Joined: Feb 17, 2005. For example, the Classic Vibe Thinline features a mahogany body, while most solid body telecasters use ash or alder wood. Rosewood is one of the most popular choices in acoustic guitars. In terms of guitar sound, koa is balanced and warm. However, ebony offers oilier pores, more brittle grains, and a stronger fundamental tone. However, mahogany is more common because it’s widely available in large quantities and available inside the United States. Although swamp ash is harder to come by than alder (and therefore more expensive), it is still possible to buy a new ash-bodied Fender. Compared to rosewood, ebony fingerboard woods are bright, durable, and sustainable. There are also two synthetic materials to choose from. Compared to basswood, an alder body comes with a wider scope of tones overall as well as fewer mid-notes than basswood. It’s easy to: The softwood offers tight grains that often dampen and soften sharp hight tones, which can level out thin sounds like a knife-edged tremolo. 4 years ago. Solid Body Telecaster: Available Options . Sound-wise, maple guitars offer ideal sustainability and plenty of bite. lighter pieces are usually more sought after for resonance, and by no means lesser quality Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster: Ash vs. Alder - YouTube The material is non-toxic and the guitar neck will never warp. It also looks great with sunbursts. The only downside is the steep price. My 5 cents. As well as affecting tone, the choice can also significantly change the look of your guitar (which for many is even more important than tone!). Koa is available in a wide range of colors, all of which include light and dark shades of rich gold. We like them both :) A wenge fretboard is normally played raw, with no finish. The boards have a brittle grain that requires the skill of a professional to hand fret the guitar. Ash is a tonewood that comes in two main types: The most popular option is hard ash due to the bright tone and high sustainability. There are two main types of rosewood used to make guitars today: Brazilian and East Indian. The wood pieces used to create an acoustic guitar are typically thin enough to manipulate into any design shape. However, unlike basswood, alder can retain high notes and provide space for low tones. Colored fillers or lacquer is set inside the grain to create a smooth clearing surface. Maple’s tone is highly reflective and bright, with more energy pushing toward the body wood. However, the Brazilian type is expensive. Because rosewood is naturally oily, stray overtones are quickly absorbed into the wood’s pores and the sound comes out much richer than maple. The wood offers strong grain markings, making the appearance stunning. Some guitarists prefer a single piece of wood for both the neck or body of the guitar for purity sake, however. The result is a guitar with a complexity of tones. The traditional wood used for Fender necks, maple is ideal because it’s strong, hard, and dense. Does it make any difference to the sound? Best Online Guitar Lessons in 2020 – Reviewed & Ranked, Fender Serial Number Lookup – Find When & Where Your Guitar Was Made, Why are Some Guitar Pickups Angled? It’s a medium-weight wood, although quality cuts of alder used for guitar bodies will often weigh less than denser cuts of ash. Rosewood is rare and highly expensive, so creating a guitar out of classic rosewood would be nearly impossible due to the price. Ash used for building guitar bodies is categorized into two types: Northern Ash or hard Ash, and southern Ash or swamp Ash, with the latter more commonly used. In contrast, Ash is a light cream color, with much darker and more pronounced grain figuring. Ash is like ... more rock and roll, punchy, kicks your butt kinda sound. Other models at the time, like the high-end Martin D-28, came with rosewood sides and back. Ash: exhibits a "snappier" tone with a bright edge, but with a warm bass and long sustain. Fender Thinline Telecaster Vs. Since owning the original '60 Jazzmaster (neck date 9/60) i've always known to play a guitar unplugged/acoustically for its tone/sound quality because basically this is whats amplified. He's also got an unhealthy obsession with vintage VW Campervans. You can find them in both electric and acoustic guitars, and the tonewood is highly resilient against wood rot or warping over time. The Unova region, a place full of wonder and mystery. Walnut also appears excellent when you use oil finishes on the wood, providing players with a beautiful instrument. In general, mahogany should absorb a bit of the string vibration as you play – much more than maple or some other neck wood types. Those who play ash-bodied Teles say that it makes a difference and ash sounds better. Basswood is a common body tonewood because it’s inexpensive and ideal for a factory setting. Korina is well renowned in the guitar industry as the tonewood of choice for the original Gibson Explorer and Flying-V guitars. Tbh you need one of each! The attack is crisp and the density is similar to maple. Angry Tele. Swamp ash was used on Fender guitars until the mid-50s when alder was chosen as its successor. However, soft ash offers a warmer feel. Various manufacturers typically favor a type of wood, but there are tons of different options available in both exotic and alternative kinds of wood. However, the wood type mutes high-frequency overtones, which can create a strong fundamental sound with the complexities of low-mid and mid-range overtones. For a brighter tone and more sustainability than rosewood, Pau Ferro is an excellent alternative. I had luck to compare ash vs alder on one wood sensitive amp. The denser the wood, the less room the sound has to move around among the grain. Single woods are also more likely to warp over time and can show more imperfections in the wood. View In-Stock Alder Strat® replacement bodies, View In-Stock Swamp Ash Strat® replacement bodies. Like Alder, the tone of Ash is musical and well-balanced, with perhaps just a little more “pop”. Chapter 1: Ash Vs Alder! However, it’s noticeably lighter in color than rosewood. There are even manufacturers who saw a single piece of wood in half and glue it back together for this reason! Its timbre is a bit more of a fundamental tone with fewer overtones than the more traditional body woods. It’s very warm. The wood configuration, particularly when it comes to the body of the guitar, isn’t as vital for electric guitars. Koa produces a tone that’s comparable to maple and mahogany. Messages: 7,683. As with ash, it’s impossible to discuss alder without making reference to Fender, which first used alder prominently in the late ’50s and early ’60s. The rich appearance is dark and proven popular among guitarists. Two of the most common materials used are alder and ash. Ash is the brighter of the two woods, and on average is lighter weight, it also has a more distinct and prominent grain pattern to it. Ash was my tonal preference, it has a little more of a scoop in the mids. Basswood tends to soften the high notes, on the other hand. 0 0. It’s so similar to rosewood, in fact, that companies like Fender even started using it as a replacement for rosewood fretboards in their Mexican-made models. Here’s a great video from the guys at Fender talking about different wood combos: You may see guitars made from a single piece of wood sometimes, but they’re often comprised of many tonewoods. He's a multi-instrumentalist and loves researching, writing, and geeking out about music. Alder is tiny bit more rounder and smoother. A place where you can find your hopes and dreams and make them reality. Quote; Link to post Share on other sites. However, maple offers better sustainability. This is by far the most popular body wood combination for all of our Drop Top models. The sound dies faster but sounds more clear in the small room, while the large room creates more echoes. Soft ash is also commonly called ‘swamp ash’. It also tends to stain easily in the natural growing habitat, so the color of the wood can become unsightly. Is this a human ear judgement or done by looking at spectrograms or by measuring the amplitude of sound waves, etc.? Commonly known as Honduran mahogany, this type of wood is often associated with Gibson guitars. DOH! There are spaces between wood grains, where the density of the wood (and amount of space between the grains) varies in different wood types. Alder is our most popular body wood. Swamp Ash is our second most popular wood. All rights reserved. While some people argue that using two tonewoods won’t make a huge negative difference compared to a single wood, others believe that the gluing process in guitar manufacturing among multiple pieces leads to a stronger, more durable instrument. Posts: 124. Because Alder’s appearance is more plain, it is the better candidate for solid color finishes. Perhaps the most common comparison to consider is between laminated and solid wood. I used to prefer ash in past, now I'm more on alder side. Ash is one of the most common tonewoods for electric guitar bodies. The resonance is dark and complex, and there are rich overtones you can’t find in other woods. Basswood is lightweight, but due to a low overall mass rather than large wood pores. The result is an overall better tone with sustain. Ash bodies look really good with a natural finish instead of painted. Fingerboards come in three common natural wood options: ebony, maple, and rosewood. The guitar sound is warm and rich, with plenty of volume and resonance. Ebony frets cost around 10 times that of rosewood. A man-made synthetic material, Richlite is a wood substitute when a more durable, harder wood is required. However, the open grain wood does require more work during production to fill the open pores and finish the guitar. Another rare and expensive option, like rosewood, the sale and circulation of Bubinga was recently restricted to protect the wood from a drastic reduction in numbers. Wood is an organic material, which means the shape and density change as the plant grows. What tones do you want, I think clean sounds are better with ash and overdrive with alder. Swamp Ash is usually light, lighter than alder. In time, the wood develops grains that continuously deepen and change. 2. You may occasionally find a piece of poplar with a stunning grain pattern if you try. However, rosewood is a very hard wood that’s much harder than maple, and the porous nature allows the tone to become warmer. Today, expect to see korina as a body wood in Reverend Guitars’ electric models. On the other hand, the prominent grain figures of Ash lend themselves better to translucent colors, which allow the grain to show through and enhance the beauty of the guitar. Ash is often finished in bursts as well. It’s stain, heat, and scratch-resistant. The process works much the same way as if you played the guitar in a small room, then in a large room. Tonewoods either eliminate or amplify the frequencies your strings produce, affecting the overall tone of the instrument. Compared to hard ash, maple is just as dense. Northern Hard Ash is the heavier of the two. With a less dense wood, the sound offers more sustain and a darker resonance. The bright highs can really pop, and it has a strong upper midrange. Knowing the properties of each will help you craft the sonic and visual personality of your guitar body. Sound-wide, the tone is balanced and consistent as well. Mahogany first became a popular material for guitars due to the attractive appearance and the fact that it was cheaper than rosewood, according to the World Resources Institute. The creamy color and bold grain pattern are more visually appealing than other wood types, like alder. Taylor is one of the few manufacturers to carry koa on many of their models. A rare find, koa is a flowering tree related to the pea family that’s native to Hawaii. Body wood, or the types of wood used to create the back and sides of a guitar, does more than look pretty. It offers a bright tone with a moderate weight and highly characteristic grain patterns. This lead to a bias that excluded how the dang thing sounds plugged it! But what guitarists are more concerned about is the type of material used to make the guitar itself. Alder and Ash are fairly easy to differentiate by sight. But there’s a warmth to … The colors can vary, but in guitar fretboards, you’re most likely to see Richlite in black to appear similar to ebony. It offers a rich variety of both purple and brown colors, and the material has been used to create guitars for decades. The material in the neck can amplify the body wood and highlight special features in the grain to pair well aesthetically as well. The solid wood also sounds better because it offers a uniform grain, thickness, and a more resonant tone with better vibration. In terms of sound, mahogany adds a parlor type of warm tone. This tonewood is durable, attractive, resonant, easy to work with, and relatively economical. Richlite is more expensive to produce, but the results are much superior than any organic wood. Mainly found in acoustic guitars, mahogany is the most common hardwood for the sides and back of the instrument. In guitars, poplar comes with a similar tone to alder as well. With a thicker, more expensive piece of wood, you gain superior results. We did ash versus alder to hear the differences. It also stimulates the weaker end of the instrument. If the specs on the website are correct, this negates all the comments about pine vs alder as both bodies are alder." Dagan8, Apr 28, 2011 #25. Maple Top on Basswood. This means you won’t find any deep, breathy sub-low tones. Ash is another wood type favored by Fender besides Alder. Today, maple is common in electric guitar necks. It’s ideal for warmer, fatter guitar tones. Overall, ebony fingerboards sound excellent on a guitar with a long neck (as long as the hardwood isn’t a hardwood like maple or bubinga). Basswood tends to soften the high notes, on the other hand. The percussive overtones during the pick attack are tremendous and can sustain a long time. It’s also stronger than maple. Sonically, Alder will produce more attack and presence with its emphasised upper-mids, resulting in it sounding a little bit punchier than Ash. Solid wood is another popular approach. A type of black hardwood, wenge is stiff and strong. A popular wood choice for necks and fretboards, maple is highly recognizable due to the grain patterns, moderate weight, and bright tone. In this complete guide to guitar woods, we group each type according to whether it’s used in the body, the neck, or the fingerboard (some, such as rosewood, appear in more than one category). It offers chocolate brown stripes and a very hard, coarse texture with open grains. On Alder, the grain is closed, making it a good candidate for amateurs and budding luthiers. Alder has more of a peak. Each plant, and each piece of wood, displays inconsistencies and imperfections in varying shapes and sizes. The grain should be different enough to tell visually. So, what you described is what I'd more or less expect from it to be like. It’s truly a beautiful and highly versatile instrument. The tone is snappier and the attack more immediate as a direct result. The resulting wood appears like a sheet rather than a solid piece, and it’s ideal in a cheaper guitar with an attractive-looking natural grain surface. Both types of rosewood require what’s called “pore fill,” where the pores are filled before the lacquer is applied. The scooped middle frequencies are bright and balanced, and the sound has more balance at the top. Unlike some other types, maple wood has a uniform grain. Similar to alder, basswood is nearly mid-range. They remain more in the mid-range rather than the high side, which results in a musical sound for a beginner guitarist or a less expressive one for guitarists who play hard picking blues music. A sustainable wood, Pau Perro is increasing in popularity after the regulations restricted the use of some wood types – like rosewood and Bubinga. Why Do Tonewoods Sound Different From Each Other. Brazilian rosewood is hard and dense, with ideal articulation in tone, awesome clarity, and a smooth feel. It’s a gem and icon of the golden era in guitar making when manufacturers took bold steps. All Rights Reserved Registered Address – Dramatik, c/o Wesley Offices, 74 Silver Street, Bristol, BS48 2DS. The warmth of this tonewood is like rosewood with the brightness mahogany brings. Loomis's are not Swamp Ash, they are Northern Hard Ash, which is a heavier alternative to swamp ash. Expect to pair multiple kinds of wood for the best results. dlcyh55, Jun 29, 2011 #1. The wood drains quickly, making it very susceptible to splitting during the drying process. The grain pattern takes on a swirl, where the larger rings and sections around the outside enhance the strength of the body. Combine a koa neck with an ebony fingerboard for the best warm sound. Messages: 8,303. You can create a clean, transparent sound with single-coil pickups easily. 0 0. The sound offers more percussion and perfect tonal combination. Ash, on the other hand, has an open grain that absorbs a lot of finish. If you are a do-it-yourselfer interested in finishing your own guitar body, there are some very important differences between Alder and Ash. The sound is better, however, when it comes to the upper mid-range. Of course weight can vary for all these woods, depending on many factors. The open pores are more responsive than maple necks and remain much less dense. The tone difference from those 2 things alone can be huge. Up in the northern eara lies a stadium that at this moment was full of people cheering, waiting for the battle to become champion to begin. While guitar necks are traditionally made using maple, there are many types of woods found in this portion of your instrument. Ash can be difficult to work with, though; the pores must be filled before finishes are applied, and two swamp ash guitar bodies are more likely to differ from one another tonally than two bodies made of alder, which has a tighter, more consistent grain. Many restrictions lifted last year, but this wood may still be pricier and take much longer to produce. No slapping just finger style playing, we were curious about the differences. When it comes to building an acoustic guitar, there are many ways to arrange and utilize wood. Source(s): https://shrinke.im/a8lFG. The wood’s qualities make it stable and highly sustainable while offering a bright tone. Like to hear some opinions. However, the highs are more omnipresent rather than glass shattering. Color and variety alter from piece to piece, but all types of rosewood are highly attractive. Laminated wood can warp quickly, depending on the environment around you. Alder vs Ash. It’s created using a resin-infused type of paper. Rosewood guitar necks smooth out high tones and offer ideal sustainability. Expect your guitar to sound twangier, but not quite as big sounding. Ash, on the other hand, has an open grain that absorbs a lot of … Alder’s enduring popularity as a tone-wood is mostly due to the fact that its sound is so well balanced across the entire sonic spectrum. Like Alder, the tone of Ash is musical and well-balanced, with perhaps just a little more “pop”. Luthiers also tend to despise working with korina tonewoods. This article should serve as a useful resource in general, whether you’re about to buy a guitar or just like geeking out about this stuff. A comparison of tone with Ash vs Alder made with the 2 guitars mentioned above would be completely invalid. However, when referring to swamp/hard Ash, we are actually talking about the region where Ash trees grow instead of a particular type of wood. The wood is perfect for bass necks with warm lows and strong midrange tones. I think the wood may make a difference in tone but it would be tiny compared to the difference due to the pickup and string differences. Does anyone have a preference/opinion as to the sound of and ash body compared to an alder body? However, it’s a bit more on the warm side. Compared to basswood, an alder body comes with a wider scope of tones overall as well as fewer mid-notes than basswood. Copyright © 2021 Warmoth Guitar Products. Wryan . Taken on average, Alder is the lighter weight of the two woods, with Strat® bodies usually weighing in at around 4 pounds. Ash comes in two varieties: Northern Hard Ash and Swamp Ash. Ged is editor-in-chief and founder of Zing Instruments. It’s also ideal to combine with an ebony fretboard to add brightness. Quite similar were the results when I A/Bed some Jazz-bass copies (same shape, alder vs ash bodies). Although, it’s lighter than maple and the tone is very bright. There are many reasons using multiple tonewoods can boost your instrument’s performance. Those who play alder-bodied Teles say that it makes no real difference. If you are a do-it-yourselfer interested in finishing your own guitar body, there are some very important differences between Alder and Ash. Ebony boards are rare in machine-made guitars. The most popular wood used in fretboards and necks, maple is an easy-to-identify wood. A rich caramel swirls through the wood, and the fret feels like ebony or rosewood to your fingers. There are some warmth and tons of brightness. Both types of ash tonewoods offer an open grain, which means the instrument also comes with a fair amount of preparation to make sure the grain is properly filled in the factory. However, acoustic models gain most of their sound from the wood choice. This makes achieving a nice-looking finish a much more difficult project for the average Joe. Like basswood, alder is a lightweight type of body wood with soft and condensed pores. The sound is warm, with damp high sounds. Guru; Members; 1 11,390 posts; Members; Share; Posted October 18, 2009. Most companies offer both solid and laminated wood tops on their acoustic guitars. ©2021 - Zinginstruments.com. Some tonewoods are more popular among electric or acoustic models. ToneRanger Most Honored Senior Member. The neck of a guitar made with Richlite is less likely to fluctuate or curve because the material is synthetic. Squire Vintage Modified 72 Thinline. Lower-end models, like the D-18, came in mahogany. Guitar bodies made from a single piece of wood tend to come with a higher price tag. Finally, fingerboard woods are located on the fretboard. Ash is also very porous so will need grain filling whereas it's not essential for alder. The reason for such is because different materials, like the variety of woods used to make the guitar body, will give away different sound or tone qualities. The two varieties also both sound bright and clear, with fairly even frequency response. The sound has plenty of bite, brightness, and ideal sustainability. There are so many ways to personalize your instrument to suit you! Boris Bubbanov Most Honored Senior Member. "Welcome one and all to Unova's ultimate battle to become champion. The manufacturing process can take longer, as it requires closer attention to detail and careful handling of the materials. Ash Vs Alder. Side by Side comparison of Sire V7 4ST Bass - Alder vs Ash. The result is a bright and clear sound. Manufacturers vary based on their approach. However, unlike basswood, alder can retain high notes and provide space for low tones. You can expect the tone to become softer and warmer over time, making walnut the ideal alternative to koa. When you are playing with a band and need to cut through, the alder has a better peak and allows you to claim more space in the song. It’s commonly used to create ukuleles, but the pricier wood is also found on special and limited-edition guitars. The high overtones are similar to rosewood, but the resonation comes with more fundamental mids and low-mid ranges because of the multi-density stripes. Finish. Solid wood comes with bonuses over laminated wood in terms of durability. However, maple is an easier wood to finish because it has tight and highly durable grains. I'm sure ash or alder would sound great, also, but the basswood and the slightly strong ('62-ish) pickups give it a wonderfully warm sound. Where it differs is in the sweeter top end. 1 decade ago. In comparison the grain is tighter, producing a much brighter tone. In fact, strat bodies made of rosewood can easily weigh over six pounds. On Alder, the grain is closed, making it a good candidate for amateurs and budding luthiers. It is often considered as the other "traditional" Stratocaster body wood. The lower outer frequencies mean the mid-tones become more pronounced. Today, according to Thalia, mahogany guitars come in three main varieties of hardwood. Source(s): https://shrinks.im/a9PrC. This is what produces strong and stable functionality, but it’s less reactive to environmental changes than other hardwoods. Married Man’s Guide to Buying Without Lying. The instrument is still heavy. Gibson pioneered fretboards using this hard and consistently sustainable material in the mid-90s. The snappy tone is brighter than other less dense wood types. It works really well with single-coil pickups, producing a clean, transparent sound that’s easily tweakable. Swamp ash tonewood comes from trees with roots below the water level in Southern swamps, so the wood is lightweight and porous. Fender claims to use swamp ash in many of their guitars in the 1950s. The color is distinctive. The result is a compressed attack and slightly compressed highs. Compared to maple, walnut tonewood is slightly warmer. The Main Reasons Explained, How Many Frets on a Guitar? I have heard ash is brighter and that alder wood in suitable grain and quality is getting harder to come by and that ash is actually a better choice. The best part about koa is the stunning appearance, which makes it highly sought-after. Cosmetically, Ash has a more inconsistent but straight and visible grain that looks great with natural and transparent finishes whereas Alders tight grain is less visible but very consistent and is usually finished in solid colours. It can sound similar to Ash but without the complexity in overtones. But also depends on wood piece and setup situation. The tight, nearly filtered bass is harmonic and you can vary pick attacks. They last longer and they come with better resonation. The right choice for your guitar may depend on your budget, preference, and what type of music you play. The midrange is much more similar to rosewood or mahogany though. Like alder, poplar is a type of wood that’s commonly used to manufacture many things. Ash will give you a comparably rounder and … A maple fretboard comes with a tremendous amount of high overtones. 1 0. mumper. However, swamp ash is more difficult to find than alder or new ash. Since Leo Fender first used them in the 1950’s, Alder and Ash have become the most popular tonewoods for construction of solid-body bolt-on guitars. It won’t wear out over time. Alder. A Fight For Champion! Unlike rosewood, however, Pau Ferro has a tighter grain. Alder vs. Ash, if it matters at all, is so far down the list of things that influence your tone it's not even funny. Basswood/Maple produces a very rich, full sound with great low, middle and high end. The Answer Might Surprise You, As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases Swamp Ash is typically lighter, with Strat® bodies under 5 pounds. Your choice of guitar tonewood is a subject of great discussion among guitarists, as different woods affect your sound in different ways. How are the tones in your Tone-O-Meter measured? Walnut is a dense wood with sparkly brightness, like koa. Members; Angry Tele 1 Posted October 18, 2009. Like rosewood, Bubinga is a tropical wood. Some guitar models divide a solid piece of wood into two mirroring sections, which is often used for guitar tops. The top end is often brighter as a result. Hard maple is tough on factory equipment though, which makes it commonly only used for slim guitars. Laminated wood, as the name suggests, is made from multiple thin layers of wood that are meshed together by a luthier using adhesive and pressure. Bill said: After years of analysis of thousands of players' observations, the following two definitive facts have emerged: 1. I like both, depends on needs. “I would say ash has a great sound, especially when you are jamming at home by yourself. Ash is one of the most common tonewoods for electric guitar bodies.