Help with wood choices for a Modern

[bstaley]

I've searched and read as many threads as I can about wood combinations for a Modern but the exact combination I am interested in has not been discussed. (At least not that I've seen) What I would like is a Mahogany body with quilted maple top. Mahogany neck with maple fretboard. All the Mahogany/Maple combinations I've seen suggest getting the Pao Ferro fretboard with mahogany neck. What would the differences be between mahogany/maple neck versus mahogany/pao ferro neck if the body combination is mahogany/maple?

Thanks

 

[Ed Yoon]

We haven't tried a Maple board on a Mahogany neck although it's certainly possible. It'd have an odd look and you have to remember that us guitar players are a conservative lot. You do need to think about resale value or how sellable a guitar may be even though that's probably the last thing on your mind when ordering a new custom guitar.

Generally speaking, we've found that Mahogany body and Maple neck isn't a particularly good marriage of woods. On paper it seems like they should be complementary, but that hasn't been the case. You get something that's not this or that with certain frequencies missing or others accentuated in a way that just makes you go:

Pau Ferro has the good tonal characteristics of Rosewood with the snappy attack, tight lows and high-midrange emphasis of Maple. We generally don't recommend wood combinations that we've never tried or that may look a little odd or weird. We once made a Classic for a custom order with Alder body and Mahogany neck with Rosewood board and the customer immediately returned the guitar, saying it's his fault for ordering that combination and ordered a replacement Maple neck with Rosewood board. Once he got it, he was much, much happier.

 

[bstaley]

Thanks for the honesty. I mainly wanted maple because I like the looks of it better, and I also already have a Pao Ferro fretboard on my Anderson DropTop. I wanted to try something different. I think I'll stick with the proven combination of Mahoganhy body w/Maple top and Mahogany/Pao Ferro neck. I'm not going to "experiment" on a guitar that costs as much as the moderns do.

Thanks.