Do woods matter as much with electric guitars?

[usb_chord]

If they do, do they have the same effect on the overall sound of an instrument? For instance, with acoustics we associate maple with a bright focused sound. Rosewood darker, Koa sorta Mahogany-like. Is it the same with electrics?

EDIT: Meant to post this over on the electric forum; sorry, mods! Feel free to move.

[Bob Womack]

Yes it does matter. Some examples: The Les Paul has a mahogany body and maple cap that give it a fat sort of sound and long sustain with a small dynamic difference between the attack and the sustain. You can pair those with humbuckers or P-90s and the basic full sound of the two-piece body is still there.

The all-mahogany Junior/Special is quite a bit thinner with either P-90s or 'buckers. All-maple guitars are bright and pingy with either humbuckers or single-coil pickups.

It goes down even further in materials to the fingerboards - an alder Strat with a maple board has quite a different sound from an ash Strat with a rosewood board.

Then there are the semi-hollow guitars: The ES-335 with a laminated body and maple center block sounds bolder than the more mellow ES-135 with the lam body and mahogany center block and different from the even more mellow ES-137 with lam and chromyte (balsa) center block.

I hope that helps!

Bob

[JoeCharter]

The impact of wood type is hugely overrated -- and even more so with electrics.

Of course, rosewood versus maple for acoustics is kind of obvious -- but most of the conversations found on forums is much closer to the pedantic side of things.

Wood choice is nothing compared to technique, attack -- and in the case of electrics, pick-ups, amps, effects, etc.

Any sales guy or luthier who tries to convince me otherwise will lose a sale pronto.

[pitner]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Yes it does matter. Some examples: The Les Paul has a mahogany body and maple cap that give it a fat sort of sound and long sustain with a small dynamic difference between the attack and the sustain. You can pair those with humbuckers or P-90s and the basic full sound of the two-piece body is still there.

The all-mahogany Junior/Special is quite a bit thinner with either P-90s or 'buckers. All-maple guitars are bright and pingy with either humbuckers or single-coil pickups.

It goes down even further in materials to the fingerboards - an alder Strat with a maple board has quite a different sound from an ash Strat with a rosewood board.

Then there are the semi-hollow guitars: The ES-335 with a laminated body and maple center block sounds bolder than the more mellow ES-135 with the lam body and mahogany center block and different from the even more mellow ES-137 with lam and chromyte (balsa) center block.

I hope that helps!

Bob

I agree. I own or have played the guitars you speak of and concur sir!

[usb_chord]

Thanks, Bob - quite helpful!

Mau,

My experiences are pretty similar, I guess. A great luthier and/or player can defy all preconceived notions of what a tonewood "should" sound like.

[ewh2]

Woods don't matter as much for electric guitars as they do for acoustic guitars.

For electric guitars, the body/neck materials are important but not as important as they are for acoustic guitars.

Ampeg made a amazing acrylic/clear plastic body guitar, Travis Bean's steel body guitar. Electric Guitar Company make amazing guitars pretty much without a sight of any wood.

For electric tone, pickups are very important, then as obvious as it might sound, the amp is very important. The material used to construct the electric guitar will have impact on tone but not as much impact as amp/pickups.

The size/shape of the body of a electric is very important eg if it's semi hollow/hollow/solid for tone. But a solid body guitar be it a Telecaster whether the body is made from maple/mahogany/alder/ash won't make as impact on tone as a P90/Single Coil/Humbucker or whether it goes through a High Gain distortion Mesa Boogie or a clean Jazz Chorus amp.

[JoeCharter]

Luthiers and store owners have all the reasons in the world to sell wood upgrades and to associate those upgrades with "better tone".

I mean no disrespect to anyone -- but I firmly assess that the people who really buy into those arguments are those who spend more time thinking about guitars than playing them.

If they spent more time playing, they would realize that 99% of what's being said on forums is complete mud.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by JoeCharter

If they spent more time playing, they would realize that 99% of what's being said on forums is complete mud.

Unless, of course, they're talking about a Taylor. I've never seen anyone accuse a Taylor of being muddy.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by ewh2

Travis Bean's steel body guitar.

Actually, aluminum-necked...

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by JoeCharter

Luthiers and store owners have all the reasons in the world to sell wood upgrades and to associate those upgrades with "better tone".

Once again, it should be stated - there's a world of difference between 'better' and 'different'.

Trouble is, as always, that there is so rarely a *single* difference between two otherwise similar instruments to attribute a difference to.

[JoeCharter]

Originally Posted by eatswodo

Unless, of course, they're talking about a Taylor. I've never seen anyone accuse a Taylor of being muddy.

I'm afraid I've caused a precedent...

From the Custom Shop:

Originally Posted by JoeCharter

Rosewood won't make the guitar sound less boxy. When I think of boxiness, the type of wood is the last consideration I have in mind.

Red spruce bracing probably makes a difference (as with anything else) but not something I would even think of as an important factor. It is mostly a way for builders to use smaller chunks of red spruce, which would otherwise go to waste. Some of them actually sell this as premium, as if it really cost a big chunk, as if it made a big difference in the end result. It is borderline an insult to people's intelligence.

I didn't know that Adirondack spruce sounds better and represents an improvement over sitka. But thanks to this video, now I know:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF6JP...utu.be&t=4m17s

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Yes it does matter. Some examples: The Les Paul has a mahogany body and maple cap that give it a fat sort of sound and long sustain with a small dynamic difference between the attack and the sustain. You can pair those with humbuckers or P-90s and the basic full sound of the two-piece body is still there.

The all-mahogany Junior/Special is quite a bit thinner with either P-90s or 'buckers. All-maple guitars are bright and pingy with either humbuckers or single-coil pickups.

It goes down even further in materials to the fingerboards - an alder Strat with a maple board has quite a different sound from an ash Strat with a rosewood board.

Then there are the semi-hollow guitars: The ES-335 with a laminated body and maple center block sounds bolder than the more mellow ES-135 with the lam body and mahogany center block and different from the even more mellow ES-137 with lam and chromyte (balsa) center block.

I hope that helps!

Bob

I tend to agree with Bob. Make a Les Paul with an Alder body and a maple neck (which is what Strats are made out of) and it'll sound different than a standard Les Paul.

[terrapin]

I think wood differences, for solid body electrics, makes minimal differences. If we did a blind test between say two strats, one with a swamp ash body and one with an alder body both using the same pickups and same fretboard wood into the same amp 90%+ of listeners would not be able to tell the difference.

Using Dru's example of an Alder body Les Paul with a maple neck. If the alder body had a maple cap like most mahogany Les Pauls the maple fretboard would impart a tad of added top end, but would still be difficult to discriminate from a standard Les Paul as long as it was still a set-neck guitar.

The species of wood would be more consequential for a hollow body or semi- hollow where there is more resonance from the wood.

The biggest differences in electric guitars comes from how the neck is attached, the pickups and the amp.

[justonwo]

I don't think wood matters much on electric guitars. Just my opinion based on the electrics I've owned. I worry more about the amp and the pickups.

[Jim.S]

Originally Posted by terrapin

The biggest differences in electric guitars comes from how the neck is attached.

Hi Terrapin, I have heard this stated many times but I have never heard or read a reasonable explanation as to how the type of joint makes a difference. I can see and explain how wood types will make a difference (speed of sound in wood variations, frequencies of modes of vibration due to different shapes and different Young's modulus of the wood). It is easy to explain how pickups differ (amount of coils, type of magnet etc) and easy to see how amps differ (valve or transistor etc). I would love to hear a reasonable explanation of how the neck joint makes a difference. If there is in fact any difference then there will be a plausible explanation as to why there is a difference. I am not knocking your opinion just that I have never heard a descent explanation.

Jim