Favorite strat body wood?

[tot_Ou_tard]

Which wood do you prefer for a strat?

Alder? Swamp ash? Something else?


Why?

[mrmudcat]

Swamp ash !!!!! I like this tonewood over everything on a strat!!

[tot_Ou_tard]

Swamp ash !!!!! I like this tonewood over everything on a strat!!

Muddy, what does swamp ash bring to the party?

[mrmudcat]

Reasons for me is sound first and foremost.Swamp just seems to sustain resonate better/longer yada yada!! I know it is a tired spiel but its true to my ears atleast Leo used ash im pretty sure on the first strat.
Secondary reasons are plenty. The grain patterns are so distinct /unique, natural and see thru stain finishes come out very pretty. :

The ash wood also seems stronger to hold hardware better meaning less strippage of screw holes, neck bolts etc....and is lighteroops edited before seeing wings post)

[tot_Ou_tard]

All very good reasons Muddy.

Does anyone wish to counter with Alder, or chime in with a chorus of

Ash! Ash! Ash! Ash!

?

[mrmudcat]

I am not in the "it dosent matter what wood it is, it is electric so there is no tonal difference" camp.

I think this is a weak argument presented by those not able to relize the complexities of tone and the sum of all parts combining to achieve said tone,especially the wood.:
So yea>>>>>>>>>>

ASH: ASH: ASH:

[Spudman***]

I've always connected with Alder the most. It just seems to work for me, but I'm looking at getting an Ash Strat style guitar soon. Alder is still my favorite.

[mrmudcat]

Spuds most of my strats are alder and all sound great. I love the thin nitro finish on this wood. Ash is just my thing I guess ash/maple combo=:Just to toss out there as I think it is the least important reason to choose one over the other. Ash im sure is considered an upgrade and is a lil more value so it should help retain a better value of a completed guitar

[sunvalleylaw]

I only have had one, and it is alder, and I like its sound, so I'll say alder. I guess the grain of swamp ash may be desirable for clear finishes visually. At least I understand most clear finish styles are ash.

[wingsdad]

My Strat is alder and weighs as much as an LP (almost 10 lbs.). I like it's tight, biting 'sound'...combined with a maple board, and 'just' stock Fender strat pups. (I once changed them to some Duncan things, and couldn't yank them fast enough...they 'ruined' the sound of the guitar, to my taste, anyway).

My G&L Comanche is swamp ash, maple board, and much different pups, so it's a totally different bird. But even tho it's way lighter at about 6 lbs, as m-cat points out, and mebbe its the pups, too, this 'sings' and sustains more when I ask it to, compared to the alder beast.

Take these remarks with a grain of msg, though, because both these guitars are also influenced by brass bridges, not cast pig metal. The Comanche aslo has a graphtech nut, the Strat's is whatever Fender put on it...'ivoroid', I guess, or in layman's terms, plastic? Doesn't bother me. I personally think that other than playing open strings, the nut is not much of a factor once you cut it off by fretting.

[sunvalleylaw]

I may have to do a comparison some time to see. I bet I would end up saying I like both and wish to have one of each. Kinda like eventually wanting both a rosewood/spruce dread (ala D-28), and mahogany/spruce (ala D-18). ;-)

[Tone2TheBone]

Both my Strats are Alder but I love the solid Ash tone on my Muddy Tele so I probably would want an Ash Strat at some point. Ash.

[marnold***]

The problem with much of the wood debate is that there is quite a bit of variety even within the same species. Basswood is in general a light wood, but my basswood Model 7 weighed a ton. My basswood Fender is as light as a feather comparatively speaking. With swamp ash, was this particular piece of wood completely submerged? Partially? For a few years or a few decades? Add to that the fact that very few guitars are made from one solid hunk o' tree.

I'm not saying that wood plays no role at all in tone. It does. But it is one small part in a greater tone picture. Obviously the differences are far greater when you are dealing with acoustics.

I won't even get into the other issues such as availability, visual beauty, renewability, etc.

[stingx]

I'm an oak man myself.

I'll tell ya though, I wouldn't mind having a guitar made of snakewood.

[Brian Krashpad]

I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference. I'm not a Strat guy anyhow. I've had 3 over the years but they were all cheapies. The first one was an 80's Korean Squier, I don't even know what it was made of.

The other 2 (MIM Fender and Peavey USA Predator) I've had were both poplar, and they sounded fine to me. I also have a poplar Tele (probably with a laminate top of alder or ash, Fender didn't ever list such but because mine is a burst and you can see the grain, and poplar can be streaky, I suspect a laminate top of something else).

I'm sure alder, ash, or poplar would be fine for my purposes. I do have an ash '52 RI Tele.

[Bloozcat]

Alder...no, wait, swamp ash.....alder...swamp ash....

Truth is, I like them both. But for different reasons.

Take an alder body and a swamp ash body, both at 4lbs, and there's subtle, but noticable differences in the tone.

Swamp ash has a solid bottom, slightly more upper mid and treble, with a snap or pop to the tone. It's kind of a "more direct" tone, if that makes any sense. Only slightly less warm than alder.

Alder is more balanced and warmer than swamp ash. Solid warm bottom, slightly more middy than swamp ash, and enough upper mids and highs to give it a balanced tone. I like the description that Tommy Rosemond at USACG uses...the "tastes like chicken" of tone woods.

Of course there's no accounting for the differences in any particular piece of wood of any kind over another type of wood of similar or identical weight. Some bodies just sound fantastic, while others sound like a wet blanket.

Since I've used alder for the longest and I'm most used to it, I think I'm a little more intrigued with swamp ash lately. Probably cause it's different more than anything else.

[Brian Krashpad]

This just occurred to me-- I wonder if anyone's made Strats out of Northern Ash instead of swamp ash.

That's what most of the old Peavey T-60's were made of (some of the painted ones were poplar).

[Bloozcat]

This just occurred to me-- I wonder if anyone's made Strats out of Northern Ash instead of swamp ash.

That's what most of the old Peavey T-60's were made of (some of the painted ones were poplar).

Yeah, northern ash is used for guitar bodies. It's heavy (5-lbs. and up), and it's bright with a long sustain. Doesn't sound like my cup of tea for a Strat. More like baseball bat and hockey stick material to me....

[tot_Ou_tard]

Wow, some great replies. Thanks!

Since Teles were brought up. How about the same question for Teles.