Wood type on the body doesnt have much to do with the tone; seeing that strings and pickups never come into contact with the wood. I find the fretboard has much more affect on the tone than the body wood does. Ive played some ash that have a brighter sound, but I believe this had more to do with the necks being one piece maple instead of maple/rosewood fretboard.

Bump.............no reason I'm bored, and somewhere someone out there knows

Hope you're enjoying this BJ!!!!

I prefer imported, unfinished plywood myself as it presents an exotic, raw multi-layered tonality.

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You dig?

all of the above.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I ate the purple berries.....was that okay?
"been eating them for two or three weeks now...haven't got sick once"

sorry CSN&Y

all i can tell you is i have 2 PRS Swamp Ash Specials and the have amazing tone

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2011 PRS 25th SAS
2008 Eric Clapton Custom Antigua Strat
2012 PRS Artist Package Studio Special Order

If that were true then there would never be a such thing as a tone wood discussion and an entire industry would switch from tone woods to polymers and phenolic resins or recycled pop cans. Also, the strings do come in contact with the bridge and the bridge is mounted to the wood, as is the pickguard. I'll agree that the pickups play a much greater role but the body wood is a factor. It cannot be simply dismissed just because there's a pickguard. The wood affects how the strings vibrate because it's the wood that the strings are anchored to. It's impossible for the wood to not be a factor.

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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.

So let me see if I am getting the picture yet...BigJay used to be on the Forum under another name. He makes a new name and then starts this thread, knowing that this topic has been beat to death on this and other forums. Then he sits back and watches for entertainment? That is EVIL, EVIL, EVIL!!! Are you enjoying this yet BJ?

Now for adding to the controversy... the best tone wood is a vinyl covered body and acrylatic front. It rings and sustains forever. Deep low tones and really bright highs. My buddy had an old Hagstrom III wanttobe Strat that was like that. Sounds GREAT! As good as my Alder/Ash/Basswood/Sen/Maple/ bodied guitars!!! How is that for EVIL????

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

You're on the right trail Mr, X !!!

update: seems to be working BJ. Wonder how many posts will appear here? Getting popcorn.

If that were true then there would never be a such thing as a tone wood discussion and an entire industry would switch from tone woods to polymers and phenolic resins or recycled pop cans. Also, the strings do come in contact with the bridge and the bridge is mounted to the wood, as is the pickguard. I'll agree that the pickups play a much greater role but the body wood is a factor. It cannot be simply dismissed just because there's a pickguard. The wood affects how the strings vibrate because it's the wood that the strings are anchored to. It's impossible for the wood to not be a factor.[/quote]

If you read my quote, i said it had some factor, but not as much as other guitars, i used a tele as an example. The pickups mounted to the pickguard on a strat has virtually NO impact at all. Other guitars use pickguards, but the pickups are mouned to the actual body, they are not on a strat, they sit screwed to a plastic pickguard. The finish on the wood will have more of an impact than the wood itself, especially on MIM's because they're covered in polyester finsh, which is pretty much a plastic blanket. Thewood doesnt really affect the pickup response because they sit on a plastic pickguard that's attached at the very edges to the body, and they float in spot, anchored to the pickguard. which;yes, rests on the body, but that wont have much affect. Tone woods do make a HUGE difference in some electrics, actually most electrics; Tele's and other string throughs being the most affected. The fretboard has more of an impact because the tone bounces off the surface and comes back into contact with the strings. I can say what I stated with complete confidence, because Ive done every type of switch you can think of. Using the same body but changing the neck, keeping the neck changing the body, switching the whole pickup assembly and putting them in differnt guitars. The wood will have more of an impact on a strat if you have your trem flush, with heavy spring tension, because it makes a coupling of sorts to the body. Other than that, with a floating trem; Ive a/b's every combination there is, and wood of the body had the least impact on the overall tone. Pick/ string selection has 10 times more of an impact than body wood selection. While wood on strat does have a small impact on the primary tone, being the guitar unplugged, you will notice it more on a mahogony vs alder than you will alder vs ash. I went through this all when i was in the beginning stages of building my strat. We had unfinished bodies at the shop, and i put them together with my loaded pickguard, and neck. I couldnt really hear any difference. I build effects pedals and amps along with work on and repair guitars, so my ears have become tuned to small changes in tone. If you're sitting in a GC and you're A/B'ing an alder and ash body strat and you hear a difference, odds are that its something else making the change. As for the tremolo being attached to the body, if you go into a guitar shop and play wiht an alder and ash American Dlx, you will see what I mean. White six screw vintage trems are attached to the body, the 2 screw modern floating trems are anchored by only a knife edge on the base plate to the 2 bolts. To imply what i wrote means that I think tonewoods make no difference in guitars is to totally miss the point of what i said.

I remember a song by Billy Preston, "Going to go round in circles....." I did a search on "tone woods" and saw so many guitar forums where people became almost violent over this subject. I am not going to entertain BJ! Sorry.....moving on to other threads!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Well, heres the thing....and dont bother answering this unless you know what your talking about. OK?

Everybody knows that Les Pauls sound better than Strats. I mean, its common knowledge.

But is it because the Les Paul has that maple-capped mahogany body or because of the set-neck?

And another thing, if you have to settle for one of those crappy MIM Strats, wouldnt you be better off putting some Custom Shop pickups in there, to compensate for the lousy multi-piece glued body??

Thanks for all your help.

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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 have no opinion!!

I see you got your avatar straight now BigJay!

That is the Definition of what a Forum TROLL does ... so is that "really" BigJay back on the forum?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.