthite and ebanol are both resins of some sort.

The board on my fretless is ebanol and it's fantastic to play, I sold my old fretlesses with a Pau Ferro and rosewood boards when I got that.

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I you proceed - as I do - from the perspective that broadly speaking, the use of "tonewoods" in an electrically amplified instrument is a pointless load of old testicles, then anything rigid, resonant and workable is fair game. I have an aluminium bodied Tokai Talbo, an acrylic bodied P, and a luthite-bodied Ibanez EDA900. Which was indeed made by Cort. I've also had a Squier VMJ fretless with an ebonol fingerboard. Although ebonol is, oddly enough, compressed, bonded paper.

I've also had various plywood & MDF-bodied cheapo guitars & always felt that any real deficiencies were in the build & components rather than the material. I do like wood but it's from an aesthetic perspective rather than any idea that it's intrinsically a better construction material, and I'm a sucker for a synthesis of wood & alternative materials - always loved the original graphite & wood Vigiers & Statuses - and what about this?

 

Rico1.jpg

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