SL-1 with Poplar body?

[Bababueee]

I was wondering if anyone knew if Jackon made SL-1's with a poplar body for a time?

I have seen soloists advertised in musicians friend, as well as on the net as having poplar bodies.

I just bought a 2000 SL-1 :-) and I'm hoping it has an alder body.

Thanks in advance!

[Newc]

Re: SL-1 with Poplar body?

Poplar and Alder are both similar in weight and tone (nearly indistinguishable). One is not better or worse than the other.

Newc

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: SL-1 with Poplar body?

Obviously tone is all subjective. Too me and from my experiences. Poplar tends to be a bit heavier than alder do to it being considered a green wood. It grows quickly and can be harvested in a relatively short time as apposed to say alder or ash. I hear poplar as a more midrangy wood than alder. Alder to me is more balanced and kinda flat in response compaired to poplar. I love alder an d preffer it over poplar but they do have similar properites as far as tone goes. But to me the difference is i te midrange. Poplar seems more honky like as alder is sweeter.
But the lightest guitars i have are Basswood and the heaviest i have as far as the Jackson/Charvels go are the poplar ones.
But then maybe its just me.
probably. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Gil

[Bababueee]

Re: SL-1 with Poplar body?

Thanks for your help guys.

Do any of you know if in 2000 jackson used alder or poplar in their SL-1's? or both?

[diablomozart]

Re: SL-1 with Poplar body?

from close to the beginning of time (lol) most soloists were made with a maple center block and poplar sides...same is true for a lot of custom shop jacksons (v's, rhoads, kellys) i believe this was the wood choicethey used unless you asked for something different....i wasn't aware they made soloists out of alder now....weird...d.m.

[Bababueee]

Re: SL-1 with Poplar body?

Thanks diablo. Most of the soloists i have seen thus far have been advertized has being alder, including the jackson website. Just caused some confusion.

Thanks again.

[charvel750]

Re: SL-1 with Poplar body?

Just a minor point of clarification. Technically, the term SL-1 (KV-2, KE-3, etc.) and USA Select did not appear in the Jackson jargon until 1996. The beginning of USA Production models occurred in the spring of 1990, but was not referred to in the new terms. Instead, the guitars were called their formal names: Dinky, Soloist, Kelly, etc. As d.m. already mentioned, all production Soloists from 1990 through 1996 were maple necks with poplar sides. And the same goes for all other models of the era: Rhoads, Fusion, Kelly, King V, etc. By the end of 1996 poplar was replaced with alder in these models. Alder is now the choice wood.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Re: SL-1 with Poplar body?

Didn't the Shannon Soloists have poplar wings as well?

[toejam]

Re: SL-1 with Poplar body?

Originally posted by Newc:
Poplar and Alder are both similar in weight and tone (nearly indistinguishable). One is not better or worse than the other.

Newc

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Exactly!! Most of the time poplar is a little lighter than alder, but my Charvel Model 6 in poplar is pretty heavy. The lighest guitar I own is a Jackson Dinky HX (string-thru tunomatic), and it's made of poplar. My two other Dinkies are alder and a little bit heavier, but that might also be due to the Floyds on them. All sound almost about the same, even my alder hardtail Fender and alder hardtail Carvin with maple top.