Mahaogany Strats; How warm is TOO warm?
- Thread starter jerryjg
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I've got a mahogany strat with a maple neck. I've got a video of it on Youtube of it, or you search back through the old posts you can find it here. (or my website) wink wink. ;-)
I wouldnt' call it that much warmer at all. Like has been said, it's more about the neck wood and pickups than anything else. That being said, when I switch my guitars using the same setup, my other guitars always seem to have a bit more treble.
I wouldnt' call it that much warmer at all. Like has been said, it's more about the neck wood and pickups than anything else. That being said, when I switch my guitars using the same setup, my other guitars always seem to have a bit more treble.
I can't think that mahogany is that warm. Let's leave aside that there are some very bright suckers out there in the SG and PRS realm.
In a Strat the tremolo (and the pickups of course) are what makes the transparent sound, not the wood.
If you try to use a hardtail Strat made from alder or ash you will (usually) have a real jawdrop about how boomy and closed they sound. The great hardtail Strats are often hard ash and of course putting in the right pickups (Jake E Lee) gives you a good guitar, too.
Apart from that there are too many variants of mahogany. Even if you don't rat Limba/Korina as mahogany there's still a ton.
In a Strat the tremolo (and the pickups of course) are what makes the transparent sound, not the wood.
If you try to use a hardtail Strat made from alder or ash you will (usually) have a real jawdrop about how boomy and closed they sound. The great hardtail Strats are often hard ash and of course putting in the right pickups (Jake E Lee) gives you a good guitar, too.
Apart from that there are too many variants of mahogany. Even if you don't rat Limba/Korina as mahogany there's still a ton.
It's true that this type of question has been rehashed to death on this board. But it's not contempt, just some friendly sarcasm.
Too warm would be muddy. I'm not sure there's any wood that Warmoth sells that would do that to a Strat with decent pickups.
A Sponge-caster maybe. :laughing7:
Too warm would be muddy. I'm not sure there's any wood that Warmoth sells that would do that to a Strat with decent pickups.
A Sponge-caster maybe. :laughing7:
Nobody is showing contempt; we just like to joke, and your question wasn't worded very well. I actually don't know how someone could answer the question 'how warm is too warm' though - do you mean, does a mahogany strat still sound enough like a strat? Sure, as long as you don't put humbuckers and a Gibson bridge on it.
dbw said:A mahogany strat is just warm enough. Add two humbuckers, a TOM, and a rosewood neck and you're in business.
If you do that, all you get is a murder boomy piece of guitar. Combine it with a SD '59 in the neck and your audience files complaints against you with the United Nations, for dehumanizing cruelty or something.
The Strat shape with it's large horns is only suitable for hardtailing with some kinds of wood. Certainly not light ash or alder. Heavy Ash seems to do better. Mahogany might be good. Or not. Poplar probably is, the Music Man Morse signature comes out good.
Remember, everything changes everything.
Superlizard
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uOpt said:
The general consensus around here is:
Pickups & the neck wood change everything, and everything else is pretty much irrelevant.
(For the record, I'm not of the general consensus. I'm also one of the very few who actually posts clips of anything)
uOpt said:dbw said:A mahogany strat is just warm enough. Add two humbuckers, a TOM, and a rosewood neck and you're in business.
If you do that, all you get is a murder boomy piece of guitar. Combine it with a SD '59 in the neck and your audience files complaints against you with the United Nations, for dehumanizing cruelty or something.
The Strat shape with it's large horns is only suitable for hardtailing with some kinds of wood. Certainly not light ash or alder. Heavy Ash seems to do better. Mahogany might be good. Or not. Poplar probably is, the Music Man Morse signature comes out good.
Remember, everything changes everything.
I play mahogany strat (G&L F-100II) with a hardtail and it's the clearest brightest guitar I've ever played (I worked in a large guitar store for 6 years and played litterally hundred and hundreds of guitars), with the original pickups, and with SD59s... you're saying a strat will sound muddy because of the shape of the horns? :icon_scratch: :laughing7: I know you were replying to specifically a rosewood neck, but come on man, the horns effecting the sonic characteristics and wood choice? Give me a break, Ibanez and ESP have been building guitars out of mahogany with even bigger horns for years and years and they all sound fine.
Sorry if that comes out as rude, but I think you're just hunting for reactions.
I do believe that all the parts of the guitar contribute to the sound, but the horns... nope. Sorry.
GoDrex
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I don't think the general consensus is that everything other than the neck and pickups is irrelevant. I think that the general consensus seems to be that the body wood is far less important than those two things (unless the body is chambered). I also don't think anyone that knows anything would argue that the type of bridge is irrelevant, or pot values are irrelevant. Everything has some effect. Some effects are more noticeable than others.
rockskate4x
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+1 everything is important but the most change you'll hear comes from the neck wood and the pickups.
If you got a stock strat and only changed the body to mahogany, It wouldn't suddenly sound like a Les Paul. Some warmth would be added but it would essentially sound like a strat.
If you got a stock strat and only changed the body to mahogany, It wouldn't suddenly sound like a Les Paul. Some warmth would be added but it would essentially sound like a strat.
Superlizard
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That's not what I've seen here.GoDrex said:
I personally think there's far too much "tone paranoia" going on around here... thanks to all the horror stories about the "vintagefools" and/or "audiofool" shills telling people that their thing gives "x" sound, their wood is "magic" and so on. So much so that common tone sense has been thrown out the window, and everything is subjective. Bad, bad, bad... and especially bad for the n00bs who need to learn. In fact, saying everything is subjective is no better than lying just to sell product.
There's a big difference between saying "if you use x and y, you'll get approximately z" and "buy my kryptonite bridge saddles cuz they're the best".
Superlizard
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AToE said:
Looked up the G&L F-100II...
You've got a mahogany body with a maple/maple neck with coil splitters as well.
Sounds like a somewhat mid-scooped tone. Mahogany does low mids and maple is bright.
Superlizard
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GoDrex said:
Fine... I know all.
Now pay attention and listen. :guitaristgif:
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