Members hangwire Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 like the title asks, what are your thoughts... trtying to pass along info to a person who wants a tele so they are happy with what they order Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ispunk Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 If I ever put together a Tele it's gotta be an Ash body. I think there is just something with Ash that gives a Tele it's own sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jerry_L Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 I built one with a mahogany body. I think it sounds awesome, but I don't like a lot of treble bite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the Dodo Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 People tend to believe the body wood is a big part of a guitars sound. I heard a recorded guitar with normal wooden body and then the same parts (Neck, Pickups etc.) have been screwed on a random old video player - I didnt hear any difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jerry_L Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 So the decision should be made on other factors than tone. The body should have enough weight to balance the neck, and it should appeal visually to the player. An old video player is probably still not the best choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the Dodo Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 An old video player is probably still not the best choice. Yep. But there are many more ways to {censored} up your guitar: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wjbratcher Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 I've had ash, alder, and basswood teles, and the woods did not seem to make a difference in "tone". Pickups and string gauge definitely will make a difference, however. I still like to think that the weight and density of the body make a difference, but I fear that it's small. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members IRG Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 I have an ash bodied CS tele, it's nice and light, very resonant. I don't think it's the type of wood, necessarily that makes a big difference, rather the quality of the wood, and the overall construction. Bottom line, on a solid body guitar, if it's put together well, the biggest impact in tone will be the pickups, not the type of wood. On a semi or full hollow body guitar, then yes the wood does indeed make a bigger difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Seth Carmody Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 I've an ash strat. Sounds more scooped than its alder brothers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V Posted August 24, 2011 Members Share Posted August 24, 2011 I like pine, personally. It's very resonant. The body wood definitely does make a difference in sustain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spoonie g Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 Ash has always sounded scooped to me as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 I like the bite and snap of a good swamp ash Tele, but I also like the deeper mids and well-rounded character of alder too. The only "alternative" wood I'd ever consider other than those two for a Tele would be poplar, which sounds kind of similar to alder to me. Basswood is definitely out for Telecasters AFAIC. If you go mahogany, you may as well go all-out and put humbuckers or P90's in too... and rosewood is just too darned heavy. I'd have to spend more time with some pine Teles before making a final judgment there, but I'd be concerned about the softness and the ease of dinging pine up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tattoedsailor Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 You should hear alder body Tele after its been naturally aged for 45 years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the Dodo Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 You should hear alder body Tele after its been naturally aged for 45 years... Yeah, maybe I should. But did you ever heard someone playing a Gibson SG that sounds 100% like a Tele? I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Capsule Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 My LsL is ash, my gf's fender Am std tele is alder... I think phil has it right, mine has more bitey airy twang and roars like a demon when i hit it hard. The alder tele is definitely deeper in the mids and seems more focused. It doesn't have the roar, not even close. not sure if thats wood type or everything combined. That being said, they are both completely different guitars... There is definitely a difference in wood types... but yeah electronics make a huge difference. You need to go play a few of different woods side by side. At least search out some youtube vids of each type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Seriously -- some of you guys really think, based on personal listening and playing experience (or... ? ) that the type of wood makes no difference to the sound of a guitar? An ash, alder, pine or basswood Tele is going to sound the same, assuming the same pickups, bridge, neck, etc. are used? Sources? Documentation? Can you give me some stuff to back that claim up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the Dodo Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 Seriously -- some of you guys really think, based on personal listening and playing experience (or... ? ) that the type of wood makes no difference to the sound of a guitar? An ash, alder, pine or basswood Tele is going to sound the same, assuming the same pickups, bridge, neck, etc. are used? Sources? Documentation? Can you give me some stuff to back that claim up? Sure Phil. I wrote my skilled work about possibilities of toneshaping on electric guitars. As I made researches I found out a few different german (Dr. and Prof.) physicists have written detailed documents about the tone shaping behaviour of different parts on the guitar. To be exact, they documented and researched characteristics of every single part on the guitar. Physically and with electronic measurements. To be honest, I didnt read everything as I only needed to quote certain thematics and sentences. But as far as I worked through some of the chapters it seemed to be proven that every wood can sound complete alike. I made up my own opinion. If you buy a Telecaster, go in a shop and test through ten guitars, you probably pick the one that has a good mix of the sound you are after, desired build quality and playability. If you test two exactly same models, say two Fender American Std. Teles, do they sound the same? Not really. You should know that even your mixing desk has tolerances in every single electronic part. If you buy a very cheap Behringer mixer chances are two channels built with the same parts (and part tolerances) sound basically the same - or different. Higher priced products offer tighter tolerances so your SSL or Neve desk should sound exactly the same in every channel. Take a stereo signal for example, if you have a cheap mixer the fader positions could be totally different to reach a certain amount. This wont happen with a high quality mixing desk. Now wood is a material where you cant speak of "tolerances". Every piece of wood is different. You might have two pieces of ash but on one piece the grain, humidity, weight etc. can be different to piece one. As stated before, I heard guitars making the exact sounds of other guitars before. My english sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Danke Robin, I appreciate you making the effort -- Ihr Englisch ist besser als mein Deutsch. If you have any links to their research papers or work, I'd love to check them out. Better if they're in English, but I'll try to struggle through them even if they're in German. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vexed Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 Ash is more scooped in the mids w/ prominent highs and lows compared to alder which is more mid focused. Some hear a difference and some don't. I prefer ash w/ teles, makes a pretty big difference IMO... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the Dodo Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 Danke Robin, I appreciate you making the effort -- Ihr Englisch ist besser als mein Deutsch. If you have any links to their research papers or work, I'd love to check them out. Better if they're in English, but I'll try to struggle through them even if they're in German. PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Got it -- will try to have a look tomorrow night or this weekend when I have more time... thanks again Robin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 I think there is just something with Ash that gives a Tele it's own sound. Ditto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wjbratcher Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 Ash is more scooped in the mids w/ prominent highs and lows compared to alder which is more mid focused. Some hear a difference and some don't. I prefer ash w/ teles, makes a pretty big difference IMO... I have just flat-out not found this to be true at all, despite these being my expectations. I used to compare the following guitars: '62 Tele Custom reissue (alder), newer American Standard ash Tele, and a MIJ '50s reissue (basswood). The snappiest and most "scooped" sounding out of all of them (by far) was the alder custom (with a rosewood board, no less!), and the most "rounded" and midrangey was the basswood Tele. The ash, shockingly to me, was somewhat dull-sounding in comparison No big highs and lows, and no scooped twangy sound at all. I attributed the differences to pickups, obviously, but it was still interesting how little the wood species seemed to affect the overall sound of the guitar. I know this is not scientific at all of course, but this is what I took away: I would not be able to blindly determine the body wood of a Tele based on sound alone in a blind test. Perhaps other guitars and body shapes would yield different results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Taylor. Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 Is a mahogany Tele taboo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wjbratcher Posted August 25, 2011 Members Share Posted August 25, 2011 Is a mahogany Tele taboo? no. the '69 thinline reissues are mahogany, and they sound like . . . . a tele. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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