Wenge

[georgie_boy]

Try a Curbow original Dude
 
G
 
they're great!!

[bassman68]

I too have some Warwick basses,Two of which have wenge fingerboards & agree with the above comments, My Thumb 5 string has a very dark tone to it, but with a pronounced mid range & with a 3 band eq, i only ever boost the treble control.
The other 'wick has a wenge figerboard only on a maple neck (B.O) & maple body which helps brighten the tone somewhat giving an almost jazzbass tone to it, but lacks any real mid range so is great for funky slap.
I used this bass at the weekend instead of my Rogue & 3 songs into the first set, missed the smoothness, growl & even frquency range of my Alembic.
Still you have to try these things sometimes to remind yourself how perfect our Alembics are...

[s_wood]

Mike Tobias often uses wenge necks and fingerboards for his MTD basses.  To my ears, wenge produces a tonality that is quite distinctive and tends to dominate the tones produced by the other woods used in the neck, or even the body, of a given bass. Subjectively, wenge is a little dark and very punchy (meaning that either the attack or the decay of the note, or both, is quick).  I tend to think of bass tones on a continuum, with a tuba being at one end  (dark and punchy) and the bass notes of a piano on the other (bright with lots of sustain).  Wenge produces tones that are more tuba-like.  Does that make sense?  To my ears, ebony produces a tone that is dark, but with lots of sustain.  A piano without the upper harmonics, if you will.  Wenge, though dark, attacks or decays much faster, and so it doesn't sustain nearly as well. YMMV, of course.
 
(Message edited by s_wood on July 08, 2008)

[lbpesq]

I'd certainly believe a guy named Wood on this subject!  lol
 
Bill, tgo

[svlilioukalani]

I got 2 Warwicks. The old school warwicks. One with a all wenge neck. One with a ebony fingerboar. The basses with the wenge has a much  cleaner  and brighter tone, and the sustain lasts forever. I don't buy into the tuba sound theory. This is a great bass. I'll never sell it.
 
The one with the ebony neck will be available at BassNW next week.
 
Theory and reality are not always the same. Like combinding spices cooking, it is all the woods and electronics the make up the tone of the bass.  
 
I think it would be foolish to use wenge on a fretless finger board. But beauty of the grain pattern on the neck is awsome. I never make truss rod adjustments on the Warick with wenge. It doesn't go out of tune. A can't say that about my Alembic basses.  
 
I just bought a epic with wenge top. Sort of a tribute to my Warwick bass. Which I will only use only as a beater.  
 
Because, lets face it, the Germans got nothin on  California hippies. It takes more than good wood to give an ax soul.

[texangerbil]

I have a Warwick Fortress with a wenge neck and fingerboard. I second the comments on tonality of wenge. Not for everyone but quite distinctive.  
I'd just add that personally I really like the feel of the unfinished/oiled wood - the open grain gives it a very positive grip which I actually prefer to a varnished neck.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that wenge can be quite oily and doesn't always take lacquer finishes very well. Another reason not to mix it in your neck laminates...

[elwoodblue]

Gary,
 Will you be going to the get together this 12th?
(...and thanks for the wisdom).

[mica]

Wikipedia entries for Weng? and Ebony. I need to edit the entry for Weng? as I think that Warwick's use of the wood should be mentioned first and that their application is greater than fingerboards alone. I think of it as Warwick's house wood. Ours must be Coco Bolo.
 
We only used Weng? as tops on original Epics, Orions, and Rogues when we used the satin natural polyurethane finish. We found the polyester finish  would encourage mineral deposits in the long open grains to come to the surface. These either looked really cool like little crystals, or really awful, like dirt and dust. That's one of the reasons we don't currently offer it except with an oil finish (since we don't offer the satin natural polyurethane finish anymore). Another reason is that I personally seem to attract Weng? splinters! The wood is so irritating that I think the infection starts a few seconds before the splinter actually punctures my skin. At this time we're not interested in using Weng? as a neck laminate or a fingerboard.
 
Specific gravity of Weng? ranges from .75-.9 typically and for Ebony the range is .9-1.15 so Ebony can be dense enough to sink in water (any material with specific gravity value greater than 1 (the density of water) will sink). Since our use was limited to tops only, I don't really have an opinion on the tonal impact on an Alembic bass. I can say it doesn't seem to have a distinctive tonality, I'd place it on the Alembic main sequence woods. For tops on our instruments, I think of Maple at the bright end of the spectrum and Koa as the warm end. Most people I ask can hear these woods. Most of the other woods are on the main sequence between these points and are harder for most people to distinguish. Coco Bolo doesn't really fit on the spectrum since it has attributes from both ends. That's true of all the Rosewoods.  
 
So you have to think about wood used in stringed instruments in complex terms, since it's not only a complex natural material, but each person's audio experience is unique, and language is a difficult medium to describe the sound of something. It's both interesting and frustrating. And we're not even talking about the effect of construction, pickups/electronics, strings, talent, emotion, and personal taste.

[bassjigga]

Mica,
 
To my ears ebony seems to have a similar quality as coco bolo with the attributes from both ends of the spectrum, but maybe with a smoother less agressive quality than rosewoods. Do you guys find this to be true?
 
Dave

[funkyjazzjunky]

I will save up and get the Ebony neck laminates

[malthumb]

Back in April I acquired the Devon bass in this Talkbass thread http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=417525
 
I can say that I'm experiencing a lot of what has already been said here.  This bass has a predominantly dark tone to it, despite the fact that it is by far the lightest bass I've ever owned.  I would tend to believe that it has a lot to do with the predominance of Wenge in the neck construction and the fingerboard.  The body is a very light swamp ash.  The only other bass I've ever owned with a swamp ash body had a Pau Ferro board and was very twangy.  This one has no evidence of twang in any form.
 
I've played basses that were dark to the point of being muddy and undefined.  Not the case with this one.  Notes are true, but super-bassy.

[811952]

Hiya James!  That's a really beautiful instrument!
 
John

[2400wattman]

I had a beautiful Devon 5 string ( kind of a Tobias body shape) which had a Wenge fingerboard, wenge on back of body and a lacewood top. This thing sounded nothing like a Warwick, just great growly to smooth bass tones. I believe it was the build and Bartolini p/ups and pre amp. I did'nt think about comparing it to my old Pedulla MVP 5 (which has ean ebony board) since it's a neck through and I specifacally bought the Devon for I wanted a bolt on 5 that sounded killer!!

[juggernaught]

I really have to get me  one of those Devon basses

[white_cloud]

I have never owned a Warwick (came close) or a Devon bass but I actually like the appearance of the Wenge wood - really rich looking!
 
My number one choice has always been ebony though!!
 
John.