Basswood vs Poplar?

[Skyforger]

So I am buying a new Body and my two choices are basswood and poplar.  Any comments on either wood and also, for the bass wood, exactly how fragile is it?  I plan on putting a custom paint job on it and want to know exactly how "squishy" the basswood tends to be

 

[Cagey]

So I am buying a new Body and my two choices are basswood and poplar.  Any comments on either wood and also, for the bass wood, exactly how fragile is it?  I plan on putting a custom paint job on it and want to know exactly how "squishy" the basswood tends to be

They're both pretty squishy, as hardwoods go. But, Poplar's the harder of the two. Basswood is more like pine, only 100% softer. You can dent it with a stern look. You can ruin it with your fingernail. On the wood hardness scale, the only thing squishier is Balsa. On a scale of 1 to 10, it doesn't even register. The actual Janka hardness rating is 410. I'm not making this up. Why anybody would make a guitar/bass body out of the stuff is a mystery. It doesn't even make good firewood, as it burns too fast.

Poplar's not much better, at 540 on the Janka scale. You may want to consider Alder, if you want a relatively hard and inexpensive wood that finishes well (with solid colors; it's pretty plain otherwise).

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Basswood dents easier. Yes. But the best sounding/playing guitars I have had ... and have ... all have basswood bodies. I also got guitars made of alder, mahogany, swamp ash. But they just don't "speak" to me like my basswood bodied guitars.

And I have no explanation as to why. It's probably a coincidence. But I live with the easier denting cause they are such damn good guitars.  arty07:

I have only one experience with poplar I can remember. It was a MIJ Fender Sambora guitar which had a real nice sound to it. But it had some shytty hardware ...

But if denting is a concern then do not choose basswood.

 

[Stratmatt777]

I have a '97 mexi strat on which I have replaced every single part except the body- which is probably 6 or 7 pieces of poplar glued together.  I stripped the pickguard screw holes out in the soft poplar body and repaired them many years ago.

My strat has always been a bit sterile and I've always wondered if the multiple piece poplar was the problem...
I have searched the "Alder vs. Poplar" topic numerous times over the years:

Warmoth says it sounds like Alder
USACG says it sounds like Alder and calls it "Poor-man's Alder- they make prototypes out of it).
In an interview some guys who worked at Fender when they made strats out of poplar (early 90s?) say that it is just as good as Alder and that Leo always had poplar in mind as an alternative if Alder became hard to get.
I got a response form a guy on harmony central who said that poplar was crap and that poplar guitars lacked character- or something... when I asked him for details he basically retracted his statement and said that maybe he had played bad pieces of poplar or something...

Here's my personal thinking on it... Is there a rational reason to buy super-soft Poplar instead of Alder? 
If yes go for it.  If no, why buy a cheap wood?   

Take this with a grain of salt... Obviously I am pretty biased since I have been suspecting for years that this poplar body is the cause of my sterile tone. Of course mine is made of multiple pieces glued together and is covered with a sort of guitar bondo to make it all smooth and shiny...

Have you read somewhere that Poplar has superior sound to Alder?

I didn't know what my first guitar was made of... but at the time I lived at "Poplar Lane Apartments"!

 

[AutoBat]

You're just as likely to find differences between different Poplar bodies as you are comparing them to a variety of Alder bodies.  Some wood can just have that magic 'pop' to it, and others can be duds, even in the same species.

 

[Steve_Karl]

You can dent it with a stern look.

ROFL

 

[drewfx]

My experience with Poplar has been that, transparent finishes and denting aside, I doubt I could tell any difference from Alder.

People like to pretend that Alder and Ash and whatnot are somehow magical "tonewoods" and any "cheap" wood will sound "cheap" (because of course the availability and cost of a wood that just happens to be used in relatively tiny quantities for guitars is directly proportional to its sonic qualities, right?). The reality is that people have had success using a wide variety of woods and laminates with a variety of different characteristics, so it's hard for me to believe in magic wood for a solid body.

 

[Cagey]

A lot of the mythos regarding "tonewoods" comes from the acoustic guitar world, where it does make a substantial difference. But, with electrics, most of that doesn't apply, or doesn't have enough impact to make it worth discussion in light of the more influential variables such as pickups, playing style, and amplification. A surprising number of people don't realize that correlation is not causation, and so attribute sonic characteristics to obvious differences in construction/materials where no relationship exists. For a prime example, look how many "signature" guitars/amps/sfx there are out there. Some kid wants to play like Eric Johnson or Steve Vai, what's he gonna do? Learn how to play like them? Of course not. He's gonna buy the same equipment they use.

 

[DavyDave53]

If you're concerned about denting your guitar, just get a solid maple body.

 

[Strat Avenger]

How does Poplar compare to Swamp Ash?

 

[Cagey]

Poplar is one of the softest/lightest hardwoods, ranking down with Basswood. On the plus side, it's pretty smooth stuff - kinda like Alder. Doesn't require as much prep to finish. It's normally finished opaque, as it often has green streaks that would interfere with most transparent finishes.

Swamp Ash, which is just White Ash that's been grown in a swamp, is much harder and denser, although it has a fairly open grain similar to Oak. Pain in the shorts to put a fine finish on, as it will require some grain filling.

If you ever make it into a Lowe's, Menard's or Home Depot, they will typically have milled Poplar boards for sale. You can see/feel the stuff there. Compare it to the Oak boards they have, and other than the Oak being the wrong color and too uniform, you'll get a good feel for the difference between Poplar and Ash.

 

[guitartom]

I have a bunch of Ibanez Basswood bodied guitars.  They seem to hold up OK.  I feel the finish Ibanez uses is harder than the finish used by warmoth.  That may help with the protection.  I do know that many of the 80's RG's have chipped edges and that's most likely due to the Basswood.  John Suhr says good things about basswood with a maple cap, if your into his builds.

I have never used a poplar body - I know they were used for superstrats in the 80's.

I did just use Pawlonia which is very close to poplar.  It may be even softer.  Things I can say about the body is it is very soft.  I didn't need to pre-drill for the screw holes.  I used a punch and set the screw.  I do not have good confidence that they would keep their integrity if I continue to assemble and disassemble the guitar to change pickups.  I read that you can coat the screw holes with super glue to harden them up, but have not tried it out yet.  The last thing I will add is that the body is super light (~2 lbs) with the guitar at 5 lbs even fully assembled.  In addition, it is pretty load acoustically.  Doesn't sound any different through the amp then when the pickups were in a heavier ash mighty mite body.

 

[sixstringsamurai]

I say spring the extra $20+
and go with Swamp ash, I got a beauty of a one piece from them back in december,
lots of grain filling indeed, but beautiful with a nice trans finish, plus it rings like a bell.

 

[primi]

If this is indeed what it says it is then poplar can look rather amazing too.

 

[Cederick]

But, Poplar's the harder of the two.

Is that true?


I had a REALLY crappy Rockson guitar once with wobbly neck and all, but for some reason I dig cheap Charvel/Kramer knockoffs with one slanted humbucker and Floyd that I'm seriously thinking of getting myself a Warmoth soloist body in poplar and then carve out a angled humbucker rout myself.  :toothy12:

So, if poplar is hard that should mean the floyd posts shouldn't be too easily bent?

And keep in mind I installed a floyd on that cheap Rockson guitar with old school Floyd wood screws and it still held up pretty well, so I guess Warmoth has a lot better quality wood that should hold for real floyd bushings

 

[Cagey]

Yes, it's true, but it's not saying much. You're looking at 540 vs. 400 on the Janka scale. For perspective, Ash is 1320 and Ebony is 3220. (reference)

I wouldn't worry about putting a Floyd on Poplar, though. The bushings are roughly 3/8" diameter, so the load is spread pretty good.

 

[Eric S.]

Basswood with a flame maple top; Warmoth 'thin' polyurethane finish.; almost 7 years old.  It is a homebody, but I do stand and play it strapped on.  I wouldn't shy away from using a quality piece of basswood because this guitar sounds sweet, and feels nice and light strapped on. However the strap button screws have been glue reinforced.