Got wood?

[HiOctane]

Generally speaking, guitar manufacturers seem to have largely settled on using mahogany (and to a lesser extent korina), alder, basswood and swamp ash for their bodies- and often combining these woods with laminate maple tops.

And it makes sense- they are all great tonewoods and hit a large cross-section of what most guitarists are looking for in an instrument.

However, I am interested in hearing opinions and experiences regarding the less-commonly used body woods; for example, hard ash, maple, walnut, koa, etc.

Personally, I have had some great luck with heavier guitars- something I know a lot of players dislike because of the weight on stage and the often brighter tone. Specifically, I have had some hard ash and solid maple guitars with either maple/maple or maple/rosewood boards that have sounded killer. A bit less conventional, but definitely happening.

I'll use George Lynch as a great example, as I know there have been many discussions in this forum regarding his tone and instruments. He proved with his original maple/maple tiger (and later his ESP Kamikaze with the maple body and maple/ebony neck), there are some great tones out there to be had if you experiment. I think basswood is a good tone wood, but I distinctly remember the story of how his famous tiger came about- he tried basswood on Grover Jackson's advice because Grover and Allan Holdsworth had gone through a bunch of bodies and thought that basswood sounded the best. He tried it, thought it was awful and went to the maple body- and has used it ever since.

Look forward to the responses.

[Newc]

There's good basswood and bad basswood. Unfortunately, a lot of guitars were made using bad basswood, and now it gets zero respect.

But just like all woods - even the premium stuff - people have different tastes. Some don't like mahogany, some don't like maple, etc.

Guitar makers look at what the majority of the market is actually buying - alder, basswood, mahogany, swamp ash, figured maple tops, etc - and go with that because they know those are easy to sell, and they offer a wide enough tonal variety.

[missionguitars1]

However, I am interested in hearing opinions and experiences regarding the less-commonly used body woods; for example, hard ash, maple, walnut, koa, etc.

The problem you will run into is weight. Lynch's Tiger weighs in at something like 12 lbs., which he says he's become accustomed to, but it's like dragging a tank around after an hour on stage! Expense is the other problem - I've been searching for what might be termed "nicer" or "exotic" woods like these, and a blank will run well over $100, whereas I can get basswood, swamp ash, alder, etc for more like $50...

[delt]

Play-dough gives a nice, mellow sound.

Kleenex boxes sound bright and distinct, especially if they're empty.

[Ace]

My favorite wood combination is the maple topped mahogany of a Les Paul. The mahogany gives the guitar a warm fullness, while the maple cap gives it enough britness to cut through beautifully.

[zeegler]

My favorite wood combination is the maple topped mahogany of a Les Paul. The mahogany gives the guitar a warm fullness, while the maple cap gives it enough britness to cut through beautifully.

I completely agree. It's so easy to get a nice tone out of a mahogany/maple guitar.

[Rich#6]

I love the tone out of my gunslinger that is alder, love the tone out of my model that is maple/poplar and the Mag/maple is great too. Basswood is becoming my least favorite wood and half my guitars are basswood.
I had the same pickups in a basswood and mag/maple guitars. sounded great in the m/m and like shit in the basswood guitar.

[Cygnus X1]

Likely not what you're looking for, but I love the tone and sustain I get out the red oak I used on this homemade mini-bich.

[HiOctane]

Likely not what you're looking for, but I love the tone and sustain I get out the red oak I used on this homemade mini-bich.

Now that's what I had in mind- a different perspective!
Very cool. What made you choose this wood and can you compare
the tone to a more common wood?

[Cygnus X1]

I would say ash...it was most readily availble to me at the time, I knew I wanted a bich shape, but narrower, and I have had prior experience in high grade furniture woods. So I selected this from an 84 lumber store, and cut the shape and let it "relax", age for one year, then put it together. It's not as heavy as it looks, and it has a tone that resonates in the "A" tone. So, pluck the fifth string and it sings on it.
It's not pretty, but it does what I designed, and that makes it just right to me.

I'm planning to do a slim archtop design out of maple, string through, and see how that works. I am also working with asthetics in mind, as well.

[Rich#6]

It's not pretty, but it does what I designed, and that makes it just right to me.

What are you talking about , I love the grain on that.
I would've thought that would be really heavy though.

[Sunbane]

My (arguably) best sounding guitar is an old 80's Vantage in Ash, with a maple/maple neck. There's just something about it that sounds balls-out rock'n'roll - even with the amp gain all the way up. Unfortunately I hate its string tension, the neck shape, and its mini frets. The headstock and the body shape are ugly too.

[j2379]

I completely agree. It's so easy to get a nice tone out of a mahogany/maple guitar.

thats kind of like what KOA sounds like.

[Shawn Lutz]

I prefer mahogany bodies with maple tops.

Swamp ash and ash are good tone woods but wiht anything htere's good and bad wood. I have swamp ash body that is heavy and a couple fairly light ash bodies that I use with ebony fretboards and they sound kick ass.

Also on a side note....in my experience (not a general rule per se) the heavier the guitar, the better it sounds to my ears

[thetroy]

I'm slowly putting together a strat with a ~2000 MIM body so I think those are alder?

The Warmoth neck is going to be raw Wenge or Bocote and the fingerboard will be Ziricote scallopped with stainless frets.