wood for guitar body?

axisus

I'm going to build another guitar and I'm looking for recommendations on what wood to use for the body. Ideally I'd like:

Not too heavy

easy enough to work with

looks not important as I'm probably spraying black.

Not too expensive!

Any recommendations?

Also - Is Wenge a pain to work with for a neck?

Sporky

I'd suggest poplar or alder for the body.

Wenge is beautiful but I've found it quite splintery. Those with more experience and talent than me can make lovely things out of it though. I would think a neck's worth would be enormously expensive?

earwighoney

Poplar or Pine for the body? 

Wenge is supposed to be horrible to work, lots of nasty splinters.

WezV

I have done a solid wenge neck and often use it in laminates

Yes, its splintery, and if you get a splinter in you it will go nasty. But its a lovely wood once polished up.

Nomad

Any thoughts on elm?

Roland

Elm is prone to warping and splitting, even after it's been dried and seasoned

Gizmo

Idigbo is pretty nice to work with to to much of an open grain (ive seen it sold as white limba/korina)

I made a stranberg 7 string multi scale neckthur out of it a few years ago (still not 100% finished with it as im not super happy with the Richlite board i think i'll be replacing it with real ebony one come the summer)

I got 2.4m of Idigbo that was 13" wide 2" thick for £90 from a local wood merchant.

WezV

Yeah idigbo is nice and cheap untill it gets called korina

Its not the nicest to work as the grain can be quite interlocked and small pin sized knots are not uncommon. But it is usually reasonably light and sands well

octatonic

Swamp ash.

Alder.

Basswood.

I would go for weight over species myself.

WezV

Dark red meranti is another reasonably cheap wood you can often find locally. Its in the mahogany ballpark, but not as stiff or strong and the grain is quite fuzzy. Sounds good though, quite airy.

WezV

this is DRM and cost me about £25 i think

WezV

just noticed the place i got the meranti from also has wenge neck blanks

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wenge-Neck-Blank-700-x-100-x-21mm-Tonewood-Luthier-Guitar-/172103165870

bluebuddha

I've done a carved top out of Wenge, used a home-brew over-head router jig and an enormous panel router bit, had to do many many passes, no deeper than 2mm at a time for fear of splintering.

I also happen to have a 1-piece Wenge top that I haven't used yet, it needs to be levelled as it bows in the middle, but its over 1/2" thick right now so lots to play with if you're interested. Its sat for a few years so has finished moving!