Which Wood for H/H Strat with Maple/Maple Strat Neck?

[MJRiley]

Hi guys, I need your experienced opinions here. I'm designing an H/H Strat and I'm trying to decide which body wood to use. I have a brand new Warmoth Pro Strat maple/maple neck with 6105 SS frets. I plan on outfitting it with a pair of low-output PAF humbuckers of some sort (leaning toward Lollar Imperials) and a Wilkinson tremolo, 3-way switch, Vol, Tone, no split or tapping. Nice and simple. I already have a Les Paul Standard, a SSS Strat and a classic Telecaster so I do not need to duplicate their sound. I plan to use this guitar as a straight-forward rocker, i.e. early Van Halen, old ZZ Top and other Non-Master Volume rockers from the 70's. I'm going for a classic San Dimas Charvel sort of vibe in simple black finish, rear-routed, no laminate top, etc.

Here's the question: Which wood do you guys recommend for good, beefy rock tones with a nice attack? I've got my eye on either a 3lb 8oz Alder body or a 4lb 9 oz Mahogany body. The maple neck I have seems slightly heavier than my other necks so body weight is not a factor. Alder would work, but I was wondering if there was a tone advantage to using Mahogany?

I've uploaded an image that I created using pictures of my Wamoth neck and a prototype body.

Also, I am leaning toward low output Lollar Imperial pickups, if you guys can suggest some pickups for this type of guitar, I'm all ears.


Thanks for your input!
Mike
www.mjriley.com

 

[Cagey]

The body is sort of a low-influence part, tone-wise, but I think I'd still go with the Alder. Mahogany tends to absorb high frequencies, and you're already putting humbuckers on there.

 

[crash]

If you are painting it black, go with whatever you want.  Won't make a noticeable difference in tone.  Don't go too light thought.  A heavy neck plus locking tuners can make the final product neck heavy.

 

[Cagey]

It's impossible to make a Strat neck-heavy. The top horn strap hanger is far enough forward that the neck would probably have to weigh 6 or more pounds to overbalance it. I have a 3lb. Strat body with an Ebony over Pau Ferro neck that has Schaller mini-lockers on it and a dual truss rod. That's a fairly heavy neck (probably very close to 2lbs), and there's no dive to the thing at all. Same with my hollow Mahogany Tele. That body doesn't weigh jack, and in fact the whole guitar only weighs a tad over 6lbs, and no dive there, either.

It's only on some Gibson designs and some basses that you have to deal with neck dive, and that's because the forward strap hanger is too close or behind the center of gravity.

 

[MJRiley]

Thanks for the great info, guys. It sounds like Alder is the way to go for this project.

I know it's a wide-open question, but based on my criteria listed above, do you guys have any suggestions for pickups? I'm looking for some good solid low-output PAFs for that late 70's rock sound. I'm thinking about Lollars, but they might be overkill. Your thoughts?

 

[line6man]

The conventional wisdom on this forum is that body wood contributes little to tonality in most cases, but it's a religious debate. In my opinion, if you're just painting it black, there is no advantage to fancy stuff like Black Korina or Rosewood, and you would be best to stick with the usual Alder, Swamp Ash, Mahogany, or Basswood.

You should have no trouble figuring out what this particular guitar will sound like with each of the aforementioned body woods, if you listen to the "wood matters" crowd, since every other choice you have made for the guitar is pretty much standard fare for a solidbody shred guitar.

 

[greywolf]

+1 for alder  I've nuilt several bodies from it and it has the properties you seek .

 

[swarfrat]

I'm generally a lightweight on body woods, but with a strat, you have a LOT of room for error on neck balance, courtesy of the upper horn strap button.

 

[DslDwg]

If I were in your shoes I might consider a Maple body as well.

Between Mahogany and Alder - Alder is a great all around IMO.

 

[MJRiley]

Thanks to everyone for their responses and info. It was very helpful. It looks like Alder is what I'm after.

Thanks again,
Mike
www.mjriley.com

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Black guitars sounds better anyway.

 

[Johnfv]

After trying a variety of body woods, I found I like alder best for Stats. Lollar Imperials are fantastic (I have them in 2 guitars currently). I like lower output and/or split/parallel wiring in the neck position. YMMV...

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Basswood is always at the bottom of my list to build a guitar body out of, but this ain't my guitar.  If this is a shredder, look at what shredders make 'em out of.  More and more, it's basswood.

 

[MJRiley]

Yeah, I thought about Basswood, but I'm not really a shredder or gainiac. About the heaviest / gainest I will ever get would be early EVH. I also really love the 'bite' and 'attack' of my Les Paul and the nickel-covered humbuckers. I realize that I won't get a Les Paul 'sound' out of  a Strat body. I'm just looking for a good beefy Strat body for humbuckers. Years ago, I bought a Fender carved-top Mahogany Tele with SD humbuckers and it roared. The only thing it was missing was a trem bridge. I'm trying to capture that sound in a Strat body. If the tonal differences between Mahogany and Alder are not that big, I'll stick with light-weight Alder with Nickel-Covered humbuckers. Your thoughts?

 

[swarfrat]

Grr basswood is not just for shredder guitars. It has a warm woody thunk with a lower more vocal resonant frequency than a lot of more traditional tonewoods. 

 

[bagman67]

I agree.


I had a basswood Aerodyne Telecaster that delivered a wonderful roots-rock sound.  My bassword Charvel strat plays well in a variety of circumstances.

 

[MJRiley]

sorry, it's just a fairly common association between Basswood and shredders. I would be curious to try it sometime to see the difference. the only concern I have is that with a solid color finish, I would probably ding the heck out of it as I'm a bit of a gorilla when playing.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

5 out of my 8 Warmoths are with basswood bodies - so I am biased.  :icon_biggrin: Not forgetting the raw necks!

My favourite of them all is a rear routed HH Stratocaster with TOM/string through.

Basswood may have a bad reputation because a lot of cheap shitty guitars are made from that wood.

But a Warmoth body will be top quality no matter what kind of wood you choose.

I just like the light weight and the even tone response basswood gives.  :icon_thumright:

 

[SustainerPlayer]

But yes. To be fair. Basswood has a better "ding"-factor than the other woods.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[crash]

It's impossible to make a Strat neck-heavy. The top horn strap hanger is far enough forward that the neck would probably have to weigh 6 or more pounds to overbalance it. I have a 3lb. Strat body with an Ebony over Pau Ferro neck that has Schaller mini-lockers on it and a dual truss rod. That's a fairly heavy neck (probably very close to 2lbs), and there's no dive to the thing at all. Same with my hollow Mahogany Tele. That body doesn't weigh jack, and in fact the whole guitar only weighs a tad over 6lbs, and no dive there, either.

It's only on some Gibson designs and some basses that you have to deal with neck dive, and that's because the forward strap hanger is too close or behind the center of gravity.
[/quote

I guess I never realized that before.  Now that I think of it, anytime I'be experienced neck dive, it wasn't on a strat.

My bad.  Carry on.