A wood that I'm not familiar with......

Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

I've heard that this is Asian Basswood. Lot of low-end guitars use this kind of wood.
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

I was under the impression it was cheap and very slightly like Mahogany, but I'm not sure, I haven't heard much about it.
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

for some reason I always thought it was plastic :smack: whatever...
dan
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

Agathis is a form of eastern Pine. In December you could put it in it's stand and hang decorations from it!:)
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

Very soft wood with the texture and grain similar to basswood. Tonally, a blend between cheap mahogony and basswood. Not a desirable wood, especially considering any cheap guitar is not only going to have cheap wood, but also cheap construction. My Ibanez is an 8 piece agathis body. All that glue sure isn't doing much for the tone. Agathis is acceptable, IMO, with a high output pickup. Mine is loaded with EMGs.
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

The reason I asked was becasue I was playing a new ESP guitar yesterday that had neck thru construction and it was really nice. It had binding on the neck and it basically looked and PlLAYED like my Jackson Sl-2.


It sounded good through the amp at a very low level, but I knew as soon as I cranked it up that it would need a real pup in it and not the imitation EMG. The thing was only 485.00 though and that blew my mind considering that my Jackson was 1400.00 !

But now that I know a bit about this agathis crap, :smack: I think I will stay away.
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

well, if you like the sound and playability of it, then its the perfect wood for you!
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

Agathis is a type of conifer similar to pine. If I remember correctly it's found abundantly in Australia. You might hear it refered to as commercial grade mahogany but it is not similar to mahogany as far as its hardness. Although some species of conifers are harder than others. It's useful for building furniture and cabinetry. Personally, I would never use it to build a guitar.
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

It's not in the warmoth descriptions. That would be a bit of a concern if I were to begin building a guitar and I was looking at that type wood. Then again, be advised, we can be gear snobs sometimes, even though we generally don't mean to.

I'd say the 8 ply thing equalling plywood is pretty accurate. But, if agathis is as soft and if it's a connifer, then glueing a bunch of pieces together is probably a good idea.
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

I have played an Ibanez Gsa with an agathis body and an Ibanez Grx with an Alder body. At first, I could hear more bass with the Agathis one, but then, the bass sounded more like a thump rather than a boom and the harmonics and jangliness can't be found whenever you play with the single-coils. The Grx, although cheaper, had the better tone and the better response to pick-up changes.

My sister has a Suzuki Sdg-10 dreadnought with a spruce top and agathis back and sides. Surprisingly, it sounded better than the Sdg-5 with basswood sides and back. If you like the way agathis sounds, buy the guitar.
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

I have an epiphone explorer with a maple neck and three piece body, at least two of the pieces look to be agathis, the other one has dark streaks so may be black korina but I'm not sure. It has a dimarzio superdistortion in it but is dark, dull, lifeless, really only good for metal and hardrock. I want to get some better pickups into it but I don't recomend the wood.
 
Re: A wood that I'm not familiar with......

Well the thing is that I didn't really hear it through a Cranked decent amp to be able to tell if it sounds good or not and plus it has the iimitation EMgs in it. I have heard that Emg's dont really let the sound of the wood come through anyway.
 
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