Tiger Swamp Ash

[Garf]

Hi. I'm in Australia, and last night on eBay I stumbled across a 1 piece telecaster body made out of Tiger Swamp Ash. It looks really nice, but the guy says it's made in the USA but can't tell me where... I'm trying to work out if this is a decent piece of wood or not.

Has Warmoth ever made bodies out of Tiger Swamp Ash? I can't remember seeing it on their site.

The link to the eBay item is here: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=331245782444&alt=web. Would be interested to see if anyone has an opinion on it...

Cheers.

 

[Cagey]

I've never seen nor heard of such a wood anywhere, and while Google searches I've done on "Tiger Swamp Ash" and "Figured Swamp Ash" return some examples that look like what you've found, they're all veneered with figured Maple.

Doesn't mean there's no such thing, but...

In any event, that's a beautiful body. I expect that price is going to climb a bit, especially since there are 21 bids on it already and 5+ days left on the auction as of this post.

 

[SkuttleFunk]

nice piece of what looks like figured Ash - but note that the seller says it's heavy

Swamp Ash is nothing more than marketing spin for light weight Ash that falls within a general density range. there are a couple different tree species that typically have lower density than the more common species commonly called Northern Ash, and these are what you usually find listed as Swamp Ash. without the leaves, it's pretty tough to tell for certain which piece of wood is which species

funny thing is - the furniture guys pay more for the heavy dense boards, and the guitar guys pay more for the lighter less dense boards

 

[Garf]

So what I'm getting from your guys is... Swamp Ash doesn't really exist... And it's possible that it's some kind of Denser "Ash"... but could be a different wood altogether...

Looks nice and is unlikely to stay at that price which I figured... but it has caught my eye... And it's not a Warmoth piece...

Anyway, I find you guys on this Forum very helpful and friendly.. I've been to others where I'm afraid to say anything for fear of replies like: "you don't know what you are talking about blah blah blah"... or "you're an idiot for not knowing this"

Cheers

 

[Cagey]

Swamp Ash definitely exists, but it's just Ash that's grown in a swamp. The difference, if there is any, is where on the tree the wood comes from. If it's from the bottom 6 or 8 feet of the tree, it'll be very light from being underwater or at least wet most of the time. Tends to dissolve things to a degree. Higher than that on the tree, and it's very much like Ash from any other forest, which is fairly heavy stuff. So, you have to be careful when buying it, because you might be expecting something light and getting something heavy, even though it's all called "Swamp Ash". Warmoth always lists the body weights on their parts.

 

[Day-mun]

Anyway, I find you guys on this Forum very helpful and friendly.. I've been to others where I'm afraid to say anything for fear of replies like: "you don't know what you are talking about blah blah blah"... or "you're an idiot for not knowing this"

Never that here. -Relax Garf, you're home, now... you're home.

-Seriously, welcome to the forum! If/when ya score that gorgeous hunk of lumber, you're gonna hafta show us your build! -Lotsa pics!

 

[SkuttleFunk]

Swamp Ash exists as made up a nomenclature term that many players have a reference for, but only within the guitar world. in the furniture industry, they call this lower density Ash 'Punk Ash' as it's typically wood they would reject for being suitable for their needs. the furniture industry pays a premium fee to have as little of this Punk Ash per shipment as possible

If a hobbyist or small-time onesey-twosey type builder orders wood by the body blank, there are specialty shops that will sell them 'Swamp Ash' ... but if you go to a real lumber yard or wholesale lumber distributer and attempt to order 'Swamp Ash', unless that yeard has experience with guitar builders, you will quickly get schooled that they have zero concept of what you are requesting them to order for you.

the big boys in the guitar industry order Ash (typically NOT specific to a variety name like Black Ash, Green Ash, Pumplin Ash, etc ...) by a maximum average density per volume. In that lot there will be a range of densities, and a maximum percentage of heavier is typically set as part  of the QA specs for acceptance at the inflated price of specialty grading and selection.


to quote Paul Harvey - "... and now you know the rest of the story."

all the best,

R