Controversial Opinion

[Top-L]

My Jackson is Poplar. It's light, easy to play, and with the right pickups it screams. But yeah, it has less bass than some other guitars. But there are plenty of warm, bass-heavy pickups that balance it out.

I didnt think the poplar guitar was terrible, but my sabres already do that lightweight thing and im headed the other direction.

I did like the basswood soloist tone i had briefly. I like basswood. Its what i consider the middle.

[Top-L]

The bass on this is too boomy because of how I mixed it. That said, I was going for a vintage 70s tone--like a Mo-town bass.

What was I using? Fender Original 62 P bass pickup, yes. Maple neck possibly. Roundwound nickel wrapped Ernie Ball strings. 105s maybe. Nothing special.

But the body? Pressed plywood. The bass was a lawsuit Korean P bass made probably in the 70s or 80s. Global was the brand name.


https://soundcloud.com/devolve1980/b...ealms-of-death

Avoid the p woods. Pine. Poplar. Plywood.

[Inflames626]

IME, basswood and poplar, the cheaper woods usually used under solid painted guitars, are quite soft. You'd think they'd sound warm and squishy.

For me, I want a lightweight, hard wood with a bright tone. All about controlling the mud.

IIR, the Ibanez guitar John Petrucci used in the "Rock Discipline" video was basswood. He says so in the section where he talks about his gear.

[Inflames626]

Avoid the p woods. Pine. Poplar. Plywood.

Plywood for which the .1uf cap completely compensated.

The only problem with the bass in the song was the truss rod issue. You can hear the bass dead fret whenever I go to third fret G.

[Rex_Rocker]

Pine is fine on my Squier. It sounds thin and wiry acoustically. That's the way I've always pictured a Tele/Esquire should sound anyway. It's cheap too, so I don't really expect much from it, TBH. It's just a fun guitar to strum on when I want a radically different feel to my Gibson.

[Top-L]

None of my basswood guitars have been particularly light. Im guessing they are more similar to alder in density.

[Mincer]

I have a poplar guitar that is the most mid heavy instrument I ever tried. But it plays well, and I love the way it looks, so I keep it. I compensate by having very scooped pickups in it.

[Lucius Paisley]

I have a poplar guitar that is the most mid heavy instrument I ever tried. But it plays well, and I love the way it looks, so I keep it. I compensate by having very scooped pickups in it.

Yeah, but you know what you're doing.

At least, I hope you do.

That "administrator" title isn't just honorary, is it?

[Top-L]

Something needs to be said here about how well a certain wood absorbs paint/finish, as well.

I don't need a fancy wood. Basswood/poplar/alder all work for me because most of my guitars are gloss black. If I were playing a guitar with a fancy finish, maybe a maple top would be better.

So a lot of times the paint color and scheme will dictate body wood.

Edit: if I were to choose a wood based on tone from particular woods I have played, I would probably want a 100% maple guitar. Body, neck, fretboard, everything. It's brighter and, generally, brightness is good for metal.

An all maple guitar would weight 15-20#.

The best you can do is a maple core, neck through with whatever wings. This is why Jackson, ESP, Schecter are popular in metal guitar.

I have plenty of bolt on maple necks and currently one maple neck through. The bolt on maple necks are quite warm. I think the brightness comes from neck through, but I'm not sure.

[Mincer]

Yeah, but you know what you're doing.

At least, I hope you do.

That "administrator" title isn't just honorary, is it?

I seem to have a knack for this.

[GuitarDoc]

An all maple guitar would weight 15-20#.

Well, yeah, if it were as big as your dining table.
I have an all Maple guitar that weighs 5 lb 10 oz (yes, it's chambered, however, but that only removes about 1-2 pounds).
Maple is heavier than basswood certainly, and heavier than Cedar, Black Limba. and Ash, but not much more than good Mahogany. WAY lighter than Cocobolo, Granadillo, Padauk, Ebony, and even some Bubinga and Walnut. (Keeping in mind that any piece of wood may have a different density and weight than another piece of the same type wood).