Members cacheek Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 If you were building your own solid-body guitar, what tone wood would you choose for the body for shear versatility only, not for a particular stle per se. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Filter500 Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Basswood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members colejustesen Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Basswood I would have to agree Cole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NaturalBornBoy Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 I've always loved alder so I'll stick with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mbarn3065 Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Didn't we have a thread a few weeks ago that said, "the wood on a solid body guitar does not affect the tone?" Personally, I believe the wood does make a difference in tone! I like swamp ash for a Fender style guitar with single coils and mahogany for a Gibson style guitar with humbucking pick-ups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tech21man Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 The wood surely affects the tone in the notion that two identical guitars (build, electrical stuff, tuners, hardware, finish everything) may not sound the same and the only reason for that happening is the wood. I personally believe that it isn't species specific and that no one has ever given anything other than hazy tonewords or abjectives. I want khz, harmonics the whole package. I would like to know why two guitars made 100% from the same stuff (now including the wood species) don't sound all that similar sometimes. If somebody mentions strat (alder maple) vs les paul I'd throw him a garbage can in the head and would tell him to look at the differences in pickups, scale length, mass etc before the wood species... It is funny how people like steve vai or john suhr end up saying that maple (for fretboards) doesn't have rosewood bite or treble whereas it is commonly regarded as the treblier wood of them all. Vai goes as far as saying that it is preffered for single coils for its strong mid quality (referring to strat style guitars which use "thin sounding single coils"). Ha! Isn't that a punch in the balls of most luthiers... If I had to "chose" woods for a guitar I'd go for looks and weight and take the tone from there. Or even feel. I'd like a basswood backed superstrat with a cool maple cap combined with a quartersawn oiled or burned curly maple neck with an ebony fingerboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scratchie Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 If you're going electric...pickps make more difference than wood. however tree wood does sound better than non-tree wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members americansinner Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 If you were building your own solid-body guitar, what tone wood would you choose for the body for shear versatility only, not for a particular stle per se. I think for the most versatile, what you want to do is balance the tone wood with the pickup type, (scale, intended string gauge, and pickup placement matter as well of course). I've always favored a balanced sound over a pre-colored one. The turn of a single amp knob can be more dramatic than your wood, but if you start with a stable platform, you can go farther in any direction. If you are going for something harmonically balanced for pickups, use a wood that is more neutral, mahogany, adler, walnut. Something that tends warm, like dual HBs, something bright like maple. Basswood for a bunch of chimey single coils. That's all my opinion formed over many years. But I have close musician friends that are totally in another camp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pepi Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Alder or Basswood ... all maple neck and a custom custom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blakkwater Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Alder for versatility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paul88lx Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Ash. For no reason other than I think it sounds bast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NinjaRaf Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 I like mahogany...so Id go for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 one of each , I'd probaby start with Alder though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hcprimerib Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 mahog or alder. depending on my mood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ~Abstract~ Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 mahjogny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peavey_impact Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Mahog body, maple neck, rosewood board. Perfection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Miter Gauge Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Ash. For no reason other than I think it sounds bast. In my personal experience it is very hard to fill the grain in Ash especially if you plan on using lacquer instead of poly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LIBBY! Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 I've built a few partsocasters. The one I kept has an lightweight Ash body. To me, ash sounds bigger, alder is kinda more mid focused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdgeOfDarkness Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Cedar that still has sap in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Wood makes very little difference in tone. You can move a pickup a few centimeters along a string's scale length and it will change the sound more than the entire sweep of guitar woods. There are so many things that have way more of an effect like the wiring, scale length, the amp, pickup adjustments. Seriously. Forget about the sound aspect. Select a tonewood for other reasons like: Durability. Beauty. Rarity. Ability to hang onto hardware without screws stripping out. Weight. Balance. Feel. But don't kid yourself that you are hearing wood when you play an electric guitar. It just ain't happening. Placebo effect. Wishful thinking. Willful suspension of disbelief. I know you're hearing a difference. But it's something else. Different polepiece adjustments on the pickups. Different pots. It's something else. It's not the wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundgardener75 Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Wood makes very little difference in tone. You can move a pickup a few centimeters along a string's scale length and it will change the sound more than the entire sweep of guitar woods. There are so many things that have way more of an effect like the wiring, scale length, the amp, pickup adjustments. Seriously. Forget about the sound aspect. Select a tonewood for other reasons like: Durability. Beauty. Rarity. Ability to hang onto hardware without screws stripping out. Weight. Balance. Feel. But don't kid yourself that you are hearing wood when you play an electric guitar. It just ain't happening. Placebo effect. Wishful thinking. Willful suspension of disbelief. I know you're hearing a difference. But it's something else. Different polepiece adjustments on the pickups. Different pots. It's something else. It's not the wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdgeOfDarkness Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 I know you're hearing a difference. But it's something else. Different polepiece adjustments on the pickups. Different pots. It's something else. It's not the wood. And the density of wood doesnt make your guitar sustain or be loud when unplugged. Its all in your head.As a matter of fact we only need wood to hold all the {censored} together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundgardener75 Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 And the density of wood doesnt make your guitar sustain or be loud when unplugged. Its all in your head. As a matter of fact we only need wood to hold all the {censored} together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NinjaRaf Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 Wood makes very little difference in tone. You can move a pickup a few centimeters along a string's scale length and it will change the sound more than the entire sweep of guitar woods.There are so many things that have way more of an effect like the wiring, scale length, the amp, pickup adjustments.Seriously. Forget about the sound aspect. Select a tonewood for other reasons like:Durability. Beauty. Rarity. Ability to hang onto hardware without screws stripping out. Weight. Balance. Feel.But don't kid yourself that you are hearing wood when you play an electric guitar. It just ain't happening. Placebo effect. Wishful thinking. Willful suspension of disbelief. I know you're hearing a difference. But it's something else. Different polepiece adjustments on the pickups. Different pots. It's something else. It's not the wood. If thats the case, why does the same pickup sound different in a different guitar through the same rig? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdgeOfDarkness Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 If thats the case, why does the same pickup sound different in a different guitar through the same rig? the different finishes. paint sounds better than poly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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