Mahogany vs alder for Tele body

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My next build I’m looking at a dual humbucker Tele body with warhead neck in roasted maple and rosewood fingerboard 25.5” scale.

I was wondering whether it’s worth doing the body in mahogany as opposed to alder just to make it a little more mellow.

I’ve read the neck contributes 80% of the tone and the body 20%, so I realize a change to mahogany rather than alder may be subtle, but could still warm up the 25.5” scale recipe a bit.

Also probably go for a chambered body as I realize a solid mahogany Tele body could be too heavy.

What do people think of this wood recipe?
 
Actually your formula is inverted.  Do a search here for The Aaron vids on different body and neck woods.  If you want mellower go with mahogany.


But for a Tele why aren't using swamp ash?
 
Aaron at Warmoth has done audio comparisons of neck & body woods, links below. He concluded that the body has more effect on tone than the neck, I agree, especially listening through good headphones, however I can hear the differences with plain old earbuds also.

Of course not all other things were kept equal, however I can hear distinct differences between my W-strat with mahogany & rosewood body vs my alder body Strat.

Bodies comparison
https://youtu.be/7k_A8GhN0L8

Necks comparison
https://youtu.be/DPC6qAnrPR8
 
rick2 said:
Actually your formula is inverted.  Do a search here for The Aaron vids on different body and neck woods.  If you want mellower go with mahogany.


But for a Tele why aren't using swamp ash?

If it was a Tele with single coils I might try swamp ash, but it will be a dual humbucker guitar, so I don’t want too much sizzle.
 
Letskeepbuilding said:
rick2 said:
Actually your formula is inverted.  Do a search here for The Aaron vids on different body and neck woods.  If you want mellower go with mahogany.


But for a Tele why aren't using swamp ash?

If it was a Tele with single coils I might try swamp ash, but it will be a dual humbucker guitar, so I don’t want too much sizzle.

Then use 250k pots insteada 500, BOOM. Just like Jonathan B Good, Sizzle B Gone lol
 
If you want a warmer sounding Tele, I suggest to build a hardtail stratocaster instead.  A top routed strat body tends to be more resonant and less bright than a Telecaster body.  I personally believe the double-cut shape also makes a difference.  I suggest to use alder in preference to mahogany, as its typically a bit more lively and still has good mids IMO.

My other random suggestion (which I have not personally tried) is to consider a Tele body with a basswood back, and some kind of veneer to make it look pretty.  That way you can avoid the weight of mahogany without needing to pay for the extra for chambered design.  The downside is that basswood isn't as hard so its more easily damaged.
 
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