hmm alder is not really a bright wood.. i would not say that at all. it gives a nice rich sound with a nice low-end. if alder was very bright, there's no way they'd go pairing it with a maple fretboard and single coils.

i'm not sure how you can say mahogany is used in generally higher quality guitars? that strikes me as a very strange statement. even those $5,000 fender strats (new, not some old expensive vintage one) use alder for the bodies.

mahogany is certainly more common, but alder can sound very nice.

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