Looking at buying my first electric. A 2012 American Standard tele.

Wondering about the body materials and neck/fretboard choices. Are there quality differences in the ash/alder bodies, and maple/rosewood neck/fretboard options? Or is it a tonal difference? Or merely a personal preference?

Thanks for the help. This community has been great in answering questions and providing insight. Excited, but want to make a good choice!

Maple is bright n' snappy; rosewood is less bright and gritty.

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"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a Conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst." J. Edgar Hoover

The difference is merely tone, feel, looks, and personal preference. There is no better or worse, just different.

The difference in guitars are the ones that you pick it up and play it, you found the guitar you like. I've played over 20 les Pauls one time to find the one for me. It took me over a year to get a Stratocaster I liked.

Everyone says you can tell, feel or hear the difference. Not sure if I can say I can! I know I prefer ash bodies, for some reason I believe it gives me more sustain. As for the necks, I prefer the look of maple, but I also have two rosewood necks, because they look better with each of those guitars. Not sure if I can hear the difference when I play them if one is sparky or one is gritty. I think the Classic Tele is the original 52' a butterscotch body and maple neck. Everything other than that is what I call hiding a body's imperfections or marketing. Leo was no dummy, he understood that to sell more guitars, there needed to be changes to the look. So, he incorporated many of the current colors of automotive paint he saw on automobiles of the times. You may have heard the old joke, "I bought the car to match my guitar? Leo was no Henry Ford in one repsect, As Ford once said about the Model T, "You can have any color you want as long as it's black.)!

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Lite Ash Tele, Partcaster Black Nashville Tele with Jason Lollars, Blues DeVille 410, Lunchbox 200 Watt Amp, Martin RTGE 00016 Acoustic

I'm no expert, but here's my take, for what it's worth:

A lot of what we see today is a product of Tradition.

Also, the whole point to a Solid Body guitar is to isolate the resonances of the strings - that the pickups are only 'hearing' the strings.

In the past, as guitars needed to get 'louder', both to fill larger venues, and also to become Lead instruments, traditional hollow-body guitars would create unwanted feedback as the pickups picked up the body resonating before the Amps could run up to the desired levels. Solid Bodies solved much of this.

As such then, the more dense the body is, the better it will be at isolating the strings alone. But, the trade-off is that denser woods also weigh more, so a compromise must be reached.

Ash, Maple, Rosewood, Mahogany and Alder are the most common woods and are pretty good at isolating the string resonances. But, they're not perfect isolators of the strings and so each adds something to the overall tone, and there are people who prefer one over the others.

But, there are other considerations as well, such as:

Availability (can't run a commerical operation with rare woods in short or inconsistent supply), the woods above are plentiful and available.

Cost, the finished product must meet both a consumer Price Point and a Profit Margin - Brazillian Saepele wood would be unprofitable and VERY expensive to buy.

Workable - the Wood used must be workable and cannot prematurely dull or ruin shop tools - Drills, Saws, Routers, etc. all eating away at profits. And, it must be workable in it's ability to accept a Finish. A wood that takes 3 days to finish or requires a 5-step process won't be profitable.

As mentioned, play them all and decide which you think is best... it is totally subjective.

Ash seems to be more reserved for the Top of the Line instruments. Does that make it better, or is it just used to distinguish these models and justify the increased cost?

Necks - Again, mostly a matter of preference, but there is merit to the argument that Maple Fingerboards have less drag than Rosewood ones perhaps making them 'Faster' to play.

I realize my post is lengthy, but perhaps there's more 'insight' to it.

Buying most Fender instruments will be a good choice, so just get the one which feels, sounds and looks the best to you.

Then, Play, Play, Play !

Good Luck !

cheers!

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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele