Favorite body wood maple neck and board?

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veji

veji

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For 80s shred to modern metal..which party body wood would you guys use with maple neck and board?

Koa, alder, korina, basswood, mahogany, swamp ash, ashi etc?
 
Basswood with a maple top is a great combo with all maple necks. Tight but meaty with a nice snap.
Swamp ash with fullmaple neck is quite scooped soundig with a lot of compression, would suite modern metal.
 
I like basswood, but a close second is the consistent predictability of alder.
 
I like Alder , Swamp Ash and Basswood with bolt on maple neck\board

Swamp Ash would be the most modern sounding but can def pull off 80s with the right pickup. Alder body with a JB in the bridge is instant 80s metal bliss.... Basswood somewhere inbetween, maybe jack of all trades master of none
 
If you go basswood get it with a maple top - I like this combo w/ a one piece maple neck on my Suhr Modern and it is the most balanced combination you can probably find...not too much or too little of anything - allows you to EQ the amp if you want any push in frequency. It has a little more warmth and is rounder than alder. Alder will have more high end glass to it. I like alder in Strats and basswood/maple in Superstrats.
 
I like my koa.

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veji":2u2bwrjd said:
Which is thicker or meatier sounding alder or swamp ash?

Alder is probably a bit meatier sounding in the mids depending on the particular piece of wood you get. Swamp ash can be a bit scooped in the mids, but can also have a thick low end and low mid. So yeah they both can have 'meat' but in different areas of the eq curve....Swamp ash is more of a gamble to be honest where Alder is more consistent . Swamp Ash has more of a unique tone compare to Alder which is more familiar to most people. If you were only going to own one guitar I would say go with Alder or Basswood over Swamp Ash but it really depends on the guitar and what you like.
 
ok thanks so swamp ash is out. i'm surpised there arent any fans of mahogany?
so
which is thicker/meatier alder or basswood?
how about alder w/maple top vs alder/koa top which is better?
 
veji":1wizn416 said:
ok thanks so swamp ash is out. i'm surpised there arent any fans of mahogany?
so
which is thicker/meatier alder or basswood?
how about alder w/maple top vs alder/koa top which is better?

I think maple is a little brighter than koa

It's pretty hard to know what you are going to get when it comes to the summed parts of a guitar ... me and a friend both have charvel san dimas, mine is US made his is japanese both have exactly the same spec's apart from his pick ups are body mount and mine are in rings and his has chrome hardware....his sounds way fatter than mine. Obviously this could be many things apart from the alder "sounding" different but while all alder guitars will share a common tone there is no telling if the one you get will be "meaty" sounding

I have 2 basswood body guitars and to me they can sound a bit lifeless at times (stainless steel strings helps balance that out though) and one basswood/maple cap guitar and that is kinda harsh in the mid range (possibly pickups causing that) .... the EVH I have played in that wood combo sounded fantastic so it starts getting confusing really :lol: :LOL: :lol: :LOL:

sorry haven't helped at all :doh:
 
Exactly,...You cant count on anything really... I've owned several Alder body Charvels and although they are pretty consistent I have one that sounds very fat and Ive had others that were thinner and more focused. Guitars are a gamble, best bet is to play through an amp you are familiar with before you buy.
 
Maple tops on mahogany or basswood, alder with or without. I have no experience with ash.
 
Im totally a fan of alder with maple neck/maple board. Leads ALWAYS cut thru live.
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