Body Wood questions/differences

guitarSQUIRELL

guitarSQUIRELL

New member
Im looking at building a custom neck through guitar and I have 3 options that stand out to me...
Alder
Mahogany
Walnut

The guitar will have a Maple neck through design...however, what are the tonal differences between these 3 side wing body woods?
Any input is appreciated....Thanks
 
Re: Body Wood questions/differences

Neck will dominate. What sound are you looking for?

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Re: Body Wood questions/differences

I built a neck through with a 5 piece maple/ walnut neck...and use mahogany for the body wings and it came out perfect in balance and tone...
 
Re: Body Wood questions/differences

Any idea on what pickups are going in?
That's sort of cart before horse,,,,,but if you did already have the pups decided on then it would make it easier to pick the wood IMO.
Weight might also be something to consider. (walnut can be heavy)
 
Re: Body Wood questions/differences

dave74 said:
Any idea on what pickups are going in?
That's sort of cart before horse,,,,,but if you did already have the pups decided on then it would make it easier to pick the wood IMO.
Weight might also be something to consider. (walnut can be heavy)
Click to expand...

Yes...they are the C22 kiesel pickups that are put in the Nei ZaZa signature guitar of theirs
 
Re: Body Wood questions/differences

dave74 said:
Any idea on what pickups are going in?
That's sort of cart before horse,,,,,but if you did already have the pups decided on then it would make it easier to pick the wood IMO.
Weight might also be something to consider. (walnut can be heavy)
Click to expand...

pickups kiesel.jpg

The C22B and the C22J
 
Re: Body Wood questions/differences

dave74 said:
This says they come with the lithiums,,,,,,but I'm sure it's been ordered with various sets.
Anyways it's a mahogany body,,,,,,,,,,,and that's probably your safest bet for balanced-tone.

http://www.kieselguitars.com/catalog/guitars/nz624
Click to expand...

I saw that. According to Neil, in a video for Carvin, he used C22s in a mahogany body. However, with a maple neckthrough, the pickups would be mostly mounted to the maple, correct? Since I'm going direct mount?
 
Re: Body Wood questions/differences

Ok, keeping in mind that there are 20 other variables, including pups, I would lean towards mahogany for general rock/blues-
  • Maple mass will give you plenty of brightness and high end- Depending on the actual wood and mass, mahogany may balance out the low and mids.
  • Again I think the neck will dominate and not sure if Alder would have much of an effect, but if you are 25.5, you very well may end up in telecaster land.
  • Maple + Walnut might be too heavy and dark , but you could always go with bright pups.

Built a guitar earlier in the year based on mahogany for LP tones and maple for snap and it worked out very well. However, a lot of the work was finding the right pups to maximize the build.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/sho...-P90-pup-and-it-s-not-a-PRail&highlight=coaxe
 
Re: Body Wood questions/differences

Choose any wood that would look cool to you. If it were me, I'd put the body wood on top with the neck run through the back.
 
Re: Body Wood questions/differences

I'm building it so far with Alder body, maple neck through, with a poplar Burl top, and pickup mounting bezels. Hope this helps. I'm not a fan of a plain top on a guitar.
 
Re: Body Wood questions/differences

Just remember too about the weight and hardness of the wood. It's better to have a guitar that sounds 95% but is light yet durable than one that sounds %100 but either weighs a ton or dings under the slightest provocation.
I once tried making a guitar out of pine from around by house, it fell off a table and put a dent a half inch across on one of the edges.
 
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