Which body wood would sound thicker?

[7th Hell]

Hello all-

I'm planning on ordering a Carvin 727 custom built guitar very soon, and I need your opinions on body wood. It's a 7 stringer, and I plan on getting a hardtail thru the body bridge for added sustain/tone. I'm a little confused over what body wood setup I should get. Cosmetics take a back seat to tone- what good is a pretty guitar that sounds like crap? The guitar will be a neck-thru model with a solid maple neck. Here is what I'm considering so far:

-Mahogany (Honduran) body sides, regular paint finish
-Mahogany body sides with a quilt maple top, regular paint finish
-Mahogany body sides with a bookmatched Koa top, either clear satin finish or a tung oiled finish
-Mahogany neck/body sides with tung oil or clear satin finish

Fretboard will be ebony, and guitar will have 2 direct mount humbuckers. I really love the tone of Honduran Mahogany- rich, dark, singing tones. I play aggressive rock/metal as well as dirty, Souther-Fried boogie stuff.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for all the help, guys!

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Which body wood would sound thicker?

I would go with all mahogany or the mahogany with the Koa top. The neck design on the Carvin's (rock maple/ebony with a truss and 2 carbon rods) makes them brighter than usual, so you would need the mahogany to fatten it out. The maple would look pretty, but might make things a bit brighter than you're used to.

 

[7th Hell]

Re: Which body wood would sound thicker?

Thanks, Benjy 26! I've read that several times on the Harmony Central site. Seems many who got the flamed/quilt maple top found out it was way too bright sounding. Makes for a pretty looking, thin, trebly sounding guitar.

Right now I'm leaning towards a maple neck-thru, with Mahogany sides and a Koa top. Any difference between a tung oil and a clear satin finish? Some sites (Wayne Guitars) boast that a oil-finished guitar sounds amazing! Never tried one before, so I don't know about that.

My other option would be a totally blacked-out maple/mahogany guitar. I mean totally blacked out- no fret markers, black hardware, jet black paint. The only thing you'd see on it would be the strings and the frets!

 

[Blue Calx]

Re: Which body wood would sound thicker?

Please keep us updated on your purchase... I've been eyeing the same guitar for a while, in mahogany too no less.

 

[7th Hell]

Re: Which body wood would sound thicker?

I shall! I was in Hollywood CA a few months ago, and I stepped into the Carvin store. I was VERY impressed with these guitars! The build quality, materials, and resulting tone and playabilty were incredible. How they charge so little is a mystery to me. I looked into an ESP custom shop 7 string, and the price they quoted me was in the $4000 range! I'd rather have a fleet of about 4 of the Carvin DC 727's in different colors!

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Which body wood would sound thicker?

I don't have direct experience with this, but a maple neck-thru guitar with an ebony fingerboard will probably be pretty bright no matter what you do in terms of wood for the "wings". I'd avoid the maple cap and think hard about a rosewood fretboard if it's available.

People swear the finish makes a big difference, and I'm sure it does on acoustic guitars. On a neck-thru electric, I'm not so sure, especially for your musical styles. You might want to explore the Library over on the Musical Instrument Makers Forum (must register to see the Library) to read up on tung oil. Also take a look at TruOil as a finishing alternative.

Hopefully Zerb, Blueline or JohnJohn can give us better insight on this.

Chip

 

[Brett Valentine]

Re: Which body wood would sound thicker?

I would definitely go with the all mahogany with the tung oil finish.
I've got a DC135 that's all koa/tung oil. Definitely a nice, warm, "pure" tone. It reacts very well with the M22T p/u. With distortion, it tends to get a very well rounded tone that just sings with distortion. I replaced the M22T with a Pearly Gates (not as powerful, but a brighter tone with a bit more character than the M22T, and more expressive dynamics).

My DC400T (maple top, Maple neck, mahogany body wings) is very bright sounding, almost scooped sounding, so yeah, I'd go with all mahogany or all koa (a little bit "higher voiced" than mahogany).

Brett

 

[7th Hell]

Re: Which body wood would sound thicker?

Thanks for all the info, guys! You're really helping me out with my decision.