Tonewoods??

[fhn_lopes]

Maple... I had a cheapo Kort viva with maple body and I've put a set of bare knuckles (VHII/EMERALD) .. well I can tell you the sustain was very nice for a thin guitar (with a floyd also) and the tone was VERY warm... It tamed the VHII agression making it softer (don't know why) and the emerald on the neck was pure magic... warm, fat and clear. Split coils worked VERY nice too.
I also tried the emerald neck in the bridge position and it worked out nice, very warm and fat tone, sweeeeet harmonics, perfect for blues and old rock (not what that guitar is made for though)...

Ive been seriously thinking of getting a maple body again, this time a custom cantrell-ish super strat... flamed maple neck with ebony fingerboard... floyd system, single pup (JB)... Straight rock machine

[Tone Slinger]

The Cantrell G&L's are made of soft western maple, which is quite different to the hard maple.The tone is warmer and less bright, as well as MUCH lighter weight

[fhn_lopes]

Thanks on the info Andy!

Actually I'm afraid it ends up too bright bc of the ebony board too... I realize there's a few different kinds of maple (so there is ash) and they sound different as well... It would be nice to hear a comparison between them with the same pups and amp;

I also read a lot of good coments about poplar... never played one guitar made of it though.

I like Alder for strats and the mahog/maple combo for LP... I don't like mahog only like on the SGs and other guitars... lacks treble detail and sometimes the tone is too smooth for my tastes.

[Tone Slinger]

Poplar is cheaper and PLENTIFULL,it is to the Eastern USA that Alder is to the Western USA..... very common. Poplar is one of the main staples of food for Bee's over here (Honey ),so its tone 'Tastes Good' .

My buddy has an old first run Peavey Vandenburg guitar. Its Poplar with an Ebony board, and is a very nice sounding axe, especially for hard rock. Most of the '90's era Standard Strats (MIM) were poplar.

I agree about Mahogany. The lack of aggressive highs and that inherent 'smoothness' is a downside.I think a maple cap is MANDATORY for Mahogany, and that the PAIRING of those two woods is one ofthe BEST sounding recipe's .

If only ONE wood type is to be used,I vote for Alder & Poplar as the overall best.