swamp ash

phaeton

now then, i presume you luthier types here know your wood so here goes; tell me about swamp ash.

i often read about swamp ash being lighter than hard ash and ive got a strat with a 2 piece swamp body and it weighs a ton.

i think its about 1mm thicker than a standard body but its a good 40 -50% heavier than my jag.

also, what tonal differences does it have to hard ash? the fret board is maple.

funtoosh

my framus diablo is swamp ash, it's pretty light. i'm no luthier, but i think there simply is a lot of variation in swamp ash, some being light, some ... not.

robertoriginal

..... this comes up like every 3 months....

im on the "it makes no difference" side of the fence.

here is my main argument.

a solid body bolt on guitar reflects little to NONE of the actual wood. that is left up to the pickups, amps, pedals, and playing style. thats where the "tone" comes from.

I USED TO BE ON THE OTHERE END THO! i used to believe that glue lines stopped crucial vibration. but its all crap.

a couple times i have made exact copies of certain gear i have had, set it up and what not. and well... it always sounded the same in reality.

Things like archtops and acoustics have a tru "taptone" and that changes with the carve/ thickness of the (top) wood.

so yeah, wood only matters on acoustic instruments,(IMO)

funtoosh

that sounds pretty well-founded to me, robert. i think the most important factors are the weight, and the looks of the body wood.

and what about fretboard wood? i always thought it was pretty exaggerated to think that maple makes a substantially different tone than rosewood.

Fran

Swamp Ash has small air pockets (natural habitat?), it was originally desired because it was lighter in weight but still had good tone. But of course there are different grades/quality levels, just like mahogany and everything else.

I agree with most of what Robert said, after 20 years of playing i believe a lot of the claims about tonewood and stuff is nonsense. I think construction and mass are the main two areas where wood can make a difference, the rest is marginal to the point of being un-noticeable.

Evidence: The Les Paul. No bolt-on neck guitar or slimline body guitar will sound like a Les Paul.

This is all circumstancial too. Through a Boss GT6 multi-fx everything sounds the same, i'm talking guitar>valve amp, clean or on crunch. In that 'pure' setting a Les Paul stands on its own, and so does the Strat and the hollow bodys.. but for different reasons.

phaeton

really nothing to worry about then.

i just found it strange that it was so heavy really, as long as its good stuff.

tragictravisty

supposedly allot like alder but with less lower mids