LeftyBassist.com

Greg at Rocket Music is taking orders for G&L basses with Empress Wood bodies. There's a limited supply of Empress in Fullerton so you should get in touch soon. I ordered an L2500 - should be nice n light. Greg has posted a list from the factory of the Empress basses they have made so far - all are light. There's a few L2500s on the list from the factory - 8 to 8.5 pounds. 4 strings are mostly under 8 lbs. That is rare for G&Ls. They've been better about the weights of their standard Alder and Ash basses in the last couple of years, but before that boat anchor basses were common.

I'm almost afraid to ask, but what is Empress Wood? I couldn't find any mention of it on the G&L site

Found this-



PAULOWNIA. Botanical name: Paulownia tomentosa, also called Empress Wood or Kiri (桐) in Japan, is a nice-sounding, extremely light-weight Asian hardwood which has only recently been "discovered" by the Western world. Rising costs and restrictions on other tradtional tonewoods has intensified the need for good alternatives. Paulownia is native to China and is also cultivated extensively in Japan and Korea. It has been used in Asia for hundreds of years to make high-quality traditional musical instruments (including the Japanese koto.) Paulownia is the fastest growing hardwood species in the world, taking only 5-7 years from planting to harvesting (as opposed to 35+ years for mahogany.) Because of it's fast cultivation it is at the top of the list as a solution for world reforestation projects. It is used in guitar manufacturing for electric guitar bodies and has a sound similar to poplar. Dean Guitars, Glendale Guitars, Mario Guitars and others use this wood for some of their instruments, and it is often used in generic DIY guitar kits

G&L is not good at keeping up with their website. They have done a number of special runs with unusual woods, finishes, etc. Empress is really light so that's the big selling point for me anyway.

Thanks guys!

I built one bass with paulownia and I will say that it's extremely lightweight and easy to work with. However, it dents super easy. This is it below. I had to sell it as a factory second.

Gorgeous bass, love the color combination and the blue plate!

Thanks. That bass had a custom-built Five-Piece Laminated Neck (Maple/Wenge, Pau Ferro Fingerboard, Mother-of-Pearl Dot Inlays), Hipshot Ultralight Tuners, Hipshot Bridge, Nordstrand Double-Coil Pickup, Blue Control Cover was custom made, Graphite Nut, and Audere Audio 4-band Pre-Amp. Sold for $483, which was why I just couldn't stay solvent.

pete

Thanks BHunt1 for the heads-up!

I went ahead and ordered a L-2000 Lefty Empress today.

No. 8, matching headstock,
Himalayan blue,
Quarter sawn,
K-wiring.

Rest is standard...

Ha ha cool - they should be nice and light!
Good call on the K wiring - I got that on the L2500 I ordered. It gives you a whole dif tone w single coil.

I wish I'd thought to put through the JB-2 I just ordered for myself in empress

I am a dumb.

Yes, 0$ for the k-wiring option, you can't beat that...

[quote="bhunt1"]Ha ha cool - they should be nice and light!
Good call on the K wiring - I got that on the L2500 I ordered. It gives you a whole dif tone w single coil.[/quote]


How much are these G&L with the emp wood?

They charge $100 list extra for Empress. Mine has that as an option, plus quarter sawn neck (which is also $100 list), and it works out to $1,589 net price.

...and to compare BHunt1's 5 string to my 4-string: I have the same options ($100 Empress and $100 quarter sawn but I also added the matching headstock $150 and no. 8 neck $50) and I total net $1639.00.