is it my imagination?

[sniper]

a little research has told me that it is some times considered a commercial grade "Mahogany" but yes it is definately a Gymnosperm or conifer family: pine, cedar, fir, hemlock, spruce etc with a cone (think pine cone) seed. the actual name "Mahogany" would be eroneous when used with this tree and is a marketing import ploy as Mahogany is an Angiosperm or considered a flowering plant whereas a Gymnosperm is not. Gymnosperms also generally have to have a symbiotiuc relationship with ground funguses to process nutrient absorbtion.

the wood is a straight grained, pale yellow non oderous wood that is accepted in that part of the world as a musical wood with the better wood for instruments being old growth forests. (duh) it is considered a regrowth potential wood that can be used in wood plantations and is generally used for cabinet and furniture making with the moisture content being close to 15% average for air dried wood.

spruce is considered an excellent tonewood so IMHO being a "pine" might not regulate this Agathis to lower grade instruments.

[Barklessdog]

we don't want to go into rosewoods...

[Freuds_Cat]

The Kauri tree as mentioned is regarded as an Agathis wood. In NZ I have heard it referred to as Kauri Pine. So all of whats been mentioned so far fits with that idea.

[lowend1]

FWIW, back in the late 90s, I bought one of the first Epi EB-0s - the ones made in Korea. I still have it, and it's a solid, great playing bass, if a little uninspiring in the pickup dept. The newer ones are a far cry from it in almost every respect. I'm toying with putting a Model One in it (got a couple of Gibsons with REAL muddies already), but the black finish bugs me a little. I'd REALLY like to find one of the original M1s with the brushed aluminum finish.

[Dave W]

Some people revere the early pine Teles. I've seen a number of "pinecaster" projects at the TDPRI over the past few years.

One of the coolest basses I've ever played was a one-off masterbuilt pine bodied '55 Precision made by Mark Kendrick of Fender Custom Shop.

A tonewood is whatever sounds good. Some of our present tonewoods got to be that way because the manufacturer was looking for a cheaper alternative. For example, Gibson first bought korina hoping it would be a cheaper alternative to mahogany.

So I wouldn't dismiss agathis just because it's cheap. I'd have to hear enough agathis guitars or basses and let my ears decide.

[Freuds_Cat]

Hehe, nah dont get me wrong, the Agathis stuff I've heard so far has impressed me. I have a Yamaha Pacifica guitar which is natural body in Agathis and a half scale Agathis P bass body on a 25" neck which sounds amazingly big with help from some EMG Active pups.