What body wood for a custom strat?

[veji]

Which body wood do you like better on a strat with a maple neck and maple fingerboard?

 

[Geo]

If you like a darker and heavier sound, go with the swamp ash.

 

[Findthetone1]

For a traditional style Strat? Ash is my vote.

 

[gbsmusic]

In honesty it depends what you like better. You should go play some guitars and see what sounds best to you.

 

[ewill52]

oh man so many options....you could go dark and heavy with full mahogany. Ash\Alder for the more traditional.

 

[Clay K]

I know some of the old strats were ash, but was that swamp ash or the heavier ash?. Northern ash I believe?

 

[MadAsAHatter]

I like southern/swamp ash so I say go for that. Added bonus is it has a more interesting grain pattern than alder if it'll be a transparent or natural finish.

 

[SpiderWars]

I've built a couple of Swamp Ash strats and played others and the tone just never has worked for me. There's always a 'softness' for lack of a better word.

I've read that Stradivarius et al soaked their wood for years before drying it. So that seems to imply that Swamp Ash would be great since the only thing that makes it 'Swamp' is the fact it was grown in swampy areas and the lower parts of the tree are soaked/full of water. I don't think they're even supposed to use the upper, non-soaked parts of the tree. But this for a solidbody guitar not a hollow violin.

If you can get Sassafras you might consider it. I think Pine is often under-rated too.