Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: HELP please on body wood for a strat (kinda long)

  1. #1
    Formerly joe mama
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    683

    HELP please on body wood for a strat (kinda long)

    I'm still looking for that perfect strat. I have a lot of parts and guitar I swap around trying to find the right combination. A S/S/H is what I'm going for. I'm looking for opinions on the tonal characteristics of wood and the weight/density factors. I need some help as the more I play and build, the more confused I get because it's never consistent! What I'm looking for is a full sounding, but resonant strat. I want it to sound chunky (like my Nocaster).

    Right now, I'm leaning toward basswood. I'm familar with the Music Mans and Peavey Wolfgangs which are basswood bodies. I think they sound great for a clear, full distorted humbucker tone. I wasn't impressed with the clean tones or acoustic (unplugged)tones. But the strat is a different beast. How do the singles sound in basswood? Do they still quack in the inbetweens? The full throaty tone of the neck pickup is great on a strat, I wouldn't want to lose that.

    My perception on alder:
    I love it for traditional SRV or Hendrix strat stuff. I have had a ton of alder bodies, currently two Fender custom shop bodies. I have modded one to take a full humbucker. The other is stock, beautiful sunburst relic body and lightweight. With alder strats and humbuckers, it's too hard of a midrange or something when coupled with a bucker, I never seem to get the tones I'm trying to get. My '66 strat is incredible big sounding, but I'm certainly not gonna mod that! It's on the medium-heavy side too. Probably 7.8 lb.s or so. The lighter weight relics don't have that big girth like the '66 does.

    For ash:
    Ash is what EVH used early on, he said he favored heavy ash. I hated every 70's heavy-ash strat I played. It was "tinky" sounding. So I thought I want lightweight ash and a couple years ago, I built a Warmoth swamp ash strat kit and it was horrible. The super light 3.5 lb. body had a banjo like tone. No girth when played unplugged, so I didn't even bother with pickups. BUT here's the funky thing, I do have a heavy ash Hamer U.S. strat that has a full tone as well as my Nocaster which is pretty light ash and has pro'lly the best tone of any guitar I've owned/played. Is ash just that inconsistent?

    I'm so confused. The Nocaster has that fat, chunky but tight and articulate sound to it. Everything I play on it sounds right to me (and others) even acoustically! I want a strat that has that magic. I'm not sure it's the swamp ash or the design of the whole guitar with the three barrel saddles and bridge thing etc.. My swamp ash strats did not sound like that though!

    I'm pretty sure I want something other than alder. Do I want basswood or ash? Heavy or light? It seems ash is the most inconsistent tone wood imo. It's pretty scooped sounding but some pieces are magical while others are so so and some suck. That's just my observations though. Sorry for such a long post. I hope a few more experienced builders can take a minute and give me some sound advice. thanx.

  2. #2
    Formerly joe mama
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    683

    Re: HELP please on body wood for a strat (kinda long)

    This project has been on going since I got my Nocaster 1.5 years ago! That guitar spoiled all my others! On trying Limba, I'd be afraid to try anything too out there. Especially when I like a lot of traditional tones and sounds.

    But you give me some more hope towards basswood. What do you think of a basswood with a maple top? Suhr says it could be the holy grail of tone woods.

  3. #3
    Forum Member Tele-Bob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Connecticut
    Posts
    6,691

    Re: HELP please on body wood for a strat (kinda long)

    4 1/2 lb mahogany body should get you there. Look at all those chunky sounding flat top Gibsons that are made from mahogany. It sounds great with humbuckers or single coils. The only concern is weight. Mahogany varies dramatically in weight. A 4 1/2 lb body should get you there.
    If you're bored, you're not groovin'.

  4. #4
    Formerly joe mama
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    683

    Re: HELP please on body wood for a strat (kinda long)

    I was thinking I should rule out mahogany and Korina because it wouldn't allow for any chime or Fendery tones from the singles.

    How does Korina differ from Mahogany?

  5. #5
    Forum Member Tele-Bob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Connecticut
    Posts
    6,691

    Re: HELP please on body wood for a strat (kinda long)

    Mahogany is harder and has a brighter tone. Korina is pretty soft. Personally, I find Basswood to be one of the more toneless woods out there too. It seems to work well for guitars in a high gain situation, but the clean tones leave much to be desired for me anyway.
    If you're bored, you're not groovin'.

  6. #6
    Forum Member curtisstetka's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Boyertown PA
    Posts
    5,050

    Re: HELP please on body wood for a strat (kinda long)

    I've got a strat I put together with a Warmoth hard ash body. It sounds absolutely gorgeous, to my ears anyway. You'd never call it "tinky"

    Tone is so hard to describe. And, like you said, pieces of individual wood can differ greatly even though a particular species generally may have certain tonal qualities.

    That's no help, I know. More of an "I feel your pain" statement.

    Good luck.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •