Most "Alder" like Exotic Looking Body Wood?

[arealken]

Love Alder, but of course it's pretty  plain. Anything best approach the balanced tonal  character of alder but look wild and exotic and would look good raw or with a translucent or clear finish?
( Probably an intellectually challenged question, sorry).

 

[dmraco]

Alder is pretty neutral sounding.  Ash can get pretty wild looking and have the same tonal properties. 

Take a looks at the Warmoth website and look at the wood descriptions. 
http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies/Options/BodyWoodOptions.aspx


I have always felt unless you are going to the extremes, wood has a minimal effect.  I know I have opened a can of worms here.  I am not saying it does not effect the tone, just not as much as the pickups and amps.

Mahogany and Korina are a tad warmer (typically)and offer some cool gains. Lacwood has always been at the top of my list to try too.

Poplar and basswood have a very neutral tone but tend to be boring to look at as well.  They are usually painted a solid color.

 

[Cagey]

Another option might be to cap some Alder (or whatever) with something more interesting. Zebrawood comes to mind. Check out these two pages for ideas.

 

[dmraco]

Good point.  I was assuming a solid guitar.  I had a zebra wood cap on alder that was amazing.

back is alder



front is zebra


hard to see but I did a masked binding.