About the difference wood makes ... seriously

[Lazarus1140]

I have two unfinished guitar projects, but that's not enough. I am GASing to start a build that's a bit different from my normal Strat and Tele types.

Mainly, I am not interested in it sounding like a Les Paul or a Strat ... but rather something in between and unique. I realize that the wood selection is only part of the formula and that there is a great deal of variation between pieces of the same species. I also understand that combinations of exotic woods and so on may result in a pure tonal dud rather than what the combined specs and so-called internet wisdom may suggest.

All that said, I want something that will produce some lows but a little tighter than what is normally attributed to Mahogany. I want highs that are not as piercing as what a vintage Tele bridge would likely produce. Basically, I want something with a wide range tonally yet still balanced. Good sustain is a must as is clarity in chords played cleanly. I do not play metal. I play in the Americana/Texas Country/Blues zone. I like a phat tone with abundant harmonics when driven.

I would not be disappointed if my project got tones similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toLsIe5EQqQ
And I realize that it is professionally produced video with excellent gear and a great player.

Back to the formula. I am thinking about a chambered Korina Body with a 1/4" Walnut top. For the neck I am considering either a Walnut neck with an Ebony fretboard or a Maple neck with Pau Ferro fretboard. For the pickups I might use the Saturday Night Special set or the 59/Custom Hybrid bridge with the Saturday Night Special neck. I haven't decided between the LesPaul or Tele outlines, but I know I will use a 2-point tremolo and Strat/Tele controls. That is, one volume, two tones, and a 4-way switch for combining humbuckers in both series and parallel. I never could bond with the two volume/two tone controls of my ES-335, and I have no interest in splitting coils.

So, again, I have Alder and Ash guitars so I want something tonally different. By the way, I am planning for a 25" scale to help find that middle ground between Gibson and Fender. Please do not suggest PRS. I like building.

Does anyone have personal experience with these woods? Does anyone with personal experience believe I'd be better off with a chambered Mahogany body? Almost all questions and comments will be appreciated.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

I'll be honest with you about this whole tonewood thing. I think that the wood that makes up the joint between the body and the neck is where 70% of your "wood tone" comes from.

I also believe that choosing wood to build a guitar based on its inherent tonal properties is silly. A piece of Ash from the top of a tree in an area that gets little rain is going to sound a lot different from a piece of Ash from the same species of tree that is found at the bottom of the tree below the waterline of a swamp. This is part of the reason why certain pickups such as the JB can be killer in some Mahogany guitars, but not in others. That being said, I choose wood based on appearance, weight, and hardness, prioritized in that order. The sound of the wood usually doesn't even come up in my consideration. This is also why I don't think about what pickups I want until the rest of the build is done, because they act as the final filter on a guitars tone.

Korina body, Walnut top, Walnut neck, Ebony board would be cool to tell people about though. I'd go with that one.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to select the tree or the cut or even thump on multiple pieces of wood until one sounds like a choir of angels. I'm buying stuff online like most people do and hoping for the best. I know I have researched and read and listened to multiple demos many times over the course of a year before deciding to buy a pedal (which used to be my addiction) only to find out that I didn't like it all ... I mean, totally disappointed in some that had glorious reviews online.

I guess it's no different than buying a guitar online with no opportunity to demo that specific guitar. It's the luck of the draw.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

A good bet would be to run this by the good folks over to Warmoth. Some people, even a moderator at Warmoth, do not think body wood is a factor except on acoustic instruments-well, thats why they are engineers and not artists primarily IMO. Warmoth has a good grip on the effects of your various body woods on tone and should steer you in the right direction. Best of luck.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

While you guys get started on this I'll head over to the amp room and start a thread about how useless 100W amps are... pretty sure it's never been done before. Hold on...

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

A good bet would be to run this by the good folks over to Warmoth. Some people, even a moderator at Warmoth, do not think body wood is a factor except on acoustic instruments-well, that's why they are engineers and not artists primarily IMO. Warmoth has a good grip on the effects of your various body woods on tone and should steer you in the right direction. Best of luck.

Thanks, Jerry. That's what I'll have to do since USACG is not really into exotics. That kinda bites because I prefer their necks and Warmoth doesn't offer a 25" scale option.

:banghead:

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

While you guys get started on this I'll head over to the amp room and start a thread about how useless 100W amps are... pretty sure it's never been done before. Hold on...

"Useless" is right considering that wattage has absolutely no effect on tone unless an acoustic guitar with laminated back and sides is running directly into the effects return.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

That being said, I choose wood based on appearance, weight, and hardness, prioritized in that order.

Korina body, Walnut top, Walnut neck, Ebony board would be cool to tell people about though. I'd go with that one.

I think it was the interface of neck and body where joints had 70% of the effect on me, and yeah ... Walnut and Koa are my two favorites in the appearance department, and I definitely want hardness - particularly in the neck. The Gibson I owned had to be retuned everytime the temperature changed a degree or two, and I may be wrong, but I convinced myself that that particular Mahogany neck was the culprit. I definitely want stiffer, more stable neck wood (than the one in my limited experience).

 

[AlexR]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

Its very hard to start portioning out percentages, as say that 70% designated area means little without a place to attach tuners. When you put a guitar together you cannot but look at the whole....as it is impossible for the most part to remove a section and see what the remainder does without it.

As has been said, you can only ever go on the 'typical tone' for a type of wood......but this should at least be sufficient to get going with a set of pickups and then tweak areas of the eq that might not be quite where you want them....the electronics as we all know is more influential.

The balanced woods are Alder, basswood and Korina.
For stiffness in the neck I'd go maple.....its well known for making good necks. Otherwise a laminate is similarly stable environmentally if you want a certain wood.

Here is a Tele I made with a korina body, maple neck with ebony fretboard. Rings out well and suits the pickups I have put in it.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

Whose pickups are those? They don't look quite like TV Jones.

 

[AlexR]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

I think they were from The Creamery. There were a couple of options I could go for that seemed more like what I was after.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

While you guys get started on this I'll head over to the amp room and start a thread about how useless 100W amps are... pretty sure it's never been done before. Hold on...

I think 100w isn't useless. I got tired of putting a mic on my smaller amps only to have the sound guy set them way too quiet.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

My bad you guys, I forgot to add the sarcasm sign...

 

[kramersteen]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

100watt is useless that's why i use 120watt.

 

[Mincer]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

I agree with percentages being somewhat useless when figuring out what effect any part of the guitar has on tone. As a rule, the tone of a particular piece of wood has guidelines, but I've heard dark AND bright walnut, dark AND bright alder, etc. One thing I can say about walnut is that it is generally heavy, which may or may not be a concern. Balance and light weight are important to me, but not important to others, so you have to weigh that.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

I agree with percentages being somewhat useless when figuring out what effect any part of the guitar has on tone.

I was using that as more of a description of what to expect. You can't really describe tone as a percentage unless you specifically refer to percentage of the EQ being altered or the percentage that a specific frequency is being raised or lowered.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

I agree with percentages being somewhat useless when figuring out what effect any part of the guitar has on tone. As a rule, the tone of a particular piece of wood has guidelines, but I've heard dark AND bright walnut, dark AND bright alder, etc. One thing I can say about walnut is that it is generally heavy, which may or may not be a concern. Balance and light weight are important to me, but not important to others, so you have to weigh that.

Weight is certainly a concern, but I was hoping that the claimed 25% reduction in body weight due to chambering might provide enough relief.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

Mainly, I am not interested in it sounding like a Les Paul or a Strat ... but rather something in between and unique. .

Lazarus, I'm one of those centrist types who listens to input from both ends of the spectrum and almost always find that my best answer lives in the boring, un-newsworthy middle of the road

To address your initial question, I believe wood has a lot of impact, however, there are so many variables that I have never been able to predict exact performance. I built a guitar over the last few years with a goal similar to yours- I'm happy with my strats and Les Pauls, but I was looking for snappy attack but more sustain and midrange than a tele or a strat- but not as flabby as most Les Pauls-

Like you, I thought my woods through in general; a big L5 mahagony body for warmth and sustain with a big bolt on maple neck. The good news is that the wood got me in the ball park, but I had to do a lot of pickup and wiring changes until I found my perfect sound (it now covers tele to LP jr timbers very nicely)

Bottom line is wood can get you in the ballpark, but there is a continuum with all of the hardware and electronics and the're all interactive. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't know, but in my case the journey (and experience of trying lots of combinations) is 1/2 the fun.

Looking forward to hearing more about your build!

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: About the difference wood makes ... seriously

100watt is useless that's why i use 120watt.

120 Watts are useless unless your amp goes to 12.