Similar woods to oak

[torpedovegas]

Hi Guys,

I'm in a nostalgic mood....  My favorite band when I was in the 5th grade through junior high was Queen (still are one of my favorites and I've always admired Brian May).  I've often thought about making a Red Special inspired strat (considering they sell pre-loaded pickguards with the Burns Tri-Sonic in/out phase configuration).

In reading about the Red Special it appears that he used a piece of oak from century old fireplace as the tone block in the guitar (semi-hollow construction).  Obviously, impossible to find a precise analog but considering Warmoth doesn't offer oak as a tone wood... I was wondering if anyone knew, of the tonewoods offered by Warmoth, what might generate the most similar tone to oak.  My guess is maple but the only tonewoods I've ever experienced on electric guitars are alder, swamp ash, mahogany and black korina.

 

[stratamania]

Perhaps if we start with Brian May's guitar being a happy accident using materials they had access to that may be a good starting point.

Before Queen became huge I bought a couple of Burns pickups that I bought in a sale and dropped them in my Tele copy, I think at that time I had made a new body from cedar rather than the original plywood. I wasn't keen on the sound of them personally but they did sound from memory a bit like what we would later hear with Queen.

Oak is open grained similar to ash, so that might be worth considering for the body. Chambered construction with or without an F hole would get you closer to the partially hollow nature of the red special. But tone recipes from wood is a generalization at best in my opinion.

But probably most of the sound is going to be in the electronics so if you can get one of those pickguards and drop it into some strats you already have it might give you an idea of what to expect.

 

[Cagey]

I'm also a huge fan of Queen and Brian May in particular. Have been since they originally showed up in public. Can't say I've ever wanted his tone, though. As much as I like it, it's all his. Kinda like the voice box belongs to Joe Walsh & Peter Frampton.

For as open-grained as it is, Oak is a pretty heavy wood, substantially heavier than Maple by ~10lbs lb/ft3, which is probably why you don't see guitars made out of it. Surprisingly, Brian's Red Special weighs just a hair under 8lbs, but it's been chambered, otherwise it would probably be hovering around 9. So, calling Oak a "tone wood" would be sorta like calling cheesecake a diet food.

If one were to make a Strat body out of Oak, I imagine the finished instrument would weigh in the 10+ pound range. That's a lotta guitar to hang around your neck.

I'm with Stratamania - I suspect most of the Red Special's unique sound comes from the pickups and the fact that they're physically separated coils Brian often plays in out-of-phase pairs. That, his playing style and use of a sixpence coin as a pick, the ever-present "treble boost" box he uses and the AC30s all combine to make his sound, with the Oak having very little to do with it.

To answer your original question, If you wanted to pick an analog for Oak from the woods Warmoth offers for guitar bodes, Walnut would be the closest in density, white Korina for appearance. You'd have to call as the Builder won't always give you those selections, but you could get a white Korina top on a Walnut body. Get the whole thing finish in a transparent red, and it'd be pretty sharp. And heavy  :laughing7:

 

[stratamania]

I did a bit of searching and apparently, the Guild Brian May models were Mahogany. Also, the scale length is only 24" which may also contribute to the tone or timbre compared to a Strat scale length.

The fretboards guild did were either ebony or rosewood.

 

[mayfly]

I will echo Cagey.  If you want to sound like Uncle Brian*, the guitar itself is not the best place to start.

Where you start is a range-master run into the NORMAL channel of an AC30 with the volume all the way up.  Then get a guitar with fairly low output single coil pickups and run that into the range-master.  Don't put anything between the guitar and the range-master; put your effects after the booster.  Tweak various EQ settings to taste.  Use a coin with teeth around the perimeter as a pick; I find a canadian dime works well but you'd have to find something similar in your neck of the woods.

That's it.

oh - and practice lots.  That will help too.




* No Brian May is not my uncle, but it's fun to pretend that he is

 

[mayfly]

oh - and apologies. That's not at all the question that you asked  ccasion14:

 

[torpedovegas]

Hi Guys,

Yes definitely, there's a lot more to Brian May's tone than the tonewoods of the Red Special (not the least of which the sixpence coin that he plays with... not a habit I think I'll be 'picking' up). If I'm honest I'm not looking for something I could use in a "Queen cover band" but something that's just an homage to Brian/Queen and something that captures the spirit in Strat form.  I will definitely look into walnut or swamp ash.

 

[Seamas]

As much as I like it, it's all his. Kinda like the voice box belongs to Joe Walsh & Peter Frampton.

Grrrr. Jeff Beck. Grrrrr :evil4:

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, yeah, Jeff Beck, too. But, Jeff was, as usual, a bit more tasteful/subtle about the whole thing. When you think of talk box abuse, you think of Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way" or Frampton's "Do You Squeal Like We Do?" since they got played about 35 times an hour on most album rock stations in those days :laughing7:

 

[Zhaezzy]

I do think body shape might contribute a little too.  I would go for a Velocity body because it is compact and round in a vague way like th eRed  special and get one chambered out of walnut Korina and it will not break your back.

 

[AirCap]

What they call oak in England is a different species than American oak. What we call pine, they call something else. And they have something called pine, that's not pine at all.

Maybe that's just another reason why "England and America are two nations separated by a common language".

 

[stratamania]

Well, I was talking about English Oak.

But as for pine, there are a lot of different species. So the above seems like a generalization. What species do you refer to Aircap?