Title says it all , I know tone is very much subjective but is there a general opinion on the basic tonal differences. I have a strat with maple neck r/wood fretboard on a cheapo strat body , supposedly alder but could bee any old junk. Its an eden body. Sounds a bit thin , brittle and bright. Going to make a strat body , I could buy either alder / swamp ash or I have some standard non swamp ash I could use in my workshop. Looking for a classic sorta sound , hendrix / sry / rory gallagher all the usual stuff.
Obviouslyly want am improvement on what I have
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Possibly an over simplification, but think Pickups, strings, electrics, bridge, neck, nut, body.... roughly in that order of importance on a strat. (Ignoring player, amp and other equipment for the purpose of this discussion)
On the other hand, if you want to make a body anyway i wouldn't discourage it. you can always swap these things round on a strat style guitar
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Ash is now entering short supply due to the 'disease' that is the covid for ash
RG + SRV Strats are both alder - Jimi had various guitars but I believe most/all were alder - But he had a mix of rosewood and maple fingerboards
As an overview Ash is slightly more crisp with more transparent mids - Alder can tend to be a touch more mellow/warmer with stronger mids - Ash can be heavy, if you get bad examples - But good ash is okay - That is an overview as the density/resonance of each piece of wood will have a voice - As such the finer nuances of each piece of wood can kick any overall views in to touch
I think Ash can be super light or heavy, whereas alder doesn't vary in weight so much.
Ash also has nicer grain pattern and looks cool with more transparent finishes.
Owning all three, I can't say it makes any real difference in tone to be honest.
Get one that looks nice, feels nice and you're mostly there.
Logging the Amazon is one thing but that's a whole different level!
I don't think i would ever recommend swapping a body as an effective way to tackle a thin sounding strat. I certainly wouldn't bother for an average piece of Ash, if you got an extremely light bit it might be enough to add a little warmth... most swamp ash is average weight these days
Although you never know, it might just go back together better when you make a new body. Parts fitting together better can change as much as the species of wood
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He concludes shape makes no difference but the test isn't enough to say that. Once you look at Gibsons you have a number of guitar designs which are near identical except for the body shape. This cannot be ignored. You cannot conclude a flying V sounds the same as an SG by cutting lumps of a strat.... that's just bad science
My feeling is strats are the worst design to use for tests like this. My belief is the fulcrum trem reduces any impact the body material might have
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Also, I can only assume that it's better to create less demand for and thereby harvest less ash while the stocks are suffering from disease problems.
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I found a used CS 56 Relic at local dealer and A/Bd them.
The 56 had substantially more low-end and warmth - yet has an Ash body and a maple neck. There are constructional differences (the neck is one piece and significantly thicker than the 59, for example).
I think the conclusion I’ve drawn is that you have to evaluate each instrument as a whole. Trying to second-guess what impact particular woods might have on tone does not always turn out how you think it might.
I don't find it at all unlikely that a particular ash body with an all-maple neck sounded fuller and warmer than a particular alder body with a rosewood-board neck - even though if you took a dozen of each and picked pairs at random, I would expect the opposite to be true more often.
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