Swamp or hard ash?

[Graffiti62]

Hi everybody--

I know that I want to do my project with an ash body, but what kind of ash do I want to use for my Tele?  I know that if I use hard ash, the guitar will be a little heavy, but it will also be built like a Mack truck. Swamp will be lighter, and maybe a little prettier to look at, but is a little softer. Can anyone share their success/failure with each, and maybe offer some advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[-CB-]

A lot depends on the pickups.

Hard ash is heavy dense stuff.  I know - I've got a strat and a jbass built from hard ash - Fender factory...

The jbass retains a nice brightness, and I think the hard ash does it well, but the Strat is down right too trebly.  I can do the neck, or neck middle, or even middle... but dont get me near that bridge pickup.

I built a Tele from eastern hard rock maple once.  W did the body and neck.  The neck was maple, with a dark pau ferro board.  I put 57 classic and 57 classic plus in it.  It was a "caricature" of the Les Paul tone.  It sounded like a LP.  Except - if you can imagine - even more so.  Think every note you played sounding like Dickie Betts.  It had that "ring" to it, an edge of sorts... but not wholly so.  I imagine hard ash with softer humbuckers would sound similar.

A lot also depends on the neck - if you mate the ash body with a more resonant neck - mahogany or goncalo - then you're going to tame things down a whoooooole lot.  The neck is really king of tone, the body... plays a part, but not as big a part.

I like swamp ash.  The hard stuff can be as bad to fill.  And it can look the same.  But the swamp ash does tend to have MORE deep grain, and as such, usually... is more striking in appearance.

Your choice really.

Come to think of it, my ol 72 was hard ash with tele pickups and maple neck.  Ice pick in the brain - by way of the ear.