Custom ESP - Body Wood Help

[Prozac]

Re: Custom ESP - Body Wood Help

Hi there,
did a lot of research about all the woods in the last few days, and i took my '83 2203 to a guitar store and played a bunch of different guitars there (all Bolt ons with Maple neck and Floyd Rose trems).
First i have decided, that i don't wanna use wood types, which i didn't know/i haven't played.
Second as i said, i tried guitars with different Body woods (maple, alder, mahogany), and i figured out, i liked my guitar (mahogany body) and the all maple ones best.
I won't say, that i didn't like the alder ones, it's more that i want to achieve a different sound, maybe it's a bit to strat like for my taste? Everytime i plugged an alder guitar in the amp, i thought i sound like Motley Crue.

I really like both woods, it's like on the hi midrange and highs, i like the maple one, on the lower register the mahogany one, it's damn tough for me to make a decision :banghead::banghead:

 

[arteson]

Re: Custom ESP - Body Wood Help

Hi

If you are a realy GL fan I recomend a full maple body. It matchs perfect with the Screamin demon. I have an ESP Kamikaze with this wood combination (full maple neck/fretboard and maple body). Its quit heavy wight but sounds amazing with my hot roded JCM 800.
Cheers

Hi there,
i'm going to order a Custom ESP soon, i got almost all specs on the paper, but i'm struggling with my body wood choice. I thought, maybe some of you guys have an idea that could help me.

The guitar should be an 80s metal shreddy type guitar, and i'm a huge george lynch fan, so my order is influenced by that. Oh yeah, and i play an 83' Marshall 2203.
Some of the Specs are:
- Maple Bolt on Neck with Maple Fingerboard (and maybe SS Frets)
- Strat Style Body with Floyd Rose
- H/S Pickup Configuration (Demon and SSL-1)
- 1 Push/Pull Volume Knob, no tone
- Floyd Rose (recessed, for up and down action)

That's about what i want to order. The Guitar is going to be painted solid besides the neck, so the look of the Body wood doesn't matter.
I personally liked the demon with harder woods (i got one in a Maple Bolt on Guitar with mahogany body and Floyd Rose), but i'm not sure, which tone wood(s) i should choose.
Everytime i played an ESP Lynch (all Maple), i liked the aggressive tone, but it was a bit "blah" for my taste.
The guitar i have with the Mahogany body and the Maple neck is better in that term, but lacks a bit of the upper middish thing going on i think.

So it would be nice if somebody would post an answer if he/she has an idea.
My first suggestions were something like a Limba Body with 1/4" Maple cap, but i don't know, if that works well with a demon and an SSL.

Thanks very much!

Jerri

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: Custom ESP - Body Wood Help

Just to complicate things some more: Ash hasn't been mentioned, unless I missed it. Ash has a more aggressive sound than alder. It's a rigid and bright sounding wood, but a little more resonant and not as ear piercing or brittle sounding as some maple guitars can be.

And when I speak of maple, I am talking about rock maple. As someone else here said, there is also broadleaf maple, which is more porous, and therefore more resonant. I own a couple of guitars with solid broadleaf maple bodies and they sound tight and clear, but not brittle or shrill.