Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

[knight_yyz]

Hey guys, I was told this is a Made in Japan Fender reissue body. So it should be alder. But I wouldn't know alder from a piece of metal. Here's a closeup pic with my macro lens. What do you guys think? It is definitely a 57 reissue, the reissue tremolo and pick guard both line up perfectly with the holes.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Looks like Alder to me. Basswood doesn't have as much grain, and when smeared with mineral oil, has a green tinge. Could be 'Poplar' wood though, which is harder to identify. Poplar has less grain and looks kinds like Basswood. Poplar ages well, sounds thousands of times better than Basswood, and is almost akin to good Alder in its balance. Poplar is more dense and has less harmonic tone than Alder, but it beats Basswood by a mile -Basswood a light, plinky and thin soulless tone wood that belches a harsh midrange ; Basswood has cheap high gain dud tones.
I truly believe Basswood is a hideous sounding tone wood that has no depth or definition.
Some fools love Basswood cause they work with cheap amps and cheap Basswood guitars and do not know what good high end tone is.

 

[muttznmongrelz]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

I'd guess Alder from the pics...what does it weigh?

 

[greekdude]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

alder

 

[dominus]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Some fools love Basswood cause they work with cheap amps and cheap Basswood guitars and do not know what good high end tone is.

Like this guy?

BTW, this is a *pickup* forum. You can make just about any plank of wood sound decent with a pickup swap. I had a plywood Strat that sounded awesome with a GFS Crunchy PAT. I've had guitars made from the same wood that ranged from tonally dead to icepick in the ear. It's all in the cut of the wood.

 

[greekdude]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Some fools love Basswood cause they work with cheap amps and cheap Basswood guitars and do not know what good high end tone is.

lol

 

[greekdude]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

I had a plywood Strat that sounded awesome with a GFS Crunchy PAT. I've had guitars made from the same wood that ranged from tonally dead to icepick in the ear. It's all in the cut of the wood.

This. I start to believe sometimes it is just bad or good luck.

 

[knight_yyz]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Thanks for the replies guys. My first guitar is an Ibanez, and it is basswood. And I find it a very muddy guitar. I'm comparing that to my mahogany epiphone. So I am not a fan of basswood.

I did put this on a scale, but it isn't the most accurate, but it seems to be just over 2.75 kilos which is just shy of 4 pounds.

 

[dominus]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Thanks for the replies guys. My first guitar is an Ibanez, and it is basswood. And I find it a very muddy guitar. I'm comparing that to my mahogany epiphone. So I am not a fan of basswood.

The stock pickups are like that. Any Ibanez with Powersounds or Infinities just has to have the pickups ripped out. If the guitar itself is dark, look for pickups with boosted treble. A Full Shred or Dimarzio Evolution set will open that right up.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Looks like Alder to me. Basswood doesn't have as much grain, and when smeared with mineral oil, has a green tinge. Could be 'Poplar' wood though, which is harder to identify. Poplar has less grain and looks kinds like Basswood.

I agree, I think it looks like Alder as Basswood typically does not have a lot of grain that shows like that.

Some fools love Basswood cause they work with cheap amps and cheap Basswood guitars and do not know what good high end tone is.

:argh: noooooo! We agreed on so much so far! lol

I guess I'm a fool...along with Joe Satriani...if that kinda of company makes me a fool them I am a willing happy fool :banana:

 

[knight_yyz]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

The stock pickups are like that. Any Ibanez with Powersounds or Infinities just has to have the pickups ripped out. If the guitar itself is dark, look for pickups with boosted treble. A Full Shred or Dimarzio Evolution set will open that right up.

I put some dimarzios in the ibanez and i still wasn;t happy. But... I think it's my fault for entering the wrong info on the pickup selector. The humbucker from hell at the neck is ok, but I think its an air norton bridge at the other end Im not too crazy about.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Thanks for the replies guys. My first guitar is an Ibanez, and it is basswood. And I find it a very muddy guitar. I'm comparing that to my mahogany epiphone. So I am not a fan of basswood.

I did put this on a scale, but it isn't the most accurate, but it seems to be just over 2.75 kilos which is just shy of 4 pounds.

I love Basswood with the right pickups. My favorite combo is the DiMarzio Liquifire and the Seymour Duncan Screamin Demon...killer combo!

 

[greekdude]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

^^^ Blazes 7-string all the way for me! I'd like to get an identical but white uv71p and mod it with the duncans you suggest.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

^^^ Blazes 7-string all the way for me! I'd like to get an identical but white uv71p and mod it with the duncans you suggest.

Ahhhh, a 7 stringer I tried 7 and 8 strings but could never wrap my mind around the extra strings. lol

I stumbled across the Liquifire by accident...I've found that I typcially like DiMarzios in Basswood but I do like the Screamin Demon in it too....well, I haven't heard that pickup in a guitar I haven't liked

 

[knight_yyz]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Well I am a little bummed out. The body I bought was advertised as a MIJ fender 57 reissue. My neck is definitely a 57 MIJ reissue. But when I bolted the neck up there is a 1/2 mm gap between the neck and the body. I'm pretty sure that should be as snug as possible . The 57 tremolo from Japan fits perfect as do all the other parts, just that 1/2 mm gap is bugging me

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Well I am a little bummed out. The body I bought was advertised as a MIJ fender 57 reissue. My neck is definitely a 57 MIJ reissue. But when I bolted the neck up there is a 1/2 mm gap between the neck and the body. I'm pretty sure that should be as snug as possible.

Hmmm, I would've thought it would've been snug too. But I am not 100% certain on that...

 

[knight_yyz]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Is this going to affect tone? Besides the fact that this is not aesthetically pleasing, I'm not too happy with the fitment. This is "bolted" in with neck plat and all 4 screws (which did line up perfectly)

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Is this going to affect tone? Besides the fact that this is not aesthetically pleasing, I'm not too happy with the fitment. This is "bolted" in with neck plat and all 4 screws (which did line up perfectly)

Well, I would think it could affect it some because the vibrations are not passing fully in the pocket; however, its bolted on so its not like its just resting on the wood. The pickguard should hopefully cover up some of it...

 

[greekdude]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

Ahhhh, a 7 stringer I tried 7 and 8 strings but could never wrap my mind around the extra strings. lol

I remember testing a Dean RC 7-string in a shop, could not play not even simple riffs, when I grabbed the UV70p, it felt like strat, like home, instantly. I could play it in less than a day.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Alder or basswood? Help me identify this please

The stock pickups are like that. Any Ibanez with Powersounds or Infinities just has to have the pickups ripped out. If the guitar itself is dark, look for pickups with boosted treble. A Full Shred or Dimarzio Evolution set will open that right up.

I have a friend who has an old Ibanez GXR-70 with the stock pickups. When he plays them, they sound sick; tight, heavy, articulate. I keep thinking of giving him a set of pups for a gift, b-day or otherwise, but then, I hear him play the stocks again.