# Great sounding wood combos



## vejichan (Oct 5, 2021)

What wood combos work great and sound best?

For example solid 2 piece alder body w/quartersawn maple neck and east indian rosewood


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## budda (Oct 5, 2021)

Dude you've asked this so many times already. You've also posted this on other forums.

Buy a guitar that makes you want to pick it up all the time.

Enduring music has been made on pretty much every "regular" wood combo you can think of. Just buy the guitar you like.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 5, 2021)

Woods don't matter for electric guitar. They just don't. The only thing they should matter for is durability and your own aesthetics. 

Half this forum is all about Aristides and thats not even wood...


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## budda (Oct 5, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Woods don't matter for electric guitar. They just don't. The only thing they should matter for is durability and your own aesthetics.
> 
> Half this forum is all about Aristides and thats not even wood...



I recorded 3 PRS guitars with different construction and materials - 2 of 3 shared the same pickups.

As soon as a second sound is introduced, you would not know which is which.


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## vejichan (Oct 5, 2021)

any interesting wood combo ideas?


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## Adieu (Oct 5, 2021)

Maple maple and alder


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## jaxadam (Oct 5, 2021)

Maple top on mahogany, solid rosewood neck.


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## budda (Oct 5, 2021)

jaxadam said:


> Maple top on mahogany, solid rosewood neck.



I'm quietly kicking myself for skipping on a McRosie for under $3kCAD this year. Mostly because I spent more on other guitars


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## spudmunkey (Oct 5, 2021)

My best-sounding electric guitar has an ash body, a burled maple top, a 5-piece maple and purpleheart neck, with a ziricote fretboard. Oh, and an ash truss rod cover, because apparently that matters now. But if it had shitty pickups in it, it wouldn't be my best-sounding guitar. My 2nd best is a mahogany body, flamed maple top, mahogany neck, ebony FB.

My best-sounding acoustic is hawaiian koa body and top, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard, with mapleand ebony binding. A bone nut, a micarta saddle, an ebony truss rod cover, maple, black phenolic fiberboard rosette, and koa and maple inlays.


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## dmlinger (Oct 5, 2021)

Balsa wood body with ironwood neck


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## Lorcan Ward (Oct 6, 2021)

The only time I've ever heard people regret a wood combo is when they go with really bright woods and ceramic hi-output pickups and Carvin customers used to regret going for all Koa guitars saying they didn't sound good.


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## dmlinger (Oct 6, 2021)

I'll bite and give you a legitimate opinion, but others have already given you good advice.

Pick from any of the common combos because they are proven to "work."

Alder body - maple neck with your choice of fretboard
Ash - maple neck with your choice of fretboard
Swamp Ash (lighter weight than white ash) - maple neck with your choice of fretboard
Mahogany - mahogany or maple neck with your choice of fretboard
Limba (black/white color doesn't matter) - mahogany or maple neck with your choice of fretboard

Some people like rosewood necks (I am one of those people) and it goes well with any body wood above. 

Multi piece necks are great, but the laminated strips don't account much for the tone. It adds stability and aesthetic. 

For figured tops - get what you think looks best, if that's your thing.


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## bostjan (Oct 6, 2021)

Wood is out and engineered materials are in these days. Haven't you ever watched youtube? Every guitar is made of epoxy now. RIP backs everywhere...

Seriously, though, this is a personal preference. You might as well ask us what you should order from Panera or which flavour of ice cream you should buy a gallon of from the store.


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## pondman (Oct 6, 2021)

Here we go again ! This is getting really boring


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## vejichan (Oct 6, 2021)

Thinkimg about solid 2 piece black limba body, high figured koa top, black limba neck and pau ferro fingerboard and 2 single and 1 hum for some smooth jazz


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## CanserDYI (Oct 6, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Thinkimg about solid 2 piece black limba body, high figured koa top, black limba neck and pau ferro fingerboard and 2 single and 1 hum for some smooth jazz


Nope, Limba?? FOR JAZZ??? You're nuts. Only Djent kids use limba, and you don't need all that noisegate sound in your jazz playing!

I'll edit and say this was a joke...


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## budda (Oct 6, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Nope, Limba?? FOR JAZZ??? You're nuts. Only Djent kids use limba, and you don't need all that noisegate sound in your jazz playing!



He's gonna take you seriously.

OP buy the guitar you like.


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## jaxadam (Oct 6, 2021)

Beat wood combos for grilling/smoking, IMO are sassafras, apple, and cherry.


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## vejichan (Oct 6, 2021)

dmlinger said:


> I'll bite and give you a legitimate opinion, but others have already given you good advice.
> 
> Pick from any of the common combos because they are proven to "work."
> 
> ...


Do you think swamp ash would work with rosewood fb? I was told ash is better with maple fb


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## budda (Oct 6, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Do you think swamp ash would work with rosewood fb? I was told ash is better with maple fb



Swamp ash will work with anything.


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## bostjan (Oct 6, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Do you think swamp ash would work with rosewood fb? I was told ash is better with maple fb


Sure.

Are you building something or just comparing?

It'd be nice if you could get to a store and try these things out on the shop floor for comparison purposes.

There are honestly a ton of different variables that have an effect on the tone of the guitar: pickups, electronics, pickup placement, scale length, strings, fret material, fretboard material, bridge, nut, body material, and so on. For real, though, the body material has so little effect compared to the other variables, that a lot of people say it doesn't even matter. I think it does matter, but I think it's like the icing on the cake, and that icing only comes in different flavours of chocolate, mostly. In other words, wood sounds like wood more than other materials, but even if you get the "warmest" mahogany and the "brightest" maple and compare them on a guitar with all else equal, I would be floored if anyone could correctly guess 10/10 sound clips.

That's why I say to look at the entire package.


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## vejichan (Oct 6, 2021)

pondman said:


> Here we go again ! This is getting really boring



Sorry but i love talking about gear and guitar woods. can talk about this all day long. I know not many people care about this topic which is why i'm in this group. What do you like to talk about? thanks


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## pondman (Oct 6, 2021)

If you do a search about Wood tone on here you'll find many results.


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## dmlinger (Oct 6, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Do you think swamp ash would work with rosewood fb? I was told ash is better with maple fb



Dude, yes, I said with "your choice of fretboard." 

You're way overthinking this wood thing. This community is happy to help, but you need to spend some time on Google.com or go browse Sweetwater. It's easy to see what woods world-renowned builders like Fender, Gibson, PRS, etc. use for their production guitars. There isn't a magical formula.


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## j3ps3 (Oct 6, 2021)

Wood is not a homogenous material.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 6, 2021)

dmlinger said:


> Dude, yes, I said with "your choice of fretboard."
> 
> You're way overthinking this wood thing. This community is happy to help, but you need to spend some time on Google.com or go browse Sweetwater. It's easy to see what woods world-renowned builders like Fender, Gibson, PRS, etc. use for their production guitars. There isn't a magical formula.


There is a history to this poster and like I've said before I think its a troll of some weird form. The dude has Tom Anderson's and shit IIRC.


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## vejichan (Oct 6, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> There is a history to this poster and like I've said before I think its a troll of some weird form. The dude has Tom Anderson's and shit IIRC.



Nope just a father of 2 amazing kids, a husband to a beautiful amazing wife, working a stressful demanding job..just someone who enjoys making music and playing guitar in my limited time when not spending time with my family. What about you?


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## CanserDYI (Oct 6, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Nope just a father of 2 amazing kids, a husband to a beautiful amazing wife, working a stressful demanding job..just someone who enjoys making music and playing guitar in my limited time when not spending time with my family. What about you?


I love it man, quite oddly I could have written that sentence and its all valid. Keep on rockin man, like we've said before, you just have funny ways.


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## jaxadam (Oct 6, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Nope just a father of 2 amazing kids, a husband to a beautiful amazing wife, working a stressful demanding job..just someone who enjoys making music and playing guitar in my limited time when not spending time with my family. What about you?



Man I’m right there with you.


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## soldierkahn (Oct 8, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Nope just a father of 2 amazing kids, a husband to a beautiful amazing wife, working a stressful demanding job..just someone who enjoys making music and playing guitar in my limited time when not spending time with my family. What about you?



really not a fan of the search feature on here eh? did you make all of your 1,000 posts the same day? lol


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## ScottThunes1960 (Oct 8, 2021)

I think vejichan is 100% sincere in being the most SSO poster ever (buying $5k guitars without knowing how to change strings, posting tonewood threads, refusing to use the search button, honestly polling what sevenstring.org thinks about brute facts, then subsequently posting threads premised upon having adopted the institutional ones he received, etc.).

I don’t know whether the folks giving the guy flak are doing so because they _don’t _recognize themselves in his posts, or because they _do_.

on-topic: Dude, just keep trying out different gear until you don’t need this place anymore. I don’t mean that in a “GTFO” way - I mean just enjoy learning firsthand.


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## bostjan (Oct 8, 2021)

Have you _tried_ using the search function, though? 

I usually just use "the leading brand" search engine with the syntax <<[search term] site:sevenstring.org>>

I'm also not sure why so many people are so harsh. I know this guy has asked questions before and then basically ignored the advice given, but I think we've all done the same. I also know that we were all beginners at one point or another.


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## Drew (Oct 8, 2021)

bostjan said:


> I'm also not sure why so many people are so harsh. I know this guy has asked questions before and then basically ignored the advice given, but I think we've all done the same. I also know that we were all beginners at one point or another.


I wasted _years_ answering similar threads about mixing in the recording forum. I won't speculate as to why as it's really not my business, but he seems to just want to have other people tell him what to do, either for outside validation, or to save the trouble, if that's the word, of having to have his own preferences, and figuring out what HE likes.


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## USMarine75 (Oct 8, 2021)

Andy and James?

I’ll see myself out….


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## vejichan (Oct 8, 2021)

soldierkahn said:


> really not a fan of the search feature on here eh? did you make all of your 1,000 posts the same day? lol



Nope.. too little time. Too busy working and taking care of my family. when i do have time i spent it making/mixing my music. how about you? do you keep track of your posts?


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## vejichan (Oct 8, 2021)

Drew said:


> I wasted _years_ answering similar threads about mixing in the recording forum. I won't speculate as to why as it's really not my business, but he seems to just want to have other people tell him what to do, either for outside validation, or to save the trouble, if that's the word, of having to have his own preferences, and figuring out what HE likes.



Hey Drew, Depends, but tbh i don't know a single person in my life who is interested in talking about gear, tonewoods, guitar, amps, mixing and making music.. but that's why i joined his group but getting the feeling that not many people here like "talking about gear, tonewoods, guitar, amps, mixing and making music". The people in my life, generally just talk about sports (NBA, NFL) , Cars and work etc. Its a break from the daily stress ----


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## CanserDYI (Oct 8, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Hey Drew, Depends, but tbh i don't know a single person in my life who is interested in talking about gear, tonewoods, guitar, amps, mixing and making music.. but that's why i joined his group but getting the feeling that not many people here like "talking about gear, tonewoods, guitar, amps, mixing and making music". The people in my life, generally just talk about sports (NBA, NFL) , Cars and work etc. Its a break from the daily stress ----


We do like talking it, we just like to you know, get responses and feedback to the time we put into responding to you, knowing it went somewhere. But genuinely, I don't mean this as an insult, its just how I'm seeing it, feeling like youre a bot. I don't know why, you give me like AOL message board bot vibes. Your responses don't really feel like theyre actually answers? They feel like google searched versions of answers to our questions...? If that makes sense. If english isnt your first language, and its a language barrier, I'm sure I'm being a complete asshole and I totally apologize, but its how it comes off.


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## j3ps3 (Oct 9, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Hey Drew, Depends, but tbh i don't know a single person in my life who is interested in talking about gear, tonewoods, guitar, amps, mixing and making music.. but that's why i joined his group but getting the feeling that not many people here like "talking about gear, tonewoods, guitar, amps, mixing and making music". The people in my life, generally just talk about sports (NBA, NFL) , Cars and work etc. Its a break from the daily stress ----



There can't be dialogue if you always ignore everything that is said to you


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## vejichan (Oct 9, 2021)

j3ps3 said:


> There can't be dialogue if you always ignore everything that is said to you



That's a bit harsh, there is no call for that. Please reread what you've said because that's just extremely disrespectful. Where do you get off talking to people like that? I'm sorry if my post here comes off in the wrong way. My initial intention was to get some feedback on different wood combos. My apologies if this was taken the wrong way.


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## vejichan (Oct 9, 2021)

j3ps3 said:


> There can't be dialogue if you always ignore everything that is said to you





CanserDYI said:


> We do like talking it, we just like to you know, get responses and feedback to the time we put into responding to you, knowing it went somewhere. But genuinely, I don't mean this as an insult, its just how I'm seeing it, feeling like youre a bot. I don't know why, you give me like AOL message board bot vibes. Your responses don't really feel like theyre actually answers? They feel like google searched versions of answers to our questions...? If that makes sense. If english isnt your first language, and its a language barrier, I'm sure I'm being a complete asshole and I totally apologize, but its how it comes off.



That's a bit harsh, there is no call for that. Please reread what you've said because that's just extremely disrespectful. Where do you get off talking to people like that? I'm sorry if my post here comes off in the wrong way. My initial intention was to get some feedback on different wood combos. My apologies if this was taken the wrong way.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 9, 2021)

vejichan said:


> That's a bit harsh, there is no call for that. Please reread what you've said because that's just extremely disrespectful. Where do you get off talking to people like that? I'm sorry if my post here comes off in the wrong way. My initial intention was to get some feedback on different wood combos. My apologies if this was taken the wrong way.


I'm not sure you even read what I said because I'm still getting those vibes. It feels like they're like keyword searches but all the other context is gone. 

I'm gonna stop bullying, because it's what I'm doing, whether I think so or not, but you just give me weird vibes man. You just do, and I'm not alone. Feels like you're not listening to answers to your questions, feels like you're seeing keywords in the sentence and using those keywords instead of reading what the person is saying to you. Genuinely, Veijchan I hope you an awesome day, and I wish you the best in all your endeavors, honestly. If I were you, I'd just pay a little more attention to what people are saying instead of reacting to the good and ignoring anything else.


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## vejichan (Oct 9, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> I'm not sure you even read what I said because I'm still getting those vibes. It feels like they're like keyword searches but all the other context is gone.
> 
> I'm gonna stop bullying, because it's what I'm doing, whether I think so or not, but you just give me weird vibes man. You just do, and I'm not alone. Feels like you're not listening to answers to your questions, feels like you're seeing keywords in the sentence and using those keywords instead of reading what the person is saying to you. Genuinely, Veijchan I hope you an awesome day, and I wish you the best in all your endeavors, honestly. If I were you, I'd just pay a little more attention to what people are saying instead of reacting to the good and ignoring anything else.



Don't take it the wrong way, I'm not here for drama/stress/negativity or to get insulted/flamed ---I get plenty and then some in my everyday life. On the contrary, I'm here to discuss about topics I truly enjoy and to get away from all that negativity. If you wish to discuss/contribute to my post, awesome! great! but if you want to insult/flame me, please kindly move on and just ignore my post. Have a great day and weekend.


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## j3ps3 (Oct 9, 2021)

vejichan said:


> That's a bit harsh, there is no call for that. Please reread what you've said because that's just extremely disrespectful. Where do you get off talking to people like that? I'm sorry if my post here comes off in the wrong way. My initial intention was to get some feedback on different wood combos. My apologies if this was taken the wrong way.



That's my experience  Not talking just about this thread, although you completely ignored me on this one, too. Didn't really explain my point further, so I understand it on this case. But that's the exact reason I didn't want to waste my time by explaining something that just gets ignored.


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## vejichan (Oct 9, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> I'm not sure you even read what I said because I'm still getting those vibes. It feels like they're like keyword searches but all the other context is gone.
> 
> I'm gonna stop bullying, because it's what I'm doing, whether I think so or not, but you just give me weird vibes man. You just do, and I'm not alone. Feels like you're not listening to answers to your questions, feels like you're seeing keywords in the sentence and using those keywords instead of reading what the person is saying to you. Genuinely, Veijchan I hope you an awesome day, and I wish you the best in all your endeavors, honestly. If I were you, I'd just pay a little more attention to what people are saying instead of reacting to the good and ignoring anything else.



btw you do know you are judging someone in a group about guitars/gear talking about tonewoods. Some people think maybe that's weird? So what do you consider not weird? How much did we go off on what this post was about which was simply about what wood combos sound good? think about that, you just took this entire thread from tonewood to my posts give you weird vibes. Sorry, i'm gonna just respond to people actually sticking with the topic from now on. You are simply not helping but just slandering/bullying me. If you excuse me, I'm gonna head out now and take my kids to the playground. Hope i get some useful info on tonewood combos on this thread moving forward and please no more drama/bullying. Please kindly stop and I wish you and your family well. Take care and be safe.


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## c7spheres (Oct 9, 2021)

- Black Limba body, thick maple top, maple neck and ebony fretboard.
- Basswood body, maple neck, rosewood or ebony fretboard.
Stay away from mahogany and all it's derivatives, unless it weighs a lot or is old forest wood.
- Plywood. No joke. A buddy has an imitation les Paul and it's a really great guitar aside from the pickups.
- It really doesn't matter much. It really depends on how that guitar and all it's parts all came together. Some have "it" and some don't, but even the one's that don't might still have "it' for another person.


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## vejichan (Oct 9, 2021)

c7spheres said:


> - Black Limba body, thick maple top, maple neck and ebony fretboard.
> - Basswood body, maple neck, rosewood or ebony fretboard.
> Stay away from mahogany and all it's derivatives, unless it weighs a lot or is old forest wood.
> - Plywood. No joke. A buddy has an imitation les Paul and it's a really great guitar aside from the pickups.
> - It really doesn't matter much. It really depends on how that guitar and all it's parts all came together. Some have "it" and some don't, but even the one's that don't might still have "it' for another person.



Thanks. I read mahogany works well only with gibson scale and fixed bridges. But never liked most mahogany guitars i have tried. Owned a koa top/honduras Mahogany / maple neck/ ebony ibanez j custom and a suhr custom mahogany /maple top/ mahogany neck/rosewood...both had floyds and 25.5 scale. Sounded muddy and not articulate. Would you go with roasted maple neck and maple top with basswood ? I already have a suhr modern with basswood/maple top/maple neck and board..sounded great. Love to try the same combo without a maple top but with roasted maple neck and rosewood.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 9, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Thanks. I read mahogany works well only with gibson scale and fixed bridges. But never liked most mahogany guitars i have tried. Owned a koa top/honduras Mahogany / maple neck/ ebony ibanez j custom and a suhr custom mahogany /maple top/ mahogany neck/rosewood...both had floyds and 25.5 scale. Sounded muddy and not articulate. Would you go with roasted maple neck and maple top with basswood ? I already have a suhr modern with basswood/maple top/maple neck and board..sounded great. Love to try the same combo without a maple top but with roasted maple neck and rosewood.


My mahogany bodied 25.5 inch Kiesel sounds extremely bright and cutting, this is because of the electronics and wood is not a homogenous material. Every piece is different, I've had extremely dark sounding ash guitars and bright sounding mahogany ones. Its most likely the pickups or your amp setting you didnt like.

Even if the woods did make a significant difference, nothing an EQ pedal can't fix....


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## vejichan (Oct 9, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> My mahogany bodied 25.5 inch Kiesel sounds extremely bright and cutting, this is because of the electronics and wood is not a homogenous material. Every piece is different, I've had extremely dark sounding ash guitars and bright sounding mahogany ones. Its most likely the pickups or your amp setting you didnt like.
> 
> Even if the woods did make a significant difference, nothing an EQ pedal can't fix....



Gotcha, ok i have an idea for a solid Basswood Strat style guitar. I already have plenty of Alder and Swamp ash strats. Thinking of 2x DUNCAN SSL6 pups and 1x Duncan custom. Preferably non maple top on the basswood. What factors would make the basswood more strat like?
- Maple or non roasted maple neck?
- Maple/Roasted or ROsewood fingerboard?

HOw would you spec out a basswood body strat? please advise. My amp is just an AxeFX III .. gonna get the FM9 soon.


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## c7spheres (Oct 9, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Thanks. I read mahogany works well only with gibson scale and fixed bridges. But never liked most mahogany guitars i have tried. Owned a koa top/honduras Mahogany / maple neck/ ebony ibanez j custom and a suhr custom mahogany /maple top/ mahogany neck/rosewood...both had floyds and 25.5 scale. Sounded muddy and not articulate. Would you go with roasted maple neck and maple top with basswood ? I already have a suhr modern with basswood/maple top/maple neck and board..sounded great. Love to try the same combo without a maple top but with roasted maple neck and rosewood.


 
- I'm not familiar enough with roasted maple but basswood and maple probably sound great together. 

- The thing I was trying to explain is the species of wood doesn't really matter as much as the chunk of wood itself. I personally think it has to do with density of the wood over species.

- Get the guitar you like and work on tone from there. Expensive wood is because it's figured, harder to source or rare etc. Cheap cardboard and plywood guitars can sound good too. Not joking. 

- Tone wood matters with acoustics a lot more than electrics. I can see why tonewood is a debate though because certain things cound certain ways, like Strats vs Les Pauls etc. In reality that has a lot more to do with shape and routing locations, pickups, scale length, strings etc.

- I think something overlooked that affects tone more than wood, strings, pickups etc is the setup itself. Things like action height, string buzz, playing pressure, pickup height etc I find affect things much more. 

- Get the guitar that makes you happy, and is setup how you like, then forge your tone from there.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 9, 2021)

I can't tell you what will be better because so many factors are contributing to its sound that it really really realllllllly doesnt matter. Every single piece of wood is different, even among species. There will be some bright maple, some dark maple. Some bright mahogany some dark mahogany. Hell there are thousands of different types of mahogany did you know that? What type are you even referring to? There are a few things that contribute to your sound a whole hell of a lot more than "tonewoods": 1.Pickups, these are your microphones, these are a filter. They filter out certain frequencies from the broad spectrum of sound that is being introduced when you pluck your string. You mentioned these in your previous post, have you tried these pickups? Does the strat youre using not have pickups you like? WHat dont you like about them and what do you like about the ones you named? 2. The nut and bridge, are they solid? Have they been cut well and made of a very very strong but slippery material? 3. the way you're monitoring your sound, studio monitors? headphones? power amp into real cab? what speaker? speakers are the biggest contributor IMHO after the preamp/amp.


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## budda (Oct 9, 2021)

OP, you can take two guitars built from the same initial lumber, same pickups, same strings, and they might sound different. Builders dont know how a guitar sounds until it's finished.

Just get what you like.


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## jaxadam (Oct 9, 2021)

24 fretter alder body with ebony fingerboard. Bam.


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## vejichan (Oct 9, 2021)

Thank you for the advise and suggestions. Very helpful insight. Long story short i was a tone chaser for years. In the beginning. I bought every amp head, cab, preamp and distortion pedal chasing the tone in my head. Intreresting for some reason i wasnt really into buying guitars because i had it in my head tone was from amps and cabs. I kept the same guitar for years, which was actually my 1st guitar. I did however mod the crap out of it with duncan, dimarzio, bare knuckle and motor city pickups and brass blocks etc. After getting the axefx, i pretty much wasnt gigging anymorre and had a family and was mainly just playing and recording at home. Thats when i started buying guitars from Gibson les pauls, fender, ibanez j customs, Ernie ball evh and axis, caparison horus, mayone duvelle, esp mirages. Then one day i played a Suhr and that was it for me. The years of playing different guitars i realized what i liked...2 hum, maple fb, 24 frets , floyds and what i disliked...single coils hum and tone knob and ebony fb and 22 frets etc. Thats the short history of my gear acquisition syndrome and me wondering down the rabbit hole of tone chasing. Its fun trying different gear but expensive. My perspective changed about tone, when I walked in to guitar center a few years back to buy a pack of strings, i heard the tone!!! Yes it was amazing....i quickly rushed to hear where this sound was coming from and then i saw the truth. It was Satriani plugged into a 200$ spider amp using a 250$ hello kitty guitar. Tone is in the fingers. I wasted all my time buying gear and trying all these guitars ..chasing my tail when what i should have been doing is practicing and getting better. Tone is in the fingers. Fast forward to now...i still dont practice mainly becuase i have a family and a demanding job and no time. When i do pickup the guitar it is to make and record music. Buying gear and guitar to me makes me happy..of course my family does as well but buying gear kinda gives me that incentive to put up with all the shit with work and keeps me going and looking forward to that next guitar helps.

So back to the topic..so in short, what you guys are saying is that it doesnt matter what wood the guitar is ..just focus on if u like the way it looks? You can make and change the sound of the wood via pickup change and from the eq on the amp? And the woods on the guitar makes no difference? I would have to respectfully disagree that tone wood does make a difference. Take my 1st guitar..it was made of soft maple body, maple neck and floyd..very thin and bright sounding guitar..i went thru differnt pickups to add more thickness and fullness amd to tame the shrillness of the guitar..even tried fat finger headsstock clamp to brass blocks. Whatevrr amp, preamp, cab o put it thru...still sounded thin and icepicky..even the ibanez j custom i had..mahogany body rosewood...muddy and mushy. No matter what i did ...to these guitars, the inherent issue was still there. One interesting takeaway i owned the ibanez vwh and charvel so cal which was both alder body guitars...hated the tone...stayed away from alder for years until i played an anderson which was also made of alder. Now alder is one of my favorite tonewood, so i do agree that even the same wood could sound different depending on build, quality of wood and who made it.


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## jaxadam (Oct 9, 2021)

vejichan said:


> It was Satriani plugged into a 200$ spider amp using a 250$ hello kitty guitar.



Can you start about 10 minutes before this and go about 10 minutes past it?


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## CanserDYI (Oct 9, 2021)

jaxadam said:


> Can you start about 10 minutes before this and go about 10 minutes past it?


Literally the part I came to tag I want to hear more about this one.


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## vejichan (Oct 9, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Literally the part I came to tag I want to hear more about this one.



Stopped by Guitar Center to pick up some strings after work and just so happened Satriani had a clinic that day and was warming up. Similar to this video below but yea "that tone" is not the amp/guitar but all in the "FINGERS" He sounds like him regardless of what he uses. Same with EVH, Vai, Eric Johnson, Tommy Emmanuel, Guthrie and John Mayer etc.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 10, 2021)

So if this happened to you and you had this huge revelation that tone is in your fingers...why did you start a thread about tonewoods and start asking how to make a basswood strat sound like a strat?


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

Because buying gear makes me happy. Thats the simple answer. Nothing wrong with that. Also enjoy talking about guitar and tone woods and doing my research about future custom guitar purchases. That said, I dont have time to play and practice and improve my guitar playing...actually i suck at playing guitar. Also, where else and with whom can you talk and geek out about guitar stuff if not in this group?


Me asking mywife/friends - what wood combos to you think works well? Thinking about a new guitar for my birthday next year.

Their response - i dont know ..i dont care..and what another guitar? Dont you have too many as is? And you are barely home.. When you gonna have time to play them? Just forget it and buy your beautiful wife another 5k new Gucci bag or another 1k train set or doll house for your kids instead

Me- but i already did and do

Them - well what about this year

Me - ok.. and gives up buying a new guitar

This happens every time i ask my family and friends about guitar stuff. I stop asking them. They dont understand why i need to buy another custom guitar. Nobody does.
Every month i put in only 100$ in a special account called my next guitar gear account. That and my family is what keeps me smiling ear to ear every morning when i head out to the dungeon of pain!!


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## CanserDYI (Oct 10, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Because i enjoy talking about guitar and tone woods and doing my research about future custom guitar purchases. That said, I dont have time to play and practice and improve my guitar playing...actually i suck at playing guitar but i do enjoy it. Also, where else and with who can you talk and geek out about guitar stuff if not in this group?
> 
> Me asking mywife/friends - what wood combos to you think works well? Thinking about a new guitar for my birthday next year.
> 
> ...


My question is because you're focusing on the wrong aspect, you keep saying you don't have time to practice and improve, if you don't have time to practice and improve, then you won't even be able to have the knowledge nor the ear to even hear the difference between the woods, so it's a weird thing to focus on and discuss. You should be on these forums talking about stuff you like, finding cool ways to use your equipment you already have, and yes geek out about really minute details of the guitar world, but it's like me talking about trumpets, I love them, love the sound, love trumpet music, but I don't play it nor do I understand the instrument, so I'm not going to start asking brass players what compound of brass they like. If you're into different tones and tone chasing, then you should be in the amp and cab area of these convos, not tonewoods. Maybe if we're talking acoustic guitars, then sure that matters. But we're discussing the smallest factor of a guitars sound, the wood, and even after I tell you I don't believe in tone wood, you ask me what I think of those wood combinations. They're all fine. Most woods will be fine. People make guitars out of colored pencils and shit and they sound like guitars.


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## budda (Oct 10, 2021)

None of us need custom guitars


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

Did i mention i sold all my tube amps after i had a family and got axefx iii...not gigging and no space..so buying heavy tube amps and 4x12 cabs when you dont have room in your house and cranky old neighbors and kids running around all day is not happening. Those days are gone. So just guitars and newest amp sim.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

The topics i post about here are

- guitar gear.. tonewood and everything about guitar tone
- mixing ...i suck at writing music and playing guitar but still aspire to have them sound good.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 10, 2021)

Dude you have Tom Anderson's and ESPs and you play into an AxeFX. If you're still having tone problems, quote the great John Suhr, "practice more". Those late night forum dwells and all the time you spent asking people about your mix could have been spent playing into headphones and getting really really rad inspiring tones, because you have RAD GEAR man. Your axe FX can make any guitar sound like basically anything you want, discuss how to do that with your axefx, or discuss ways to practice more and balance life, don't spend hours talking about the weird arbitrary material the instrument is made of. Seriously, you sound like you have some cash in your pocket, and I think it seems you're pouring your pocket out instead of focusing on real issues you're having. Listening to your songs, you play just fine man....just practice the things you want to practice, you've already got the gear to get any tone you want.


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## j3ps3 (Oct 10, 2021)

Good wood is good wood and bad wood is bad wood. Simple as that.

I always ask myself would I be able to recognize a certain spec on a blind test. If I can't, it doesn't matter to me.

I'm gonna quote myself here for some information about the subject:



j3ps3 said:


> There's so much that goes into this (and over my head) so it's pretty hard for me to translate everything as the vocabulary I have for this is in Finnish. For me personally it was about having even quality on the planks I'll use. Say you have a knot inside the plank you're about to use. That will drastically reduce the speed of sound. The grain direction also matters a lot when measuring the speed of sound.
> 
> E = Young's modulus
> p = density
> ...



and here's another quote that is my personal opinion:



j3ps3 said:


> I've only built maybe +10 guitars so I'm not confident enough to say "look, here's how it goes". But, to me, it seems that everything affects everything and since, like I earlier said, wood isn't homogeneous material, I've yet find a way where I can replicate a sound I got from a guitar I made earlier. Even if every spec is the same, the end result is still different. Maybe with a material that is homogeneous, like maybe carbon fiber, it could be done but I just like to work more with wood as a material. When I'm trying to "compensate" something I still go more with my gut and those typical beliefs on how a certain wood sounds (I don't like dark tone so with mahogany I compensate that with a maple top.) but I don't stress it too much. Mostly it seems to be about aesthetics for me nowadays. Carefully picked wood hasn't yet produced a bad sounding guitar for me so I'm gonna stick with that haha
> 
> I had a good plank of swamp ash and made a guitar out of it. It's my favorite guitar but the sound is really harsh compared to my other guitars and while it has those certain characteristics that is said to be on swamp ash, it's just a bit too much. I need to adjust the treble / brightness of the amp a little lower with that guitar.
> 
> ...



Sorry about the typos.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Dude you have Tom Anderson's and ESPs and you play into an AxeFX. If you're still having tone problems, quote the great John Suhr, "practice more". Those late night forum dwells and all the time you spent asking people about your mix could have been spent playing into headphones and getting really really rad inspiring tones, because you have RAD GEAR man. Your axe FX can make any guitar sound like basically anything you want, discuss how to do that with your axefx, or discuss ways to practice more and balance life, don't spend hours talking about the weird arbitrary material the instrument is made of. Seriously, you sound like you have some cash in your pocket, and I think it seems you're pouring your pocket out instead of focusing on real issues you're having. Listening to your songs, you play just fine man....just practice the things you want to practice, you've already got the gear to get any tone you want.



I guess i still have gear acquisition syndrome..its a sickness. Its gotten better but the addiction is real!!!


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

People buy the newest clothes, cars, games, comic books, computers, toys, etc.

Back when i started playing guitar in high school..every birthday and christmas...guitar gear. Everything i buy and save since then for myself is guitar stuff. I am not rich. I saved. When i was single Worked 2 jobs and ate just cereal and pasta for 5 years to buy a bogner excatsy , mesa mark ii c+ and peavey 5150 back in the day with matching cabs. Now i spend 98% of my salary on my family. The 2% is for me. I dont buy anything
.i dont drink or smoke. I still wear the same clothes and shoes i did 15 years ago..jeans and t shirts. My wife begs me to buy some new threads...still rocking a 2010 mac and a iphone 5th gen from.7 years ago.


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## budda (Oct 10, 2021)

Join a band.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 10, 2021)

Uh yeah it's time to get some new clothes man. If you bought a 5k Gucci purse and a 1k trainset for your kids last year, and you bought your 4th Tom Anderson this month, spend a few bucks on a better set of clothes and get your wife the 3k Prada purse instead, maybe spend a few hundred on a guitar maintenance/repair course and maybe some lessons.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

People dont realize how much time in their daily life they spend doing nothing but waiting...

- waiting in line buying groceries for your family
- waiting on the train during your daily 2hr commute to work
- waiting for your wife when you take her shopping at the mall. Yea this can take up alot of time
-waiting at the park when your kids are playing with other kids
-eating lunch by yourself during your 1 hr break
- waiting for your wife and kids to get ready to go outside...this also takes time
- etc
- waiting for your family when they go to the bathroom at the restaurant, mall, anywhere..

Ton of waiting time and doing nothin


If i had a guitar in my hand during these times...i would get in alot of practice. But instead i spend that time reading and cosuming content related to guitar and tone and mixing and making music.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Uh yeah it's time to get some new clothes man. If you bought a 5k Gucci purse and a 1k trainset for your kids last year, and you bought your 4th Tom Anderson this month, spend a few bucks on a better set of clothes and get your wife the 3k Prada purse instead, maybe spend a few hundred on a guitar maintenance/repair course and maybe some lessons.




I do.buy her those things but unfortunately buying those things that you suggested for myself dont inspire me or make me happy


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## CanserDYI (Oct 10, 2021)

You have a 2 hour commute on a train and you don't have a travel guitar and headphone amp??

And a guitar maintenance and lessons wouldn't inspire you???? See this is the type of thing that gives me those vibes bud lol


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## IwantTacos (Oct 10, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Uh yeah it's time to get some new clothes man. If you bought a 5k Gucci purse and a 1k trainset for your kids last year, and you bought your 4th Tom Anderson this month, spend a few bucks on a better set of clothes and get your wife the 3k Prada purse instead, maybe spend a few hundred on a guitar maintenance/repair course and maybe some lessons.



Hey I still have 20 year old underwear. Ain’t no way my wife is making me throw that out.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

budda said:


> Join a band.



No time..also everybody i know have kids and families of their own..they also dont have time


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> You have a 2 hour commute on a train and you don't have a travel guitar and headphone amp??
> 
> And a guitar maintenance and lessons wouldn't inspire you???? See this is the type of thing that gives me those vibes bud lol



Playing guitar on a Packed crowded train.. not a good idea.

Hmm guitar maintenance and lesson or a new guitar? Hmm new guitar please


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## bostjan (Oct 10, 2021)

It's 2021, there's no reason to sit with nothing to do. Get a Jamstick or a travel guitar or 3D print a mini ukulele or whatever. I printed a travel uke that pretty much fits in a pocket.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

I have wasted alot of money on the following expenses in my life

- guitar setups for 5 guitars for 10years at 120$ per setup. I didnt need pickup change, change tunings or change string gauges...only reason was the neck moved and the action was high...now i just deal with the high action. Could have purchased 2x custom guitars

- guitar lessons for 3 years at 250$ a month. Could have learned the same thing buying petrucci rock dsicpline video and a few tab books.again could have purchased a custom guitar

- my biggest mistake...in my 20s...quit guitar and started drinking and going to bars etc. A few custom guitars and then some

Well the 2% as stated from my salary is ONLY going for buying guutar gear.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

bostjan said:


> It's 2021, there's no reason to sit with nothing to do. Get a Jamstick or a travel guitar or 3D print a mini ukulele or whatever. I printed a travel uke that pretty much fits in a pocket.


Have you seen people doing that in all those situation i listed..please review again below.also most of the time i am holding shopping bags or my kids hands during those times

waiting in line buying groceries for your family
- waiting on the train during your daily 2hr commute to work
- waiting for your wife when you take her shopping at the mall. Yea this can take up alot of time
-waiting at the park when your kids are playing with other kids
-eating lunch by yourself during your 1 hr break
- waiting for your wife and kids to get ready to go outside...this also takes time

is that unusual what i'm doing? have you seen anybody doing anythign different during those situations?


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## j3ps3 (Oct 10, 2021)

Each of us has a life, man. What exactly are you trying to tell us? Not trying to be rude, I'm just not following you anymore. You have a lot of excuses why not to do certain things. It sounds like you enjoy more of the thought you doing x and y instead of actually doing them.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

j3ps3 said:


> Each of us has a life, man. What exactly are you trying to tell us? Not trying to be rude, I'm just not following you anymore. You have a lot of excuses why not to do certain things. It sounds like you enjoy more of the thought you doing x and y instead of actually doing them.



Thanks for your help and advice. Yes, that's what i'm doing living life. How many fathers/husbands are on cell phones while their wifes are shopping in the mall, waiting on line at the grocery store, waiting on the train going to work, in all the situations i have listed. They are not excuses, just facts. What kind of excuses exactly are you talking about? i'm doing my part as a husband, father, employee and also squeezing time to write, record and mix my music? what else do i have time for?


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

So back to the topic.. Anybody have experience with Poplar? how do they compare to basswood?


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## bostjan (Oct 10, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Have you seen people doing that in all those situation i listed..please review again below.also most of the time i am holding shopping bags or my kids hands during those times
> 
> waiting in line buying groceries for your family
> - waiting on the train during your daily 2hr commute to work
> ...


I've personally played guitar in all of those situations except at the grocery store, but that's obviously the quickest of the waits you listed by a significant amount.


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## j3ps3 (Oct 10, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Thanks for your help and advice. Yes, that's what i'm doing living life. How many fathers/husbands are on cell phones while their wifes are shopping in the mall, waiting on line at the grocery store, waiting on the train going to work, in all the situations i have listed. They are not excuses, just facts. What kind of excuses exactly are you talking about? i'm doing my part as a husband, father, employee and also squeezing time to write, record and mix my music? what else do i have time for?




That's what I'm asking. What do you have a problem with if everything's going good? I'm not sure why you are complaining if you're enjoying your life.

And regarding the poplar and questions about the different species of wood on a guitar:

https://www.leonardo-guitar-research.com/



"
CONCLUSIONS

• All 216 respondents perceived combinations of several guitars (including both T’s and NT’s) as being ONE guitar.

• In this test it was very difficult to differentiate one guitar from the other, and virtually impossible to distinguish between
guitars made from tropical wood species from those made from non-tropical wood species.

• Although several people demonstrated outstanding listening abilities (by indicating 7, 8 to 9 correct transition time points),
the ability to detect the nature of the guitars was notably less pronounced.

• This test shows that the distinctive sound qualities and the supposed nature of T’s and NT’s were not distinguishable one
from the other.

• This test implies that neither group (Tropical or Non-Tropical) possesses inherently distinctive, readily identifiable sound
qualities.

• Indeed, as there are clearly more time points detected between T’s and NT’s made by different builders than time points
between T’s and NT’s made by a given builder, it would appear that the builder may have a more pronounced effect on
differences in sound quality than the wood species used for back/sides, bridge, fingerboard and neck.

We should, however, exercise caution as some respondents indicated in their comments that they were able to detect
transition points based on "clicks" caused by editing rather than on a perceived difference in sound quality between guitars.
We are still in the process of analysing whether or not there were more detectable "clicks" or other editing phenomena
between different builders than between guitars from the same builder.

• Furthermore, if we consider other studies on this subject (see extra info), the question has to be asked as to whether the 
woods for back/sides, bridge, fingerboard and neck are really as important as has been previously assumed."


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

bostjan said:


> I've personally played guitar in all of those situations except at the grocery store, but that's obviously the quickest of the waits you listed by a significant amount.



If possible, can you go over how exactly you are playing guitar in these situations?

- waiting in line buying groceries for your family * you have to carry your guitar and groceries..nevermind the people waiting on line staring at you and asking you to keep it down, also the supermarket can get crowded.
- waiting on the train during your daily 2hr commute to work * Have you seen a crowded train? good luck playing guitar and not to mention people next to you telling you to turn it down
- waiting for your wife when you take her shopping at the mall. Yea this can take up alot of time * again you are at a noisy shopping mall , on your feet with people all around and holding your kids hands and shopping bags*
-waiting at the park when your kids are playing with other kids * actually this could work.. i might try this next time*
-eating lunch by yourself during your 1 hr break * not practical.. 1 hr lunch and the table doesn't accomodate a guitar. Unless you are ok with getting some food on your guitar?
- waiting for your wife and kids to get ready to go outside...this also takes time* Actually i do take out the guitar when I'm waiting for them , since i'm at home-- i should cross this one out of the list but 15minutes is maybe not long enough for you to take out the guitar and play and put it back. 15minute is long enough to post this msg*
- etc
- waiting for your family when they go to the bathroom at the restaurant, mall, anywhere.. * Read the part about the mall.


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## pondman (Oct 10, 2021)

Forget the the tone wood debate on electric guitars, it doesn't make any difference which timber you use imho.
I've built over a hundred guitars and can not tell any difference in tone from one timber to the next and I have a very good ear for tone.
Now acoustic guitars are a different thing altogether regarding timber/tone wood...


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

j3ps3 said:


> That's what I'm asking. What do you have a problem with if everything's going good? I'm not sure why you are complaining if you're enjoying your life.
> 
> And regarding the poplar and questions about the different species of wood on a guitar:
> 
> ...




Thanks for the info , i'll take time later to review that but i was merely responding to "
It's 2021, there's no reason to sit with nothing to do. Get a Jamstick or a travel guitar or 3D print a mini ukulele or whatever. I printed a travel uke that pretty much fits in a pocket."

not complaining at all.. i mean i'm buying my dream guitars .. mixing and making music and have a wonderful family. Wish i could have people to talk and geek out about gear and guitar stuff, mixing and songwriting with but oh well.. thats why i'm in this group.


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## budda (Oct 10, 2021)

vejichan said:


> No time..also everybody i know have kids and families of their own..they also dont have time



There's time. You just have to schedule it. Many parents are in bands - they just dont practice 3x a week and gig 4x a month because of it.

Edit: you live in new york but havent met people who are into guitars and gear?

The issue with the "what sounds best?" threads you start is that for the most part, people who know their rigs can make pretty much anything sound good to great. A cardboard strat with good pickups sounds like a strat. It's open ended, there's no conversation past "I like what I like" - and so you have people recommending to buy what you want.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

[


budda said:


> There's time. You just have to schedule it. Many parents are in bands - they just dont practice 3x a week and gig 4x a month because of it.
> 
> Edit: you live in new york but havent met people who are into guitars and gear?



Well, some people can do it.. great! I'll be honest w/my schedule nope.. not happening. Barely have time, let alone find people w/similar interests and get together and find gigs etc. Again that's why i'm here in this group.


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## bostjan (Oct 10, 2021)

vejichan said:


> If possible, can you go over how exactly you are playing guitar in these situations?
> 
> - waiting in line buying groceries for your family * you have to carry your guitar and groceries..nevermind the people waiting on line staring at you and asking you to keep it down, also the supermarket can get crowded.
> - waiting on the train during your daily 2hr commute to work * Have you seen a crowded train? good luck playing guitar and not to mention people next to you telling you to turn it down
> ...


Like I said, I've never played guitar at the grocery store, but now I think I'll put that on my list.
Yeah, I've been on a busy train before. Surely you've seen people playing on the train before.
Ìf you take your guitar to work, you'd be surprised how difficult it is not to touch it during lunch break.

Just like everything else everyone keeps saying to you, just do it! The greater point here is that, if you want to practice more, practice more. If you want to oil your fretboard, oil your fretboard. Sure there are roadblocks, but you just gotta power through them. I don't know what else to tell you.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

I am home for only 8hrs a day..other than taking a shower and sleep...no time for anything else..weekends are for families


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## budda (Oct 10, 2021)

Schedule. It. In.


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## vejichan (Oct 10, 2021)

Just writing, tracking, and mixing my music is time consuming. I mix on my commute to work.


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## budda (Oct 10, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Just writing, tracking, and mixing my music is time consuming. I mix on my commute to work.



You can do all of those things in a band.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

Ok I already own the following wood combos
* Basswood body/maple top + maple neck/maple fb
* Koa Body + Maple neck/maple Fb
* Alder Body /Koa top + Roasted Maple neck/Roasted Maple FB
* Black Limba/Walnut top + Wenge Neck/FB
*Alder body + Roasted maple/Rosewood FB

Need some opinions/advice and would like to avoid having 2 similar guitars but in different colors etc.
I'm leaning toward the following for the next custom-

* 25.5 scale - Lightweight Southern Swamp ash body + Roasted Maple Neck/Roasted maple fingerboard w/Floyd Rose Bridge
---Alternate option- with a maple top on the swamp ash body
---Alternation option- Roasted maple neck/ indian rosewood fingerboard

OR

*Gibson scale --Mahogany Body/Maple top + Mahogany Maple Neck/Indian Rosewood Fingerboard w/Fixed Bridge
----Alternate option- a roasted maple neck/indian rosewood fingerboard?
----Alternate option - Koa top and not maple top * Love koa tops but maybe the maple top will add more clarity/tightness and brightness to the thick/darker mahogany body?*


I have limited experience with swamp ash.. I owned a swamp ash/maple neck/maple fb Anderson Classic back in the day and didn't really like the sound? not sure if it was the pickups or the build but the sound was very dull w/a flabby low end. But I have heard since awesome sounding clips of people using guitars w/swamp ash on youtube.. worth a shot? I can't count out a wood based on past experience. I did own an alder body Ibanez Jem VWH which i didn't like but now i own 2 ANdersons with Alder. Alder is my favorite wood now.

For Mahogany I had 2x Ibanez J customs in 25.5 scale and the Ibanez edge tremolo system in the past with mahogany.. sounded muddy like a pillow in front of the pillow not as articulate. Again could be the Build/Pickups etc. So willing to give it a chance. Read Mahogany sounds best in Gibson scale guitars and with a fixed bridge. Maybe give this another chance.

Please share your opinion and views. Need help deciding. Any advise and input is appreciated. Thanks!


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## foreright (Oct 11, 2021)

Has anyone said "it makes no difference, go with whatever you like the look of" yet?


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## bostjan (Oct 11, 2021)

Swamp ash is like ash, but grainier and less dense. It sounds a little darker as a result, but, as we've been saying, that slight difference means next to nothing if you vary pickups, strings, scale length, amp settings, etc. If you want a tighter low end, a less resonant wood might help a tiny bit (but again, pickups, strings, scale length, etc. make much more difference).

For the tightest low end:

1. Longer scale length, therefore thinner string gauge to still get sufficient tension. This brightens the sound and brings out the harmonics more linearly, which helps the brain pick out the fundamental better.
2. EQ settings such as to allow actually very little low end to come through. You don't want the low lows completely squelched, but they cannot monopolize the power of your amp or else it'll be flub city.
3. Pickups with an aggressive tone, but lower output than most aggressive pickups. This allows a good deal of good mids to come through with enough power to keep the guitar cutting in the mix, but not so overwound to allow the lows to get out of control, which can easily clip the input stage of your amp or recording interface.

At this point, the world is your oyster. Personally, I prefer harder, heavier materials for good low end response, like maple, or engineered materials like carbon fiber, and just keep body shapes ergonomic and conservative to reduce weight. The less weight, the less wood that can resonate and thus dampen the guitars natural overtones.

The whole "mahogany sounds better at gibson scales" is of course based off of people at TGP or wherever preferring old Gibsons, which happen to be gibson scale length and mahogany. Honestly, mahogany is one of the most inconsistent wood species, so it can have very different qualities from one piece to the next, depending on the age of the tree, the climate where it grew, the location that the timber was taken from the tree, etc. There are plenty of cheap guitars made of mahogany that have shorter scales that sound pretty rubbish, and plenty of longer scale mahogany guitars that sound pretty nice.

Try to pick specs in order of most important and most impactful to least important or least impactful.


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## bostjan (Oct 11, 2021)

foreright said:


> Has anyone said "it makes no difference, go with whatever you like the look of" yet?


I think only fifty or sixty times, lol


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

foreright said:


> Has anyone said "it makes no difference, go with whatever you like the look of" yet?



I guess you are not a believer in wood effecting the sound, so addressing this to ONLY people who do. Thanks but I'll respectfully disagree and say that wood does effect the sound!!! PERIOD! Also this group is lutheirry, modification

So yes i am fan of guitar wood and i would choose to PAY more and play a guitar made out of KOA body/Buckeye burl top w/Wenge/purple heart neck over a guitar made out of cardboard body and cardboard neck. If you prefer the cheaper cardboard guitar, go ahead.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

bostjan said:


> Swamp ash is like ash, but grainier and less dense. It sounds a little darker as a result, but, as we've been saying, that slight difference means next to nothing if you vary pickups, strings, scale length, amp settings, etc. If you want a tighter low end, a less resonant wood might help a tiny bit (but again, pickups, strings, scale length, etc. make much more difference).
> 
> For the tightest low end:
> 
> ...



THanks for the insight.. so let's discuss about the swamp ash- If i go with Swamp ash, here is my view below
- Swamp ash is bright and has alot of attack.. a maple top would only accentuate the inherent brightness and attack.. and with a maple neck and not roasted would help round that sound and with a rosewood fingerboard would warm up the sound for better balance, would a swamp ash body w/no maple top and a maple neck and rosewood fb be better balance? please share your thoughts? So


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## budda (Oct 11, 2021)

ash body with maple neck and rw board is many vintage fenders. Adjusting pickup height once you get the guitar should balance the tone if it isn't already.


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## j3ps3 (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I guess you are not a believer in wood effecting the sound, so addressing this to ONLY people who do. Thanks but I'll respectfully disagree and say that wood does effect the sound!!! PERIOD!
> 
> So yes i would choose to PAY more and play a guitar made out of KOA body/Buckeye burl top w/Wenge/purple heart neck over a guitar made out of cardboard body and cardboard neck. If you prefer the cheaper cardboard guitar, go ahead.



Again, read the Leonardo project link I posted to you and the quotes of mine.

Also, like I said, there can't be dialogue if you ignore what people are saying to you. You are, again, doing that.

Edit: Imagine a hill. Mahogany grows on both side of the hill. The difference is, that the other side struggles to survive because of the lack of sunlight since the hill is on the way and on the other side the wood has plenty of what it needs to grow and be healthy. You think they would still sound the same on an instrument? Or if it'd be swamp ash growing on the poor side of the hill you'd still go with that over the mahogany on the better side just because "swamp ash, dude"


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## foreright (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I guess you are not a believer in wood effecting the sound, so addressing this to ONLY people who do. Thanks but I'll respectfully disagree and say that wood does effect the sound!!! PERIOD! Also this group is lutheirry, modification
> 
> So yes i am fan of guitar wood and i would choose to PAY more and play a guitar made out of KOA body/Buckeye burl top w/Wenge/purple heart neck over a guitar made out of cardboard body and cardboard neck. If you prefer the cheaper cardboard guitar, go ahead.



I did my thesis on the use of "alternative" materials for use in guitar construction (albeit mainly geared towards acoustic instruments) back in the late 90s and came to pretty much the same conclusions as the Leonardo Guitar Research Project that was linked above. I would confidently predict you could not tell the difference between a swamp ash bodied guitar and one made out of Koa / unicorn farts / whatever assuming construction methods, pickups and everything else was the same and even if you could I doubt you could reliably say which is which.

Anyway - I'll stick to my cardboard guitar for now and actually go do some playing / practice.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

Btw, to everybody who's following and responding to this thread. 1st - Thank you for your help and all the advise and especially being extremely patience with me. 2nd- Apologies if I am giving you "weird vibes" 3rd- FYI, I had and still have Gear Acquisition Syndrome, It used to be much much worse. 4th- Let's try to stick to the topic on tonewood and best wood combos if possible and please .. absolutely don't respond w/ "Wood does not affect the sound" especially to someone who has been a tone chaser for the last 2-3 decades .. from amps, pickups, preamps, pedals, guitars etc to now custom guitars.


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## bostjan (Oct 11, 2021)

j3ps3 said:


> Again, read the Leonardo project link I posted to you and the quotes of mine.
> 
> Also, like I said, there can't be dialogue if you ignore what people are saying to you. You are, again, doing that.
> 
> Edit: Imagine a hill. Mahogany grows on both side of the hill. The difference is, that the other side struggles to survive because of the lack of sunlight since the hill is on the way and on the other side the wood has plenty of what it needs to grow and be healthy. You think they would still sound the same on an instrument? Or if it'd be swamp ash growing on the poor side of the hill you'd still go with that over the mahogany on the better side just because "swamp ash, dude"


Interesting analogy, considering "Swamp Ash" refers to any of three species of ash trees (Pennsylvania Ash a.k.a. Red Ash, Black Ash, or Carolina Ash a.k.a. Florida Ash) that are harvested from swamps. The same species harvested from a forest are referred to just as regular ash.

Any tree other than ash that grows on a mountain or in a forest or in a swamp or whatever isn't really distinguished that sort of way.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

foreright said:


> I did my thesis on the use of "alternative" materials for use in guitar construction (albeit mainly geared towards acoustic instruments) back in the late 90s and came to pretty much the same conclusions as the Leonardo Guitar Research Project that was linked above. I would confidently predict you could not tell the difference between a swamp ash bodied guitar and one made out of Koa / unicorn farts / whatever assuming construction methods, pickups and everything else was the same and even if you could I doubt you could reliably say which is which.
> 
> Anyway - I'll stick to my cardboard guitar for now and actually go do some playing / practice.



Well thats fine, there are people out there who are happy w/a cheap guitar and amp and focus on being a better guitar player and are writing incredible riffs and songs and there is me, someone who suck at guitar and writes crappy songs and have ton of stress and worries/issues/anxieties that his only happiness and joy in life is 1st his family/kids and 2nd buying the next guitar...and making music. Also, you can't compare the level of excitement and joy/happiness from waiting 8 months and receiving a new custom guitar to practicing 8 months and finally playing Guthrie Govan "waves" perfectly. 

Believe me I would be a better person if only I could be "happy" w/ a cheap guitar and amp and focus on being a better guitar player but 40 years of people/naysayers saying "I suck" "I should quit playing guitar" "you can't play that" "Your band aint going anywhere" "You have no talent" has changed me

Also I have spoken to reputable guitar builders/luthiers, several of them actually and most of them agree that the wood of the guitar do effect the tone/sound.


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## j3ps3 (Oct 11, 2021)

bostjan said:


> Interesting analogy, considering "Swamp Ash" refers to any of three species of ash trees (Pennsylvania Ash a.k.a. Red Ash, Black Ash, or Carolina Ash a.k.a. Florida Ash) that are harvested from swamps. The same species harvested from a forest are referred to just as regular ash.
> 
> Any tree other than ash that grows on a mountain or in a forest or in a swamp or whatever isn't really distinguished that sort of way.



Not gonna argue with that  The point was that just because it's species x it tells you nothing about the plank. It might be good for an instrument or it might not be.


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## j3ps3 (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Also I have spoken to reputable guitar builders/luthiers, several of them actually and most of them agree that the wood of the guitar do effect the tone/sound.



For what it's worth, I've studied a profession over the matter. Had the same teacher who taught Ruokangas back in the day and he has done a TON of research on this stuff, which is what I refer to. He's been on the business since the 70s, I think. Wood affects the sound, species of the wood does not.


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## foreright (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Well thats fine, there are people out there who are happy w/a cheap guitar and amp and focus on being a better guitar player and are writing incredible riffs and songs and there is me, someone who suck at guitar and writes crappy songs and have ton of stress and worries/issues/anxieties that his only happiness and joy in life is 1st his family/kids and 2nd buying the next guitar...and making music
> 
> Also I have spoken to reputable guitar builders/luthiers, several of them actually and most of them agree that the wood of the guitar do effect the tone/sound.



The point is you can’t take a species eg. swamp ash and say it sounds like “x”. That is all.


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## budda (Oct 11, 2021)

Everything affects the sound. The speaker you play through will have a way bigger effect than the body wood you chose. We aren't saying wood doesn't have an effect - rather that the wood has a small effect (especially than guitar PR would have you believe) in the big scheme of things.

Tell me which guitar had what woods in this PRS clip:

https://soundcloud.com/sears-was-here/prs-pickup-shootout


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## bostjan (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> absolutely don't respond w/ "Wood does not affect the sound"


I bet that, since you said that, half of the replies that follow will be about wood not having an effect on tone. 

It might be worth noting that swamp ash is being over-harvested, so it's not the most environmentally-friendly material.



vejichan said:


> Well thats fine, there are people out there who are happy w/a cheap guitar and amp



Many of the guitars out there made from alternative materials are boutique. We're talking Parkers and Gitlers and Moduluses and so forth, which are considered to be some of the best premium guitars around. Even the cheaper alternative-material guitars, like Switch, are pretty well respected for their price range. Gibson switched to alternative fretboards for a while, and you probably can't find a more well-known guitar manufacturer than that.

I think the problem in this case is, that instead of saying, "Hey, if I got X model from Y manufacturer, should I go with A wood or B wood?", we are in this sort of vague general space of the discussion focusing on the tonal properties of woods, which a few years ago, was beaten to death with a metaphorical club in this forum. Some people get really fired up about the subject, especially when you try to make sweeping generalizations using meaningless adjectives, like "Bubinga has a 'balanced' tone," because you could play mad libs with any wood and any meaningless adjective and the statement would still have no value.

What I think is fairly well supported through investigative measurement, though, is that, all else equal, there are different effects that a wood will have on the tonal qualities of a guitar. Woods that resonate _more_ will dampen the frequencies at which they resonate _more_, which might seem counter-intuitive, but, as the vibrations get absorbed from the strings into the wood (or not, depending on the guitar's mechanical setup), the pickups don't see them in the strings anymore, so the coloration of the tone has a subtractive effect. As the wood resonates, though, that energy can transfer back to the strings or not, so there's a lot going on with an electric solidbody guitar that has different effects on tone, whereas, with an acoustic guitar, the process is about half as complex, and additive, which is much more easy to understand theoretically.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

---Well let's explore "wood does not effect tone" which divides guitarists into 2 groups. Group A = are guitarists that look at the guitar merely as a "tool" and really don't care what the guitar looks like and what guitar they play as long as they can use it to translate the music that they hear in their head. Group B= Are guitarists that love the look of guitars and guitar sound. They have invested alot of money in buying the best amp/guitar/gear to chase down the sound that they hear in their head. I am in group B

----for swamp ash. are you saying it's toxic.. ok i'm going with Mahogany combo


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## bostjan (Oct 11, 2021)

No, it's not poisonous or anything, it's just overharvested.


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## budda (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> ---Well let's explore "wood does not effect tone" (snip)



You aren't reading what we're writing.

Wood choice does not have the same magnitude of effect on an electric guitar as an acoustic guitar. Pickups will be where you want to focus.


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## bostjan (Oct 11, 2021)

Here's an analogy: wood makes a sound if you slap it. So, let's compare cajons (wooden drums). Different woods will make a totally different tone. It's like eating fruit. What does maple sound like, what does rosewood sound like - it's like what does a banana taste like or what does an apple taste like.

By the time you get to electric guitar, there is so much else going on in the process. The wood is in there, but it's not the thing making the sound. So, it's now like you are making vodka. What does vodka made from apples taste like versus vodka made from bananas? I bet they both taste like vodka to most people. If you really pay close attention, you might pick up a hint of fruitiness.

To go one step further with the analogy, the pickups, amp, strings, scale length, etc., all are parts of the process that play a more significant role in the tone of the instrument than the wood. This is like the temperature of the still, the amount of heads and tails discarded, and the amount of water added. Those things make the vodka taste good or bad, essentially.

Anyway, if we were to start the discussion by trying to communicate what the sound in your head is like, by comparing it to well-know tones, it might lead to a slightly more productive conversation, although, in case you couldn't tell we like to argue here, so even with the clearest information and instructions, the discussion is likely to eventually devolve into toilet jokes and ragging on each other.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

bostjan said:


> Here's an analogy: wood makes a sound if you slap it. So, let's compare cajons (wooden drums). Different woods will make a totally different tone. It's like eating fruit. What does maple sound like, what does rosewood sound like - it's like what does a banana taste like or what does an apple taste like.
> 
> By the time you get to electric guitar, there is so much else going on in the process. The wood is in there, but it's not the thing making the sound. So, it's now like you are making vodka. What does vodka made from apples taste like versus vodka made from bananas? I bet they both taste like vodka to most people. If you really pay close attention, you might pick up a hint of fruitiness.
> 
> ...




Ok lets say everything being equal....same amp, same guitar player, same pickups, new strings etc. Just different woods with same finish If you have a guitar player play on clean channel of an amp using a mahogany body, mahogany neck / rosewood fb and then have him play a guitar made out of swamp ash, maple neck and ebony fb. Same pickups, same amp , same amp settings ...are you really gonna tell me, the sound will be 100% identical? I have done this test...guess which was brighter and which was darker..which was thinner, which was thicker


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## budda (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Ok lets say everything being equal....same amp, same guitar player, same pickups, new strings etc. Just different woods with same finish If you have a guitar player play on clean channel of an amp using a mahogany body, mahogany neck / rosewood fb and then have him play a guitar made out of swamp ash, maple neck and ebony fb. Same pickups, same amp , same amp settings ...are you really gonna tell me, the sound will be 100% identical? I have done this test...guess which was brighter and which was darker..which was thinner, which was thicker



We are saying the wood isnt the reason you're hearing those differences.

You still havent told me which PRS has the 25" scale maple neck with ebony board from my clip, btw.


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## bostjan (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Ok lets say everything being equal....same amp, same guitar player, same pickups, new strings etc. Just different woods with same finish If you have a guitar player play on clean channel of an amp using a mahogany body, mahogany neck / rosewood fb and then have him play a guitar made out of swamp ash, maple neck and ebony fb. Same pickups, same amp , same amp settings ...are you really gonna tell me, the sound will be 100% identical? I have done this test...guess which was brighter and which was darker..which was thinner, which was thicker


No one is saying it'd be 100% the same. But I doubt these terms, especially "thicker."

The appropriate test to put this to rest is to record the same clip and then perform a fourier analysis to see which frequencies are relatively stronger.

I think we'd expect the mahogany/rosewood combo to have weaker upper harmonics, and the ash/ebony to have a weaker fundamental, but then you'd have to compare a few different pieces of the same species for control.

I did this once, many years ago, and only with mahogany/mahogany versus poplar/maple, all else equal - same guitars, same pickups, same tone settings, and the FFT data was strikingly different. But people on the internet were like "you only used two guitars" (fair point), and "you played by hand- should have used a machine that could copy pick attack exactly" (fair point).

But then you have guitars like the Gitler that are just frets and a truss rod, with no body and no neck at all, and they sound great. So where's the magic in the wood?

In fact, Leo Fender's first solidbody electric was made of pine.

So it's not that it makes no discernable difference, so much as it's minutiae at this point.

Another example of minutiae is the almost always overlooked fact that the length of your cable effects your tone. It's a proven fact. High frequencies roll off as a function of cable length. It's a pretty strong difference between a 6' cable and a 25' cable, but no one really cares. 

But, anyway, here's where the bullcrap starts to pour out - when someone asks "which wood combo is _better_." So, now you're taking a difference in tone that a lot of people try to argue is inaudible, and make it entirely subjective. There's no "better" wood combo. If each combo sounds different, then there's only better for what you want right now, and we all know that changes with the wind, plus, we are talking about something entirely indescribable with ordinary words, so we come on here and argue about which sounds "balanced" or which sounds "clear" or which sounds "muddy" or "thick," and that's where the discussion loses its substance, because none of those words really mean the same thing to any two random people.


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## jaxadam (Oct 11, 2021)

Hey man I have a guitar made out of acrylic and it sounds amazing.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

There are expensive cars and cheap cars both will get you from point a to point b but only one can make you happy.. this applies to everything


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## bostjan (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> There are expensive cars and cheap cars both will get you from point a to point b but only one can make you happy.. this applies to everything


Again, you are assuming wood = more expensive = better. There are acrylic guitars that are much more expensive than some wooden guitars. Also, as tone is subjective, you'd have to hear one before deciding that you don't like the sound it makes.

Chances are that you've already heard a guitar made of acrylic before and never noticed from the sound.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

My point is alot of this is also based on the happiness the guitar will give to the player


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## budda (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> There are expensive cars and cheap cars both will get you from point a to point b but only one can make you happy.. this applies to everything



Expensive doesnt guarantee better. My most expensive guitar isnt my best guitar.


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## bostjan (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> My point is alot of this is also based on the happiness the guitar will give to the player


So the answer to "which wood combination will make you happier" is something only you hold the keys to unlock.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

I played many awesome looking guitars that sounded like crap

Many ugly guitars but sounded great

Thats why i am on this neverending search...


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## jaxadam (Oct 11, 2021)




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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

Ok so NGD doesnt make you happy?


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## jaxadam (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Ok getting a new custom guitar doesnt make you happy?



Not anymore, I have too much shit I barely even see or play anymore. These days, getting a good night's sleep makes me happy!


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

So u are 100% happy not buying anything guitar related for the rest of your life ... awesome but unfortunately i need something to keep me from losing my mind from the day to day stress and worry and still wake up with a huge smile on my face. Better to buy a new guitar every 5 years than spend that money on drinking and smoking for 5 years. 5 years of drinking and smoking = 1 custom guitar


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## j3ps3 (Oct 11, 2021)

What has this to do with the original topic at this point anymore?


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## jaxadam (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> So u are 100% happy not buying anything guitar related for the rest of your life ... awesome but unfortunately i need something to keep me from losing my mind from the day to day stress and worry and still wake up with a huge smile on my face. Better to buy a new guitar every 5 years than spend that money on drinking and smoking for 5 years. 5 years of drinking and smoking = 1 custom guitar



Shit man, I get excited when I open up a case and find something I forgot about!


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## bostjan (Oct 11, 2021)

j3ps3 said:


> What has this to do with the original topic at this point anymore?


Piggy back question: did it ever?



vejichan said:


> So u are 100% happy not buying anything guitar related for the rest of your life ... awesome but unfortunately i need something to keep me from losing my mind from the day to day stress and worry and still wake up with a huge smile on my face. Better to buy a new guitar every 5 years than spend that money on drinking and smoking for 5 years. 5 years of drinking and smoking = 1 custom guitar



Or... better still, solve the problems causing the extreme stress in your life. I agree that covering problems up with new guitars feels great for a minute, but then the problems come back to stop you from enjoying your new guitars, so ultimately, it's a losing strategy.


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## jaxadam (Oct 11, 2021)

bostjan said:


> Piggy back question: did it ever?
> 
> 
> 
> Or... better still, solve the problems causing the extreme stress in your life. I agree that covering problems up with new guitars feels great for a minute, but then the problems come back to stop you from enjoying your new guitars, so ultimately, it's a losing strategy.



He's got 99 problems but a custom guitar ain't one!


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

j3ps3 said:


> What has this to do with the original topic at this point anymore?


Exactly..i wanted advice on tonewood but instead got people digging and judging me instead


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

bostjan said:


> Piggy back question: did it ever?
> 
> 
> 
> Or... better still, solve the problems causing the extreme stress in your life. I agree that covering problems up with new guitars feels great for a minute, but then the problems come back to stop you from enjoying your new guitars, so ultimately, it's a losing strategy.


If there was a solution to that the world would be perfecf..stress free with no worries


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## j3ps3 (Oct 11, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Exactly..i wanted advice on tonewood but instead got people digging and judging me instead



You were given the advice but because you didn't get the answers you wanted you ignored them.

E: Only you know truly what you like. "Great" is a subjective term and the things we like you might dislike. There seems to be no end to this and it's getting quite exhausting, to be honest. I also haven't seen any digging or judging against you. Having a different opinion is not that.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

jaxadam said:


> He's got 99 problems but a custom guitar ain't one!



Everybody has problems and way of coping..mine just happens to be guitar..nothing wrong with that
.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

On my day off..with family at the mall shopping for kids halloween costumes and talking about guitar tonewood and getting judged on here. awesome way to start the week.


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## jaxadam (Oct 11, 2021)

The only acceptable answer is mahogany body/maple top, ebony fingerboard, Dimarzio Evos


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

j3ps3 said:


> You were given the advice but because you didn't get the answers you wanted you ignored them.
> 
> E: Only you know truly what you like. "Great" is a subjective term and the things we like you might dislike. There seems to be no end to this and it's getting quite exhausting, to be honest. I also haven't seen any digging or judging against you. Having a different opinion is not that.



Me. - need advice on wood for guitar

Response- wood has no effect on tone

Me - i have no time to practice and list reasons

Response- have your guitar with you wherever you go

Me- Buying a custom guitar makes me happy

Response- who needs a custom guitar


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## budda (Oct 11, 2021)

Naw man, the reply was buy whatever you want.

This is why people only reply if they have some time to waste.

Also, to hell with your attempted guilt trips.


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## vejichan (Oct 11, 2021)

budda said:


> Naw man, the reply was buy whatever you want.
> 
> This is why people only reply if they have some time to waste.
> 
> Also, to hell with your attempted guilt trips.



Thanks but i was looking for advice with the intention of buying instead got advice on saving my money and just focus on playing and getting better at guitar.

I am also posting and responding because i am outside waiting for family to finish doing something


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## j3ps3 (Oct 12, 2021)

I'm starting to feel like this when responding to this thread.

For the millionth time: you were adviced. Stop saying you weren't.


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## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

Thanks for all the advice and help everyone! Apologies if this thread really went off on too many tangents.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 12, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I guess you are not a believer in wood effecting the sound, so addressing this to ONLY people who do. Thanks but I'll respectfully disagree and say that wood does effect the sound!!! PERIOD! Also this group is lutheirry, modification
> 
> So yes i am fan of guitar wood and i would choose to PAY more and play a guitar made out of KOA body/Buckeye burl top w/Wenge/purple heart neck over a guitar made out of cardboard body and cardboard neck. If you prefer the cheaper cardboard guitar, go ahead.


Dude you ended this conversation with me like 3 pages ago that tone is in your fingers? Remember that bogus story about walking in to Joe Satriani just shredding on a hello kitty squier and a Line 6 spider amp? Am I the only one of us that remembers this epicly true story? I thought this was your revelation that tone woods don't freaking matter?

I'm done with his dude, I really thought we could work him into a funny poster "oh you" type of guy but this is just getting sad.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 12, 2021)

budda said:


> Everything affects the sound. The speaker you play through will have a way bigger effect than the body wood you chose. We aren't saying wood doesn't have an effect - rather that the wood has a small effect (especially than guitar PR would have you believe) in the big scheme of things.
> 
> Tell me which guitar had what woods in this PRS clip:
> 
> https://soundcloud.com/sears-was-here/prs-pickup-shootout


I'm doing this when I get off work today, I know I'm not going to tell shit from shit


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## CanserDYI (Oct 12, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Me. - need advice on wood for guitar
> 
> Response- wood has no effect on tone
> 
> ...


If you have no time to practice, why does the fucking tone matter anyways?!?! When are you going to play it?? This is what I'm not understanding. Why would chasing tone matter to someone who doesn't have time to play?! And why do you have to go shopping with your wife??? Sit at home one of those times she goes shopping and practice your damn guitar.

Shit you realize I practice in my living room with a shitty modeling amp? It sounds fuckin fine for practicing.


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## bostjan (Oct 12, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> If you have no time to practice, why does the fucking tone matter anyways?!?! When are you going to play it?? This is what I'm not understanding. Why would chasing tone matter to someone who doesn't have time to play?! And why do you have to go shopping with your wife??? Sit at home one of those times she goes shopping and practice your damn guitar.
> 
> Shit you realize I practice in my living room with a shitty modeling amp? It sounds fuckin fine for practicing.


"The sustain, listen to it."
"I don't hear anything."
"Well you would though, ...if it were playing."


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## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

I go everywhere with my family when i am not at work because i choose to spend as much time with them as possible. I only text and use my phone when they are occupied with doing something else. Yes i have gear acquisition syndrome and buying gear makes me happy. No, i choose to spend the little time when j do pickup the guitar to make and record my music. Hope thats clear. I think i have said those things before..apologies again if anything i have said came off the wrong way. Thank you.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 12, 2021)

You realize making your music and recording are practicing right?


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## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> If you have no time to practice, why does the fucking tone matter anyways?!?! When are you going to play it?? This is what I'm not understanding. Why would chasing tone matter to someone who doesn't have time to play?! And why do you have to go shopping with your wife??? Sit at home one of those times she goes shopping and practice your damn guitar.
> 
> Shit you realize I practice in my living room with a shitty modeling amp? It sounds fuckin fine for practicing.



Just responding to your comments above. Thank you.


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## bostjan (Oct 12, 2021)

There's nothing wrong with spending time with your family. There's nothing wrong with playing your guitar. I don't see how anybody is judging you for choosing to do what you chose to do with your time.

However, if you are complaining about not having time to play, because you are instead choosing to spend your time doing something else, and then making it sound like whatever else you are doing with your time is an unavoidable chore, you should see how people are getting frustrated by offering you advice.

It's kind of like starting a thread about how to improve your mix, and getting dozens of people's input, then ignoring all of the input and doing something else and posting the new mix. Or like threatening to give up when people groan about you not listening to their advice and asking for more advice. Or like asking about how to change strings on a floating trem, getting detailed instructions, then just throwing your arms up and giving up because the responses to your question were longer than two sentences. It's all just very frustrating for everyone when it doesn't need to be.

Here's some more advice that will probably be ignored: Next time you want to post something about "woe is me" on ss.o, instead, pick up your guitar and practice for the time it would take you to post. By this time next year, you ought to be the next Steve Vai.


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## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

I can understand how some things might be taken the wrong way. My intention with this thread was what wood combo works but didn't get many responses/questions that wasn't relevant to that topic.

Here you are doing it again -" pick up your guitar and practice for the time it would take you to post"

- do you think i have access to my guitar or at home when I'm reading and posting? I believe I have stated this several times. I only read and post when I am just waiting outside going somewhere like right now, waiting on the train to go and visit a client. I am barely home.

Maybe i should just play Pokemon go or some game app on my phone when I'm waiting on train or OUTSIDE but I find it more beneficial/helpful to read/post/learn about mixing and guitar. Yes 3hrs of commute time a day on the public train to work on weekdays.. is a lot of time. So i use that time to mix my songs on my macbook/post/read/ask for advise etc. on my cellphone.


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## j3ps3 (Oct 12, 2021)

Yeah, I bet you're really enjoying your time on these threads that always end up as a dumbster fire.


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## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

j3ps3 said:


> Yeah, I bet you're really enjoying your time on these threads that always end up as a dumbster fire.



Everyone's advice was helpful. I have learned alot.


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## pondman (Oct 12, 2021)




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## budda (Oct 12, 2021)

You got answers though. You make it sound like you didnt. You gotta stop doing that.


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## foreright (Oct 12, 2021)

pondman said:


>



I think this one is more appropriate: 

Mind you, I was prompted by a post above to re-watch Spinal Tap for the first time in a decade so it's not all bad - nearly laughed myself into having a hernia at the "Stone 'enge" scene...

_"I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem *may* have been that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being *crushed* by a *dwarf*. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object."_


----------



## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

budda said:


> You got answers though. You make it sound like you didnt. You gotta stop doing that.



Well I did. Thank you!


----------



## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

foreright said:


> I think this one is more appropriate:
> 
> Mind you, I was prompted by a post above to re-watch Spinal Tap for the first time in a decade so it's not all bad - nearly laughed myself into having a hernia at the "Stone 'enge" scene...
> 
> _"I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem *may* have been that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being *crushed* by a *dwarf*. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object."_



I don't understand how this is relevant to the topic?


----------



## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

Ok.. i think this thread has gone off the deep end. 15% of the discussion was helpful. So based off that 15%, I think I will go with 2 piece African Mahogany Body/ highly figured flamed Koa Top w/Bolt-on mahogany neck/Indian Rosewood Fingerboard. 2 Humbuckers direct mounted. Blocked Floyd. Satin finish on neck. Gloss finish on Body.

This thread is closed! Thank you for all that have responded!


----------



## IwantTacos (Oct 12, 2021)

didn't you just a guitar. isn't the next one due in 5 years?

wood might not even be around in five years man.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

IwantTacos said:


> didn't you just a guitar. isn't the next one due in 5 years?
> 
> wood might not even be around in five years man.



I usually like to plan things way ahead in advance. Doing the reasearch, iron out the details of the build, and once a clear build is in mind, that helps motivate me to start saving. Also takes time to build the guitar.


----------



## jaxadam (Oct 12, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I usually like to plan things way ahead in advance. Doing the reasearch, iron out the details of the build, and once a clear build is in mind, that helps motivate me to start saving. Also takes time to build the guitar.



In this case the most satisfying and fulfilling way to proceed would be to grow your own wood.


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## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

really digging this flame koa top. Killer playing too. Time to go back to work!


----------



## CanserDYI (Oct 12, 2021)

vejichan said:


> really digging this flame koa top. Killer playing too. Time to go back to work!



Yep, I really dig that top. Looks like a one piece, very visually pleasing. I'd probably be very inspired looking down and seeing that craftsmanship and a great piece of wood, I'd probably play a bit better than normal. Woods inspire me in this way, I think of nature, patterns, geometry that I see in the woods. I don't find they change the sound in any usable way. This is the conversation we should be having about woods, not what does X sound like, when it has no real evidence.


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## vejichan (Oct 12, 2021)

That top would look well next to my other koa guitars. I'm huge fan of Koa!


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## migstopheles (Oct 12, 2021)

man, you'll never hear the benefit of the figuring in your tonewood if you cover it in a gloss finish


----------



## pondman (Oct 12, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I don't understand how this is relevant to the topic?


I tried enlightening you about the pain of the the tone debate on this forum with the same  and hinted at pressing the search button. It went straight over your head just like everything everything else posted on this thread. Have a good day...


----------



## foreright (Oct 12, 2021)

migstopheles said:


> man, you'll never hear the benefit of the figuring in your tonewood if you cover it in a gloss finish



That’s why he needs another guitar… seriously though, Rusti makes some great looking stuff.


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## MikeNeal (Oct 12, 2021)

out of all the guitars ive built

the best sounding guitars are:

butternut body
katalox/ash neck
pau ferro fretboard
BKP aftermaths

Hard white ash body, zebrawood top
katalox/ash neck
katalox fretboard
Dimarzio Dominion pickups

so either Katalox/ash necks have some super wood magic, or those particular pickups are just killer.


----------



## Slaeyer (Oct 13, 2021)

migstopheles said:


> man, you'll never hear the benefit of the figuring in your tonewood if you cover it in a gloss finish


satin is the only way to go then...


----------



## Drew (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Hey Drew, Depends, but tbh i don't know a single person in my life who is interested in talking about gear, tonewoods, guitar, amps, mixing and making music.. but that's why i joined his group but getting the feeling that not many people here like "talking about gear, tonewoods, guitar, amps, mixing and making music". The people in my life, generally just talk about sports (NBA, NFL) , Cars and work etc. Its a break from the daily stress ----


I missed a lot in this thread, being offline for the weekend... 

...but, my point here is, you don't need to _discuss_ this stuff to form opinions. You need to go out and play as many guitars as you can, and then form your _own_ opinions based on what sort of tone YOU like. 

Tone is something that's subjective, one person's "warm and rich" is another's "dark and muddy," and while you can get some general guidelines from talking to others - mahogany tends to be darker and warmer, swamp ash or alder brighter and snappier, basswood somewhere in the middle, etc - whether or not you LIKE that tone is something you have to figure out for yourself. 

Easy example - I own a couple mahogany guitars, but for the most part it's not a tonewood I really love. It works for very specific things, and sits in a very specific place, and for that thing it's pretty good - I have a PRS Singlecut largely because it was offered to me at a really good price and I think it sits nicely for rhythm guitar - but for the most part my preference is for brighter tonewoods with less lower mids and more attack and snap and cut to them - alder is probably my favorite tonewood, but I have a strat and a Suhr 7 made from swamp ash that I also really like for somilar reasons. 

This doesn't mean alder is a GOOD tonewood and mahogany is a BAD one - plenty of people other than me prefer mahogany, and honestly, my Suhr Modern 6 is mahogany and something about it just works for that particular guitar, I bought it with a very specific niche in mind and as it turns out it's a far better all-around playing voice than I expected. 

So, my point here, is that you've talked in this thread and in a lot of your mixing threads about how you don't have much time so when you get a few minutes to wait around for something, you read internet discussion boards and ask questions. I don't think that's a very productive use of your time, partly because, well, in your mixing threads, there's no evidence at all that you're actually learning from any of the discussion, but also in part because the internet can be a very, very, very good source of objective, factual information... but is pretty worthless when it comes to subjective, opinion information, and those two often get confused. 

Like, the internet can tell you everything you want to know about making carnitas tacos - what cuts of meat you should use, what spices and herbs, how long you should cook the meat, what kind of tortillas you should use, how you should heat them, what salsas and cheeses are traditionally served with them, etc. But, it will tell you nothing at all about whether or not you like carnitas tacos. The only way you can learn that is to go out and order one, and try it. 

If you want to know what a good sounding tonewood is, the internet can tell you what the different options are and what's been commonly used in which sort of guitar. But it CAN'T tell you what's going to sound good to you. Or, it can tell you what a compressor does, what the various controls do, and how they've typically been used in the past, but it CAN'T tell you what settings you should use on the snare drum on your song. The only way you can answer either of these questions is to go out and try it and use your ears.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

Drew said:


> I missed a lot in this thread, being offline for the weekend...
> 
> ...but, my point here is, you don't need to _discuss_ this stuff to form opinions. You need to go out and play as many guitars as you can, and then form your _own_ opinions based on what sort of tone YOU like.
> 
> ...



of course but as stated, the builder and the quality of wood makes a huge difference. A squire made of alder is not gonna sound as good as a suhr made of alder. Its better getting advice/opinions that buying something blind. At least i have an idea. this strategy has worked well with the last 8 custom guitars i have


----------



## budda (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> of course but as stated, the builder and the quality of wood makes a huge difference. A squire made of alder is not gonna sound as good as a suhr made of alder. Its better getting advice/opinions that buying something blind. At least i have an idea. this strategy has worked well with the last 8 custom guitars i have



A squier made of alder can absolutely sound as good as a suhr made from alder. Its just going to be way harder to find that squier.

Thinking in absolutes is something you need to get away from IMHO. It seems to be the basis of your struggles with music on here "if not y, then it has to be x".


----------



## Drew (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> of course but as stated, the builder and the quality of wood makes a huge difference. A squire made of alder is not gonna sound as good as a suhr made of alder. Its better getting advice/opinions that buying something blind. At least i have an idea. this strategy has worked well with the last 8 custom guitars i have


That's actually not necessarily true. I think high end builders like Suhr and Anderson are going to make for more _consistent_ guitars, and they're more likely to toss a mostly-built acoustically dead instrument... but my go-to bass is a $200 Squier P bass with J bass electronics that I don't even know what it's made out of, and over the years that bass has stayed while pricey Sherman customs and Dingwall Afterburners have gone and these days a Spector, I think it is, sits on a stand while I reach for the Squier. A Suhr won't always necessarily sound better than a Squier, and the more you spend on a guitar doesn't necessarily mean it's going to sound better. I've played plenty of very expensive guitars that were kind of duds, and a couple pretty cheap ones that were far better than they had any right to be. 

One of the best PRSs I've ever played was a buddy's Singlecut SE - he wanted a good one, but was a bassist, so he brought me along and had me play every single one in a guitar center, and the SE he bought smoked every other SE on the floor, and most of the "real" PRSes too.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

Drew said:


> That's actually not necessarily true. I think high end builders like Suhr and Anderson are going to make for more _consistent_ guitars, and they're more likely to toss a mostly-built acoustically dead instrument... but my go-to bass is a $200 Squier P bass with J bass electronics that I don't even know what it's made out of, and over the years that bass has stayed while pricey Sherman customs and Dingwall Afterburners have gone and these days a Spector, I think it is, sits on a stand while I reach for the Squier. A Suhr won't always necessarily sound better than a Squier, and the more you spend on a guitar doesn't necessarily mean it's going to sound better. I've played plenty of very expensive guitars that were kind of duds, and a couple pretty cheap ones that were far better than they had any right to be.
> 
> One of the best PRSs I've ever played was a buddy's Singlecut SE - he wanted a good one, but was a bassist, so he brought me along and had me play every single one in a guitar center, and the SE he bought smoked every other SE on the floor, and most of the "real" PRSes too.



I disagree, i had them all---esp, gibson, fender, ibanez, ernieball, Caparison mayones, aristides, owned alot of guitars.. one day played a suhr and custom order one the same day.. never looked back and then came the Anderson and that was it. The sound/look/feel/mojo..


----------



## IwantTacos (Oct 13, 2021)

ok like you like suhrs and Andersons...

and clearly you're the only person on this forum who has owned all those guitars. 

so I guess you're right.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

IwantTacos said:


> ok like you like suhrs and Andersons...
> 
> and clearly you're the only person on this forum who has owned all those guitars.
> 
> so I guess you're right.



No i am wrong..because those are words from a crappy guitar player who makes shitty songs. The gear cant make you sound like a great guitar player. The gear does make you happy though...


----------



## budda (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I disagree, i had them all---esp, gibson, fender, ibanez, ernieball, Caparison mayones, aristides, owned alot of guitars.. one day played a suhr and custom order one the same day.. never looked back and then came the Anderson and that was it. The sound/look/feel/mojo..



You can disagree all you want, it doesnt change the fact that a squier can sound as good as a suhr . Fortunately you found what you like. Now go order one that looks good to you.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

budda said:


> You can disagree all you want, it doesnt change the fact that a squier can sound as good as a suhr . Fortunately you found what you like. Now go order one that looks good to you.



This is like me arguing with my wife why my 50$ bag is just as good as her 5k Luis Vuitton/Gucci bag. It's all subjective.


----------



## budda (Oct 13, 2021)

Hes almost getting it, guys.


----------



## bostjan (Oct 13, 2021)

Some of the most iconic guitar tones were recorded using cheapaz beattoshit guitars. A lot of the Led Zeppelin stuff was recorded on old cheap Danelectro guitars made out of scraps. Green Day's stuff was recorded on a cheap off-brand guitar covered in stickers. GNR is associated with Slash playing Mockingbirds and Les Pauls, but his stuff was recorded using cheap no-name guitars someone probably picked out of a dumpster. EVH's most iconic guitar from his early days was a literal pile of trash.

I get you, though. I love my Oni's and those guitars are not cheap, but I'm not going to crap all over Squier. I've owned a few Squiers and they kicked ass.

If you made up your mind and you want another Anderson or another Suhr, by all means, stick with what makes you happy. But it certainly doesn't hurt to try different things. Maybe next time you are following your wife out shopping, make a detour to a music store and take 20 minutes there to try out at least 2-3 guitars unfamiliar to you. Note what options they have and what you like and dislike about them.


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## Emperoff (Oct 13, 2021)

So if tonewood is a myth, then...

*ALL HAIL THE "TONEMETAL"!*


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## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

cheap bags vs expensive bags, cheap guitars vs expensive guitars, cheap cars vs expensive cars... cheap refrigerators vs expensive refrigerators...etc. The cheaper versions will function and do as much as their expensive counterpart. Depends what they are to you and what your goal is for owning them...

for me, a luis vuitton/gucci bag for 8k is not worth it by my wife and every female i know would disagree. I need a bag to hold my books/macbook and bottle water. My 50$ bag would suffice.

for me, my cheap used Honda car can get from point a to point b as well as my friends much more expensive BMW

for my wife, she thinks I'm crazy to be spending that kind of money on a guitar when our neighbors Squier is just as good

For my wife, that luis vuitoon/gucci bag is the best thing in the world and she seems to smile more when she is carrying it outside

For my friend, his BMW is his pride and joy and worth every penny

For me, my guitars along w/ my wife and kids are the reasons why I would smile and laugh when I come home from a bad crappy day at work and my boss screaming in my ear and my coworkers talking shit about me and all the other BS in my life.


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## Drew (Oct 13, 2021)

budda said:


> Hes almost getting it, guys.


 



vejichan said:


> I disagree, i had them all---esp, gibson, fender, ibanez, ernieball, Caparison mayones, aristides, owned alot of guitars.. one day played a suhr and custom order one the same day.. never looked back and then came the Anderson and that was it. The sound/look/feel/mojo..


Hey, I own a couple Suhrs too. I like them quite a lot, they're fucking awesome instruments. I think, though, that what sets them apart is build quality and through that playability. As far as tone, they spend a lot of effort on wood selection and are far more likely to reject substandard guitars than Squier or even Fender... but that's more about consistency than it is tone. Their humbuckers range are pretty decent but IMO it's their singlecoils that are something special - I've got a set of MLs in one Fender and V60LPs in another, and I don't think those guitars suffer tonally for not being made by Suhr. 

But, like, it's not like John Suhr has some magical ability to source all the "good sounding" swamp ash, and then Fender gets to buy the subpar stuff - I think they're better about rejecting bad peices of wood, but that just means they're good about removing low outliers. Fender and Squier have more low outliers, sure, but also has high outliers, and I've played Mexican Strats and Teles, and own a Squier bass, that's way nicer sounding than it has any right to be. 

Long story short, buying a Suhr almost guarantees buying a very nice instrument... but buying a Suhr doesn't guarantee buying an exceptional _sounding _instrument, compared to buying a same-spec Strat and throwing in the same pickups, electronics, and hardware. They don't have a monopoly on "good sounding" wood. It makes it a little more likely, but I've definitely picked up cheap guitars that sound absolutely huge. And I've played a LOT of guitars over the years.


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## bostjan (Oct 13, 2021)

What kind of tonewood are your children made of? Maybe a guitar made of the same wood would bring you the maximum amount of joy?

When I worked at a pawn shop, one of the many interesting random things I learned was that a huge portion all of the designer brand stuff out there in the wild is fake.


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## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

Don't get me wrong, I've played some Suhrs and Andersons that I didn't like and played alot of Ibanez prestiges, Fernandes strats, Yamaha Pacificas that sounds awesome.

To this day, I still regret not hold on to my 1st guitar that my parents bought for me for 400$.. it sounded great and took a beating and never went out of tune. It was a fernandes FR 65, with a maple neck/fb, soft maple body.. I modded it and replaced the crappy headcrasher with a floyd and replaced the pickups w/Motorcity Afwayu and Dimarzio air norton. Also installed big brass block and ESP arming adjuster on it and the guitar came alive.


----------



## CanserDYI (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Don't get me wrong, I've played some Suhrs and Andersons that I didn't like and played alot of Ibanez prestiges, Fernandes strats, Yamaha Pacificas that sounds awesome.
> 
> To this day, I still regret not hold on to my 1st guitar that my parents bought for me for 400$.. it sounded great and took a beating and never went out of tune. It was a fernandes FR 65, with a maple neck/fb, soft maple body.. I modded it and replaced the crappy headcrasher with a floyd and replaced the pickups w/Motorcity Afwayu and Dimarzio air norton. Also installed big brass block and ESP arming adjuster on it and the guitar came alive.


....so that guitar came alive, yet was made from inferior woods? Interesting....


----------



## Emperoff (Oct 13, 2021)

bostjan said:


> What kind of tonewood are your children made of? Maybe a guitar made of the same wood would bring you the maximum amount of joy?


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

bostjan said:


> What kind of tonewood are your children made of? Maybe a guitar made of the same wood would bring you the maximum amount of joy?
> 
> When I worked at a pawn shop, one of the many interesting random things I learned was that a huge portion all of the designer brand stuff out there in the wild is fake.



What kind of tonewood are yours? What kind of tonewood are you? LOL


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> ....so that guitar came alive, yet was made from inferior woods? Interesting....



I never said my 1st guitar was made of inferior woods


----------



## Emperoff (Oct 13, 2021)

I just checked the spec sheet of my kid. It just says "made in Indonesia". He was kinda bummed when he saw it.







Now he says he wants to be a real guitar. What should I do?


----------



## CanserDYI (Oct 13, 2021)

Emperoff said:


> I just checked the spec sheet of my kid. It just says "made in Indonesia". He was kinda bummed when he saw it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I cant fucking breathe...

ever been sigged before? Thats being sigged.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

Emperoff said:


> I just checked the spec sheet of my kid. It just says "made in Indonesia". He was kinda bummed when he saw it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Dude thats just wrong on so many levels. Even if you are joking. I hope you don't really mean that.


----------



## Drew (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I never said my 1st guitar was made of inferior woods


...but it wasn't a Suhr, and you HAVE said that Suhr's wood is superior tonally to all other guitars you've played. 

Again, you're REALLY over thinking this. Buy guitars that sound good. If you find yourself gravitating towards a certain combination of woods in guitars that sound good to you, then that's probably a tonewood combination you should continue to seek out.


----------



## CanserDYI (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Dude thats just wrong on so many levels. Even if you are joking. I hope you don't really mean that.


You know kids don't have "Made in X" stickers right?


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

Drew said:


> ...but it wasn't a Suhr, and you HAVE said that Suhr's wood is superior tonally to all other guitars you've played.
> 
> Again, you're REALLY over thinking this. Buy guitars that sound good. If you find yourself gravitating towards a certain combination of woods in guitars that sound good to you, then that's probably a tonewood combination you should continue to seek out.



I have never said the wood was superior.. i said the build quality and maybe the wood selection at Suhr is better


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> You know kids don't have "Made in X" stickers right?



Neither do guitars...LOL


----------



## CanserDYI (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Neither do guitars...LOL


Go grab your Suhr and your TA and tell me what their label says, and if it says a country of manufacture, you owe me a sick ass guitar solo on my next single.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Go grab your Suhr and your TA and tell me what their label says, and if it says a country of manufacture, you owe me a sick ass guitar solo on my next single.


----------



## Drew (Oct 13, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Go grab your Suhr and your TA and tell me what their label says, and if it says a country of manufacture, you owe me a sick ass guitar solo on my next single.


Actually, they DO have "Made in the USA" engraved in the headstock. 



vejichan said:


> I have never said the wood was superior.. i said the build quality and maybe the wood selection at Suhr is better


You a page ago.


vejichan said:


> of course but as stated, the builder and the quality of wood makes a huge difference. A squire made of alder is not gonna sound as good as a suhr made of alder. Its better getting advice/opinions that buying something blind. At least i have an idea. this strategy has worked well with the last 8 custom guitars i have



Honestly, if you spent half this effort you're spending in this thread actually learning _how_ to use the tools you already have in a mix, you'd likely be way happier with your mixes, man. Just go play your guitars, and if they sound good to you, then that's a "great sounding wood combo" and don't give it a second thought.


----------



## Emperoff (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Neither do guitars...LOL



Just to clarify, this picture is not from my kid.


----------



## CanserDYI (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> View attachment 98807


I'm not following, i'm willing to bet my next paycheck that has a huge "MADE IN CHINA" sticker on the back of the headstock....


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

Drew said:


> Actually, they DO have "Made in the USA" engraved in the headstock.
> 
> 
> You a page ago.
> ...



I've ended this thread on page 8? but the hits just keeps on coming.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> I'm not following, i'm willing to bet my next paycheck that has a huge "MADE IN CHINA" sticker on the back of the headstock....


----------



## CanserDYI (Oct 13, 2021)

vejichan said:


> View attachment 98808


See this is what gives me "bot" vibes man, what are you even saying?


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

Emperoff said:


> Just to clarify, this picture is not from my kid.


Also

to clarify, this picture is not from my kid.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> See this is what gives me "bot" vibes man, what are you even saying?


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

bostjan said:


> What kind of tonewood are your children made of? Maybe a guitar made of the same wood would bring you the maximum amount of joy? .



Dude this quote made my day. Shared it with some other friends of mine who are also Parents/Guitar players. They got a kick out of it. Thanks!


----------



## Emperoff (Oct 13, 2021)




----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

Emperoff said:


>


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

Ok this thread is done. I got what I need to know within the 1st 4 pages. Please proceed to the next thread of your choosing. Thank you for all who contributed to this thread.


----------



## budda (Oct 13, 2021)

So what are you ordering?


----------



## Emperoff (Oct 13, 2021)

budda said:


> So what are you ordering?



Only the finest tonewoods allowed.


----------



## CanserDYI (Oct 13, 2021)

Emperoff said:


> Only finest tonewoods allowed.


Ngl that pink against that what I'm assuming is roasted maple, so sick. That color combo straight fucks.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 13, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> Ngl that pink against that what I'm assuming is roasted maple, so sick. That color combo straight fucks.


----------



## CanserDYI (Oct 13, 2021)

Okay I've never been so convinced you're an AOL bot that has become sentient.


----------



## IwantTacos (Oct 13, 2021)

dude you don’t get to say when a thread is done. Especially since you are just going to make the same thread again in 6 months.


----------



## Drew (Oct 14, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I've ended this thread on page 8? but the hits just keeps on coming.


Listen, please don't take this as an attack. 

I've told you this on a number of occasions now in the past, in threads you've posted looking for feedback on your mixes, where you seem pretty disinterested in actually listening to or learning from that feedback. 

You come across on the internet as having a very strong need for outside validation, wanting other people to tell you when something is good or something isn't, wanting other people to tell you what to do, and looking for a "silver bullet" where it's just one more plugin or one more guitar with a special wood combo and that'll be the difference between what you have now and a mix that people think sounds great, or that'll be what it takes to get good tone. And then when people tell you that's not how it works, that you don't just slap a few presets on a mix and it sounds like Chris Lord Alge's latest work or something, or that the reason your tone isn't as good as you want it to be is you just need to get a guitar with a basswood body and a maple top and a moon ebony fretboard, and that what you need to do is spend some time listening and experimenting and figuring this stuff out on your own, you always say your job and your family keep you too busy, and what do you think of _this_ mix. 

All I'm saying is the longer you continue to look for validation outside of yourself, ultimately the less happy you're going to be, and I think it's kind of dangerous to depend that much on the opinions of strangers for your own self worth. 

I realize this probably isn't an especially fun thing to read, but it's absolutely not some sort of an attack or attempt to put you down or make you feel bad. In the long run, the less you rely on the opinions of others and the more you can say "I like how this sounds" without worrying about what the internet thinks is "right," the better you'll be, both musically and personally. I think it will also help you not interpret everyone telling you this as a "hit" or an attack, too.


----------



## vejichan (Oct 14, 2021)

Drew said:


> Listen, please don't take this as an attack.
> 
> I've told you this on a number of occasions now in the past, in threads you've posted looking for feedback on your mixes, where you seem pretty disinterested in actually listening to or learning from that feedback.
> 
> ...



Thanks Drew but life isnt all sunshine and rainbows. I do what i have to do to get by. I grew up surrounded by a bunch of naysayers. I am surprised i got this far.


----------



## Drew (Oct 14, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Thanks Drew but life isnt all sunshine and rainbows. I do what i have to do to get by. I grew up surrounded by a bunch of naysayers. I am surprised i got this far.


Of course life isn't sunshine and rainbows. But, that doesn't mean you don't need to learn how to navigate the stormclouds yourself, rather than just dropping a few bland truisms as an excuse for not trying to grow. If you got it this far, I suspect it was not by depending on others for validation. Maybe try applying those lessons here.


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## bostjan (Oct 14, 2021)

vejichan said:


> life isnt all sunshine and rainbows


It's a rainbow of tonewoods:






50% of what life is is whatever you make of it. 

If you are surrounded by negative people, it's probably time to find some new people to be around. I know it's easier said than done, but if there's no sense wasting your time with tonewoods that don't make you happy, why should there be time to deal with people who only suck your positive energy and leave you drained?

If you like making music:

You're gonna wake up and work hard at it
Don't let your dreams be dreams
Make your dreams come true
Nothing is impossible
Yes, you can
Just do it
Just do it
Stop giving up
Yesterday you said tomorrow
You should get to the point where anyone else would quit
And you're not gonna stop there
Make your dreams come true
Nothing is impossible
No, what are you waiting for
Just do it
Make your dreams come true
Just do it


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## vejichan (Oct 14, 2021)

bostjan said:


> It's a rainbow of tonewoods:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Do you have something against buying guitars? people spend money on things all the time to make themselves happy. People spend their hardearned money to buy cars, clothes, sneakers, video games, fashion bags, bikes, bicycles, computers etc. For me it's guitar gear.


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## vejichan (Oct 14, 2021)

Drew said:


> Of course life isn't sunshine and rainbows. But, that doesn't mean you don't need to learn how to navigate the stormclouds yourself, rather than just dropping a few bland truisms as an excuse for not trying to grow. If you got it this far, I suspect it was not by depending on others for validation. Maybe try applying those lessons here.



If i didn't "grow" i would still be that single introverted kid working at the gas station playing a cheap epiphone guitar pluging into a rockman headphone amp learning the newest beatles song. Having traveled around the world and lived in japan for 10 years, learned to speak 3 languages, worked at a few design companies, getting married to a beautiful wife, taking care of 2 wonderful kids, recorded and made my own songs and release an album this year, gear wise - owned Gibson les pauls, Fender strats, Ibanez prestiges and J customs, ESP customs, Caparison horus, Mayones duvelle elite, Ernie ball EVH/Axis, Peavey wolfaangs ----Mesa boogie Mark IIC+ and Triaxis, Bogner fish preamp and BOgner uberschall and Bogner Ecstacy, Lee Jackson Modded Marshall, Peavey 5150 block letter and Peavey 5150 combo, Diezel Einstein, Friedman BE100, Marshall JMP-1, Lline 6 Flextone and POD XT, Fractal Axefx III and Fm3 etc. I think I did alright..


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## bostjan (Oct 14, 2021)

vejichan said:


> Do you have something against buying guitars? people spend money on things all the time to make themselves happy. People spend their hardearned money to buy cars, clothes, sneakers, video games, fashion bags, bikes, bicycles, computers etc. For me it's guitar gear.


Naw, I love buying guitars. Actually, I used to have a big problem with it. I used to own more than 40 of them. In fact, I'm mildly offended that you got that from anything I said.

The reason for my (Shia's) motivational speech for you there was that you've got this strong tendency to make excuses and freeze up. First it was not having time to do recording tutorials, then not having the skills needed to do your own basic guitar maintenance, then not having enough time to ever play your guitars, and now it's too many negative people dragging you down. Nobody here is asking anything from you, so the excuses seem a little weird, but if there's one thing I do _*not*_ enjoy hearing, it's lame excuses. If you don't want to play your guitars, that's fine, but don't go saying that you want to but you can't because blah blah blah... or, if playing guitar makes you happy, like you say it does, just play yer geetar. Try not to overcomplicate every little detail; it's not healthy for you.


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## jaxadam (Oct 14, 2021)

The best wood combo is an Ibanez Jem AND Universe from Rich at Ibanez Rlues.


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## budda (Oct 14, 2021)

Still hasnt said what woods he's chosen despite saying he's all set. Curious, that.


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## vejichan (Oct 14, 2021)

budda said:


> Still hasnt said what woods he's chosen despite saying he's all set. Curious, that.



Go back a few pagee...i mentioned it. Thanks


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## vejichan (Oct 14, 2021)

bostjan said:


> Naw, I love buying guitars. Actually, I used to have a big problem with it. I used to own more than 40 of them. In fact, I'm mildly offended that you got that from anything I said.
> 
> The reason for my (Shia's) motivational speech for you there was that you've got this strong tendency to make excuses and freeze up. First it was not having time to do recording tutorials, then not having the skills needed to do your own basic guitar maintenance, then not having enough time to ever play your guitars, and now it's too many negative people dragging you down. Nobody here is asking anything from you, so the excuses seem a little weird, but if there's one thing I do _*not*_ enjoy hearing, it's lame excuses. If you don't want to play your guitars, that's fine, but don't go saying that you want to but you can't because blah blah blah... or, if playing guitar makes you happy, like you say it does, just play yer geetar. Try not to overcomplicate every little detail; it's not healthy for you.



Everybodies got issues...nobody is perfect


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## vejichan (Oct 14, 2021)

budda said:


> Still hasnt said what woods he's chosen despite saying he's all set. Curious, that.



Check below for my answer--- believe it was 4 pages back.




vejichan said:


> Ok.. i think this thread has gone off the deep end. 15% of the discussion was helpful. So based off that 15%, I think I will go with 2 piece African Mahogany Body/ highly figured flamed Koa Top w/Bolt-on mahogany neck/Indian Rosewood Fingerboard. 2 Humbuckers direct mounted. Blocked Floyd. Satin finish on neck. Gloss finish on Body.
> 
> This thread is closed! Thank you for all that have responded!


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## CanserDYI (Oct 14, 2021)

vejichan said:


> If i didn't "grow" i would still be that single introverted kid working at the gas station playing a cheap epiphone guitar pluging into a rockman headphone amp learning the newest beatles song. Having traveled around the world and lived in japan for 10 years, learned to speak 3 languages, worked at a few design companies, getting married to a beautiful wife, taking care of 2 wonderful kids, recorded and made my own songs and release an album this year, gear wise - owned Gibson les pauls, Fender strats, Ibanez prestiges and J customs, ESP customs, Caparison horus, Mayones duvelle elite, Ernie ball EVH/Axis, Peavey wolfaangs ----Mesa boogie Mark IIC+ and Triaxis, Bogner fish preamp and BOgner uberschall and Bogner Ecstacy, Lee Jackson Modded Marshall, Peavey 5150 block letter and Peavey 5150 combo, Diezel Einstein, Friedman BE100, Marshall JMP-1, Lline 6 Flextone and POD XT, Fractal Axefx III and Fm3 etc. I think I did alright..


This is my favorite post from you. My wife and my kids are everything, and this is the thing I truly respect about you. What I'm finding hard to wrap my head around is that it's your choice, but then you act like it's not your choice.


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## Drew (Oct 14, 2021)

vejichan said:


> If i didn't "grow" i would still be that single introverted kid working at the gas station playing a cheap epiphone guitar pluging into a rockman headphone amp learning the newest beatles song. Having traveled around the world and lived in japan for 10 years, learned to speak 3 languages, worked at a few design companies, getting married to a beautiful wife, taking care of 2 wonderful kids, recorded and made my own songs and release an album this year, gear wise - owned Gibson les pauls, Fender strats, Ibanez prestiges and J customs, ESP customs, Caparison horus, Mayones duvelle elite, Ernie ball EVH/Axis, Peavey wolfaangs ----Mesa boogie Mark IIC+ and Triaxis, Bogner fish preamp and BOgner uberschall and Bogner Ecstacy, Lee Jackson Modded Marshall, Peavey 5150 block letter and Peavey 5150 combo, Diezel Einstein, Friedman BE100, Marshall JMP-1, Lline 6 Flextone and POD XT, Fractal Axefx III and Fm3 etc. I think I did alright..


Ok, but see, here you go again listing all the gear you've bought which looks a lot like looking for outside validation.

For a man who's owned, and I quote, "Gibson les pauls, Fender strats, Ibanez prestiges and J customs, ESP customs, Caparison horus, Mayones duvelle elite, Ernie ball EVH/Axis, Peavey wolfaangs..." I'd think at some point along the way you might have formed some opinions on what a few "great sounding wood combos" are. So, why are you asking here, what will work with what?

What does _your own experience _tell you?

From 10,000 feet, it looks like you have a lot in your life you should be proud of, which makes your complete inability to trust yourself both here and when evaluating one of your mixes that much harder for me to understand.


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## vejichan (Oct 14, 2021)

Drew said:


> Ok, but see, here you go again listing all the gear you've bought which looks a lot like looking for outside validation.
> 
> For a man who's owned, and I quote, "Gibson les pauls, Fender strats, Ibanez prestiges and J customs, ESP customs, Caparison horus, Mayones duvelle elite, Ernie ball EVH/Axis, Peavey wolfaangs..." I'd think at some point along the way you might have formed some opinions on what a few "great sounding wood combos" are. So, why are you asking here, what will work with what?
> 
> ...



I am just looking for discussion - is there a problem with reviewing or asking for other people's opinions on wood? sure I experienced some of those wood combos but maybe I needed a second opinion. As stated before I did own an Ibanez Jem VWH which was made of Alder body and didn't really like the sound of that guitar. But got a chance to play another guitar made of alder changed my mind, because it sounded great. It's pretty obvious and as you have stated i don't trust my opinion or my thoughts- so yes I do seek guidance and people's opinion for reassurance.


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## j3ps3 (Oct 14, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I am just looking for discussion - is there a problem with reviewing or asking for other people's opinions on wood? sure I experienced some of those wood combos but maybe I needed a second opinion. As stated before I did own an Ibanez Jem VWH which was made of Alder body and didn't really like the sound of that guitar. But got a chance to play another guitar made of alder changed my mind, because it sounded great. It's pretty obvious and as you have stated i don't trust my opinion or my thoughts- so yes I do seek guidance and people's opinion for reassurance.



As you've ignored so much insight on the subject that people (some professionals even with +100 made guitars under their belt) were willing to give you, I think your looking for validation rather than discussion. You ignore everything you disagree with. That's no way to have a discussion.


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## Drew (Oct 14, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I am just looking for discussion - is there a problem with reviewing or asking for other people's opinions on wood? sure I experienced some of those wood combos but maybe I needed a second opinion. As stated before I did own an Ibanez Jem VWH which was made of Alder body and didn't really like the sound of that guitar. But got a chance to play another guitar made of alder changed my mind, because it sounded great. It's pretty obvious and as you have stated i don't trust my opinion or my thoughts- so yes I do seek guidance and people's opinion for reassurance.


This is looking for discussion?


vejichan said:


> Do you think swamp ash would work with rosewood fb? I was told ash is better with maple fb


You've really never once played a swamp ash guitar with a rosewood board?

Again, end of the day, I've got no horse in this - I just think, after wasting a LOT of time trying to help you in the Recording forum and feeling like I was talking to a wall, you seem to have a need for outside validation and take other's opinions as more meaningful than you're own, and seem to have extremely low self esteem. I think that's an extremely dangerous, hurtful thing to yourself, and something you should think about.

I'm checking out of this thread - I'm fairly sure there's nothing I can actually say that's going to get throguh to you or help you, but I guess maybe as a final thought - if you've played hundreds of guitars and don't trust your own opinions on the relative merits of different combinations of tonewoods without checking to see first if others agree with you... then it _probably doesn't matter what tonewoods you use_, if you don't have strong enough opinions on your own to not need to ask others for support.


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## vejichan (Oct 14, 2021)

Drew said:


> This is looking for discussion?
> 
> You've really never once played a swamp ash guitar with a rosewood board?
> 
> ...



Well said Drew and Thanks.


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## gnoll (Oct 15, 2021)

vejichan said:


> I am just looking for discussion - is there a problem with reviewing or asking for other people's opinions on wood?



If you're looking for a useful answer - yes there is something wrong with it. The question is nonsensical because 1) wood species has a relatively small effect on the sound of an electric guitar and 2) if a guitar sounds good is very subjective anyway.

If you're just looking to talk to take your mind off Gucci bags and cars then no there's not really anything wrong with it, but other people might be less likely to find the discussion meaningful and want to participate.


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## Drew (Oct 15, 2021)

gnoll said:


> If you're looking for a useful answer - yes there is something wrong with it. The question is nonsensical because 1) wood species has a relatively small effect on the sound of an electric guitar and 2) if a guitar sounds good is very subjective anyway.


Told myself I'd stay out, but, well....  I strongly agree with #2, but #1, eh... I think it matters less at higher gain levels than at lower gain and clean, as saturation tends to make the amp drive the tone a bit more... but it's not irrelevant, and even after accounting for pickups I still hear differences. I've got a couple guitars with PAF Pros in the neck, and my basswood 550 sounds different from my mahogany 3120 which sound different from my swamp ash Suhr (which to be fair was an endorser-sound seven string version so it's not entirely apples to apples). If I jacked up my Mark-V to dime the gain those differences would shrink, but at the gain levels I prefer for lead playing, they're pretty pronounced. It's definitely not irrelevant, and I definitely have preferences for different things.


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## gnoll (Oct 15, 2021)

Drew said:


> Told myself I'd stay out, but, well....  I strongly agree with #2, but #1, eh... I think it matters less at higher gain levels than at lower gain and clean, as saturation tends to make the amp drive the tone a bit more... but it's not irrelevant, and even after accounting for pickups I still hear differences. I've got a couple guitars with PAF Pros in the neck, and my basswood 550 sounds different from my mahogany 3120 which sound different from my swamp ash Suhr (which to be fair was an endorser-sound seven string version so it's not entirely apples to apples). If I jacked up my Mark-V to dime the gain those differences would shrink, but at the gain levels I prefer for lead playing, they're pretty pronounced. It's definitely not irrelevant, and I definitely have preferences for different things.



No I agree it's not irrelevant. Even with high gain. In tonewood threads I always fight for the "it does make a difference" side. But I'll still also argue that the difference is small compared to a lot of other factors. So I really think any statements about, say, mahogany bodies being good with maple necks that have ebony boards or whatever ARE in fact nonsensical. Those 3 factors are so small that the way they interact is going to be completely overshadowed by all the other aspects of the guitar like construction, size, hardware, pickups, and so on. Not to mention that individual pieces of wood are also going to differ even if the species is the same. And who's to say if the species even is the same? Mahogany is not a species. Swamp ash is not a species. They're terms used to lump together a bunch of different species that may be more or less similar to each other. For mahogany the term is used very differently by different people and by its widest definitions it could mean almost anything.

I think if you knew exactly how the guitar was constructed, and you could listen to the way it sounded, then you could say things like "I would probably slightly prefer this guitar with an alder body". And maybe you'd be right. Maybe. But general statements about wood combinations of some hypothetical guitar that nobody knows what it is or what it sounds like? That can't be a productive use of anyone's time.


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## Drew (Oct 18, 2021)

gnoll said:


> No I agree it's not irrelevant. Even with high gain. In tonewood threads I always fight for the "it does make a difference" side. But I'll still also argue that the difference is small compared to a lot of other factors. So I really think any statements about, say, mahogany bodies being good with maple necks that have ebony boards or whatever ARE in fact nonsensical. Those 3 factors are so small that the way they interact is going to be completely overshadowed by all the other aspects of the guitar like construction, size, hardware, pickups, and so on. Not to mention that individual pieces of wood are also going to differ even if the species is the same. And who's to say if the species even is the same? Mahogany is not a species. Swamp ash is not a species. They're terms used to lump together a bunch of different species that may be more or less similar to each other. For mahogany the term is used very differently by different people and by its widest definitions it could mean almost anything.
> 
> I think if you knew exactly how the guitar was constructed, and you could listen to the way it sounded, then you could say things like "I would probably slightly prefer this guitar with an alder body". And maybe you'd be right. Maybe. But general statements about wood combinations of some hypothetical guitar that nobody knows what it is or what it sounds like? That can't be a productive use of anyone's time.


I mean, we disagree in degree, then - I think those factors are generally pretty audible, and a good way of narrowing down guitars you'd PROBABLY like the sound of, certainly things you should probably keep in mind when ordering a custom guitar, that you know you've tended to like the tone of alder guitars with bolt-on maple necks in the past, so this is a spec that you'll probably like in a custom order. It's not infallable, but it's certainly useful informaiton. 

Of course, if someone told me on the internet, "I think there's something pretty magical about the combination of roasted koa with a 1/2" spalted maple top, and a one peice rosewood neck, but only if you also use stainless frets," IMO that's pretty worthless to go on because there's zero context for how that would relate to what _you_ like. And also that's so oddly specific I'd have a hard time taking that seriously as a rigorously tested viewpoint.


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## ScottThunes1960 (Oct 19, 2021)

If I was to summarize the last twelve pages for vejichan and anyone not wanting to sift through it: We all have our pastimes, but expanding your horizons through guitar messageboards rots your brain.


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## bostjan (Oct 20, 2021)

ScottThunes1960 said:


> If I was to summarize the last twelve pages for vejichan and anyone not wanting to sift through it: We all have our pastimes, but expanding your horizons through guitar messageboards rots your brain.


I've been on this board for years and I am showing no signs at all of drain bamage. I'm ferfectly pine. Squirrel.


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