strat wood

[nepalnt21]

i've been pondering about a new strat body. for my birthday, i got the seymour duncan antiquity 2 surfer middle and neck strat and antiquity texas hot custom bridge. i want to get a body from warmoth and need to figure out what wood i want. ive narrowed it down to ash and alder backs, and if i get a laminate top, it would be koa. ive read a lot about these woods, but i want a real person's educated opinion. ive played many alder strats, but only one ash strat (the light ash strat with the black pickguard and the duncan pickups). i liked it, but found it a wee bit bright. i play pretty much everything and anything from blues to punk, reggae, funk, etc. i dont really care whether i get the true strat vintage tone that everyone and their dog has been looking for, but i want it not to be dark, but also not icepickingly bright. also, some people who have used warmoth..... i need some feedback. if anyone has some horrer stories, that would be nice before i bought a body from them. pretty much any help on the subject would be appreciated

 

[clint_41]

Re: strat wood

well as for the bodies, i love my ash strat body. keep in mind that im using 2 humbuckers in it. i was kind of afraid that the ash body with a JB would be too bright, but i ended up loving it. i can eq my POD to my liking, and the wood/pickup combo can work with it all. ash is fairly bright, but not too bright for my playing, and i play a lot of what you play... blues, raggae, ska, funk, jazz, metal, etc.

as for warmoth, they are great to work with. if you cant find wour answers here (or even if you can) its worth your time to give them a call and talk to them, those guys are very helpful there. i found them very easy to work with and i think everyone here will say the same. so anyways, enjoy your new body.

 

[jeremy]

Re: strat wood

in general i love swamp ash for bodys. it is a little brighter than alder but with the right setup it isnt a problem. ive dealt with warmoth many times and they have always been great

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: strat wood

My personal fave is a light alder body with an all-maple neck. I have a really nice swamp ash strat as well, but it can be a bit nasty through the mids. I'd say swamp ash would be good is you do a lot of soloing and need a bit of extra cut, but alder would be better for clean playing, and will sound more balanced.

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: strat wood

hey hot grits, what do u mean by a bit nastyin the mids? are u talking about like muddy, or what? is it something that cant be fixed?

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: strat wood

I like solid lightweight alder. Like Hotgrits said, it's more balanced from low to high.
I guess I prefer alder for strats and swampash for teles. In the past, I've ended up selling ash strats because I always favor my alder ones. A Koa or flame maple veneer sounds cool, too. If it's a thin veneer, it effects the tone less. The thicker, the brighter.

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: strat wood

also, what is the tonal difference between swamp ash and northern hard ash? which tone do most people prefer? (when not factoring in the weight) also, has anyone tried the warmoth hollow bodies? if so, what did you think?

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: strat wood

hey hot grits, what do u mean by a bit nastyin the mids? are u talking about like muddy, or what? is it something that cant be fixed?

In the case of my '76 strat, I mean the upper mids are more pronounced than my alder-bodied 57 ri. Now, that's a great thing when you're soloing on the bridge pickup, but when you're playing an hour and a half's worth of clean chords, the sound can be a bit harsh and tiring.

My alder body strat is more balanced sounding, and doesn't become fatiguing to listen to if you play it for a while. I've also noticed that heavier alder bodies sound a bit harsher than the lighter ones, too.

This is really a personal taste. One person's 'harsh' is another person's 'cool and twangy'.

As for these things being 'fixable', I'm a firm believer in getting the wood right. The pickups you choose can be matched to work with what you have, but they'll never be able to hide something about the guitar's resonant character that you don't like.

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: strat wood

Northern hard ash is heavy, and sounds very bright and harsh. I thoroughly don't recommend using it. Swamp ash is very light generally, and sounds warmer and more balanced. A good swamp ash guitar will be bright, but with a nice, tight, clear bottom end.

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: strat wood

and what about woods like padouk or walnut? (if anyone has had any expirience with these) like are they too bright, muddy, etc

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: strat wood

bump

 

[Boston Joe]

Re: strat wood

and what about woods like padouk or walnut? (if anyone has had any expirience with these) like are they too bright, muddy, etc

I didn't have a good experience with a walnut SG years ago-- too harsh with a blend of muddy and tinny tones. Not very balanced, and the ebony fretboard did not help in my opinion.

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: strat wood

bump

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: strat wood

Personally, I'd go with either Swamp Ash or Alder....nothing else. Alder can sound BRIGHTER than Swamp Ash, BTW. My Alder Tele is light weight, but not quite as light as my two Swamp Ash Teles and the Alder Tele is the brightest. All three use identical bridge assemblys and one piece maple necks.

Eric Clapton has near perfect pitch (so I've read) and great ears for tone....he won't play anything except alder.

And Eric Johnson, who also has excellant ears for tone, has been using an alder Strat lately though it's his swamp ash '54 that's on all/most of the recordings.

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: strat wood

bump bump bump

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: strat wood

so what about the hollow bodies from warmoth?

 

[GHWelles]

Re: strat wood

I have a Korina Hollow Body Strat from Warmoth with a Maple neck and the Ant II's in it. Sounds great. Plays great. Nice stuff, Warmoth.

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: strat wood

bump