{"id":4626,"date":"2013-08-28T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/?p=4626"},"modified":"2017-03-31T12:43:15","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T17:43:15","slug":"bass-of-the-week-kauri-bass-made-of-50000-year-old-wood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/bass-of-the-week\/bass-of-the-week-kauri-bass-made-of-50000-year-old-wood.html","title":{"rendered":"[Bass of the Week] Kauri Bass – Made of 50,000-Year-Old Wood"},"content":{"rendered":"

See the business listing for this bass builder here<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, this bass really is made of 50,000-year-old Kauri wood.<\/p>\n

Robert writes,<\/p>\n

\n

I found the Ancient Kauri wood at a little general store out on Madeline Island, in the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. There was a block of it sitting there and seemed to be glowing, lit from within. I have never seen anything like it, and I have dealt with a lot of great wood over the years. There was a business card next to it that said something to the tune of “Ancient Kauri Wood, Radio Carbon Dated at 50,000 Years Old”. And a phone number for AncientWood Ltd. in Ashland, Wisconsin. <\/p>\n

Well, I picked up the wood and tap tested it for tone, and the block rung like a bell. <\/p>\n

I called the shop later that day and spoke to Jordan Grunow, who I came to learn was a guitarist, and asked if he had anything suitable for a bass project. He said that they had a number of slabs cut and had come out of their specially designed drying kiln\u2026 and that I should come down and hang out for a while.<\/p>\n

When I got there a few days later, Jordan showed me a few slabs, but this highly flamed piece called out to me and said\u2026\u2026Jazz Bass!<\/p>\n

Well, the rest of the journey was very fun.<\/p>\n

I called all over and nobody from coast to coast was very willing to work with 50,000 year old wood\u2026 that was of course a bit pricey and perhaps a bit unpredictable. Until I spoke to Rob out at USA Custom. He was very excited and said.. “send it out, we will see how an edge of it responds to the lathe and then let you know”\u2026. he called a few days later and said that the shop guys felt very confident and were really excited to do the job.<\/p>\n

So I commissioned a Jazz Bass design, and at the same time requested that they build a 5 string neck out of fine Bird’s Eye Maple, and to put an ebony fingerboard on it\u2026. After a discussion with Rob again about an inlay idea that I had, he sent the neck to Paul Bordeaux for some beautiful paua shell oval inlays. I can\u2019t say enough about the fine work from these guys. They are all of the utmost competence. And the work is brilliant.<\/p>\n

The finish is a special ultra transparent epoxy used for custom motorcycles, and was sprayed at Motorcycle Performance by the head spray booth ninja Jacki\u2026 who is also a renowned visual artist.<\/p>\n

Pickups and Preamp are both Nordstrand. I went with the Split Jazz for an authentic look, and I have nothing but praise for them. Actually sound great with and without the preamp.<\/p>\n

I sent a note to Jordan at Ancient Wood after a few days of playing this Ax, thanking him and the owner Bob for the great piece of history that has become a bass, and I sent the following blurb about the sound\u2026<\/p>\n

“The sound is fabulous, but so atypical\u2026 so focused, but really intense bottom, yet the character of the round wound strings that I prefer for electric still ring clearly and the overtone series is very nice. There is just a very different sound, and you need to hear it. I really like the Nordstrand split Jazz pickups and the Nordstrand 3 band active electronics\u2026. but the pickups sound great in the passive mode, in fact, I prefer that sound with this wood. Deep, heavy, focused but very clear. Bass becomes a refined seismic event.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"DSCF6812\"<\/p>\n

\"DSCF6786\"<\/p>\n

\"DSCF6792\"<\/p>\n

\"DSCF6798\"<\/p>\n

\"DSCF6807\"<\/p>\n

I think to say “Good Job!” to Robert here is a colossal understatement. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

A build like this made from some of the most exotic build material you could find is more classified as “functional art”, because this is not the type of bass you’d take gigging. Not at all. This bass is a total showpiece, no question about it.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry, you don’t<\/u> need a bass built from ultra-exotic wood to be featured for Bass of the Week. Just email us a few photos of your build along with a short story of it to <\/strong>featureme@bestbassgear.com<\/strong><\/a> and you may be featured soon!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See the business listing for this bass builder here Yes, this bass really is made of 50,000-year-old Kauri wood. Robert writes, I found the Ancient Kauri wood at a little general store out on Madeline Island, in the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. There was a block of it sitting there and seemed to be … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":4628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}