Guitar body tone woods info please.

[SirJackdeFuzz]

A guitar made from a piece of Basswood . . . what type of tone will it inherit, if you compare it to say, something like Mahogany ?

Just curious.

Thanks

 

[Archer250]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

My experiences with basswood has been... flat. It's a very neutral wood. The bass and the highs are softened, usually. A good piece of basswood can sound very deep and complex, and very light (hell, my teacher's NNG weighed around 2kg and sounded much more complex than any guitar I've ever played). A bad piece of basswood will sound lifeless, uncharacteristic and sometimes plastic-y.

Now since I've used basswood and alder superstrats, I could compare those. However, I've only tried Gibson-styled mahogany guitars, so there's the difference between shapes and all, and I'm not confident enough to use that for comparison.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

To me, basswood has a little more bass, and a signature peak in the mids.

 

[firebirdguy72]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

To me, basswood has a little more bass, and a signature peak in the mids.

I've noticed that to. I swapped a set of lipsticks that were in my alder MIM to my basswood starcaster and noticed the mids were a bit more pronounced with bass that seemed a bit looser. Granted that's my only experience with basswood but i could sure tell something was different.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

Taken from Warmoth's website:

Basswood:
"This is a lighter weight wood normally producing Strat® bodies under 4 lbs. The color is white, but often has nasty green mineral streaks in it. This is a closed-grain wood, but it can absorb a lot of finish. This is not a good wood for clear finishes since there is little figure. It is quite soft, and does not take abuse well. Sound-wise, Basswood has a nice, growley, warm tone with good mids. A favorite tone wood for shredders in the 80s since its defined sound cuts through a mix well."

Mahogany:
"We use African Mahogany in our body production. It is a medium to heavy weight wood with a Strat® body averaging 5 lbs. or more. Mahogany is a fine grained wood with great musical properties. The tone is warm and full with good sustain. The favorite tone wood of the Gibson® brand name; associated with some of the most famous rock music of our time. The grain is easy to fill. Looks good with clear or transparent red finish."

On their tone meter the basswood sits slightly warmer than middle and the mahogany is as far to the warm side as any of their woods get (almost all the way to the left of middle). Now, that being said, these are just generalizations. Each piece of wood can have varying tone properties when compared to another piece from the same species.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

Thanks for the great info SnakeAces.

 

[Petie]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

Here's something on tone woods from the SD blog:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/different-woods-different-tones/

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

Thanks for the great info SnakeAces.

No problem man.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

Here's something on tone woods from the SD blog:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/different-woods-different-tones/

Thank you very much - more useful info

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

Which "Mahogany"? Seems like the list of woods that are considered "mahogany" grows longer each time you come across the list

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

Lots of great info already given and I really enjoyed reading the article posted by Petie.

My two main guitars are Walnut and Basswood. Prior to my Walnut Strat I used a Mahogany Strat. All of my guitar builds are solid 1 piece guitars except for the Mahogany which was a solid 2 piece build (and African Mahogany.) From my experience, Basswood definitely has a neutral tone while Mahogany has a darker tone with incredible sustain. My Walnut guitar sounds very similar to Mahogany only with more focused sustain and a bit more compressed than Mahogany.

The only pickup I could not stand in Basswood so far has been a JB, but every other pickup I've tried in Basswood sounded incredible. I agree with the article that Petie posted, "[Basswood] doesn’t have the growl of mahogany, it doesn’t have the tightness or bite of maple, it doesn’t have the sweetness of alder or the chunky quality of ash. Instead, it has all of that, although to a lesser degree. It has some bite, some growl, some sweetness, but not much. That makes it a perfect template for your own sound. It doesn’t add anything to your tone but it doesn’t take away anything."

Through my pickups (Screamin Demon, Dimebucker, Liquifire, Gibson 496R&500T), amp (modded Fender Hot Rod Deluxe,) and pedals (2 Rats, Vox Satchurator, modded Boss DS-1, Joyo US Dream which is an awesome pedal for the price, and a MXR Analog Chorus,) the Basswood sounds better with cleans and crunch while the Walnut & Mahogany sound better with high gain. Granted, I have not switched the pickups around to see how they all react, I do have a Screamin Demon in the bridge of the Basswood and the neck of the Walnut, but I don't think that would be a completely fair test of the differences in wood tones. Overall, I think Basswood is a super great wood,

Basswood
View attachment 63600
Mahogany
View attachment 63601
Walnut
View attachment 63602

 

[Archer250]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

Lots of great info already given and I really enjoyed reading the article posted by Petie.

My two main guitars are Walnut and Basswood. Prior to my Walnut Strat I used a Mahogany Strat. All of my guitar builds are solid 1 piece guitars except for the Mahogany which was a solid 2 piece build (and African Mahogany.) From my experience, Basswood definitely has a neutral tone while Mahogany has a darker tone with incredible sustain. My Walnut guitar sounds very similar to Mahogany only with more focused sustain and a bit more compressed than Mahogany.

The only pickup I could not stand in Basswood so far has been a JB, but every other pickup I've tried in Basswood sounded incredible. I agree with the article that Petie posted, "[Basswood] doesn’t have the growl of mahogany, it doesn’t have the tightness or bite of maple, it doesn’t have the sweetness of alder or the chunky quality of ash. Instead, it has all of that, although to a lesser degree. It has some bite, some growl, some sweetness, but not much. That makes it a perfect template for your own sound. It doesn’t add anything to your tone but it doesn’t take away anything."

Through my pickups (Screamin Demon, Dimebucker, Liquifire, Gibson 496R&500T), amp (modded Fender Hot Rod Deluxe,) and pedals (2 Rats, Vox Satchurator, modded Boss DS-1, Joyo US Dream which is an awesome pedal for the price, and a MXR Analog Chorus,) the Basswood sounds better with cleans and crunch while the Walnut & Mahogany sound better with high gain. Granted, I have not switched the pickups around to see how they all react, I do have a Screamin Demon in the bridge of the Basswood and the neck of the Walnut, but I don't think that would be a completely fair test of the differences in wood tones. Overall, I think Basswood is a super great wood,

That's how it's been to me as well. I've never stuck a JB into a good basswood guitar (only one very bad guitar), though, but the character is still nice.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

Lots of great info already given and I really enjoyed reading the article posted by Petie.

My two main guitars are Walnut and Basswood. Prior to my Walnut Strat I used a Mahogany Strat. All of my guitar builds are solid 1 piece guitars except for the Mahogany which was a solid 2 piece build (and African Mahogany.) From my experience, Basswood definitely has a neutral tone while Mahogany has a darker tone with incredible sustain. My Walnut guitar sounds very similar to Mahogany only with more focused sustain and a bit more compressed than Mahogany.

The only pickup I could not stand in Basswood so far has been a JB, but every other pickup I've tried in Basswood sounded incredible. I agree with the article that Petie posted, "[Basswood] doesn’t have the growl of mahogany, it doesn’t have the tightness or bite of maple, it doesn’t have the sweetness of alder or the chunky quality of ash. Instead, it has all of that, although to a lesser degree. It has some bite, some growl, some sweetness, but not much. That makes it a perfect template for your own sound. It doesn’t add anything to your tone but it doesn’t take away anything."

Through my pickups (Screamin Demon, Dimebucker, Liquifire, Gibson 496R&500T), amp (modded Fender Hot Rod Deluxe,) and pedals (2 Rats, Vox Satchurator, modded Boss DS-1, Joyo US Dream which is an awesome pedal for the price, and a MXR Analog Chorus,) the Basswood sounds better with cleans and crunch while the Walnut & Mahogany sound better with high gain. Granted, I have not switched the pickups around to see how they all react, I do have a Screamin Demon in the bridge of the Basswood and the neck of the Walnut, but I don't think that would be a completely fair test of the differences in wood tones. Overall, I think Basswood is a super great wood,

GREAT info - thank you very much for your hard earned experience.

So . . . if i read every one's assessment of the acoustic properties of Basswood, is a safe when i make the following conclusion ?

Basswood (unlike Mahogany) will not 'colour' your pickup's tone, and will thus allow the pickup to sound more like it's self ?


Or am i wrong in thinking in this direction ?

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

That's how it's been to me as well. I've never stuck a JB into a good basswood guitar (only one very bad guitar), though, but the character is still nice.

To me, the JB in Basswood was just over the top and couldn't be tamed. I've loved it in every other guitar I've put it in, but just couldn't dial it in with my Basswood guitars. I've always paired the JB with two Hotrails, which this combo sounds best in an Alder with Maple Cap. I tried it in a Basswood Charvel and loved the Hotrails in it but again, couldn't dial in the JB.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

GREAT info - thank you very much for your hard earned experience.

So . . . if i read every one's assessment of the acoustic properties of Basswood, is a safe when i make the following conclusion ?

Basswood (unlike Mahogany) will not 'colour' your pickup's tone, and will thus allow the pickup to sound more like it's self ?


Or am i wrong in thinking in this direction ?

You are most welcome!

And from my experience that is absolutely the case. I feel like only solid characteristic of Bassswood was its lightweight and soft consistency. I'm sure there is a piece or two that is heavy but every Basswood guitar I've owned was light.

And I think it not "coloring" the tone is why I love it with clean tones thru my tube amp.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

To me, the JB in Basswood was just over the top and couldn't be tamed. I've loved it in every other guitar I've put it in, but just couldn't dial it in with my Basswood guitars. I've always paired the JB with two Hotrails, which this combo sounds best in an Alder with Maple Cap. I tried it in a Basswood Charvel and loved the Hotrails in it but again, couldn't dial in the JB.

Although I am not usually a fan of medium to higher output pickups in general... I have tried a JB in a 25.5" scale neck (maple) with an alder solid body Strat (loved it), a 24.75" scale neck (wenge with ziricote fretboard) with solid alder Strat body (still liked it a lot), 24.75" scale neck (wenge with ziricote fretboard) with chambered black korina LP with a Wilkinson trem (was pretty good but didn't like it as much with this combo), 24.75" scale neck (Indian rosewood) with a solid mahogany string through LP body (likable but not top choice) and finally with a 25.5" scale (bocote) neck on a solid swamp ash body (this is the JB's sweet spot for me).

I have not tried one in a basswood body, so I cannot speak to that experience. That being said, I tend to prefer the JB in a 25.5" scale balanced instrument where the neck leans slightly warm while the body leans slightly bright. In a close second though was the maple neck 25.5" scale on a balanced body but that "balanced body" was alder... not basswood.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

Although I am not usually a fan of medium to higher output pickups in general... I have tried a JB in a 25.5" scale neck (maple) with an alder solid body Strat (loved it), a 24.75" scale neck (wenge with ziricote fretboard) with solid alder Strat body (still liked it a lot), 24.75" scale neck (wenge with ziricote fretboard) with chambered black korina LP with a Wilkinson trem (was pretty good but didn't like it as much with this combo), 24.75" scale neck (Indian rosewood) with a solid mahogany string through LP body (likable but not top choice) and finally with a 25.5" scale (bocote) neck on a solid swamp ash body (this is the JB's sweet spot for me).

I have not tried one in a basswood body, so I cannot speak to that experience. That being said, I tend to prefer the JB in a 25.5" scale balanced instrument where the neck leans slightly warm while the body leans slightly bright. In a close second though was the maple neck 25.5" scale on a balanced body but that "balanced body" was alder... not basswood.

The JB was my favorite bridge pickup, had it in a Jackson SL3 with two SD Hotrails. That was a neck thru guitar, so not your typical bolt-on. The music pastor at the Church I was going to then accidentally broke the neck (sad day.) I loved the combo but was wary of another neck thru guitar. I put the pickups in an old Charvel and was extremely disappointed in the JB...thus my first lesson in the difference tonewoods make. That old Charvel was Basswood and sounded awesome with the Hotrails. EDIT: same combo sounds killer in an Alder Strat with an all Maple neck. So I started assembling guitars and working with various pickups to achieve my tone.

I found that I like Alder, Ash and Mahogany BUT I love Basswood and Walnut. Ofcourse, scale length, bolt on vs set neck vs neck thru, neck materials, pickups, bridge, block material, size and material of strings, etc. all play a part in tone. But in my opinion, the body is the base for the tone as pickups, strings, block/bridge, etc. can be changed rather easily (IMO.)

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

I have a JB in a basswood Ibanez
And it sounds fine to me

Pure hairmetal

But it is particular in where it wants to sit under the strings

Too high or low and it sounds awful

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

I have a JB in a basswood Ibanez
And it sounds fine to me

Pure hairmetal

But it is particular in where it wants to sit under the strings

Too high or low and it sounds awful

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*

Just like JB in Mahogany–some love it while others hate it. I had help from a guy named Bob Hartman, guitar player for Petra. He first suggested height adjustment and then changing the pots. Neither helped me dial it in to my liking BUT I still love the pickup, especially in Alder. I've debated about getting another Jackson SL3 but I'm super stoked with my current gear.

 

[Archer250]

Re: Guitar body tone woods info please.

To me, the JB in Basswood was just over the top and couldn't be tamed. I've loved it in every other guitar I've put it in, but just couldn't dial it in with my Basswood guitars. I've always paired the JB with two Hotrails, which this combo sounds best in an Alder with Maple Cap. I tried it in a Basswood Charvel and loved the Hotrails in it but again, couldn't dial in the JB.

It sounds VERY nasally. I'll give you that. JB in alder sounds very thick and smooth. Then again, the alder Jackson I use sounds awesome when I put my ear to it, and my Ibanez sounded bad, thin and bland. Hell, it was HEAVY for a basswood guitar, too. As heavy as my teacher's Tokai Love Rock.

But yeah, GOOD basswood sound neutral, but complex. There's definition in the notes. It handles distortion well, and it's light. It will also show you the true nature of your pickups, and amps.
Bad pieces of basswood are dead-sounding.

Best basswood guitar I've ever played was my teacher's NNG. Basswood back, flamed maple top, mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard. Set up with low action, 10-46 in Eb. Wilkinson trem. HSS: Fullshred, stock SC, and DiMarzio Cruiser. Sounded neutral but VERY complex and sweet.