African mahogany Strat...Meh

[MetalManiac]

I'm really now of the opinion that African Mahogany ios pretty BLAH for a Strat.
Ive got a pretty nice 3 piece Warmoth body paired with a USACG Pau Ferro/ Pau Rosa neck that was set up unbelievably nice by my great fantastic guitar tech.
It sound fabulous, mostly cause of the neck, pickups and hardware, however I'm thinking the stuff they sell as African mahogany by Gibson for their Pauls and by places like Warmoth is pretty Blase'.
I Think the sum of the parts of a modern Les paul /SG means that the Gibsons are pretty excellent sounding guitars, but not many of you could begin to imagine a Les Paul made of
Honduran mahogany and Brazilian Rosewood.
Strats on other other hand sound really good with the African "Mahogany", but I've got my sights set on a fat piece of Honduran Mahogany or Koa somewhere down the line. It may cost several hundred dollars or more, however my gut tells me the guitar will be a lot LOT better.

[frankfalbo]

Re: African mahogany Strat...Meh

African Mahogany is all over the map. I've seen extreme density and weight differentials from one load to the next. The fact that your guitar is 3 pieces is definitely homogenizing the tone and response a bit. I have a large piece here that will give me 3 one-piece bodies and the color is nice, the weight is good; I expect a good voice from each piece. A lot of the burden with African is on the selection of the board, more than Honduran of course, but more than something like Alder, Basswood, Maple tops, etc. I agree if you get a good piece of African or Honduran you'll notice a big difference.

[robertkoa]

Re: African mahogany Strat...Meh

I think a lot of the Fatter, Warmer woods should be great for Strats instead of looking through 67 Alder Strats to find a fat, resonant one - why not use a Fat, Resonant wood /

I have a Koa Bolt( you can read my name and since they don't have Robertwood- I had to use KOA ) and I was hoping for more bottom end, resonance and sustain and it worked - very heavy weight but very loud unplugged and excels at the fatter, warmer, Gilmour/EJ tones etc. but with lots of resonance , you don't have to play LOUD IMO to get great tones.

I'd like to try Limba but have had great luck with Koa on 3 guitars.

The wood was suggested to me as very versatile by the famous Bass Luthier Michael Tobias many years ago- Thanks Michael !