# Lightest woods available?



## patata (Oct 24, 2013)

So I used basswood for my first build,I really want to use it again for my 7string but:
It's boring
I don't want 2 guitars with the same wood combo

Any other LIGHT woods for a guitar body?


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## Señor Voorhees (Oct 24, 2013)

Paulownia is by far the lightest wood I've ever felt. The guitar I have made of it actually sounds/plays pretty nice (surprising since it was a cheap kit thing), but the wood is insanely soft/light.


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## patata (Oct 24, 2013)

I had trouble keeping basswood away from everything that is not made of jello so it won't scratch.

I was thinking swamp ash?I know of ash but it's like ....ing cement.


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## Captain Butterscotch (Oct 24, 2013)

I'm actually holding an uncut piece of swamp ash right now and it is SUPER light. I'd love to know of some other species that are light/lighter.


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## patata (Oct 24, 2013)

Is swamp ash soft though?

I'm thinking of:
Black stained Swamp ash and maple fingerboard.


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## canuck brian (Oct 24, 2013)

White/black limba is also pretty light.

Problem with most of these light woods is that you could probably carve them with your thumbnail.


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## patata (Oct 24, 2013)

canuck brian said:


> White/black limba is also pretty light.
> 
> Problem with most of these light woods is that you could probably carve them with your thumbnail.



How much more expensive limba is?Also,compared to basswood,is it heavier?
I have back problems,so average ''heavy'' guitars are out of the question.


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## Riley (Oct 24, 2013)

I understand you are looking for light wood for non tone related reasons but I just have to say.


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## darren (Oct 24, 2013)

I have a body in Paulownia that weighs about 1 lb. 9 oz. That's ridiculously light. So much so, that i have no idea what neck to pair it with so it won't neck dive.


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## muffinbutton (Oct 24, 2013)

darren said:


> I have a body in Paulownia that weighs about 1 lb. 9 oz. That's ridiculously light. So much so, that i have no idea what neck to pair it with so it won't neck dive.



I'm imagining you sitting at a desk looking at the body next to a bunch of necks like "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. well shit this one won't work either."


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## mwcarl (Oct 24, 2013)

You have other common options, such as alder and poplar. There are also more unconventional choices, I've used spruce, however it is very soft, not unlike basswood. In my limited experience, when I need a lighter wood choice I choose swamp ash or some african mahogany (I've found some that's pretty light). Both of them have very attractive appearance and tone as well. Your other choice is to chamber heavier woods.


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## mwcarl (Oct 24, 2013)

darren said:


> I have a body in Paulownia that weighs about 1 lb. 9 oz. That's ridiculously light. So much so, that i have no idea what neck to pair it with so it won't neck dive.



If it's feasible, that's a pretty good candidate for a headless.


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## DavidLopezJr (Oct 24, 2013)

darren said:


> I have a body in Paulownia that weighs about 1 lb. 9 oz. That's ridiculously light. So much so, that i have no idea what neck to pair it with so it won't neck dive.


A Paulownia neck?


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## darren (Oct 24, 2013)

I'm actually thinking it will likely get a basswood neck with my new Carbon Truss reinforcement.


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## jeremyb (Oct 24, 2013)

I have a paulownia telemaster I put together, its ridiculously light, 4 lbs 13oz light, complete, crazy.

Its really soft tho', like balsa wood, has an amazing tone, very loud acoustically, I really dig it!


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## Berti_smb (Oct 24, 2013)

Swamp ash would be a great choice, hard, light and with wonderful tonal qualities


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## RV350ALSCYTHE (Oct 24, 2013)

Neckthrough with hard wood, Balsa Wood wings


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## abandonist (Oct 24, 2013)

Bamboo.


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## darren (Oct 24, 2013)

Bamboo is actually quite heavy when it's in laminated lumber form.


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## patata (Oct 25, 2013)

Swamp ash wings on a maple rosewood 5pcs neck through then?


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## Berti_smb (Oct 25, 2013)

patata said:


> Swamp ash wings on a maple rosewood 5pcs neck through then?



I approve


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## pondman (Oct 25, 2013)

I'm just finishing a Smoked Tulip-wood (paulowinia) 8 string and it was probably the softest wood I've ever worked with but has amazing metallic bronze hues once its Tru-Oiled.
Have you thought about chambering a heavier wood to reduce the weight and putting in some fancy sound-holes ?


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## patata (Oct 25, 2013)

I'm building metal guitars.No soundhole there.

I'm actually thinking of chambering ash since I found a piece for a very good price.


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## Benjamin Millar (Oct 25, 2013)

Anigre or Limba are very light woods.
Some pieces of Honduran or Khaya Mahogany can get very light as well.
Spanish cedar is lighter than all of the above, but might be a bit too soft for your needs. It is used a lot for spanish guitar necks.


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## jarnozz (Oct 25, 2013)

Have you considered chambering? Skervesen,
Strandberg, some bm's ar all chambered. And it will still sound metal as hell.

Just my two cents


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## patata (Oct 25, 2013)

jarnozz said:


> Have you considered chambering? Skervesen,
> Strandberg, some bm's ar all chambered. And it will still sound metal as hell.
> 
> Just my two cents



when I said i'm building metal guitars,i wasn't reffering to chambering,but to soundholes.I'll try chambered ash.


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## HaMMerHeD (Oct 25, 2013)

Honduran Mahogany is very light.


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## UnderTheSign (Oct 25, 2013)

Lightest wood? Balsa, probably. And you could carve it with your teeth or big toe.


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## Nile (Oct 26, 2013)

Mahogany can be. The hardware on my guitar weighs as much possibly more than the actual neck and body itself.


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## MF_Kitten (Oct 26, 2013)

You can buy Paulownia tele and strat bodies at Guitarfetish. I have a Paulownia body from them that I am putting together a partscaster from 

I like light and hard woods most of the time. Light is good, but I'm not that big a fan of soft body woods.

edit: Just realized you probably asked because you wanted to buy the wood. So yeah. Alder, Paulownia, Poplar, and Swamp ash, are all great light woods.


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## patata (Oct 26, 2013)

Would a basswood neck with a carbon layer between the neck and the fingerboard work?

Or maybe a rosewood strip between.


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## MF_Kitten (Oct 27, 2013)

patata said:


> Would a basswood neck with a carbon layer between the neck and the fingerboard work?
> 
> Or maybe a rosewood strip between.



You have to keep it strong, because basswood isn't just light, it's SOFT. Stiffness needs to be added throughout.


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## patata (Oct 27, 2013)

MF_Kitten said:


> You have to keep it strong, because basswood isn't just light, it's SOFT. Stiffness needs to be added throughout.



So a swamp ash neck?


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## MF_Kitten (Oct 27, 2013)

patata said:


> So a swamp ash neck?



That could work, kinda. They do make baseball bats out of hard ash, anyway.


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## patata (Oct 27, 2013)

MF_Kitten said:


> That could work, kinda. They do make baseball bats out of hard ash, anyway.



I haven't seen it anywhere,but I guess it could work.

If it's a neck through it won't dive right?I mean the heavy wood would go all the way through.


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## Wrecklyss (Oct 27, 2013)

i thought you meant light in color.

Birch is very light in weight and very strong, sounds amazing for speaker building too so i'd imagine it would sound really good for a guitar.


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## TemjinStrife (Oct 27, 2013)

Spruce.


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## HaMMerHeD (Oct 27, 2013)

There are a lot of basses with ash necks out there.


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## TemjinStrife (Oct 28, 2013)

HaMMerHeD said:


> There are a lot of basses with ash necks out there.



Which ones?


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## HaMMerHeD (Oct 28, 2013)

Mike Tobias offers it as a free option, and he makes quite a few of them.

Fodera uses it fairly often as well.

MTD:






Fodera:


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## MF_Kitten (Oct 28, 2013)

I wonder if a 1 piece ash neck with carbon reinforcement rods inside would be lighter and stiffer than a 3 piece hard maple neck. Basically it would be better allround than the classic recipe of maple necks.

edit: http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_wood.htm

according to this, white ash is actually higher density than honduras mahogany.


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## Chuck (Oct 28, 2013)

African mahogany is quite light as well. My RGA's have African mahogany body's and the heaviest of the bunch is about 6.7lbs. And that's with a maple top and maple neck.


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## HaMMerHeD (Oct 28, 2013)

Depends on the ash. So-called "swamp ash" is usually the same species as much heavier northern ash. It's only lighter because it grows faster (because it's in a wetter, warmer) environment). In general, woods that grow fast are not as hard and strong as woods that grow slowly.

On the other hand, let's look at the numbers...

Hard maple has an elasticity modulus of 12.62 GPa, while white ash is 12.0 GPa and green/swamp ash is 11.4 GPa. So it's not a big difference. Keep in mind, however, that those numbers are just samples. Different pieces of wood will have different performance characteristics. A very light piece of ash can vary significantly from the established "norm" of 11.4 GPa. Carbon rods are cheap insurance no matter what kind of neck wood you use. In my opinion, a carbon rod or two are never a bad idea for a guitar/bass neck.

And about weigh savings...turns out, it's not really that much. Hard maple is generally around 44 pounds per cubic foot, while swamp ash is generally around 40 pounds. Pare that down to a piece the size of a guitar neck beam, and the supposed weight savings are probably just a couple of ounces. If that's worth the hassle of dealing with ash to you, then have at it.

So yeah...you could probably make an ash neck a couple of ounces lighter and approximately as rigid as a piece of hard maple....but with the same carbon rods, you can make a stiffer maple neck that only weighs a couple of ounces more. Like so many frustrating things in guitar building, it's a trade-off.


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## NHo (Oct 28, 2013)

Maybe a silly question, but why don't you go for a smaller, thinner body, less hw and smaller tuners, and an average good resonating wood?


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## patata (Oct 28, 2013)

NHo said:


> Maybe a silly question, but why don't you go for a smaller, thinner body, less hw and smaller tuners, and an average good resonating wood?



1 pickup,37mm thick body,1 pot.
Thinner than that?


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## NHo (Oct 28, 2013)

patata said:


> 1 pickup,37mm thick body,1 pot.
> Thinner than that?




for example..like an Ibby S type body..thats quite thin on the edges


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## patata (Oct 28, 2013)

NHo said:


> for example..like an Ibby S type body..thats quite thin on the edges



That would make the guitar neck heavy,the body is super thin as it is.
btw I love your guitars.


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## NHo (Oct 28, 2013)

patata said:


> That would make the guitar neck heavy,the body is super thin as it is.
> btw I love your guitars.



It's a tough question...maybe with carbon neck? But finding the balance is quite a game 

Glad you like them!


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## patata (Oct 28, 2013)

NHo said:


> It's a tough question...maybe with carbon neck? But finding the balance is quite a game
> 
> Glad you like them!



I'm thinking of designing a guitar with a long upper horn.
Maybe this way it'll be easier to balance it.


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## pondman (Oct 28, 2013)

Meranti is a reasonable weight .


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## amberawakening (Oct 28, 2013)

CHAMBERED GUITARS!!!


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## Allealex (Oct 29, 2013)

Chambered+headless=lightweight


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## patata (Oct 30, 2013)

Allealex said:


> Chambered+headless=lightweight









+ I'm not really looking for any headless guitar right now.
I like 'em,just not what I'm looking for right now.


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## HaMMerHeD (Oct 30, 2013)

I dig it. I especially dig how the knob straddles the bevel. I'm guessing you are planning to recess the knob slightly? Would look cool.


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## patata (Oct 30, 2013)

HaMMerHeD said:


> I dig it. I especially dig how the knob straddles the bevel. I'm guessing you are planning to recess the knob slightly? Would look cool.



Yep.I mean,who wouldn't? 

Thought of adding a bit on the upper horn.

EDIT:
Maybe a 25,5 scale long with an additional 27 fan would make it less heavy?


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