how much difference in tone does the wood make.

[marty_the_westie]

If you were to take 2 strat style guitars, ssh, the exact same model, and put the exact same pickups, strings, tuners, etc on them, the only difference being that 1 is ash, and the other wis mahagony, how much difference in tone would there be. Do you think it would be very noticable, or more subtle.

 

[nuntius]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

Yeah.

Doc Barlo I think did a comparison - Ash and Alder strats, just swapped the pup guard with the same pups across to each.. and you could deffinatley tell a difference.

You could try checking the tips and clips lounge or maybe he'll see this thread.

I think it was him anyway

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

Wood makes a world of difference. And you can quote me on that.

 

[nuntius]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

Here you go

I imagine the difference with Mahogany would be even greater

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

According to Evan Scopp, vice prez of Seymour Duncan Pickups:

"Wood makes a world of difference."

And that is a direct quote!



I think he's right.

But I think the weight of the wood is most important and the lighter the better. I think alder that is lighter than a given piece ash (nothing like a nice piece of ash! :smack: ) would sound better to me and that a nice piece of ash (sorry....couldn't resist! :laugh2: ) that is lighter than a given piece of alder would sound better to me too.

 

[Curly]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

actually, you could probably make two strats with the same materials and the same wood, and there would probably be a noticeable difference in tone

while pickups affect tone the most in electrics, I feel that wood choice affects the fundamental tone of the instrument, the initial note response, and the way that harmonics react and "bloom"

consider this: with all the different woods available, the vast majority of both electric and acoustic instruments are still made with a very small number of tonewoods

by the way, there's a mahogany strat in "The Stratocaster Chronicles", and according to the owner, it's a great sounding instrument.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

Besides the body wood making a huge difference, the neck wood is almost equally important. If you think about it, the strings run across more neck length than body length. It's even surprising that fretboard wood factors into the equation as well.
That's why pickup selection is vital, and there's so many differing opinions on this forum. When you hear a guitar's sound, you've got to imagine what the right pickups are for that wood combination. In a sentence, I'd say Ash is best with beefy sounding pickups, Alder is best with very balanced and rich sounding pickups, and mahogany/maple is best with tight bottomed, articulate and vintage sounding pickups.

 

[Mincer]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

consider this: with all the different woods available, the vast majority of both electric and acoustic instruments are still made with a very small number of tonewoods.

This is true assesment of the conservative buying public...it has taken 10 years to make basswood acceptable, and only because Vai used it. There are so many wood combos that have yet to be tried, but guitarists want it the way it was done 'back in the day'. In other words, those hundreds of other woods don't sell to guitarists.
I think we can stand for some experimentation in woods or alternative materials.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

This is true assesment of the conservative buying public...it has taken 10 years to make basswood acceptable, and only because Vai used it. There are so many wood combos that have yet to be tried, but guitarists want it the way it was done 'back in the day'. In other words, those hundreds of other woods don't sell to guitarists.
I think we can stand for some experimentation in woods or alternative materials.

I think there's a lot of experimentation that has taken place, but there's definitely room for more use of exotic or even non-exotic unconventional woods. Brian Moore is pushing spalted maple, which is cool. PRS dabbled in Lacewood tops for a few guitars. I'd like to see more exotic caps or laminates. Zebrawood, Lacewood, and Koa come to mind, but even cheaper woods like pine and birch seem like interesting options. How about a walnut or oak neck? There's reasons for them and against them, but why not mix it up?

 

[7th Hell]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

Anyone recall hearing that Holdsworth had a bunch of identical guitars (except for body wood) built by Boogie? His conclusion was that BASSWOOD sounded the best!

I think Ash (especially Swamp Ash) would sound brighter with a quicker response. Mahogany (especially Honduran) would be darker with a more singing quality. Mahogany works best for my playing style- lots of low-end chunk and an almost voice-like note quality.

 

[Pauleo]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

It really depends on how anyone percieves it as most have set mindsets of what makes a guitar tick. In a book by Bob Benedetto, he made an archtop out of pine and low grade maple for clinics in order to show that you do not need superior tonewoods to make a superior instrument. What is interesting however, is that some people might think that the pine archtop guitar sounds good because it was made by Bob Benedetto. If they did not know it was made by him, they might percieve it to be somewhat inferior in sound.

In any case, wood can affect the sound and I really think it can be related to the density of the wood and it's rigidity. For example, we can take the neck of the guitar, and look at it as a cantilever. The more rigid the cantilever, the more high frequencies are retained. The more the cantilever vibrates and the less rigid it is, those frequencies tend to be lost. So compare a maple neck to a mahogany neck, the maple neck being more rigid will make for a brigter sounding guitar. Also, the fingerboard wood affects the rigidity of the neck as it is glued to the neck. Ebony fingerboards tend to make guitars sound brigther.

Although the wood of the guitar can make a world of difference in sound, so can many other things: Headstock angle, thickness of the wood, tuners, hardware, even the nut material. Hope this was somewhat helpful.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

The biggest reason I can think of to stick with the established woods used in vintage guitars is that you'll know what you're getting. Most people cannot afford to make a mistake.

I've built guitars out of exotic woods like zebrawood. Didn't like them. It was a waste of time and wood...other than learning that I didn't like it.

My advice?

For Strats and Teles stick with Alder or Swamp Ash and a maple neck.

 

[orbiter]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

and let us not forget about how much the type (and/or thickness thereof) of finish used on the guitar effects the tone.

 

[jeremy]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

ive tried a bunch of woods and some dont do it for me. like oak, not a good tone wood imo and way too heavy

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

Wood is THE critical part of the tone equation to me.

The most telling experience I've had regarding this was with my SRV strat. I had one for about six weeks, and mistakenly bought it thinking it was a setup and new pickups away from being perfect for me. So, I tweaked it and dumped a nice set of not-overwound fralins in it. Sure enough, it still sounded a bit hard and bright. I came to the conclusion that the alder body was too heavy and (probably more critically), the pau ferro fingerboard was too bright and harsh. No amount of pickup tweaking could eradicate these problems, without substantially changing the guitar's voice.

I recently played another SRV with a much lighter body, and it sounded better than the one I owned, but still had the brightness of the pau ferro fingerboard. There were two 62 reissue alongside it, and both sounded much warmer and more balanced. in turn, my 57ri sounds brighter, but not in a harsh way.

Nowadays I always buy on the unamplified tone of a guitar. Everything else is up for debate, but if the overall voice of the guitar is pleasant to your ears, you can pretty much gaurantee you can get through a gig without feeling fatigued by your tone.

 

[Cazmarzak]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

Hey guys, with everything that has been said, IS is possible to take 2 totally different guitars , (different body wood) and make them sound identical with two different Pickups?

 

[Mincer]

Re: how much difference in tone does the wood make.

just pickups? no...considering guitars made of the same woods, same parts, same pickups will sound different. i am still all for new ideas in guitar making, either harvested eco-friendly woods or materials like graphite and carbon fiber.