Question:
I got a Heavy Metal Squier a few months back and for the most part the hardware is top fucking notch shit. The Floyd Rose Whammy is very well made as are the tuning keys made by Ping. The pickups are fucking hot, the humbucker is a Dimarzio Super distortion and I am betting dimes to dollars the single coils are Dimarzios as well. They sound better than the Texas set in my son's Squier. The neck has got to be one of the best necks I have ever played on. Its not the atypical Fender neck that has no angle on the head. Its look like a high end Jackson or Charvel...maybe Ibanez quessing by the shape of the head and its nice 7degree angle, I think its 7, its kind of hard to measure now that I don't have my protractors anymore. The draw back is the body, and its a big motherfuckin drawback. Back then a lot of companies were using Plywood in their "lowend" axes. When I'm rockin out with distortion its not so bad, but when I try and play low gain stuff there is absolutely no ring out, It sounds dead as shit, absolutely no tone at all, and forget any kind of sustain unless I'm using the tube overdrive I have.
This leads to my question, I am looking for a new body, and I want to stay wit hthe current design which to be honest looks like a Charvel,Jackson, or Ibanez of the day (late 80s). I really don't want to use a Strat body as I don't want to have to invest in the Xtra hardware such as Pickguard, extra pot, Input jack etc. In fact my input jack is a very nice quality peice of work.A real nice inset one that doesnt use a mounting plate, gives it a nice and clean look.
I don't want bass wood so I have been looking at quite a few different makes and have even ran across a couple thta were made out of Maple, and even Elm. Wouldn't Maple give it an overly bright tone, and what kind of tone does Elm give? I'm familiar with Ash, Alder, and Mahogany, but what other species are common to find in some custom made bodies and what kind of tone would one expect to get from an axe made with them? I'm kind of in unfamiliar water as I've never had to replace a guitar body before.

Answer:
Sorry, I'm not reading all that.:poke:

Answer:
Sorry, I'm not reading all that.:poke: Then why reply?
To answer your question, maple will give the axe a pretty bright tone. I would stick with something like Alder. Warmoth might have a body type that would work, if not im pretty sure the USA custom guitars will make you a custom body.

Answer:
Sorry, I'm not reading all that.:poke: :idk: :freak: :idk:
Then why reply?
I answer your question, maple will give the axe a pretty bright tone. I would stick with something like Alder. Warmoth might have a body type that would work, if not im pretty sure the USA custom guitars will make you a custom body.
Thats what I figured about the maple. I've never heard of a body made of Elm until I saw one yesterday patterned after a BC Rich guitar. I remember when Fender started making the Squier. Back then they were a cheaper guitar than say the Strat or a lot of other guitars but they weren't priced at a mee $150 either. Im impressed with the quality of hardware they put on it, butthat plywood body just kind of blows it. I bought it expecting to change out the body anyway because it has chunk of wood ta out of it at the bottom of the neck pocket. judging from the damge they must have had it apart when the body got struck because the neck is in perfect condition.
I want a bright tone but not hella bright. Something with nice sustain that kind of rings a bit as the chords start to fade out. I did find a custom strat style body with an American flag painted on it though:cop:

Answer:
do a net search for "guitar tonewoods". You will probably come across sites that describe the various woods.
there is one to get you started.
Wood alone isnt the only contributor to the amount of sustain your guitar will achieve. Your hardware, pickups, finish and neck (neck joint also) will have an effect too. Sometimes the problem is in the whammy bar.
I recently had a luthier build me "gibson" moderne copy guitar using a photo as his guide. He routed it for a whammy at my request. THIS KILLED the sustain. We then built a second one this time with a gibson style bridge (same wood. alder). Sustain for days. Wood type wasnt the problem in my case. It was the whammy rout or something.
Alder is my favorite go to all purpose wood. Its the best of all worlds. Not too dark. Not too bright.
I dont think plywood automatically adds up to "bad sustain". I have a korean made danelectro which is made of some kind of weird plywood but I dont have any kind of adverse sustain issues with that guitar at all.

Answer:
my friend got a strat made of koa wood it sounded great with the 3 single coils it came with great sustain. he then ordered a prewired pickgaurd w/ 2 humbuckers for $40+shipping, all that had to be done was to hook it up to the input jack.i don't remember the name of the company but the pups are pretty hot and with the koa combination it makes the strat sound way heavier than a strat should sound.

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Maple isn´t always super bright. I have a Jackson Phil Collen that´s all maple, and even though it´s bright it´s not so bright you would ever think about it. But then again, no two bodies of the same wood sound perfectly alike.

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Maple isn´t always super bright. I have a Jackson Phil Collen that´s all maple, and even though it´s bright it´s not so bright you would ever think about it. But then again, no two bodies of the same wood sound perfectly alike. You sure, according to the website they just have maple tops and mahogany bodies.

Answer:
I got a Squier a few months back and the hardware is top fucking notch shit. the tuning keys made by Ping. The neck has got to be one of the best necks I have ever played on. Its look like a high end Jackson or Charvel...maybe Ibanez quessing by the shape of the head and its nice 7degree angle, I think its 7, its kind of hard to measure now that I don't have my protractors anymore. :lol: :snax:

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Heres a page of wood descriptions.

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You sure, according to the website they just have maple tops and mahogany bodies. It´s not a PC1, it´s his old archtop model from the early nineties. It predates their current way of naming the models with two letters and a number, so it´s called simply a "Phil Collen".

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It´s not a PC1, it´s his old archtop model from the early nineties. It predates their current way of naming the models with two letters and a number, so it´s called simply a "Phil Collen". Gotcha.
Isn't one of George Lynch's guitars all maple too.

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I think all the classic Lynches are maple aside from the Skulls and snakes... and they are generally pretty darn bright! The Screamin´Demon that´s in there is bright as well, of course, but even unplugged or with other pickups they have that trebly and cutting tone. At least the ones I´ve tried.

Answer:
do a net search for "guitar tonewoods". You will probably come across sites that describe the various woods.
there is one to get you started.
Wood alone isnt the only contributor to the amount of sustain your guitar will achieve. Your hardware, pickups, finish and neck (neck joint also) will have an effect too. Sometimes the problem is in the whammy bar.
I recently had a luthier build me "gibson" moderne copy guitar using a photo as his guide. He routed it for a whammy at my request. THIS KILLED the sustain. We then built a second one this time with a gibson style bridge (same wood. alder). Sustain for days. Wood type wasnt the problem in my case. It was the whammy rout or something.
Alder is my favorite go to all purpose wood. Its the best of all worlds. Not too dark. Not too bright.
I dont think plywood automatically adds up to "bad sustain". I have a korean made danelectro which is made of some kind of weird plywood but I dont have any kind of adverse sustain issues with that guitar at all. When I'm using my tube overdrive it has sustain for days, what I don't like is the overall dead tone it has. Plywood is simply layered panels of veneer glued so that each shet layer per layer has its grain run perpindicular to the sheet below it. Not like a nice all wood body that when are playing clean will , the best way I can describe it is "sing its own song. IT reverbrates and transmits those vibrations in a wavelength that the pickups will pickup and add to the overall tone of the axe. You can feel these vibrations in the guitar when you strike the strings playing a chord and even hear them whn the guitar is unplugged
With the guitar unpluugged play a chord and put your ear to the body, what you her is that guitars own personal tone, it sings. Plywood guitars don't do this the virtaions cease very quickly, absorbed in the cross hatch of wood grain. The same properties that make plywood so strong anddurable are the same properties that cause it be pretty toneless in a guitar. In an amp cabinet its another story all together.
I do know about the fact that the tru tone bridge such as what comes stock on a LesPaul and even my Sanatoga are better at transmitting these vibrations from the strings to the wood than some whammy bars. Khaler, nad FLoyd Rose bridges could be trickys as they stay in place by the tension of the strings on top and the recoil springs on the bottom. Strat style floating bridges might be different as thay are anchored to the guitar by 6 small screws on top and the recoil springs on bottom. The Floyd Rose however can be lifted off while stringing by simply removing the springs. All such things contribute to overall tone as well. So in this case I completly agree with you. Since I love the Floyd Rose so much I pay special attention to how the rest of the axe is made, with what material, and hardware...mainly pickups!
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