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Why use basswood and birch for the guitar body?


mad axe man

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rs135wh-84.jpg

BODY BASSWOOD & BIRCH

NECK 1Pc MAPLE

SCALE 25.5"

FRETBOARD MAPLE

INLAY BLACK DOT

BRIDGE

TAILPIECE POWEROCKER

HARDWARE CHROME

PICKUP CONFIG S-S-S

PICKUP'S SUPER 5 (N)

SUPER 5 (M)

SUPER 5 (B)

CONTROL 1VOL 1TONE

5W SWITCH

PHASE SWITCH

FINISHES BK (BLACK)

WH (WHITE)

 

 

 

 

This axe does?

whay tone does birch produce?

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birch is considered a hardwood. it does have color and grain, but not in ways that are typically considered good looking.

being a great wood it is used in guitar building and painted to hide the grain and or color.

 

hardwoods, like maple, produce nice and bright tones.

 

basswood is a soft wood. I never understood why it's used; it dents so easily.

since woods transfer sound, maybe basswood has a quality .

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Originally posted by slider

basswood is a soft wood. I never understood why it's used; it dents so easily.

since woods transfer sound, maybe basswood has a quality .

 

 

'Cuz it's cheap and alot of players would never know the difference. Or care.

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Havent heard of birch being used for guitars. Howeverthe reason to use basswoodis verysimple. Superior sound. If you like the sound of Steve Vai & JP Of Dream Theater, your a basswood guitar fan. Thats what they pick as top choice for guitar body for tone.

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I read those same specs for those guitars in a catalog at ibanezrules the other day. I googled it and found this builder that speaks of Yellow Birch and American Basswood in particular.

 

http://www.wingsguitars.com/tonewoods.html

 

As Darkstorm mentioned, John Petrucci is a good example of a pro that prefers basswood. He used basswood for his RG-like signature models with Ibanez which was not any different than what the rest of the RGs, Vais, and Satrianis guitars used. But when he jumped ship to MusicMan what did he choose for his signature? Basswood again. He prefers it. People would rather think Japanese businessmen are deciding what woods to use in signature guitars for economic reasons

:rolleyes:

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Originally posted by ghastlyone

People would rather think Japanese businessmen are deciding what woods to use in signature guitars for economic reasons

:rolleyes:

 

:D Hmmm..., Then I wonder why Basswood is the overwhelming wood of choice used on lower priced guitars... :rolleyes:

 

I have no preference either way and Petrucci's preference is certainly his choice.

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Originally posted by Bmajor



:D
Hmmm..., Then I wonder why Basswood is the overwhelming wood of choice used on lower priced guitars...
:rolleyes:

I have no preference either way and Petrucci's preference is certainly his choice.

 

Its also the choice of high end builders like John Suhr on some of their instruments.

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Basswood is a soft, easily machined wood, but it's also very light and resonant. My Dean baby is made from basswood, and tonally it's great.

 

I'd suspect the 'cheap wood' theory for budget guitars is correct, but for the wrong reasons. With Basswood you can make a cheap guitar because the machining costs will be lower, plus it will produce a much better tone than a cheap, heavy piece of ash or alder. To get a high quality piece of Alder that is light will require care and inspection - all things that add cost.

 

I too like basswood.

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Originally posted by slider

birch is considered a hardwood. it does have color and grain, but not in ways that are typically considered good looking.

being a great wood it is used in guitar building and painted to hide the grain and or color.


hardwoods, like maple, produce nice and bright tones.


basswood is a soft wood. I never understood why it's used; it dents so easily.

since woods transfer sound, maybe basswood has a quality .

Basswood is a hardwood. The tree is deciduous. Of course it isn't as hard as maple,birch,etc. Closer to aspen/poplar. Birch as a wood is somewhat similar to maple,so birch would make sense.

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According to Anderson guitars, Basswood gets a bad reputation because guitars in the past that were thought to have been made of Basswood were actually made from other cheap, or mystery wood, that sounded like crap. From thit i used to do at Kramer, nothing suprises me. When i worked as a tuner or as a QC checker we would take Hondo guitars out of the box and remove all the Made in Korea stickers and replace them with, Kramer! Were proud to be an American company.

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It must be a pretty good-sounding combination. Not that far from mahogany and maple. Lots of fat tone with some extra top end.

 

BTW, there is also great looking brich. A lot of more exclusive furniture made here in Scandinavia is made from flame birch. The kind of wood figure you just stop to get a good stare at...

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BAsswood is a soft, cheap wood. It dents easily and manufacturers love it because it's readily available (furniture manufacturers avoid it like the plague). It's cheap and very easy on CNC router bits. It has a sterile quality to it's tone. Even response without a lot of coloration. Not very good sustain due to it's soft nature. If you use a lot of effects and just need your guitar to send out a uniform signal to be processed it might be better. Most of a guitar's tone comes from the pickups anyway and it is extremely lightweight compared to other guitar hardwoods.

 

Personally I don't see the sense in paying thousands to have a luthier make something out of basswood for me. I can buy a cheap guitar to get THAT.

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Originally posted by mad axe man

rs135wh-84.jpg
BODY BASSWOOD & BIRCH

NECK 1Pc MAPLE

SCALE 25.5"

FRETBOARD MAPLE

INLAY BLACK DOT

BRIDGE

TAILPIECE POWEROCKER

HARDWARE CHROME

PICKUP CONFIG S-S-S

PICKUP'S SUPER 5 (N)

SUPER 5 (M)

SUPER 5 (B)

CONTROL 1VOL 1TONE

5W SWITCH

PHASE SWITCH

FINISHES BK (BLACK)

WH (WHITE)





This axe does?

whay tone does birch produce?

 

Cool looking guitar.

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guitars using basswood:

 

Music Man AXIS and JP models

 

Ibanez JPM

 

Ibanez JS models

 

Ibanez RG models

 

just to name a few, from the top of line to the cheap guitars.

 

that means 2 things:

1. basswood is cheap.

2. it sounds good.

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We use lots of American Basswood, in our solid body, and semi hollow body guitars, not because it's cheap, but because of it's tonal values. With a Rock Maple neck, a Basswood body balances out the natural high frequencies from the Maple, and adds a lower tonal 'color' to it.

 

It's a wonderful tonewood. Yes it dings easily, but with care, they hold up well. The cheap imports are using a crap plywood now anyway. Good American Basswood isn't cheap!

 

GB

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Originally posted by guitarcapo

BAsswood is a soft, cheap wood. It dents easily and manufacturers love it because it's readily available (furniture manufacturers avoid it like the plague). It's cheap and very easy on CNC router bits. It has a sterile quality to it's tone. Even response without a lot of coloration. Not very good sustain due to it's soft nature. If you use a lot of effects and just need your guitar to send out a uniform signal to be processed it might be better. Most of a guitar's tone comes from the pickups anyway and it is extremely lightweight compared to other guitar hardwoods.


Personally I don't see the sense in paying thousands to have a luthier make something out of basswood for me. I can buy a cheap guitar to get THAT.

 

Whoa, hold on a sec.

 

Basswood is very soft, but also very resonant. If the guitar was purely acoustic, it would make for a very low sustain instrument. However, a resonant electric guitar vibrates in sympathy with the sound waves from the amplifier. Basswood generally has very good sustain, as do many resonant guitars.

 

//S

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Another really good tonewood, is Balsawood. Yes, it's a hardwood (believe it or not), but it's too soft to really use in an instrument. Some solid body guitars have a Balsa core, between the top and back laminates, the tonal properties are much like Basswood in this case, but that's another story.

 

On our acoustic guitars, the only place we use Basswood, is in the top and bottom kerfing. It blends the vibrations from the top, to the sides and back well.

 

BTW, tonewoods are based on their 'speed of sound', or the speed at which certain acoustic frequencies travel through them.

Yellow Birch, is also called 'poor man's Maple', as it has much of the properties of Sugar (Rock) Maple, with just a little less density, and stiffness.

 

 

GB

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High end Ibanez, Suhr, and Ernie Ball guitars have Basswood bodies. Lots of Fenders have Alder and Ash bodies. Les Pauls have Mahogany and Jacksons have Alder and sometimes Mahogany.

 

And no matter what, you're still going to sound the same.

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Originally posted by Bucketboy

High end Ibanez, Suhr, and Ernie Ball guitars have Basswood bodies. Lots of Fenders have Alder and Ash bodies. Les Pauls have Mahogany and Jacksons have Alder and sometimes Mahogany.


And no matter what, you're still going to sound the same.

 

 

I suppose you also think that a hollow body guitar sounds like a solid body?

 

You are seriously mistaken!

 

These woods are different, and these differences make the guitars sound different. An LP has a mahogany neck, and body, with a maple top cap. An SG is all-mahogany. They sound different as a result. An Ash bodied Strat, sounds different than an Alder one.

 

The best way to tell about the sound quality of even a solid body guitar, is to play it un-plugged, and listen to it.

 

We've been doing this for a long time, and it still amazes me, that so much wrong information is still out there.

 

GB

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