Solid goncalo alves CBS

[Laptopkoen]

Hi, I've been thinking about building a warmoth strat for quite a while now, and so far I've sorta settled on a chambered korina body finished in a solid black gloss. Probably with some kind of coil splitting humbuckers on it. (Think PRS) - Basically I want it to be like a PRS, but with the classic looks of a strat.

Now.. I was thinking of fitting it with a solid goncalo alves neck (one piece) because I've heard it has an awesome feel to it, and also, from what I've seen, it looks KILLER.  :toothy10:
I'm worried that it might end up sounding very muddy though, because of the 'warmth' of goncalo alves, and the neck being solid, so I wanted to hear if anyone in here has any kind of experience with a solid goncalo alves neck?

Forgive me if this has been asked before, I've tried google and all I've learned is that goncalo alves sounds 'like mahogany', which is why I fear a solid neck may be too warm and muddy sounding for this build.

Also - any other ideas on the body wood? I'm not really sure what might 'match' a goncalo neck, but I know korina sounds sweet.

Thanks in advance! Rock on!  :hello2:

PS: I'm going to build it with a string through hard tail.

 

[bbl4ck]

Hey,
Why are you gonna cover up that beautiful korina [assuming your talking about black korina] with solid black gloss?  :icon_scratch:
Especially, if you are worried about a muddy sound...
If you are going to use solid black gloss and want a brighter sound, I would use ash or alder. 
However, the black korina would be smokin' and go great with the goncalo alves neck, I just would not cover up that beautiful wood with a solid gloss.
By the way, I love the hard tail... Not enough of them around.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with what ever you make.  I am sure it will be great  :hello2:

 

[MUYFUE]

It sounds like he's looking at something that's already finished...maybe?
I'll stick up for you if you want it black, nothing wrong with a black guitar, anyway.  :icon_thumright:
Whatever you like best, man, that's the beauty of it being YOURS.
It should sound fine the way you planned it, Goncalo is wonderfully attractive, it's my dream neck wood.

PRS to me don't sound too bright to me anyway, especially their hollowbody.
I don't think your wood combo would sound muddy, but like BlackDog said, there are options for a brighter sound, and probably at a lower cost than Korina.

 

[bbl4ck]

It sounds like he's looking at something that's already finished...maybe?
I'll stick up for you if you want it black, nothing wrong with a black guitar, anyway.  :icon_thumright:

Daaaaa...  Yea, I keep forgetting about the sale.
I am jealous because I just forked out a bunch on a custom build.  Can't take advantage of the current opportunities.
I too love black guitars.  My first electric was a 85ish black jap strat.  I still have it and will likely upgrade to a new W black strat some day.

Good luck with your build  :headbang:

 

[-CB-]

I have two solid goncalo necks, by Warmoth.  They are thick and middy toned.  Not bright like maple.  This is not a bad thing - just the way they are.  I've got one on a Tele with 52 reissue pickups, and that body is a mahogany/wild maple thinline with no f/hole.  It totally tames the tele "icepick in the ear" and is a VERY nice guitar to play and listen to.  The other is on an ash thinline with f/hole with p90 at the neck  and Gibby BBpro #2 at the bridge.  The bridge is ok, but the p90 at the neck is a modern wound  very heavy toned pickup, and it tends to get a little too thick if I used the tone control or mid control with the neck  pickup.  I'll not fault the neck, or the combination, but I will say a maple neck would be brigher  and a ligher wound p90 would be better too.  Its a matter of that particular p90 and the neck, and the body being thinline.

I'd like to move that neck to the solid ash body I'm in the process of getting.  Put a maple neck that I have here (waiting for finish) on the thinline.  And get a canary neck for the other solid tele waiting finish.  If the p90 is still too dark, I'll take it apart and try to unwind it some, or just rewind it, barring being successful with the unwind.

So, to wrap it up - goncalo is warmer,  thicker, middy'er than maple, its noticable quite easily.  Also thicker than mahogony by my ears.  When used with other components that are bright, it will tame them into a very very nice mellow tone.  But when used with components that are already sort of mellow, you might wish you had more upper end.

 

[Laptopkoen]

Hi again

Uhm it sounds like you guys think the goncalo will work nicely with the chambered body .. which is good to hear  :icon_biggrin:

Also 'bout painting it black - I just think it looks classy  :icon_thumright: I'm going for something like this:

Of course with that stripey goncalo neck it's gonna look even better!  :toothy10:

Thanks for all your quick replies!

EDIT: Hmm should I go for gold hardware or chrome? I'm afraid the gold hardware might clash with the frets if they aren't gold as well ..  :icon_scratch:
Opinions?

 

[Mor Paul]

Gold and Nickle will both look good. Gold could look cool, don't worry about it clashing with the frets. The strings are nickel too, so those will match the frets.