I own a 50th Anniversary American Deluxe Stratocaster with an Alder body and I have a 2006 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster. I can't tell a tone difference between the two but I love the way the Ash wood grain looks under the Aged Cherry Burst finish.

I have a '96 Jeff Beck Signature Strat with an Alder body and lace sensor pickups that sounds livlier than both of the newer strats.

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i am very particular towards ash bodies for their good looks. I have mostly ash body strats covered in poly (two tone and natural are my favs). I have 2 AM deluxe alder-bodied pearl olym white strats with a pearl white pickguard, one piece maple necks all covered in poly, the plastic bits are parchment colored. The white strats are stunningly good looking guitars. One has CS 69's, the has the stock samarium pups. Why poly? The poly is tough and scratch resistant, and i can't stand that beat up look, it looks unprofessional. I like to dress and look good when i play for an audience. same goes for my gear. i am very particular about my gear looking good.

As for tone, I'll audition the instrument and either fall in love or walk away. I don't care what the label is, whether AM deluxe, custom shop MIM, or whatever (yes i have come across CS strats that sounded "flat"). Either it has tone or it does not and i use my ears for that. It has to have tone amped - that counts for a lot with me - you have to hear all the harmonics and vibrations (pick a very clean top-of-the-line amp when you audition an instrument). For what it's worth, all my instruments have a one piece maple neck. I have found these visually appealing and quite resonant.

I have found that tone depends on:
1. pickups (70%)
2. guitar set up (20%)
2a. intonation
2b. pickup height
2c. strings
2d. the trem springs (i use only chrome)
2e. other things unknown to me
3. neck (10%)

lots of factors involved, but body wood and finish are insignificant in my experience. i must say i strongly disagree with those that claim "nitro bodies" sound better - they make no difference in my opinion.

ciao,
johnny.

I agree mostly with you on tone. but for me comfort of neck plays a giant part in picking a guitar. Really for me, if 2 guitars sound really good, but I like the neck on one better its a no brainer. I think the neck is the definer in feel, as much as pickups tend to be the definer in sound.

Neck is number two to me. It is amazing how much the sound of a guitar changes when you swap out a neck. Setup of the neck, string height , pickup height thats all one in the same, they all add up to a good setup. But when you get a quartersawn 500. neck and put it on in place of a stock 400. guitars neck you will hear the difference as well as feel it. Pickups ,Neck, Body and remember the same pickup sounds different with different Caps or if you add a greasebucket circut or even pots.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. If the neck plays great, that's the decisive factor for me along with my choice of string set. And especially in the case of a a solid bodied instrument, if you add the proper combination of electronics, it will sound as great as it plays. YMMV.

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You dig?

I totally agree Johnny. I love a beautiful nitro finish but I have no problem with poly. I have both types of finish on guitars in my collection and I don't feel like the finish affects the sound. I'm very particular about my gear looking good too.

Are you as appalled as I am by the Road Worn series? If someone buys one of my guitars in 50 years they're going to say "Man, look how well cared for this guitar is!"

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I am indeed appalled by the "road-worn" series and I will not spend one penny in that direction. I can't stand the "suffering musician" look. To me, a beatup guitar is just that, a beatup guitar.

As far as neck goes, I do agree it's quite an important factor in overall tone. That's why I broke it out on its own as a tone contributor.

As far as necks go, I do wish fender would switch jumbo stainless steel frets. I find it's easier to chord with jumbos and the stainless steel last a lot longer than current frets too. I have played parker flys and the necks are pretty impressive (and the guitar sounds prettyy good despite the spaced-out look, looks wise, I love the strat look most).

ciao,
johnny.

No two guitars ever sound exactly the same but there are some generalisations that can be made about body wood.Alder,in my experience has a little more low-mid and is smoother in the highs.Ash,has a tighter bass and more detailed highs.But agian you need to consider other variables such as body weight and finish thickness.A heavier guitar will usually have more midrange thickness.A thick poly finish will dampen the wood's tone more than a thin all nitro finish.So it really comes down to finding the right particular guitar that excites you as opposed to just judging its performance based on specs alone.

If you absolutely have to have that body and it doesn't sound the way you like, switch necks.
You can't guarantee a change that will be what you want, but it will change, that's what I've seen after doing it several times over the years.

The neck, as far as these can vary, because better than 90% are made of maple, will do as a constantl if you want to compare bodies.

Buying a neck is a lot cheaper than buying an entire guitar, that is unless you absolutely have to have your neck identifiable as a brand-name product.

So, you have options;
Get a cheap neck.
Buy a Fender Neck.
If you have more than one Fender, you can switch and keep the brand name.
Or just buy another sunburst.