Leaderboard

Alder vs Poplar

marianoarnaiz

Newbie
Messages
17
Hello guys. I just wanted to know what were your thoughts on poplar as a tonewood. A lot of people say is similar to alder or that is a cheap and crappy tonewood.  I have a poplar Strat (Fender American Traditional from 1999) with a poplar body and is resonates very nicely is nos snappy but has great sustain and screams on a distorted amp.

What do you think? Alder o Poplar for a strat
 
Either, they are just different.

Alder of Ash are the most common. I have both alder and ash Strats and they are different.

I also have a Musicman Steve Morse, with a poplar body and that thing sounds really good so if you want poplar give it a try. It's quite a lightweight wood which for weight reduction may be useful.

It's also reasonably priced as a wood.
 
marianoarnaiz said:
...screams on a distorted amp...

That's exactly what I believe too. I have played two (different) guitars with a poplar body and there were great with drive. If you want to make a classic strat with three single coils and clean tone is important for you go with alder.
 
stratamania said:
It's quite a lightweight wood which for weight reduction may be useful.

I'm not sure that I would agree with this. I've ordered a few poplar bodies from Warmoth, and they're the heaviest guitars I own. One is so heavy that I just don't play it anymore. Every alder body I've used, however, is significantly lighter than any of the poplar bodies I've used.

In my experience, though, poplar and alder sound almost identical, regardless of weight.
 
You can get wide variation among bodies of any wood species where weight is concerned.  It's a natural material so this variation cannot be avoided.  I've hoisted very light and very heavy ash bodies, likewise for mahogany, alder, and poplar.  The best you can do is speak generally about the tendencies of various species.  Each individual specimen will vary to some degree from the mean.
 
I wasn't saying that poplar was lighter than alder, generally alder is probably the lighter of those two as a generalisation.

What I was saying that poplar in and of itself is fairly lightweight. But this would be if a comparison was needed versus denser heavier woods.

And of course every piece is going to vary. Its wood after all.
 
I have a poplar strat waiting to come together so I'll PM you at some point with the outcome of that. It may be spring though. I'm curious myself. I got the body on the showcase because I liked the crazy green grain.
 
musicispeace said:
... I got the body on the showcase because I liked the crazy green grain.

I think the main "drawback" to poplar is the weird green streaks in a lot of pieces; just doesn't lend itself visually to many transparent finish options. -But if you're going solid color, then why not save the $$$ and go with poplar? -Heck, I've a Strat with a one-piece poplar body with the Caribbean burst on it; the green grain actually works really well with that finish. What I'd usually think of as a sorta washed-out blah burst turned out having a lot of vibrancy and life from the naturally occurring wood color.

Sound-wise, I can't tell much difference from alder, really.
 
Why is Alder considered a good tonewood?  Because Leo Fender chose it to build guitars - and he chose it because it was cheap and machined easily.

Poplar and Alder sound similar and they have similar workability.
 
Day-mun said:
musicispeace said:
... I got the body on the showcase because I liked the crazy green grain.

I think the main "drawback" to poplar is the weird green streaks in a lot of pieces; just doesn't lend itself visually to many transparent finish options. -But if you're going solid color, then why not save the $$$ and go with poplar? -Heck, I've a Strat with a one-piece poplar body with the Caribbean burst on it; the green grain actually works really well with that finish. What I'd usually think of as a sorta washed-out blah burst turned out having a lot of vibrancy and life from the naturally occurring wood color.

Sound-wise, I can't tell much difference from alder, really.

I would love to see a photo of that
 
I'm sure limba was once rejected for its "hideous orange blotches".

 
Finally got projects back and done that reflect one strat with an alder body and one with a poplar. Taking into account different necks and similar style yet different pickups I am not finding anything lacking in either. By no means any scientific comparison but I had been curious myself what I would think. I am pleased with both.
 
Every piece of wood is unique. Therefore, every Strat will sound a little bit different. I currently have 4 alder Strats and 4 poplar Strats. I also have a few LP style guitars with mahogany bodies made of African sapele, and one of them even had a super heavy basswood body. Of the many guitars that I have owned and sold in music retail, Gibson's made of mahogany have the most tonal variance (not variety) and the biggest differences in weight from body to body. Basswood also has a huge variation in tone and weight. My LP copy made of basswood sounded better than most genuine LesPaul's that I sold in my day. It had great mid-range and sustain. Alder, however, is the most consistent tone wood I know with the least variation in tone and weight. It's a great all-rounder that just sounds good. Now where does poplar fit in? Apart from the green streaks, poplar is very similar to alder in weight and tone, and in fact, I often prefer the punchier attack of my poplar Strats to my genuine Strats made of alder. Alder is generally louder and smoother sounding with poplar being slightly quieter but punchier and brighter. In other words, of my alder and poplar strats that have the same hardware and pickups, the alder strat is smooth, creamy, lush stratty sounding. The poplar version is as if Blackmore rocked up with his 70's Strat which had a treble boost or something (think of early Rainbow live recordings). Poplar lacks mid-range (a bit) and some bass frequencies but accentuates the highs. It cuts through. It appears to have a wee bit less sustain - but that could be my old strings. My super strat combination is a roasted maple neck with stainless steel frets AND a roasted poplar body. But that's just my personal choice. Both alder and poplar are great tone wood choices with basswood and mahogany coming in at last. If you must have a mahogany kind of tone, go with Sapele. It's an African type of mahogany but with a tad more treble.
 
Great .... how about some pics ... if no pics posted, in 24 hours, she's a bot.
 
Last edited:
yo, chatGPT not content making new threads, it's gotta dig up ones ten (10) years old now ? lol, lmao even
 
Every piece of wood is unique. Therefore, every Strat will sound a little bit different. I currently have 4 alder Strats and 4 poplar Strats. I also have a few LP style guitars with mahogany bodies made of African sapele, and one of them even had a super heavy basswood body. Of the many guitars that I have owned and sold in music retail, Gibson's made of mahogany have the most tonal variance (not variety) and the biggest differences in weight from body to body. Basswood also has a huge variation in tone and weight. My LP copy made of basswood sounded better than most genuine LesPaul's that I sold in my day. It had great mid-range and sustain. Alder, however, is the most consistent tone wood I know with the least variation in tone and weight. It's a great all-rounder that just sounds good. Now where does poplar fit in? Apart from the green streaks, poplar is very similar to alder in weight and tone, and in fact, I often prefer the punchier attack of my poplar Strats to my genuine Strats made of alder. Alder is generally louder and smoother sounding with poplar being slightly quieter but punchier and brighter. In other words, of my alder and poplar strats that have the same hardware and pickups, the alder strat is smooth, creamy, lush stratty sounding. The poplar version is as if Blackmore rocked up with his 70's Strat which had a treble boost or something (think of early Rainbow live recordings). Poplar lacks mid-range (a bit) and some bass frequencies but accentuates the highs. It cuts through. It appears to have a wee bit less sustain - but that could be my old strings. My super strat combination is a roasted maple neck with stainless steel frets AND a roasted poplar body. But that's just my personal choice. Both alder and poplar are great tone wood choices with basswood and mahogany coming in at last. If you must have a mahogany kind of tone, go with Sapele. It's an African type of mahogany but with a tad more treble.
Some have made unqualified suggestions that I'm a bot or some A.I., :rolleyes: which does not actually exist anywhere on planet Earth. The definition of an AI used to be an independently thinking machine whose thoughts are not directed by programming.. that can make complex decisions and bla bla bla. People are now giddy and think their mobile phone is alive because it talks to them 😲. Chat GPT is not alive, it can only do what it is programmed to do. The goal of programmers is that they program the machine so that it appears that the machine is alive - but it isn't. It does not have truly independent thought. Although Musk calls his primitive rocket "Starship", it will never reach any star other than our own. Same with quantum computers, A.I. etc. Everyone embellishes their capabilities. The average A.I. call centre is not much better than an 80's answering machine but they are referred to "smart" and "interactive" when they are not.

So, I currently own some 30 guitars and guitar necks and bodies to build another 10 or 15 of them with pickups and hardware for around 50 guitars. I worked in the music industry for 25 years in retail, wholesale and manufacturing. An A.I. doesn't have a physical body and they do not work, they do not own things or take pictures. As my house is being renovated (see image below), all my equipment (except for a few guitars) are in storage. Below are my favourite guitars: a heavily modded Fender Strat and some no-name copies that are awesome. If you're nice to me, I might upload my guitar collection for you to drool over when the house is finished.

guit4.JPGguit1.JPGguit5.JPGguit2.JPG

guit1.JPG
 
That looks like a BIG reno project! Nothing has robbed me of valuable guitar time more than endless work on houses and studios. The older I get, the better I like the idea of renting (especially if it can be at least a partial tax writeoff).
 
That looks like a BIG reno project! Nothing has robbed me of valuable guitar time more than endless work on houses and studios. The older I get, the better I like the idea of renting (especially if it can be at least a partial tax writeoff).
:LOL:....I can't afford to rent as it's dead money where I live. Besides, I couldn't knock down walls in a rental premises. I hope to move in in 8 weeks.
 
Back
Top