Paulownia body

[Jazzrico]

Hello,

I just built a strat using a Paulownia body, and maple neck. The guitar turned out amazingly lightweight, and played acoustically it is pretty much twice as loud as a very good sounding alder body 90's "vintage reissue" strat that I have. It's quite twangy on the low E too.
It would be fantastic if it wasn't for the dreadful lack of mids. It seems like mids don't even exist on that guitar, and on top of that, all across the fretboard every note seems to lack a certain "warmth" or "body" or whatever you might call it.
On a 0 to 10 scale, I'd say attack 10, volume 10, sustain 6, character 0.
What's funny is, the volume difference with the alder body guitar disappears when I plug both guitars in--and the Fender has a much more pleasing sound. I guess the perceived volume has more to do with mids than volume itself.
Some time ago I had a custom-built Telly, it was quite an experiment with a chambered (thin line-style) swamp-ash body with maple top. It was also very light, but with the same lack of character as the paulownia strat.

So, here are my questions:
- does anyone have experience with paulownia, and do you notice this lack of mids?
- are mids dependent on the weight of the body, besides the type of wood? In other words, will a heavier piece of ash have more mids than a lighter piece of ash?

Thank you in advance for your comments.

 

[Cagey]

I bought a Paulownia body some years back from one of the Pacific Rim suppliers (GFS?) and had a similar experience. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but it turned out to be a problem child in more ways than one. Lotta dimensional difficulties, primarily. I actually got so pissed off at the thing that I threw it in the trash a couple times (wasn't an expensive part), then chickened out and snatched it back on garbage collection day <grin>

I've had other bodies that were unusually lightweight that had similar characteristics. Usually with solid-body electrics, there's so much mass in the slab of wood that makes up a body that it doesn't have as much an effect on the sound as is often credited to them. But, there is an effect. The lighter the body gets, the more willing it is to absorb some frequencies. They often sound louder than heavier bodies because of this. They're taking energy from the string vibrations and reflecting it out. This not only has a filtering effect, it also reduces sustain. The pickups are trying to sense string vibrations, but the string mounting (body, neck, nut, bridge) can absorb some of those vibrations. Check out a Les Paul. Super-heavy, short scale, neck is 25% buried in the body - sustains for days with all the mids you want because it doesn't absorb anything. Then, get an old SG - thin body and neck, flimsy attachment, plastic nut, TOM bridge, PAF-style humbuckers - now you got Black Sabbath or AC/DC sounds.

I kept the Paulownia body because I've got this idea that it will make a great nashville-tuned guitar. Not something you'd use very often, but they have their place.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

My Baritone Tele is a Paulownia body, paired with a Warmoth 28 5/8" maple/RW neck.
It's a tad warmer than I would have preferred, but since it was a gift, I won't complain.
It is indeed a softwood.
I routed out the bridge p/u for a humbucker, and used a GFS humbucking tele bridge and the holes lined up perfectly.

I did dowel & re-drill the two neck mounting screws furthest from the bridge as they did not match up with the Warmoth pre-drilled holes, or the neck plate.  Again, considering the body was a gift from my wife, and she only spent $45, it's not like you can expect perfection.

In the long run, I'm pleased with the results, but if I were purchasing a body, I would have purchase a Swamp Ash body from Warmoth.

 

[DarkPenguin]

I bought a GFS kit to play with some finishing ideas and the body is, um, interesting.  Unbelievably light.  Unbelievably dentable.  The pores in this wood are amazing.  Until I fill them I'm parking my VW in them.  I'll be stunned if I don't conan the tremolo right off this thing.

 

[dmraco]

Too soft for me.  Makes basswood seem like iron.