1 Body, 2 necks and many pick guards

[WindsurfMaui]

Consider this quarantine fatigue but I am seriously considering doing the following and would like people's opinions. 

I have decide my guitar of choice is a Strat. It is like an old Chevy, very popular and many companies make parts for it so it is easily customized. But what if I didn't want, or could not easily afford, many guitars. For the purpose of this discussion let's say I am limited to one Strat body, 2 necks and as many fully loaded pick guards as I want. I am going to state for this discussion the Strat body is cut to accept any of the pick up combinations H-S-H, H-X-H or S-S-S, I think one neck would be a 1 piece roasted maple vintage/modern and the other would be a 2 piece vintage/modern quarter sawn Goncalo Alves with a Goncalo Alves fret board. So what wood combination would you choose for the body and why?  Which woods would work with both double humbuckers or 3 single coils for the widest range of sounds?

I am asking this question because I am considering doing exactly this . Limiting my self to one guitar (maybe 2 but no more)  and I am curious what people would choose for body wood. If you want to choose different neck woods please feel free and state why. And if you want to state specifically which pick ups they would choose for the humbuckers or single coils.

Right now I am trying to decide between a chambered roasted ash body or a chambered mahogany with a maple top. But these are pretty stereotypical choices so you may have a very different opinion. Thanks and please try to give specific reasons for the choices you would make.

 

[rgand]

Ah, another project in the planning stages. In some ways, that can be most fun. My favorite two wood choices are roasted swamp ash and roasted alder. I realize the body wood doesn't have a huge affect on tone but I do notice the differences. I like the tones of both species (ash is a little brighter and alter is more balanced with good response in all ranges. From what I have read, the roasting process may give the subtle tones you would get with an aged body. Roasted wood is stablized and a hair lighter, although both woods are not considered heavy species. I like the way transparent colors look on the roasted woods. The grain patterns in alder are not that pronounced while ash is very much so. Hope this helps.

 

[stratamania]

For the purpose I would say you want something relatively generic like alder.

 

[TBurst Std]

Well with Ash supply going down, if you want one, it should be prioritized to now. 
Also make sure to get the universal route if you want swap different pupoaded guards.

 

[WindsurfMaui]

In my mind I am trying to find a do it all guitar, or nearly all. I know it is an impossible task. I want a strat tone out of my single coil pick ups and a Les Paul or PRS tone out of my humbucker pick ups.  Can I accomplish that with an alder body? I have heard plenty of Strats with a humbucker in the bridge and they don't capture the tone of a PRS for me. (Yes I understand they didn't have a PRS humbucker in the bridge position. But if they did have a PRS humbucker would it have sounded like a PRS with an Alder body? If I had a mahogany body could I get the PRS tone with humbuckers, but when I used my single coil pick guard would the single coils have clarity or would they sound muddy?

I know that one guitar body might not be able to stretch that far. but if possible I like the idea of one body and two necks.  I am making the assumption from various comparison videos including the ones done by Aaron on the Warmoth channel that one neck just can't stretch far enough to make both bright and warm tones. I plan on using metal inserts for the neck joint so I can swap necks easily without damaging the connection.

This is a dumb idea but what if I had a 3 piece body made with some mahogany and some ash wood. Would that stretch the body to handle all tones? Silly idea I know but just wondering.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Have you considered something like a Line 6 Variax? Seems like a pretty good fit for what you are describing.

 

[WindsurfMaui]

Yes I understand I could attach this issue via the amp. But I would like to explore if there is a solution in the wood choices. I'm sure on this board have guitars with single coils as well as humbuckers  so when grabbing a guitar to play and practice which do you grab more often the single coil or the humbucker? If you were restricted to only one guitar for a month which would you choose?

 

[TBurst Std]

Depends.  What do I have to play for that month?

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Yes I understand I could attach this issue via the amp.

Just to be clear the Variax isn’t an amp, but a guitar that emulates a variety of guitars.

To answer your direct question though, easy for my part: single coils all the way. Strat, Tele, Jazzmaster, P90, I just prefer single coils in all of their incarnations over humbuckers. Just my opinion of course.

 

[Vulpez]

I've found you can make a Strat sound like anything with the right pickups.

Slapping a Gibson HB into it won't get it sounding like a Les Paul, just for the scale length alone, but you get a similar output pickup with a darker tone, and that goes a long way.

Far as wood goes, I'd just go with Alder. Cheap as you can get without it being too soft.

 

[WindsurfMaui]

As for the Variax, I had been thinking of putting some sort of boost or bleed chip in the guitar eventually. I remember guitarfetish has some sort of rig that added a couple of push buttons on the pick guard to work on the tone.

So maybe the first neck is maple 25.5 scale and the second neck is a Goncalo Alves 24 3/4 conversion neck? When match with humbuckers does that help expand the ability to make one body into two different guitars? Funny I knew about the conversion necks but it totally slipped my mind when writing this thread.

So theoretically I could hit the road with one body, a regular neck, a conversion neck, a couple of pick guard set ups and a screw driver (or a hex wrench if I change the neck screws to hex machine screws) and I would be all set. I'm starting to like this idea.  And we think alder with humbuckers is better than mahogany with single coils in terms of maximizing versatility..

 

[Rick]

In terms of dimensions go with what’s comfortable regardless of wood choice.  I love mating a goncalo neck with a Korina body.  The two woods match very well sonically and visually.  My preference these days is humbuckers, 25.4 scale with a wolf gang profile. 

 

[musicispeace]

I've become a big fan of alder as I have been really happy with those guitar bodies in my small collection. I have both SSS strat and HSS strat and alder had made me happy both ways. I use maple/rosewood and roasted maple for necks on these guitars.

One thing I wonder about having different loaded pickguards ready to go (which I like as an idea) is one suggestion I can across some time ago of using proper screws that go into countersunk, threaded receptors (the proper term is totally escaping me right now) rather than wood screws into bare wood. That way you have a sustainable way of swapping things out. You can also do the same for the neck. Other forum members are more familiar with that then I am but I have one guitar where that was done with the neck and I swear it adds sustain.

Don't forget that sound is also influenced by your amp settings, pickups, and how your fingers interact with the strings. I know that my HSH Ibanez is not a Les Paul but I sure use it for those sorts of fatter sounds if I need. There is also some differences between your fav at home sounds and what comes across playing with a band. I've never seen anyone at any show jump up in the audience and scream "loving that Tusq nut." You know what I mean.

 

[stratamania]

proper screws that go into countersunk, threaded receptors (the proper term is totally escaping me right now) rather than wood screws into bare wood.

They would be machine screws and threaded inserts.

There have been a few threads over time where this has been mentioned in relation to pickguards. Here is one.

https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=21599.0

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I'm not expert with body wood selection, but I have tried a number of Warmoth bodies.

I suggest to get one body that is simply 'Alder'.  Solid Alder strat style body.  That is actually all you need as it typically gives a fairly balanced tone that is not too bright.  It's the ideal choice for most single coils, and I see it as kind of 'reference standard'.  Alder is generally very good for Humbuckers as well, unless you have a low-output humbucker with very scooped mids which might not have enough warmth.  Don't be tempted to get an exotic wood laminate on the alder body, as that will change the tone despite what Warmoth say.  Personally, I don't think very light bodies are ideal, but it depends on how you will use it and how strong your back and shoulders are.  Finished weight for Alder body around 4-1/2 lb would be perfect IMO, but most people want them lighter.

Mahogany body will be definitely warmer sounding, but there will be a wide range.  Chambered Mahogany body could be a good idea because I think they use a piece of Mahogany with good integrity and then cut many holes in it.  Generally I'm worried with Mahogany body that it might be too warm, or too dark, especially if you get it cut with tremolo and Top routing for strat pickguard, as there won't be much material left.  It could be more resonant in the lower mids, or just kind of dull in tone, but its a bit of an unknown if you ask me.  I don't think Mahogany is a very good choice for a Strat unless you really have particular objective or willing to take a risk.  If I'm going to buy a Mahogany body I would choose a Rear-Routed body with some kind of laminate similar to Maple.  Unfortunately that is a more expensive option, and doesn't offer the flexibility of pickup config that you wanted.  I think its a really good justification for buying 2 bodies instead of 1.

 

[musicispeace]

proper screws that go into countersunk, threaded receptors (the proper term is totally escaping me right now) rather than wood screws into bare wood.

They would be machine screws and threaded inserts.

There have been a few threads over time where this has been mentioned in relation to pickguards. Here is one.

https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=21599.0

Ah thank you! I don't know why words went blank for me on the whole idea.

 

[stratamania]

proper screws that go into countersunk, threaded receptors (the proper term is totally escaping me right now) rather than wood screws into bare wood.

They would be machine screws and threaded inserts.

There have been a few threads over time where this has been mentioned in relation to pickguards. Here is one.

https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=21599.0

Ah thank you! I don't know why words went blank for me on the whole idea.

No worries...

 

[WindsurfMaui]

Thank you all for joining in. I appreciate the thoughts. I will post later but for now I just want to reserve here in this group, in case in the future I want to start a band, the name The Tusq Nuts.  :yourock: