Favorite guitar wood?

gnugear · Post by **gnugear** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:14 pm

Right now I've got an Alder/Rosewood Warmoth strat and a Walnut/Maple Warmoth strat. I'm trying to decide if I should replace the Walnut body. It has a lot of snap to it but doesn't sound as harsh as hard ash ... still it sounds a little cold. I was thinking of maybe a Mahogany body.

Necrovore · Post by **Necrovore** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:23 pm

Mahogany is my favorite guitar wood. Koa being second.

When you said Rosewood are you talking the fretboard? Ide have to say ebony for fretboards.

Mahogany will give you that nice warm smooth tone. You can also top the body with numerous woods for tonal properties and/or visuals. I am picking up a nice plank of highly figured Bubinga real soon that I will be using for body wings on a couple of upcoming projects I plan on building.

Black or White Limba(Korina) is good too and not too costly. Well the black isn't and is only called Black as there is dark streaks running through it.

Purpleheart is another cool looking wood that is really thick sounding but bright as it is very very very dense. About 2-3 times as dense as Maple.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:28 pm

Necrovore wrote:Mahogany is my favorite guitar wood. Koa being second.

When you said Rosewood are you talking the fretboard? Ide have to say ebony for fretboards.

It depends what type of woods for each neck or body. I hate ebony with alder or ash. With Mahogany seems to be a great match. Brings that snap back to what can be a muddy or dark guitar. Theirs just something about a Maple neck that really hits the right chime and belltone for me with single coils. Its more important to me then the body material on strats. Ill use ash mahogany or koa but its got to be a maple neck.

Necrovore · Post by **Necrovore** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:39 pm

I completely understand your point. I just happen to prefer neck throughs so I tend to go off on wood tangents when discussing body/neck wood. The wood combination is extremely important in all guitars. Using a dense wood leads to brightness where a more porous wood tends to be warmer. finding that personal balance that works for you can be as taxing as finding the right combination of effects inbetween the guitar and speaker.

If I had my choice I would play all mahogany with ebony fretboards exclusively. I like that tone and it fits my playing style. I love koa for its grain pattern though. I am building a guitar for my best friend that has mahogany wings, walnut stringers, maple and purpleheart laminated neck, will have an ebony fretboard, and he is looking into a spalted camphor bookmatched top. I am dreading shaping that freaking neck as well as dealing with the camphor as I have never held any in my hand and looks to be an open grain nightmare. The guy just was in the lumber store with me and was like a little kid saying i want that, and that, ooh and that too.... Oh wait, no, oh man gotta have that.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:45 pm

Guitars with maple neck throughs sound like complete shit to me. Im no fan of the PRS tone at all. But when I pick up a PRS with humbuckers and a maple thru neck and maple top and mahogany body Im thinking to myself, this is practicaly an all maple guitar with humbuckers. Its going to so sound horrifying. Strats can sound decent with all mahogany badys and something like a total rosewood neck or pae ferro or something but dual humbucking guitars sound like ass with all bright woods IMO.

gnugear · Post by **gnugear** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:46 pm

Bottom line is that I've got three guitars but could use a few more

... same with amps!

Necrovore · Post by **Necrovore** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:47 pm

well what exactly are you looking for?

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:48 pm

I love making strats thru warmoth too. Personally I like the raw look with oiled neck and bodys like basses. I like the look and the feel. People say finishes effect the tone as well. Thats a hard one to try out.

gnugear · Post by **gnugear** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:45 pm

Yeah, I couldn't afford a new "painted" guitar, so I went the oiled route. That's one of the reasons I chose walnut ... it looks beautiful oiled.

I'm thinking mahogany would look really nice too ... I just want something dark to contrast the maple neck.

Necrovore · Post by **Necrovore** » Fri May 06, 2005 11:15 pm

If you go that route see if you can get some figuring in the mahogany as on its own it is a pretty bland looking reddish orange wood. Walnut is way prettier. Mahogany is also fairly open grained so not sure if an oiled finish would be the best bet. You will need to fill the grain somehow and maybe a satin finish would be better on that wood.

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Sat May 07, 2005 12:38 am

I built an all-walnut guitar years ago. I found it to be kinda dark and muddy sounding with humbuckers. I might have liked it better with single coils, but even then I suspect that it needs some maple somewhere in the guitar's construction to give back a little crispness and clarity for my ears to enjoy it more.
I've still got one plank of that walnut left that will make a couple of Strat bodies one day. Usually I'm a rosewood Strat player, but I think an all-walnut body will call for a maple neck.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat May 07, 2005 2:07 pm

Hey Dan, I played a friends guitar the other day that is a prs copy with the mody made completely out of maple and there is almost no difference tone wise from a real prs. I hate those guitars too.

Necrovore · Post by **Necrovore** » Sat May 07, 2005 4:36 pm

The thing about a PRS is that it is not a neck through construction. It is a set neck using an extended tang that fits in a pocket that is further into the body than a LP is. An old pre mid 80's BC Rich would be a great example of a neck through constructed guitar.

videocat23 · Post by **videocat23** » Fri May 13, 2005 12:29 am

I got a basswood body that will one day be a single humbucker with a floyd rose on it.

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:43 am

videocat23 wrote:I got a basswood body that will one day be a single humbucker with a floyd rose on it.

Basswood gets looked down on a lot because it's softer and can ding easily, but my MIJ '62 Strat is basswood and it goes very nicely with single coil pickups to my ears, a little smoother than the poplar/alder that many are made of.