Just recently had a J Bass assemblied from a hodgepodge of parts I've collected here and there(see my avatar pic). The body is made from Paulownia. I went with Paulownia on a whim and a good deal, hoping it would yield a lightweight, decent sounding, yet cost-effective custom instrument. Even though the body has the standard J Bass shape, the wood is very lightweight(less than 4 lbs). With the final assembly and setup of the Mpl/Mpl neck, EMG PUPs, and hardware the instrument still weighs less than 8lbs. Unbelievable, but true. The tech who assembled the bass said the wood was a little tricky to work with, it seemed brittle in some spots and hard to drill in others. Wink wink, I did say I got a good deal...;) PSA aside, this is by far the lightest bass guitar I've ever owned. One thing that surprised me was that the body balanced better than I expected with the neck and vintage-style tuning keys. Granted it does have a slight nosedive, but straplocks and a wide strap help offset that a bit. Tonewise I would agree with Snakeman1066 in that Paulownia is bright, punchy, with a fast attack similar to Swamp Ash. This particular instrument is very much a slap/tap/thump/pop-friendly axe in the mode of Marcus Miller, Louis Johnson, and Larry Graham. Doesn't seem to have as much bass as my Ash and Alder bodied basses but that's a minor gripe, and not really surprising given its weight. I'm sure my back, left shoulder, and left elbow won't mind me having to boost the bass on my amp for those really long sets...:smug:. So far I've only played it at home, haven't had a chance to play it in a live setting. Not sure about how durable the body will be over time either; I've heard that Paulownia isn't necessarily a glutton for getting banged around. But we shall see. So far I'm pretty happy with the sound and feel of this tonewood, and the finished instrument overall. I'll post an update as I get more playing reps on the instrument. Hope this helps, peace.