idsnowdog
Imperator of Indignation
Poplar is another good choice for strats and teles, but it isn't very attractive for transparent finishes.
The pros & cons of alder?
- Thread starter solspirit
- Start date
Poplar also varies a lot in weight, so it is up to the individual piece. Tone-wise, it varies as well. I had a poplar bodied Music Man that was all mids. It sounded like the tone control was on 4.
Coma
Well-known member
IIRC, some early Teles (back when they were still called Broadcasters) had pine bodies.
Coma
Well-known member
Oooh I remember those. It were quite common for a few years, LTD used it for a bit. Then it disappeared as fast as it came.
idsnowdog
Imperator of Indignation
Early Fenders used pine bodies. This info came as a bit of a revelation about 20 years ago. The crude workmanship of the "snakehead" Broadcasters spurred many people to build "barncasters" from salvaged old-growth wood.
Masta' C
Well-known member
Like most young, naïve players, I started out in the guitar scene assuming that all the marketing (and subsequent "group think" on early internet forums) which insisted that the wood a guitar is made from was the most important factor to "tone"...was true.
Even when I formally joined this very forum back in 2009 (after lurking for a couple years), I regularly saw people insisting things like "JBs don't work in Mahogany", "Ash is dull", "Poplar is a tone suck", "Maple is too heavy to make a guitar out of", etc. In fact, I've seen a lot of similar generalizations about wood types and "tone" or their utility in guitar building being posited rather recently by old and new members alike.
However, most of those generalizations are rubbish and not founded in anything factual...
Anecdotally, some of my best feeling and sounding guitars are Poplar, Pine, and Ash. I've loved the JB in most Mahogany LP's I've tried it in, as have many others. I have a 100% solid Maple (body and neck) Strat that barely weighs 7 pounds and is super resonant. Similarly, my #1 Jackson from 2005 has a solid Mahogany body and neck, yet barely weighs 6 pounds and is also incredibly resonant.
For every "tonewood" claim someone makes, I will nearly guarantee that I can find a guitar in my fairly limited collection that counters that claim!
At this point, we've seen plastic, acrylic, epoxy, plywood, fiberglass, wood fiber composite, aluminum, steel, titanium, carbon fiber, styrofoam, solid concrete, and even body-less electric guitars that are largely indistinguishable from their "wood" counterparts tonally.
Sticking to just wood, no one in this or any other forum can accurately identify what wood(s) a guitar is made of just by hearing it. This has been tried and tested many times. In fact, most players can't even tell the difference between pickups in a blind test!
In a more general sense, there are certain attributes of materials that can influence the response and feel of a guitar, but these tend to move beyond just the "type" of wood a guitar is made of, because every tree, even of the same species, is different, and even two boards cut from the same tree can yield varying material qualities.
Ultimately, the long-held generalizations about specific woods and their relation to "tone" is not unlike early humans using mysticism and mythology to compartmentalize and explain natural events they didn't understand.
Anyways...back to our regularly scheduled program
I have an electric classical that has sides and back made out of it, and a Sterling Luke that uses it, too. It is a little heavy, and sounds fine. I imagine is really, really plentiful where it grows.
For some reason my RG550 Genesis is rather dull sounding, it feels and plays exceptionally well, but it's missing the bite and sparkle. I brought it to life somehow with a TB-6 in the bridge after trying JB, BW and Custom with various magnets. 1MB volume pot, no tone. It's my only basswood guitar.
Chistopher
malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
I'm starting up a workshop to build bodies pretty soon. Pine is an excellent candidate because there's three large dead pine trees on my property, so the wood is basically free.
Butch Snyder
ObsoleteChickenPickingologist
I wouldn't say alder is cheaper. I would say ash is more expensive. Because of its decline due to the emerald ash borer beetle, ash has been decimated across the country. Fender even stopped using it in standard production. Fender still uses ash in some models that wouldn't be historically correct without using ash. But ash has been declining and that's why it's more expensive.
solspirit
Ultimate Post Liker
What kind of pine?
Chistopher
malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
Loblolly I think
STLMTLHD79
Active member
For what it is worth, I have never really had an alder guitar sound "bad"-fairly consistent across the ones i have owned. Basswood is hit/miss. Popular is kind of that way as well but i have had some decent luck with it. I actually have a early 90s Squier FR 211ST that i believe is a plywood body, but it sounds incredible. Only problem with it is that its VERY heavy.
solspirit
Ultimate Post Liker
I'm pretty sure that my 2004 Indonesian made Tom Delonge inspired strat is made out of plywood. Also an older LP copy I have is plywood as well. The strat is super light but the LPc is not.
Clint 55
OH THE DOUBLE THICK GLAZE!
Poplar is pretty rough. I wasn't able to use it at all.
Clint 55
OH THE DOUBLE THICK GLAZE!
I made a jazz strat out of a maple body and maple/rosewood neck and it was in no way shrill. It felt like playing a stone because of the stiffness of the wood made the attack and sustain so solid. But it was not overly bright at all. Had that characteristic maple snap but not shrill.
