Please refresh the page and try again. All-maple bodies aren’t unheard of—although the weight is usually off-putting—and, on its own, a maple body produces an extremely bright, precise tone with tight lows. Poplar. Wood is another thing I don't get too worked up over - I have guitars w/ Alder, Ash, Poplar, Agathis, Pine, Mahogony, Maple, Basswood ... they all do the job just fine (although Ash is the nicest for showing the grain, IMHO) IronSchef, Aug 12, 2019. Its high end is usually not as over-pronounced as people might think, although it is a characteristically bright neck-wood choice. This is the most popular laminated body type of all time. As with ash, it’s impossible to discuss alder without making reference to Fender, which first used alder prominently in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Poplar is the most expensive sauna wood to buy of all the woods that saunas are made from. Then poplar is better painted. Harvested in Africa and Central America, mahogany is a fairly dense, medium-to-heavy wood that yields a wide range of guitar-body weights, depending upon stock sources. Basswood: the principal wood used on many Japanese made instruments. Best known as the tonewood of Gibson’s radical Modernistic Series of the late 1950s—the flashy Flying V and Explorer—as well as more recent guitars that follow these templates, Korina is a warm, resonant, and balanced performer. Add a rosewood fretboard, and a maple neck’s tonal character becomes a little warmer and sweeter, with more sparkle in the highs and thicker lows (tending towards looser). Summary: Poplar vs. Oak So there you have it: poplar may be a decently tough wood, but it can have ugly greenish or yellowish streaks, and unless you pre-condition it, it won’t take stain well. There is usually good depth to the sound, with full but not especially tight lows, and appealing if unpronounced highs. Alongside maple, mahogany is a classic ingredient in both slab and multi-wood (or laminated) bodies, and is a common neck wood, too. Unfortunately, the whiter the wood, the softer it usually is–and the softer it is, the more blotchy the stain will look. Back in my SRV-wanna-be days! Thank you for signing up to GuitarPlayer. Poplar and alder are very similar tonally. Sonic variables exist not only between woods, but, in subtler degrees, between different guitars made from the “same” wood. A “hardwood” by definition, poplar is actually relatively soft when compared with a range of hardwoods. '.webs.com' : 'none'; --> d.write('')})(); It can be coloured in numerous ways, but for guitar fretboards, it’s most commonly seen with a black appearance similar to ebony. The second most common guitar-neck wood after maple, mahogany is most often coupled with a solid mahogany or mahogany/maple-topped body. Due to its softness, you’ll either have to go through a long pre-stain process or … Ebony also wears very well, and it doesn’t divot under years of finger-and-string pressure nearly as easily as rosewood does. Although well-balanced sonically, poplar bodies aren’t particularly resonant or sustaining, and they generally don’t seem to enhance any particular frequency range or overtones. GuitarPlayer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. ', Fender Unveils New Spark-O-Matic Jazzmaster, Vinyl Treasures: Kenny Burrell’s 'Midnight Blue', Ernie Ball Announces New Volt Pedalboard Power Supply. Nato is a term for several species of Asian hardwood that often used as a substitute for Mahogany in less expensive imported guitars. Poplar vs. Pine: Trim This light-colored wood with a tightly packed grain doesn’t always carry dramatic figuring, but some examples can be spectacular, as most famously seen beneath the sunburst finish on the carved-maple tops of some Gibson Les Pauls from the late 1950s. That's exactly what I believe too. Get the latest news, reviews and product advice straight to your inbox. I think poplar can be a good tone-wood, but selecting an appropriately voiced pickup will be important. So how can I say the most common woods are "unacceptably soft"? to be 540, so Bass. Due to the grey/green color, this wood is used mostly when solid color finishes are to be applied. Usually people resonate toward the white Poplar because it looks the cleanest. Used for both bodies and necks, maple is a dense, hard, and heavy wood, sourced mostly in the Northeast and Northwest United States and Canada. Well as we can see by the chart that "Hard Wood" is just a relative term as the numbers very quite a bit, and according to the numbers when compared to Mahogany both Poplar and Bass wood are way to soft to build a guitar body from and forget about Paulownia that stuff is a Bad joke some one played on guitar players. I'll be using the published Janka Wood Hardness Scale. That's why in the early days, Fender used pine and other cheaper woods for guitar bodies. One of my all-time favorite strats was a poplar-bodied Wayne's World model. ... Pine terpene (specifically pinene) is used in the production of insecticide. They're both pretty squishy, as hardwoods go. Cost per lin. The colors can be appealing in their natural states, and they are usually used as one ingredient of many in a multi-wood body. They look pretty nice and I am now convinced that I do not know whether Fender or Sweetwater has made the goof. A popular upmarket pairing, the ebony fretboard contributes to a little more tightness, clarity, and definition, as compared to the mahogany/rosewood neck. Note also that a player’s choice of an all-maple or maple/rosewood neck might come down to feel (or even appearance) as much as sound. colonial casing: $1.20 to $2.30 3-5/8-in. When it comes to tonewoods used in the construction of guitars, there are many points that need to be considered. Good swamp ash is both light and resonant, and generally carries a broad grain that looks great under a translucent finish. In simple terms, rosewood’s contribution to a maple neck smooths and “furs up” the solid-maple sound. So we’re looking at roasted pine -people worry about it being soft, though some species are softer than other. Re: Poplar vs Basswood 03-19-2008, 02:21 PM Hi Paul; the Janka scale which is a relative measure of a wood's hardness shows Bass. IronSchef, Aug 12, 2019 #3. The difference in price is pretty big poplar vs. pine (the pine being close to 1/2 the price, with the added benefit of coming pre-primed). Could go either way for me. Rosewood makes for a very heavy and overly bright-sounding guitar—and an expensive one, too—that is typically more of interest for looks and novelty factor than for tone. Also, the mids tend to have a little more openness. Most importantly, the tonewoods we offer include many species that are tonally superior to the standard guitar wood species utilized in decades past. Poplar: one of the softer hardwoods, nicely resonant with a meaty tone. The woods used to build guitars—acoustic guitars in particular—are called tonewoods, and they have enormous effects on the sound and price of an instrument. I have also uploaded the video from my Youtube channel. Whether in the form of a solid, one-piece neck with integral fretboard, or a neck with an added fretboard of a second type of wood (usually rosewood), maple is easily the most common type of neck wood used in solidbody guitars. Summary: synthetic, durable material with a balanced tone and consistent feel that doesn’t wear out. © however most woods will warp if you where to make a one piece body from them, let me explain why this can happen, a guitar body is about 13" wide at this width most of the wood is going to be flat sawed with the wood grain running horizontal  and not quarter sawed with  the wood grain running vertical(I will update this with photos soon) when the guitar body is routed for neck, pickups and controls it leaves a recess near the center of the body which causes relief and the guitar body will shrink in that direction causing it to warp or it will take in moisture in the freshly opened end grain and warp in the opposite direction however on a 2 piece body you would most likely glue the 2  quarter sawed ends of the wood together and it is very unlikely that quarter sawed wood will warp in this manner gluing the wood in this manner would also make the center of the guitar much stronger and stiffer which would give the guitar better tone and much more sustain. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, Used on its own, mahogany’s characteristic tone is warm and somewhat soft, but well balanced with good grind and bite. Like ash, alder is most often used on its own as a body wood. It tends to be warm and full, but usually with a firmer low end, and more overall tightness. Longleaf Pine is more than twice as hard as Bass wood and almost as hard as soft maple. You will receive a verification email shortly. ft. 5-1/4-in. the Burstbucker 1 & 2 humboogies, don't sound nearly as good in that poplar guitar as they do in a mahogany guitar. Although pine is sturdy and heavy, it’s not as heavy as oak. You can dent it with a stern look.