Who says an all maple body is bright? (my latest build pic)

[Jayy]

So, I've read over and over how maple is so bright. I don't get it. I completed my latest build last month. It's mostly Warmoth parts. Birdseye maple neck, Eastern hard rock maple body, Floyd Rose, and a Bareknuckle VH2 pickup. I finished it with Behlen Nitro and orange transtint dye. According to what most seem to say this guitar should be bright as hell since its maple, more maple, and maple sprinkled on top with a bright PAF type pickup, but its not. I think it sounds great and no brighter than my previous build that is alder body, maple neck, Floyd Rose, and Seymour Duncan '78 bridge pickup.

This guitar is certainly articulate and has a "tight" feel to it, but no brighter than alder or ash to me. Anyway, I dig it!

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

Beautiful guitar !! Do you have another one in black hanging on the wall in your pic? Or is it the same one?

Great gear dude !!!!!

 

[Crunchity]

Nice guitar! Liking the transparency on that finish, didn't realize maple had much of any grain patterns, looks very cool on yours.

 

[Jayy]

Beautiful guitar !! Do you have another one in black hanging on the wall in your pic? Or is it the same one?

Great gear dude !!!!!

Thanks Electirc! Yeah the black one on the wall is my first build and I used a cheaper lacquer and left it just sort of flat black. It is an alder body and has a SD Custom '78 pickup in it. It and this orange one are actually my favorite guitars now. I love playing them.

 

[Jayy]

Nice guitar! Liking the transparency on that finish, didn't realize maple had much of any grain patterns, looks very cool on yours.

Thanks!. There quite a bit of random swirls and birds eyes in the body. It shows up more in person. I can't get it to show up well in pics. My original plan was to use an opaque color, but after I got the body and saw the grain and the figuring in it I decided to go with a transparent finish. I did some more wet sanding and buffing after these pics, then more polishing and it looks even better now than the pics do.

I'll tell you one thing about the maple body though. That mo fo is heavy and the wood is hard! It's not uncomfortable (to me anyway) but the weight is close to that of a Les Paul. It's at least twice as heavy as my alder body build.

 

[rupe]

Cool build!

Bottom line is that there are some general rules of thumb regarding tone woods, but nothing is absolute (except for ebony being a garbage tone wood on electric guitar necks...it's looks and feels great though! ). I've had dark sounding maple, and I currently have a mahogany strat-bodied mutt that's easily the brightest guitar I own. All you can do is put them together and see what you get...there are no guarantees.

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

Beautiful guitar !! Do you have another one in black hanging on the wall in your pic? Or is it the same one?

Great gear dude !!!!!

Thanks Electirc! Yeah the black one on the wall is my first build and I used a cheaper lacquer and left it just sort of flat black. It is an alder body and has a SD Custom '78 pickup in it. It and this orange one are actually my favorite guitars now. I love playing them.

Cool. I took apart my strat about 7 years ago and did a frankie to it, got a one piece maple neck from warmoth and still love it today !

I gave in and added a neck PU about 3 years ago.

Strat body, maple neck, nice hot bridge PU and a floyd.. all ya need

BTW.. how do you like the 78 ? Compared to a JB ? I've been wanting to get one for a while now. Probably next build..

 

[Jayy]

Beautiful guitar !! Do you have another one in black hanging on the wall in your pic? Or is it the same one?

Great gear dude !!!!!

Thanks Electirc! Yeah the black one on the wall is my first build and I used a cheaper lacquer and left it just sort of flat black. It is an alder body and has a SD Custom '78 pickup in it. It and this orange one are actually my favorite guitars now. I love playing them.

Cool. I took apart my strat about 7 years ago and did a frankie to it, got a one piece maple neck from warmoth and still love it today !

I gave in and added a neck PU about 3 years ago.

Strat body, maple neck, nice hot bridge PU and a floyd.. all ya need

BTW.. how do you like the 78 ? Compared to a JB ? I've been wanting to get one for a while now. Probably next build..

I agree. A strat body, maple neck, floyd and bridge pickup you like makes an awesome straight up hard rock guitar.

I really can't compare the '78 to a JB because I've actually never tried a JB. I do LOVE the '78 though! Awesome clarity, bite, and chime with a really neat feel and response to it. The '78 and the Bareknuckle VH2 are my two favorite pickups and are both based on the "hot PAF" type of thing. They are a little different from each other in their voicing somehow. I think the VH2 has just a tiny little bit more output. The VH2 also has an A5 magnet vs. the A2 in the '78, so they feel a little different. The VH2 feels just a little tighter to me in how it responds, while the '78 is just a bit softer. That's not to say the '78 is a soft or mushy pickup at all. They are both biting, articulate, and tight feeling pickups in my opinion. They are both warm, but not a high output, compressed type of muddy warm like higher output humbuckers tend to be. Instead, they are a clear and brighter type of warm. They both have a lot of clarity and clean up well when you back off on the volume knob. One thing I found very quickly is that clarity will also expose ALL of your mistakes. Every little sound comes through and they respond really will to how hard or soft you pick.

Anyway, hope that helps somehow. Sorry I can't compare to the JB.

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

Lots of good info! I will listen to some more clips of the 78 and then the VH2.

Thanks !!!

 

[Beyond Black]

Cool guitar! I really like that headstock. Nicely done, sir.

 

[Jayy]

Lots of good info! I will listen to some more clips of the 78 and then the VH2.

Thanks !!!

No Problem. I hope you find something you like. Honestly if i just HAD to choose between the '78 and the VH2 I'd pick the '78, but not by much! I don't want to give up either one! I've had the '78 for about 2 years and the VH2 for about a year and I really love them both. The '78 was my first "hot PAF" pickup and was quite a transition for me coming from higher output pickups. At first I wasn't sure I was gonna like it, but in no time at all I started loving it. Now, those type of pickups are all I ever want to play anymore.

Of course, everyone's ear, feel, etc., is different, but if that old school PAF with higher output thing is what you are after then they are both great choices. I have really been wanting to try the MCP Black Belt 2, but haven't picked one up yet. I know it's a really popular pickup around here. I'd probably like it too from what I've heard. lol.

 

[Jayy]

Cool guitar! I really like that headstock. Nicely done, sir.

Thanks man!!

 

[mooncobra]

cool guitar. I love maple bodies, and that tight feel. great for the chuggah chuggah thing, really defined and articulate, at least that was my experience with maple bodies. I dig them man!

 

[Jayy]

cool guitar. I love maple bodies, and that tight feel. great for the chuggah chuggah thing, really defined and articulate, at least that was my experience with maple bodies. I dig them man!

Thanks! Yeah that's a great way to describe it. Tight, defined, articulate, and great for the chuggah chuggah. That's been my experience with this one. I don't know really if it's a direct, immediate effect on the played note so much as the way it resonates and sustains maybe? Maybe tight sustain? Something that happens after the note or chord is played? Hell, I don't know, but it's tight somehow!

 

[Jayy]

Another shameless pic trying to get some of the birds eyes and figure in the body to show up. I wish it would come through better for the camera. Like the look of it or not, it's interesting and a little different.

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

Lots of good info! I will listen to some more clips of the 78 and then the VH2.

Thanks !!!

No Problem. I hope you find something you like. Honestly if i just HAD to choose between the '78 and the VH2 I'd pick the '78, but not by much! I don't want to give up either one! I've had the '78 for about 2 years and the VH2 for about a year and I really love them both. The '78 was my first "hot PAF" pickup and was quite a transition for me coming from higher output pickups. At first I wasn't sure I was gonna like it, but in no time at all I started loving it. Now, those type of pickups are all I ever want to play anymore.

Of course, everyone's ear, feel, etc., is different, but if that old school PAF with higher output thing is what you are after then they are both great choices. I have really been wanting to try the MCP Black Belt 2, but haven't picked one up yet. I know it's a really popular pickup around here. I'd probably like it too from what I've heard. lol.

I'm leaning towards the 78 for the next build. My strat and my Kramer 84 both have the Duncan JB in them, sounds great. I should be able to tell the difference right away with the 78. Yes, I am one who likes the high output PAF tones as well !

 

[Jayy]

Lots of good info! I will listen to some more clips of the 78 and then the VH2.

Thanks !!!

No Problem. I hope you find something you like. Honestly if i just HAD to choose between the '78 and the VH2 I'd pick the '78, but not by much! I don't want to give up either one! I've had the '78 for about 2 years and the VH2 for about a year and I really love them both. The '78 was my first "hot PAF" pickup and was quite a transition for me coming from higher output pickups. At first I wasn't sure I was gonna like it, but in no time at all I started loving it. Now, those type of pickups are all I ever want to play anymore.

Of course, everyone's ear, feel, etc., is different, but if that old school PAF with higher output thing is what you are after then they are both great choices. I have really been wanting to try the MCP Black Belt 2, but haven't picked one up yet. I know it's a really popular pickup around here. I'd probably like it too from what I've heard. lol.

I'm leaning towards the 78 for the next build. My strat and my Kramer 84 both have the Duncan JB in them, sounds great. I should be able to tell the difference right away with the 78. Yes, I am one who likes the high output PAF tones as well !

Yep, I'm betting you'll tell the difference right away judging by what I've read and heard about the JB. There are also several other pickups in the hot PAF camp that I want to try too. There's the MCP black belts, Wolfegang Marshallhead, Zhangbucker brownbucker (I've really been itching to try the Zhangbucker pure hand wound Brownbucker).

Honestly, my best guess is all of those would get you right where you want to be for that type of feel and sound, with differences between them being pretty small.

The '78 is a great choice in my book though, man. I love that damn thing! What are you planning on for your next build? Floyd? Strat body? Single pickup?

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

So many choices, could drive ya nuts.
Next build would be a baretta, ( 5150 )

Same specs, all maple neck, floyd ( MIG ) PU to be determind.. most likely the 78, after I hear/play one..
Color to be decided on.. Not too sure yet

 

[Jayy]

Awesome! I've had an itch for quite a while to build a 5150 clone using a nice deep blue instead of red along with the correct black and white stripes and no space tape. I've seen picks around the web of a couple of them done in a deep blue color that I thought looked really cool If I ever get around to doing it, it will be loaded with one of the pickups we've been discussing.

 

[charvelstrat81]

My old 1983 Kramer baretta(maple body and a all maple neck.OFR) was not too bright, if anything that things sounded like Godzilla in a bad mood!
Miss that guitar!