Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

H

Herschel Riffs

New member
Hey all, I have a Poplar jackson DR3 body that I'm looking to piece together. I've got everything I need minus the pickups. I was pretty set on a JB in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck but I'm not so certain. the views on poplar vary and I wonder if I should TREAT IT AS IF ITS ALDER. The guitar is gonna have a floyd rose, rosewood board, and this poplar body. I fear that my JB might be too bright, but I love how it screams and sings for lead work. I was planning that if my low end became an issue I would just throw a ceramic magnet in there to tighten things up. I'm looking to play a lot of progressive rock/metal, think early dream theater, early queensryche, early fates warning, coheed and cambria, cynic and so on. I tune to E standard. with all this hopefully someone will be able to point me in the right direction. keep it limited to dimarzio or duncan, preferably duncans. Magnet swapping is also something I don't mind doing so I'm open to those ideas as well. any info is appreciated guys. let me try to get some rest now, thanks peeps!
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

Alder itself can vary. I would treat it like a brighter floyd equipped super strat which is what it is. All the Jacksons from that era are pretty consistant its going to be slightly toppy with pretty even mids. Try the JB if its too bright swap the pot to a 250k one and be done with it.
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

In terms of weight and hardness Poplar is closer to maple than alder. Poplar is kind of a cross between maple and alder tonally. It's more percussive and brighter than alder while not as bright or as thin as hard ash. You get the upper midrange of alder with the solid bass response of maple and a bright round treble that isn't as sharp as maple or hard ash.
 
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Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

The JB should be just fine in a regular Jackson Dinky, no matter if the body specs read alder, basswood or poplar.
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

Yeah basically, it's similar enough that it wouldn't ruin your tone or anything. My poplar guitar sounds great with whatever humbucker I've put in it so far, but they've usually been hotter ones. The Jazz works great in the neck though.
 
Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

vinta9e said:
The JB should be just fine in a regular Jackson Dinky, no matter if the body specs read alder, basswood or poplar.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I've used the JB is many woods and it always delivers. Even in an alder that's on the darker side.

As far as alder and poplar, some believe that are pretty much the same and that is someone picked up identical unlabeled guitars of each that most couldn't tell the difference. And I can understand that perspective. But between the guitars I have that are proven to be poplar and the ones proven to be alder, I do find the poplar ones just a bit brighter than alder, but not in any sort of bad way.

While there are those that have called poplar the "poor mans alder", it's actually a preferred tone wood with some builders.
 
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Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

Poplar culture is usually regarded as the domain of the younger generation, not the alder folks.
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

:haha: thank you for the morning laugh lol. so basically they're insanely similar, with a chance that my guitar might be a tad bit brighter. the last guitar I played at GC was a music man steve morse model, since its specs were very similar to my build. the morse pickups were nice but too polite for me, in the sense that the guitar just wouldn't scream :crazy:. I think it was cause of the 250k pots on it. nonetheless I'll take all this info and dwell on it, though I feel assured on my initial plan now.

would there be any specific pickup you would prefer in this type of guitar, for whatever reason?
 
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Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

I thought all Dinky's were basswood, learn something new everyday.

I like poplar, I'll concur with snowdog that it's somewhat between maple and alder for a body too. It's not more popular because it's kinda ugly for the transparent finish crowd.

JB will sound f-ing great in it.
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

hmmm I see, well lucky for me it has a maple veneer with a trans green finish. hopefully I can finish this up soon before college consumes me!
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

King IzzO))) said:
I thought all Dinky's were basswood, learn something new everyday.

I like poplar, I'll concur with snowdog that it's somewhat between maple and alder for a body too. It's not more popular because it's kinda ugly for the transparent finish crowd.

JB will sound f-ing great in it.
Click to expand...

The DR3 that I had that was from around 96 or 97 was basswood. But I do know of some that were poplar particularly, To throw another monkey wrench in it my DK2 is alder...
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

Jackson Dinkies and ESP M-II's are my personal favourite host guitars for the JB.
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

yea my body is from 99'. JB's and super strats are best friends! but sometimes they're a bit unbearable
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

Okay, a lot of information here. Poplar is one of the most underestimated and confusing tonewoods.

Someone mentioned that poplar would be more close to maple in terms of weight and hardness... absolutely not.

Treat poplar as you would basswood. Poplar is very similar to basswood but has a little more of a dry and percussive tone.

Poplar is one of the softest "hardwoods" to make guitars out of. It's softness makes it easy as hell to work with but stuff like screw holes and trem posts hold their shape longer with harder woods.

It's the "too soft" quality and the fact that poplar often comes streaked with mineral deposits (that appear as green hued stains) that doesn't make it a popular choice for body woods... you'll almost never see a poplar neck because it's just too soft of a wood.

Poplar is probably the lightest wood out of all of the domestic hardwoods... comparable only to basswood... maple is waaaaay heavier and harder, they are almost polar opposites.

It's a great wood for guitars... a JB might have to sit a bit lower in a poplar guitar 'cause the wood is one of them singin' woods.

Poplar gets compared to alder for lack of a better comparison IMHO... alder is also nice and balanced but has some low midrange warmth that poplar doesn't have... likewise, poplar has some snap, crunch and pop that alder doesn't have either.

The JB is a real smooth and liquid sounding pickup and would most likely sound fantastic with the dry and percussive tone of poplar.

But... you ain't gonna be getting much low end from the JB + poplar combo. Since poplar is soooo soft, the bass response is usually dampened quite a bit. I personally like the sound of poplar's lean and mean low end but others will be constantly reaching for the bass knob.

Cottonwood, Aspen and tulipwood are other species of poplar.

And it's along with basswood, one of the most inexpensive tonewoods out there.
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

Poplar is not nearly as soft as basswood, that's a terrible comparison. I'm also referring to soft maple, not rock maple. You won't find many bodies made from hard maple.
 
Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/bodies/options/bodywoodoptions.aspx
Heres what warmoth says. They say it's really similar to alder, and I kind of have to agree. I would say it's a smidge more percussive sounding than alder (more presence), but that could be a number of other things on my guitar doing that, and just what I hear. Like I said I wouldn't worry about it too much, they're close enough to each other that whatever works for one usually works for the other.
 
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Re: Poplar, should I treat it as alder?

I'll say this much, that steve morse music man surely did not respond in a way that was reminiscent of basswood. too snappy and lively IMO
 
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