the.com/basswood
the tree carvers worship and bees raid, soft enough to shape, sweet enough to fight over
means A North American linden tree with soft, pale, fine-grained wood prized for carving and woodworking, whose fragrant blossoms are a favorite of bees.
from The 'bass' here has nothing to do with the fish or the low note — it's a worn-down form of 'bast,' the old word for the tough inner bark of the linden, the stringy layer once stripped for rope and matting. So a basswood is literally a 'bast-wood,' the tree you peeled for cordage. 'Bast' itself is an old Germanic word, with cousins across the northern languages, all pointing back to fiber pulled from bark.
- carver's choice
- so soft it whittles like firm butter
- bee magnet
- flowers fuel prized, pale linden honey
- guitar bones
- cheap solid-body electrics are often basswood
- rope ancestor
- inner bark once twisted into cordage and mats
- linden alias
- same tree Europeans call lime, no fruit involved
american basswood — tilia americana, native tree from quebec to north carolina, valued for lightweight wood used in carving and musical instruments
european linden — tilia europaea, dominant species across central europe, produces aromatic flowers and served as town center trees since medieval times
silver linden — tilia tomentosa, native to southeast europe and western asia, distinguished by silvery leaf undersides, thrives in urban london and european parks