Electric Guitar Hardwoods

MUTT GUITARS

ELECTRIC GUITAR HARDWOODS

DEAR READER KINDLY OBSERVE

Here's a typical Budget Import Electric Guitar Body. I sawed it in half for you to see the bogus press board innards that it's made of (hand sawing was very easy, by the way.)

The paint job is pretty good right? (just hire any out of work Beijing bicycle finisher.) But the fake wood is soft, phoney grained, heat pressed together and tonally lifeless.

You'd probably get a better Twang by pulling some bailing wire across your styrofoam beer cooler.

Real Hardwood, what's the big deal?

It has to do with how your guitar strings vibrate when attatched to wood. If that "wood" is plywood or press board, there's going to be a dull, lifeless vibration--it's too soft and mushy. The strings will stop moving much quicker. If it's a nice hardwood, the strings have something solid to vibrate on. The actual string movement lasts longer and is further amplified by the wood itself. Even nicer is that the kind of hardwood used will modify the tones produced--making the guitar sound "brighter" "darker" "punchier" "twangier" "biting" "piercing" etc.

It's like this:

Traditional Strats are made of Alder.

Les Pauls are Mahogany with a Maple Cap.

Gretsch Hollow Bodies are Maple.

Some Gibson Jazz guitars are Maple or Poplar or have Spruce tops.

Dan Electros were always Poplar...

You get the idea. REAL HARDWOODS are MANDATORY for real guitars.

I simply figured out how to get Classic and New Hardwood Tones to you without charging a fortune by borrowing ideas from the classic ideas above. But I also mix and match and experiement with untried combinations.

ALDER: choose this if you want Fender, Van Halen, Indie, Surf or Country style Twangs and more.

POPLAR: called cheap by some but Jimmy Page plays a Poplar Danelectro on Kashmir...go figure!

MAHOGANY: choose this if you want Gibson Solid Body Rock Sounds (LP/SG/Explorer)

WALNUT: choose this if u want to add a Bright Maplish Tone but want Natural "Woody" look.

MAPLE is Xclnt Snappy Wood for Semi-Hollows (Lightning) or as a Top Wood on Poplar

"To say that wood choice doesn't affect electric guitar tone is like saying that fabric and fashion isn't important to an astronaut on the surface of Mars!" --Johnny Media