Poplar vs Alder

[scottish]

Poplar has always been touted as the poor mans alder. Ive never really sat down and tone tapped the two side by side because i always brushed off poplar as being kind of crappy. Now im beginning to wonder if there actually is that much difference, i know warmoth states them as having the same tonal properties but from what i know, poplar doesnt resonate as well as alder. Aside from the fact that poplar is basically useless for anything but a solid opaque finish, do you guys think it can actually stand up to alder tonally?

Next time i get some more wood shipped i am gonna throw a piece of poplar in there and compare it with some alder.

 

[Binnerscot]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

They are very close, I have both - the mids are possibly just a bit smoother in Alder and the highs are just a bit more prominent in Poplar, but its not enough to say that there is a significant difference. The quality of the piece of wood in question will most likely have more if an impact than the species when comparing Alder and Poplar

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

i've played some poplar teles that were every bit as good as an alder tele could be.... But also i love the Ernie Ball Steve Morse model a hell of a lot and it is poplar... That EB guitar is not a cheapie by any means so poplar can be used in high quality axes as well..

from what i understand about poplar is there is many different kinds of poplar... many different trees have the name poplar... so figureing what is higher grade poplar is the tough part i guess....

Oddly i see on Warmoth's website that they claim poplar is said to weigh on average a 1/2 pound more then alder per body.... I like heavy bodies but most MIM poplar Fender bodies i own feel a lot lighter then my USA alder bodies....

When ordering a body from Warmoth i could see myself ordering an alder body over a poplar one.... for sure.... even with a solid finnish... not sure why but it just seems better... But i would buy a Warmoth poplar body if the price was right

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

I think some companies use Poplar only because it's cheap, and thus they buy the cheapest Poplar they can find. I believe a good piece of Poplar is going to sound pretty close to Alder. They're probably the two closest, unless you're comparing two similar species like African Mahogany and Honduras Mahogany or Indian Rosewood and Brazilian Rosewood.

Although, there's usually a significant difference in the two rosewoods, so I may be wrong about that part.

 

[danglybanger]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

...My poplar Mustang is one of the most resonant things I've ever played anyway.

I'd call it a bit darker than Alder though...

There are more variations of alder and poplar within each respective species than there are between poplar and alder... But I've had good luck with poplar. Just seems real resonant most the time...

So my Jazzmaster (custom) is poplar too :smokin:

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

FMIC management told me a few years ago that they believed that the cheap grades of poplar and alder were about equal in tone quality for their purposes and they were interchangeably using whichever was cheapest at the time for their MIM guitar blanks.

At some point they contracted a cheap source of lower-grade alder and have apparently have been using it exclusively since for the MIMs.

Again, naive musicians place hugely too much isolated importance on wood species; it is the grade of the wood, the number and matching of the pieces making up the blank and other factors that bear more significance to the sound of the instrument.

A Stratocaster blank made up of seven or eight pieces of completely unmatched, lower-grade alder scraps is not going to sound predictably better than one made up of poplar.

Of course, "cheap" species like poplar and basswood are sometimes used on pretty expensive instruments.

 

[scottish]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

I know that the grades of wood matter significantly. I should have phrased my question better, emphasizing the comparison of two similarly graded pieces

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

I know that the grades of wood matter significantly. I should have phrased my question better, emphasizing the comparison of two similarly graded pieces

Again, according to FMIC, not much.

I also specifically discussed this with a guy who worked on FMIC's conversion of the MIA Nashville B-Bender Telecaster from alder to poplar bodies to save weight, and he said that they couldn't detect any sonic difference between the two species in premium-grade woods in this application.

 

[Binnerscot]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

I know that the grades of wood matter significantly. I should have phrased my question better, emphasizing the comparison of two similarly graded pieces

So similar it would be hard to tell on a solid paint guitar.

The two I have are a poplar '88 original Vandenberg (U.S.) with an EMG 81 in the bridge and a new alder U.S. Jackson DK1 with an EMG 81 in the bridge. Both guitars have maple bolt on necks with ebony fretboards.

The only major difference between the two (besides body shape) is that the Vandy is 24 3/4" scale and the Jackson is 25 1/2" scale. They sound just about identical.

 

[pstarove]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

I LOVE my poplar bodied Parker Fly Deluxe! Though I feel that my alder bodied Frankenstrat (Shamray body/MIK BC Rich neck) is fuller sounding, I think it is because of the difference in weight (5 lbs vs 8 lbs).

 

[danglybanger]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

...I don't think the amount of pieces that make a body make a difference either :ducks:

I've played guitars made of 5 pieces of wood (the body) that sounded just fine.

If glue is so bad, then les pauls suck. oh wait :laugh2: Ok, comparing them to those laminate bodied basses might be better...

 

[danglybanger]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

...less attack is probably what I mean by darker... Which I can see having appeal for heavy music, but isn't quite as Fender...

...veneer might help, as it's an ugly wood :laugh2:

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

...I don't think the amount of pieces that make a body make a difference either

It's not so much the number of pieces, but the number of pieces of wood with dissimilar and cancelling qualities as is the case with cheap multi-piece blanks. You may wind up with a blank with decent sonic qualities, but the odds are against it.

Premium production and custom bodies are made up from two or three pieces from the same plank of cured wood. Cheap bodies are made up of numerous pieces of what are essentially scraps.

 

[Jazzmaster Builder]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

I LOVE MY CUSTOM JAZZMASTER...made of poplar...it is a hybrid, tone heaven, and I built it myself

 

[DreX]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

I like to think about where I was when this thread was new, and all the world events that have transpired since, that babies born on the date when post #13 was made are likely heading into the 2nd grade next fall.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

I like to think about where I was when this thread was new, and all the world events that have transpired since, that babies born on the date when post #13 was made are likely heading into the 2nd grade next fall.

Yeah but he loves his poplar jazzmaster that was important for us to know!

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Poplar vs Alder

I like to think about where I was when this thread was new, and all the world events that have transpired since, that babies born on the date when post #13 was made are likely heading into the 2nd grade next fall.

I didn't even notice the date...I graduated high school May 2007 lol

Edit: On topic, my MIM Poplar Strat sounded amazing after pickups and electronics upgrade–I would not have said "I wish it were Alder"