Wood choice "geeking" for electric players

[Earwitness]

Maybe a beat-to-death subject on this part of the board..if so, sorry!

As an acoustic player and AGF sponge, I really get into the "geeking' for wood types--the tones, the grains, the combinations, etc. It seems so obvious that the wood choices are central to the looks and sound of an acoustic.

So, I was asking in a guitar store whether the electric players obsessed on woods like acoustic players and the guy just stares at me, like "are you kidding?" So, apparently I know nothing about electrics! (Years ago had a telecaster for awhile, but never made progress, and got rid of it.)

Anyway, just in an "electric guitar woods 101" format, what are the main categories of debates, preference, worship and obsession with different wood types that are in the electric world?

Thanks!

[terrapin]

For bodies the major choice is Ash or Alder. (My experience is almost completely with Fender-type guitars)
For fretboards the major choice is Rosewood or Maple

Where the fun begins is in the mix of woods...........Alder body/Maple neck, Ash body/Rosewood neck....and on and on. It is ALL personal preference. I prefer Alder bodies and Rosewood fretboards because to my ear that combo is more "organic" and woody sounding.

Regardless of the woods, IMO the major consideration is the sound of the specific guitar unplugged. The first thing I do when I am looking at a guitar is "pluck" a few unfretted strings and listen to the sound and sustain. I have found that if the guitar does not have a resonant voice with good sustain unplugged then you already have two strikes against it sounding good plugged in.

I also think a HUGE difference exists between one-piece bodies and multi-piece bodies. For example, MIM Strats can have up to FIVE pieces of wood making up the body!!! HOW can that possibly resonate and sustain unplugged? It CAN'T!

[Bingoccc]

I went with an Ash body for my strat. The grain is beautiful.

.http://www.fender.com/news/tech-talk-ash-and-alder/
.

[fazool]

My current electric guitar is an engineered material called Resonwood.

It is a molded reson infused with wood fibers and additives (I think). THe recipe can be modified to add mass (weight) and reduce damping.

Basically, in an electric guitar most of the tone comes from the electrical signal created when the string vibrates over the pickups. The wood will contribute by "shaping" how fast or slow those vibrations change.

Basically the attack and decay of the vibration. But its more subtle than that because it also affects the shape of changing vibrations.

So, the most important factor is the inherent material damping, which will affect this.

In fact with my guitar Gibson published graphs of sustain of Resonwood versus solid woods.

It's a very complex subject but imagine an electric guitar like a Les Paul or a Telecaster. Nice hard wood.

Now imagine that same guitar made out of foam rubber (pretend it can hold its shape). The latter guitar will lose is vibrations in the foam body and you will have no sustain. Not just sustain of a single note but the shape of the vibration response will be different.

The one thing most people are used to comparing simply is sustain of a single note. That's the best indicator of a difference but, again many other factors can affect it as well (bridge design, nut, neck joint, strings, etc. For the same exact guitar configuration you can compare sustain of different woods and get an idea on its affect.


Just remember the change in sustain of one note is just an indicator of tonal properties.

You also will have harmonic resonance effects (that are usually not discernible).

[The Growler]

Gibson solid bodies are mahogany with a maple "cap" on the top. Some players don't like the weight, others love the sustain. I love mine!

[s2y]

Kinda depends on the guitar and application. I like alder or ash for S and T type guitars. Maple topped mahogany for LP and semi-hollows. Maple with spruce tops for archtops.

[redir]

Fazool pretty much summed up my opinion based on experience in both building and playing electric guitars. IT has something to do with it but not nearly as much as an acoustic guitar and if you are going to filter the signal with a bunch of pedals then it even makes it that much more less obvious.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by The Growler

Gibson solid bodies are mahogany with a maple "cap" on the top. Some players don't like the weight, others love the sustain. I love mine!

+1.

Gibson Les Pauls are mahogany body with a maple cap. The SGs have just the mahogany body. Also, 10 lbs for a Les Paul is not unusual so it can be difficult on the shoulder for long gigs.

[perttime]

Much of the electric guitar wood choice geeking is about looks. In some circles, spalted hardwoods for tops is a big thing... The same guys go for necks with multiple laminations (like 7 or 9 laminations of 2 or 3 woods, or more).

People have built excellent electrics with spruce or pine bodies and maple necks. I quite like my guitar with 5 piece neck-through-body (3x maple + 2 stripes of mahogany between them) and mahogany wings.

[J Patrick]

..actually soft woods like pine and redwood are currently trending now for teles and strats...just like acoustic guitars, every little thing makes a difference...still there are folks who insist its all in the pickups...i'm not one of them...i geek over wood, finishes,hardware, electronics ,neck shapes, fret size...i've put together a half dozen partscasters and really enjoyed the end results....oh yeah...i'm a geek...

[MBE]

Ah, this takes me back to around 14 years ago when I first discovered the Warmoth web site...I spent hours studying all the options and reading about different woods, speccing out different dream guitars...

Their site is still great as an intro to electric-guitar wood-geekery: Here's an example of the useful info they've got there.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by MBE

Ah, this takes me back to around 14 years ago when I first discovered the Warmoth web site...I spent hours studying all the options and reading about different woods, speccing out different dream guitars...

Their site is still great as an intro to electric-guitar wood-geekery: Here's an example of the useful info they've got there.

I bought one of their Strat necks (for my Frankenstrat project) about 6 years ago. There were so many options, and so easy to pay $$$ for a super project.

[Bob Womack]

Geekery is a many splendored thing.

Those who care know that the guitar's woods and construction do, indeed, have a profound impact on the tone. Have you ever seen Vince Gill's collection of vintage electrics? For some reason he has ended up with some of the homliest instruments you'd ever want to see but they sound <i>wonderful.</i>

The results of wood and construction?
A Les Paul, with set mahogany neck and a mahogany body with maple cap, has a medium attack followed by a strong and long sustain phase. There is a girth to the instrument's sound. Chord cohesiveness is strong, meaning that chords blend well into a single result. If you are looking for a guitar that is great for legato leads with a round sound or for smooth distorted power chords, this one is excellent.

A Carvin through-neck guitar with a maple neck/center body section and alder body wings and an ebony fingerboard, produces a strong, pingy attack followed by a medium level, long length sustain phase. Within a chord, individual string identity is maintained, meaning that you can easily hear the individual tones involved in a chord even when blended with distortion. This guitar has a very "technical" sound. If you want to emphasize the individual harmonic content of chords in a chordal lead, this is your ax.

A Fender Telecaster with an ash body and bolted-on maple neck produces a very strong "poppy" attack followed by a quieter, shorter sustain phase. Individual string definition within a chord is strong. Plug this guitar into a Fender tube amp set moderately clean and you've got instant chicken pickin'. If you are looking for a guitar where the sustain phase is naturally quieter so that it stays out of the way of the repeated attacks of fast solo picking, look no further.

So, yes, body woods and construction are very important to sound.

Bob

[Psalad]

In my opinion the wood has almost nothing to do with the sound of a solid body electric with the exception of sustain. If you think about the way a pickup works... It's not picking up timbre the same way a microphone does.

Bodies resonate in a room with a loud guitar amp differently... And that impacts the sound, but that is all related to sustain and not timbre (though there is some impact on timbre as a result of sustain).

I respect the opinion of those who disagree, not trying to start a fight... I have never been able to pick out two different les paul guitars made from two different materials in a blind test. The way to eliminate our bias, which we all have, is test our assumptions with blind testing. I no longer believe the wood makes a real significant difference in timbre.

[alnico5]

I'd add the following. If an electric guitar sustains it is because the body is NOT damping the string. You want the energy to remain in the string. If it is dampened by transfer of energy from the string to the wood the sustain decreases in an electric guitar. (I'm talking about the plugged-in amplified sound). With an acoustic guitar you want the string to drive the vibration of the body. With an electric guitar you want the string to keep its vibrational energy going between nut and fret, and generate that little millivolt signal in the magnetic field of the pickup. A hard wood with no flex will produce the most plugged-in sustain for an electric not because it actively increases sustain, but because it does not dampen it to the same degree as soft wood.

The string pluck drives the process and it is one way. I never hear talk about how an acoustic guitar string is influenced by the body wood to make it vibrate differently. Electric players talk about the string vibrating the body and then the body influencing the string vibration. The string vibration in an acoustic drives the body and creates sound. In a electric any vibrational energy leaving the string is just lost to the pickup.