Moon Bass Alpha - Planning The Mission

Moon Bass Alpha - I know its a silly name, and I'm unlikely to play bass on the moon, but I could have spent months thinking of something else instead of actually getting down to the, er, wood and two nails. Some people have heard my playing and think that the moon is probably not such a bad idea.

Sticking My Neck Out

I believe that the neck wood must contribute more to the overall sound than the body wood, as the neck is flimsy and will vibrate and bend when a note is played, whereas the body will barely move at all. The neck also covers more than half the scale length so I think that choosing the wood for the neck will dictate how the 'wood' part of it sounds.

Most guitars I have seen seem to have maple necks. My own guitars have maple necks, or at least maple and something. Having said that, I am pretty sure my Peavey Cirrus BXP is made from Obeche. It is as light as a feather (in comparison to the Vigier). But anyway, I wanted something to sound different so I have made my first bad decision and ruled that maple is not going to be used on Moon Bass Alpha.

Great! Out goes maple, in comes, um, balsa?

Paper. Books and libraries and t'internet. I have invested in "Make Your Own Electric Guitar" by Melvyn Hiscock and it seems very helpful. Other books on 'What has wood ever done for me' etc have been dribbled on in the pusuit of knowledge. I noticed that some guitars (particularly Warwick) have used Wenge necks in the past. The local timber merchant seemed to think it was the sort of wood you would use in a dockyard, but it appealed for a number of reasons: 1 - it isn't maple; 2 - it is a very dark brown colour unlike maple; and 3 - it has a coarse grain structure which ought to help create a fuller, more mellow tone and growl.

Unfortunately I like laminated necks. The stripey-through-the-body look does it for me. I need another wood type for the neck. After contacting craft-supplies.co.uk (who do wenge laminates) the choice narrowed down to Bubinga and Padauk. I have gone for the Padauk because: 1 - Padauk is a really nice red colour; 2 - It is reasonably good to work with; and 3 - I am not quite sure how to say Bubinga without it sounding stupid.

A few layers of contrasting white oak veneer from valeveneers.co.uk (keeping to the no maple rule) and the neck layer build up is as follows:

WOPWOPOWPOW

It reminds me of watching Batman on a Saturday morning, but what it meant was W = Wenge (1/2"), O = Oak (0.6mm) and P = Padauk (1/4", except centre which is 1")

Here's the wood as it turned up. W x4, P x3 and an ebony fingerboard. Ebony is about as non-maple as you can get! Don't get me wrong about maple - I like the syrup, but I just want something a bit different in the neck department.