Hey guys!

Quick question.

Does ash or alder give better tone?

Thanks.

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BigJay's Custom '69 Kickassocaster
'90 Les Paul Standard "Vintage"
'00 MIJ '62 Tele RI
'76 Fender BandMaster Reverb
'71 Acoustic Control 2x12 w/Celestion V30s
'71 Martin D18
Mesa Mark IV
'65 Deluxe Reverb RI

I've been wondering myself BigJay, can you elaborate on the topic?

Particle board is best.

Yes.

Seriously, if you can, go play a few examples of each and see what you like best. I can't tell a lick of difference between the two other than what can be attributed to just differences from one guitar to another.

Jeff

This link provides an interesting explanation to the tonal differences in body wood options:

http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/bodies/options/bodywoodoptions.aspx

Short answer is neither are actually 'better'. I have heard that ash produces a sonically brighter tone to the warmer alder, but generally the difference is so miniscule that it shouldn't matter all that much. A lot of people actually prefer ash for it's beautiful grains, as seen on a lot of Sienna Sunburst and other transparent finishes.

Hope that helps.

Alder is good. Ash is way way way way way better.

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

Ha, a typical "newbie" post.

There once was a fellow with a Kickassocaster ... how could you have one?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Hi Big Jay,I don't think you'll find a big difference in the tonal qualities of alder and ash but ash looks much nicer IMHO.Black ash however is a much heavier and denser wood than regular ash(black comes from the bark colour not wood colour)and has very full tonal properties and sustain.
I had a '78 Strat with a black ash body that weighed about 11 lbs. I had to get rid of it as it was way too heavy to play even with a 4"wide strap but it rang and sustained like a Steinway concert grand.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

LOL! Here we go again! LOL! For BigJay, this subject has been debated on this Forum for a long time, i.e. "tone wood". Frankly I know cigar boxes that give out pretty good tone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMz2KoIxWIY

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Haha, cool post, BigJay!

(maybe a tad obvious - but worth a try!)

Please, do carry on...

Cheers

Nutter

Dude BigJay is a older member he just has a new acount now.

It wasn't obvious enough from my post that I knew that ?!?!?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I have a PRS DVD that gives a pretty detailed explanation of tone woods and how they differ. I found it to be even more informational than Warmoth. Common opinion is that heavy dense woods provide the best tone so that would seem to indicate ash as being somewhat better than alder but the truth is you want a wood that is both light and hard. Hardness enhances sustain and bite and brightness but lightness (and thinness) enhances harmonics and what we call "vibe" or "mojo" meaning dynamic response. Terms like these are always in argument because they are subjective. Personally I like alder for a Tele and ash for a Strat. I find alder soothes the nastiness an ash Tele can exhibit and ash improves the Strat's bite and angst. If I had to choose one wood for all Fenders I'd likely go with alder from a purely tone perspective.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

It's a bunch of horse $@!& dude. Really... A really awesome guitar is one you play a lot. Don't drink the Kool Aid.

Whoa! my cussword in that last post got turned into a bunch of symbols automatically... How sanitary. Proof positive that America really is pussywhipped...