The HG Thor Guitar Lab

• Neck: Moses Graphite Five string
• Body: Solid Swamp Ash
• Pickups: Bartolini
• Bridge: Allparts
• Tuners: Sperzel
• Tone: Excellent Sustain, Fundamental, Full Spectrum, Balanced.

Rick Marsi, Nature, Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, Tuesday May 12, 1998:

Tuneful bass rises out of the swamp

The band was about to rip into blues when we stopped to admire a new bass our guitarist had made. Harris Thor of Vestal, New York makes beautiful electric guitars and basses. He also plays one awesome solo.

The instrument he unveiled featured an expertly sculpted wooden body, sanded but untouched by sealer. Finishing would come later. For the moment, we all had the treat of admiring raw wood crafted so expertly.

“What kind of wood is it?” I asked of the widely grained, sand colored stock he had chosen.

“Swamp ash from the south," was the answer I got. We all starting thinking of bands like the Allmans and Skynyrd, way down there in swampy ol' Dixie.

“It’s as strong as white ash, but lighter,” said Harris. We nodded approvingly, knowing how heavy a bass can feel come the last set long after midnight.

We carefully returned the new bass to its case, then proceeded to "woodshed" for three hours in the basement- performing for the walls and ourselves.

I thought about swamp ash a few times that night. I knew it would give me my first chance to use a new tree book that had come in the mail.

Thorough Guide

Trees of the Central Hardwood Forests of North America is destined to find itself hailed as a reference of permanent value. The book's 509 pages contain descriptions of more than 250 tree species growing naturally, or commonly planted, in a broad band across eastern North America.

Donald Leopold of the State University's College of Environmental Science and Forestry at SyracAs well as describing and illustrating the bark, buds, twigs, flowers and fruit of each tree, the book indicates each tree's value as a food source for wildlife. Range maps show where all the trees grow.

Published by Timber Press Inc., the book sells for $49.95. You can order it by calling 800-327-5680.

I went to the index and looked up swamp ash. Don Leopold gave me two choices. I could read about black ash (Faxinus nigra) or green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), both of which are commonly called "swamp ash."
 

A vote for green

I read about both, but I think the guitar came from green ash. Here's why:

For one thing green ash is far more widespread, growing along stream banks and in flood plains throughout much of the South and Midwest. Black ash is restricted to swamps, bogs and streams in the North, from Minnesota to Maine and Canada.

While black ash wood is dark brown, green ash wood is light. It is so light, in that green ash frequently is marketed under the
name of America's most common ash tree, the white ash. White ash isn't called “white" for nothing.

So I think it was green ash that Harris molded into the body of one dandy bass. I am happy to report that he made the new bass for a good friend I play with quite often. That means I have not heard the last notes, or had my last look, at that swamp ash guitar.

Marsi is a Press & Sun-Bulletin staff writer. His column appears Tuesdays.
Press & Sun-Bulletin
Copyright 1998 The Binghamton Press Co., Binghamton, NY
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