I've got all the parts together, except the body. I can't decide on which wood for this strat. I have a couple of very nice Fender custom shop alder bodies but I just never liked the tone of alder with a humbucker. It's too much hard midrange or something. I never get the sounds I want with them. Alder with single coils sounds much better to me. More balanced.
Last year I bought a used Nocaster. It's got that light swamp ash body and it ruined every other guitar I own. It's chunky, woody sounding and chimey all noticeable while playing unplugged, similar to my '58 Les Paul. Plugged in on the tele, I can play metal on this thing and it screams and kicks with aggression, then some nice slide blues sounds killer. I get compliments on the tone all the time, much more than my other strats. It's perfect. But it's a tele design. You may laugh, but it sounds very close to VH I tone. It's a little scooped, tight and in your face. I can do a very convincing early Halen tone with this tele!
But it's a tele design and I'm not sure swamp ash is for the strat.
I built a lightweight Warmoth swamp ash strat years ago and it sounded "tinky" like a banjo. The guitar had zero low end and was all toppy, I interchanged necks and nothing helped. Maybe I just had bad wood? I'd be afraid to try it again.
So I'm looking for some wood for my #1 strat. Building it, interchanging parts until I find the right combination that can give me a killer tone like the tele. What should I try? Basswood? Korina? Nothern ash?
Last year I bought a used Nocaster. It's got that light swamp ash body and it ruined every other guitar I own. It's chunky, woody sounding and chimey all noticeable while playing unplugged, similar to my '58 Les Paul. Plugged in on the tele, I can play metal on this thing and it screams and kicks with aggression, then some nice slide blues sounds killer. I get compliments on the tone all the time, much more than my other strats. It's perfect. But it's a tele design. You may laugh, but it sounds very close to VH I tone. It's a little scooped, tight and in your face. I can do a very convincing early Halen tone with this tele!
But it's a tele design and I'm not sure swamp ash is for the strat.
I built a lightweight Warmoth swamp ash strat years ago and it sounded "tinky" like a banjo. The guitar had zero low end and was all toppy, I interchanged necks and nothing helped. Maybe I just had bad wood? I'd be afraid to try it again.
So I'm looking for some wood for my #1 strat. Building it, interchanging parts until I find the right combination that can give me a killer tone like the tele. What should I try? Basswood? Korina? Nothern ash?
. I was originally looking at an alder body to crunch out great humbucking tones, I guess that solves one question. I wasn't impressed with super strats I've played in the past, too midrangey and they really didn't have any low end definition or crunch. Swamp ash I've heard isn't as versatile as alder is. I suppose with any of those combinations there needs to be some sort of a sacrifice.
