Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: peoplechipper on June 09, 2016, 09:54:15 PM
-
I have a newish Hagstrom hb-8 which is cool, but I don't love the body shape or the thick poly finish; a tone blanket if ever there was one...I'm open to making a new body for it, but I know a bolt-neck is not optimal for tone...anyway, currently it is mahogany body and maple neck 8 string and I want better ideas without paying huge; I likely won't play it that much...Tony.
-
Why not sand off the poly finish and redo it with a thinner finish? I'm in the process of finishing my third guitar with Wudtone finish (google it). Relatively inexpensive, easy to use, good results, and it's fun.
Bill, tgo
-
Optimally I would like a whole different body with better electronics, but seeing as I have several more pressing projects before it, it is a low priority...besides, sanding off a poly finish is nasty; there are no sane chemical options...tony
-
So, you like evrything but the body shape, the electronics, and the finish..... :o
My advise? Trade it in.
Peter
-
Have any thoughts about how you'd want the tone to change?
I'd actually think about trying a pickup change in the existing body first. If your bass is like what you get when googling "Hagstrom HB-8", you might find something that fits in the existing routing or extend to pickguard/mounting variations - P-coils in a soapbar, etc. If you want something more trebly/snarly, a different pickup can well be the solution. When you're experimenting, you might bypass the pots and go straight to the output to see how that sounds - the existing pots might not be a match to a different pickup.
I don't think that a bolt-on configuration necessarily is negative on tone. A great instrument has the right match of neck wood properties and body wood properties. The problem is that you can't quantify the neck in any useful manner, so it's really a crapshoot finding a happy match in the body. I believe that this is kind of a physical impedance thing - the different densities and stiffness of the body and neck woods cause different energy transfer when they join at the neck joint. A good match allows everything to vibrate in harmony; a "bad" match causes an imbalance of the combination of body and neck. Maybe that means less sustain or a thumpier attack - of course, that might be "good" for some players!
On a through-body like an Alembic, the physical impedance match is always perfect because both ends of the string are on the same piece of wood. That means more sustain and preserved harmonics - which might be "bad" for some players!
The obvious alternative body wood would be alder for a more Fender-styled tone.
David Fung
-
Peter, good one!
It's not that I hate anything about the bass (except I think the end of the upper horn looks silly) I just figure I could make it better. I should play it more and see if it really lacks before I start messing with it anyway...and I only paid $200 CDN for it new so it's no big deal if I don't bond with it...I did think Alder would be a better wood choice than Mahogany though...
Tony.