What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

LLL said:
Thanks guys, but it was a joke... there's no such thing as "metal tonewood".

(hence the "No, I'm not serious, and you can call me Shirley..." bit)

OTOH, If there was, I'd go with B2D's "Rich Mahogany". Definitely.
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Thank you.

I also own many leather-bound books.
 
Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

LLL said:
Thanks guys, but it was a joke... there's no such thing as "metal tonewood".

(hence the "No, I'm not serious, and you can call me Shirley..." bit)

OTOH, If there was, I'd go with B2D's "Rich Mahogany". Definitely.
Click to expand...

Yes, there is such a thing as metal tonewood. I have two aluminium guitars and I want 4 more.
 
Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

kramersteen said:
I can't believe some of you actually think it matters.
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It would mostly only matter for a centerblock or hollowbody with passive pickup guitars, as the sound of those guitars is less of the pick or finger attack against the string and more of the the warmer resolve and sustain in the body -which is where wood species differences show themselves when a transducer are trying to make an electrical signal.

But for those obsessed with tonewood for solid body guitars, I promise you that an 80s Kramer Super Strat can be made to sound identical to the fanciest tonewooded 80s Les Paul if loaded with the same pickups, same strings, and proper EQ/filtering applied. and that's a hard reality for people who want to "believe" in certain guitars.
 
Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

B2D said:
Rich Mahogany.


No, seriously.

NegativeEase has a good point, but in the end you'll get better results with something nice and chunky sounding. James was using his EET FUK guitar a lot then which was an ESP explorer copy. I'm guessing it was likely a mahogany body.
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Since you mentioned it there were the "So What" and "More Beer" explorers before that. https://www.groundguitar.com/james-hetfield-guitars-and-gear/ Don't know about Metallica's tonewoods, but secrets to Ride The Lighting tone is that they tuned to A 444. Or something like that. So that goes of topic. Here's Kirks guitars https://www.groundguitar.com/kirk-hammetts-guitars-and-gear/

Black album has a lot of different gear on it.
 
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What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

Chistopher said:
NE hit the nail on the head pretty well, but one of the key players that many Metallica enthusiasts forget when trying to cop their tone (especially on their later albums) is that the bass is a key player in getting the right vibe. Even with the perfect settings, just a guitar is not going to cut it.

First thing you want to do is get a 1974 Ampeg SVT 300w head. Then you want to set it as follows:

Amp on clean
no drive
bass knob at 12 o' clock
low mid knob at 1 or 2 o' clock
high mid at 12
high at 11

The cabinet is the tricky part. Some people say you can get away with a simple Mesa (or even Marshall) 4×12 cab, some people say that you need any where from one to three auxiliary cabs to really thicken up the sound, but I say it's not only more authentic, but also cheaper and easier if you just take the amplifier out cord and plug it straight into the trash.

Hope this helps.
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Well, technically, this was mainly the approach on And Justice For All. By the time of Enter Sandman, they’d taken things to 11 in the bass department.


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Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

Clint 55 said:
I think Negative Ease is correct. But for metal, I like an extreme sound so I'd go maple/maple. My buddy Joe is crazy and likes poplar/ebony.
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You’d stain the maple black though, right?


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Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

My old plywood door and EMG 81. Easy-peasy metal zither.
 
Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

I LMAO!!!!

You used "tonewood" and "metal" in the same sentence!!

Wait a minute............what kind of a joke is this?!!
 
Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

Ash and maple. Just get a nice humbucker on it! I like PAF style buckers, but there's DiMarzio Super Distortion and Seymour's Custom or Distortion.
 
Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

You can do metal with Mahogany, Alder and Ash...
And with the high gain hiding something, Basswood become acceptable.
 
Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

GuitarDoc said:
I LMAO!!!!

You used "tonewood" and "metal" in the same sentence!!

Wait a minute............what kind of a joke is this?!!
Click to expand...


You may want to look out your front window... I believe there are kids who need chased off your lawn, or perhaps a cloud that needs yelled at.
 
Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

Oak and Beechwood are the only metal tonewoods.

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Re: What Is The Best Tonewood For Metal (Metallica)?

So Les Paul had the right idea after all with the railroad track guitar body. So much nonsense could have been avoided by sticking with the original design.
 
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