Alder & Rosewood = TONE!

[Phantasmagoria]

Watcha think??

[Snake Aces]

I think rosewood is a tone god! Yes, pairing it with a body wood such as alder is definitely balanced, but rosewood is legendary!

Welcome to the international rosewood players club. Now you know.

[Mincer]

Rosewood & alder is my favorite combo (for sound) ever. Other woods are prettier. But I'd rather have it sound great.

[Phantasmagoria]

Well..I've never thought of Rosewood except for fretboards, (and old furniture lol...) and I do generally prefer them to maple ones, plus a couple of my fave axes (my Jackson pro series and my Charvel traditional pro) are rosewood fretboard/alder body guitars, but now I'm pretty sure that it has a pretty sweet effect on tone when it used as a top as well..

This axe is a joy to play & sounds absolutely gorgeous. The other walnut-top is no slouch either (lovely tone as well/plays like a dream....& yeah, it's prettier) ...but there's something about the top end on this one for me...

[dzdandcunfsd]

Yeah rosewood has a great tone, not a combo I've ever owned anything in, usually mahogany bodies, I can see alder being great as well

[zizyphus]

Interesting! I've never played this combo before, but now you've got me GASing

Strangely enough, I've found that poplar works wonderfully to my ears. I have two cheap axes that both have poplar bodies, and both just NAIL the sound I want. When I've tried the same pickups in other guitars, it just wasn't the same. It seemed to do something to the mids and high end - making the tone fat and aggressive - and also cut the low end a little bit, as if there was an always on tube screamer__PRESENT

[Mincer]

I have a not-so-cheap Music Man out of poplar, and it is nothing but mids. I have to use really scooped pickups to sound normal to me.

[dzdandcunfsd]

I have a not-so-cheap Music Man out of poplar, and it is nothing but mids. I have to use really scooped pickups to sound normal to me.

I do so love the look of those, and I'm sure with different pickups do sound great, but when I could of afforded one never did, if I was paying that much I wanted something a little more to my liking with minimal work and extra $$'s .........still really beautiful guitars though. The three or four I played while debating it were all mostly mids as well, in hindsight probably should of grabbed one, as I loved everything about them but that. Ah well, add another to the wish list

[dave74]

I find poplar to be very out-front with the mids, and would rather have an ebony board if it was maple/poplar.
My only rosewood time has been fretboards. Only 3 of my guitars have rosewood and the rest have ebony, mostly because I prefer the look tbh.

For the type of pickups I like best (high-output ceramics), rosewood lends the extra warmth that's easier to work with IMO, while still having the bite.
Ebony is definitely crisper but not as warm (on average).

Small differences in the big picture, but enough to change the boost or amp knobs just a hair.

A smoking hot thick A5-based model like a tone zone would probably go in a maple/alder/ebony guitar for me. (which I don't have sadly)
I've considered sometime getting the ltd black metal M-series floyd model,(maple/alder/ebony) with the single custom Black Winter.
Probably would be tempted to snag the BW for another guitar and use the ltd for a tone zone. I really want a blackened BW!!!

[Phantasmagoria]

I think wood definitely has more of an effect on tone than one would give it credit for & generally it's not something that's easily compensated for with EQ or the like.

[Mr. 80's]

I think wood definitely has more of an effect on tone than one would give it credit for & generally it's not something that's easily compensated for with EQ or the like.

It has a big impact even heavily overdrivin, their character is always there no matter what. It's only been in recent "internet times" where people try to deny it and they try to go to great lengths to disprove it. For some odd reason people hop on that bandwagon and run with it. All you need is a set of ears. People knew this long before the internet was around to try to convince them otherwise. EQ isn't the answer to everything and wood does matter on a solid body.