Hey all!
At the risk of starting a trollwar, I have to ask - what's everyone's favorite tonewood for an electric geetar? Or, put another way, what's the wood that gets you closest to the sound in your head (given the right pickups, amp, etc)?
Here's me admitting my bias; you all may feel differently, but we can still have a civilized discussion: I'm actually someone who believes that most of your sound comes from your pickups, and a sizable chunk of the remainder comes from the construction (bridge type, saddle material, scale length, etc.), and that the wood is a less important ingredient than some of these others. That said, we're all tone geeks, and an additional 10% here and there definitely adds up, thus we've all found ourselves diving down deep gear rabbit holes...
I ask because of an interesting discovery recently. While I mostly consider myself a Les Paul guy, and I was over the moon when I had my Wayne's World moment with used Gibson gold top and I actually had the cash snag it, two of my favorite guitars are anything but high-end masterpieces. One is a Jackson JS32 Rhoads V, and the other is a Tele partscaster. Both of them have always sounded amazing to my ears, regardless of what pickups I've put in them or what I plug them in to. And, while I'm NOT someone with a strong preference for lighter guitars (in fact, the gold top that is my #1 is over 10 lbs), I definitely noticed that both have feather light bodies. Amidst all the quaranTime I have, I recently catalogued all of my gear, and realized something that got me thinking: they're both stringthrough bodies with brass saddles, 25.5" scale lengths, poplar bodies, maple necks, with dual humbuckers.
Now, I have other 25.5" scale length hardtail guitars. Most of my axes have brass saddles (except my RG with a floyd rose). I switch pickups and magnets compulsively between one guitar to the next, because this is my hobby and I love experimenting. The only constant, besides how good both of these beater axes sound to my ears, is the fact that they both have poplar bodies with maple necks. Maybe this is a recipe I should stick to!
Of course, there will always be variability between slabs of the same species of wood with respect to density, water content, etc. For that matter, and the range of tolerances within a particularly species might be as high as the variability between two species. I don't know much about wood / trees, so I don't know what's true here, and my experience with an N of 2 guitars with the poplar / maple / 25.5" combo may not be representative at all. Nevertheless, I'm definitely happy with what I've heard so far!!!
At the risk of starting a trollwar, I have to ask - what's everyone's favorite tonewood for an electric geetar? Or, put another way, what's the wood that gets you closest to the sound in your head (given the right pickups, amp, etc)?
Here's me admitting my bias; you all may feel differently, but we can still have a civilized discussion: I'm actually someone who believes that most of your sound comes from your pickups, and a sizable chunk of the remainder comes from the construction (bridge type, saddle material, scale length, etc.), and that the wood is a less important ingredient than some of these others. That said, we're all tone geeks, and an additional 10% here and there definitely adds up, thus we've all found ourselves diving down deep gear rabbit holes...
I ask because of an interesting discovery recently. While I mostly consider myself a Les Paul guy, and I was over the moon when I had my Wayne's World moment with used Gibson gold top and I actually had the cash snag it, two of my favorite guitars are anything but high-end masterpieces. One is a Jackson JS32 Rhoads V, and the other is a Tele partscaster. Both of them have always sounded amazing to my ears, regardless of what pickups I've put in them or what I plug them in to. And, while I'm NOT someone with a strong preference for lighter guitars (in fact, the gold top that is my #1 is over 10 lbs), I definitely noticed that both have feather light bodies. Amidst all the quaranTime I have, I recently catalogued all of my gear, and realized something that got me thinking: they're both stringthrough bodies with brass saddles, 25.5" scale lengths, poplar bodies, maple necks, with dual humbuckers.
Now, I have other 25.5" scale length hardtail guitars. Most of my axes have brass saddles (except my RG with a floyd rose). I switch pickups and magnets compulsively between one guitar to the next, because this is my hobby and I love experimenting. The only constant, besides how good both of these beater axes sound to my ears, is the fact that they both have poplar bodies with maple necks. Maybe this is a recipe I should stick to!
Of course, there will always be variability between slabs of the same species of wood with respect to density, water content, etc. For that matter, and the range of tolerances within a particularly species might be as high as the variability between two species. I don't know much about wood / trees, so I don't know what's true here, and my experience with an N of 2 guitars with the poplar / maple / 25.5" combo may not be representative at all. Nevertheless, I'm definitely happy with what I've heard so far!!!
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