Mahaogany Strats; How warm is TOO warm?

[tfarny]

Great - show me one controlled experiment on wood type and electric guitar tone. One piece of real evidence.
How did the pinecaster sound when you played it and then swapped out all the parts for a 'proper' ash tele? How about when you sawed the arm off your strat, how did the sound change? When you A/Bed your tele before and after carving comfort contours, how did the resonant frequency response change? I would be interested to see that stuff. Don't get me wrong, you're free to believe all this if you want to, I'm just presenting an alternative that's is grounded in my own experiences and those of the more experienced people on this and some other boards.

I have two tube amps, both from blackheart with JJ and EH tubes through a 1x12 celestion v30 cab. I'll likely build a BF vibrochamp kit this summer and put in a combo cab with a 10" weber. Who knows, maybe that'll show me the error of my ways!!

btw, I did say that a good bridge is important, didn't I.

 

[Soylent]

my 2 cents..

My first guitar was a crap ibanez strat.

After I got my first proper guitar, my sexy sexy black LP.. I took that ibanez, cut off the lower horn, sanded down the arm rest part, and carved some thigns in the body (this guitar didn't cost 200 bucks, not a loss) and the sound did not change one bit. That being said I'm not gonna get into the wood arguement, because either way I love the look of my exotics.

 

[UTSC]

Instead of worrying about tones that are too bright or warm because of body wood, why not just compensate for that by fiddling around with the knobs on the amp to get the tone you like out of the gear you have?  :icon_scratch: I personally think that in a solid body instrument, the type of body wood is really the last thing you should be looking at.

 

[jerryjg]

What are the "best" parts?
By "best parts", and I apo;logise for being so obtuse, I am refffering to expensive and/or exotic & botique stuff- " bridges, saddles ,tuners (yeah, Gotoh makes low mass expensive locking tuners), nuts, even stainless steel bridge screws and springs . Also  strings, one piece lightweight bodies, Quartersawn encks with the finest grain... everything . It all adds up to more than a toilet seat with good pickups, or even sa cheap crummy piece of pine with adequate hardware.
Granted, some pros could mop the floor with most of us even on a toiletcaster, but thats not to say they couldnt or wouldnt sound even better with a real sweet assembled guitar.



And he knows wood makes some difference, but he says pickups are even more important.

Isnt it past your bedtime down there? I'm telling your mother.

 

[Mor Paul]

It was 4:30 I think here. Not quite beddy-bye time.

 

[jerryjg]

It was 4:30 I think here. Not quite beddy-bye time.

Your a good sport chap..OTOH it IS nearly past THIS old codgers bedtime! ( 7PM) :toothy11:

 

[Superlizard]

I have two tube amps, both from blackheart with JJ and EH tubes through a 1x12 celestion v30 cab.

BTW, if those JJ's are preamp (e.g. 12AX7/ECC83) tubes, those are very muted on the treble side; hardly any detail present.  Of course, that works great if you have an inherently bright amp in the first place, but if you don't, it can get muddy real quick.  The EH preamp tubes are decent, but not great.

 

[jerryjg]

Take this for waht ist worth as a case in point.
I have a gorgeous  3 piece tung oil finished Warmoth Mahogany body , with a fantastic  usa..cough cough..g neck  and the two sound quite lovely together.
I coudlnt ask for a better plaiong strat. Hardwatre is all first rate and the neck is straight and set up  properly, which is a minor miracle in itself.
Everythign works on this Start, ebverything is tight and put together and aligned well..except one thing- I don't enjoy playing it. Why? VCause of the tone of a Rosewood  fretboard.
Part of it is feel, but give me a Maple sound(  the note just has a very vibrant & rich immidiacy and quick subtle decay that really, for me, a Rosewood board does NOT have. Plenty of folks love rosewood necks, and they do have their merits aside from the feel of the neck- a slow decay of the note and a soft warm resonance - but to those of you who say fretboard wood is incosequential ..i say hogwash! A maple ( or preferably Pau Ferro) is the the tits fro me, and nothing ele will do. In fact, Im beggininmg to think nothing else but a Pau Ferro fretboard( Fantastic feel and uber- mapley tone) will work!
I think alot of you guys , being amateur assemblers, might have some slight issues with certain parts of your build being offtrack. Belive you me..AL:L of your ducks have to eb in a row before you can utilize the instrument to its full  playing and tone potential.
By that I mean nothing loose, everything straihgt, hte right compliment of woods, the best hardware, the best wood( not a problem idf you buy warmoth)..evrything!!

 

[Mor Paul]

^please send rough draft to editor for corrections  :laughing7:

 

[tfarny]

Little giant: EH 12ax7, JJ ef86. Plenty of great treble response. It does a great scooped EQ that sounds fantastic with Strat or P90 pickups & slide. Plenty of people on here have these, Jack did an A/B with a Dr. Z and said he preferred the BH.
Killer ant: JAN 5751 pre, TungSol 12ax7 power (yeah it's a weird little amp but it does rawk). Very midrangey and one dimensional, but that one dimension (lots o tube OD + LP) is a great one. This sounds better with the LP.

Jerry - why do you attribute the sound to the fretboard? How can you know it's the fretboard's fault? When you hear a strat, can you tell what type of fretboard it has? Also, you mentioned before that you had the world's best speakers and amps - do you need those to hear these differences, since you implied my gear would hide the differences? I mean, seriously, if you're selling a neck just to get the same neck with a pao ferro board, so you can play it to the ultimate, shouldn't this guy at least be able to decide between maple and rosewood? Or maybe he just never got to that ultimate level - those rosewood boards he used were holding him back.

 

[jerryjg]

Well, I have a 77 marhsall JMP wiht a vintage checkerboard cabinet form the same year or therabouts.. and I also have a vintage JVCM 800 caboinet with vintage Blackback( old greenbacks) speakers.
I have a 2002 Les paul td. , and I have a2008 SG Classic with P90's. I have a 1980 SG (Walnut ). I have a few custom Warmoth Strats One Walnut, One Ash)
I have a British vintage Carslbro Calss A el84 Vox type handwired clone. I have 3 old traynor Fender clones, I have a couple of Custom built amps, and I have two cstom Tleles.
Point being- tall things being equal,  and by equal i mean absurd timeand monsey spent on bridges , nuts screws, set ups, reseeting of the necks, strings, every damn exhausting thing you could possibl;y imagine when your only primary objective os nopt work, family, or anything except TONE!
So take it for waht it isnworth- to me, Fretboard tone is basical;ly everything . pau Ferro to be exact ( on Starts). I always use Starst to equivocate everyhting.
Srat toone os the measusring stick for all tone.
Yep- the pau Ferro Fretbaord is buttery, smooth, articulate. t is respnssive to an immidiate attack without the almost synthetic feel of ebony , r the overt brightness and somewhat clinical sound of the ebony fretbaord.