Swamp Ash is where its at... teles are made from it, and they sure as hell aint shitty

__________________

let me be the first to say that, zebrawood sounds alot like mohogany. just looks cooler

__________________

Where does basswood fit into all of this?

__________________

its lightweight, nice and resonant... has a decent low end... but it doesnt have the same warmth as mahogany. I'd say its in between mahogany and alder... correct me if i'm wrong. Problem is that it dents very very easily.

__________________

Lots of elitists claim basswood is just like agathis, firewood.

__________________

What about Korina? I've seen Gibson Explorers made from it. Not sure about the tonal characteristics of it, though.

Also, as far as tonal characteristics of the wood are concerned, when in doubt, just get active pickups like EMGs and the wood pretty much goes out of the equation. Not entirely, of course, as a guitar made out of quality woods will sound better than a guitar made out of firewood, even if they both had EMGs. But EMGs and other actives are definitely a quick and easy way to get a pretty good sound out of a lower end guitar.

__________________

http://www.carvin.com/wood_finish/

tells a bit about each type of wood

Also has good wood properties descriptions...

http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/optio...s_bodywoods.cfm

I've played many guitars made of many different woods. Sometimes those woods sound the same as others and sometimes they are different sounding. I personaly like Maple necks ( with and Ebony board if I can have it ) and Mahogany bodies. Thats pretty standard I think for a quality built guitar. Solid rich tone with a good mix of bright bite and rumbling vibrations in the guitar.

This is not to say that great guitars are not made of other woods though. I just like to go with the classic proven time tested fomula of Maple and Mahogany.

__________________

I have a Kramer that has an alder body, and a Dillion with a Mahogany body (both have maple necks). The Mahogany has a snappier tone, and it is much heavier. I really like both, and both woods give my guitars completely different feels.

__________________

Petrucci, Vai, Satriani, Gilbert, etc may not be an "elitists," but for some reason all of their signature guitars are made from basswood. Strange.. they must be totally uninformed about the suckiness of basswood

__________________

There's a little company called Fenger or something that makes a straticoaster or some such. They haven't been around too long, but I hear they've been using Alder for their guitars. I wonder if that'll replace the "time tested" formula of a good guitar at some point, once they've been around a little bit longer and the name gets out there.. if they can last as a company with such strange wood choices.

__________________

Forget it. They don't stand a chance if they don't use Mahogany.... or can't at least make a decent sounding bolt-on guitar with cheap electronics mounted to a flimsy piece of plastic ( building them in Japan, Mexico, or korea ) using Alder and sell them in mass quanities for far less then other companies during their earily years. This Fenger company might have to do this for years until they have a marketing corner supported by a few guitar player ledends and lore that died with their heros before those heros could afford better gear. Was this what you were asking?

__________________

My custom is utilising this combination.

__________________

Fender USA guitars are rather inexpensive compared to US-built guitars from other companies. I'm not sure how you can say fender has been supported by "a few" player legends, either.. quite a LOT of guitar legends, even current ones (Yngwie?).

That said, no I don't have a fender. I do, however, respect the fact that many quality guitars are NOT made out of mohagany. I think it's laughable how many here think that's the only good wood for a guitar.

__________________

I own a guitar, custom built by ESP... its in the M style. Anyway, it is actually an all maple guitar... western maple for the body and hard rock maple for the neck, along with a rosewood fretboard. Its sounds really damn fine, with a lot of bite, and excellent sustain. Its average weight I guess... about 5lbs for the body.

All in all, this is the combonation I will stick with.

__________________

I'd love to have the funds to piss about with different combinations of woods, or at least have a decent shop that has all the different woods.

For me a mahognay body is nice though, I like the weight and imo it gives really nice sustain. Alder is fucking good though, a little more "even" but mahogany is my favorite though.

If it were legal, I'd like to have a manzanita top... There is not a more beautiful wood.

__________________

Basswood for me. Sounds kind of 'in-the-middle'.

heh... i just came across an interesting thing... ovation made a guitar in the 80's made of urelite... anybody familiar with what that is is?

heres a picture
http://www.ovationguitars.com/index...detail&mid=1025

__________________