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Hey guys... Curly just told me that the weights of ash bodys vary alot... so if I have a heavier piece of the same type of wood... will it have better sustain than the lighter one?
thanks

For the most part, yes. Like everything, there are exceptions though.

I usually prefer lighter pieces of wood. I've always thought that when talking about 2 pieces of the same material, the lighter is less dense (or more porous) and the heavier more dense (less porous). IMO, the more porous wood will be able to resonate more, thus creating more sustain.

Think about standing in a room, say 20' x 20'. If there are 20 people in the room, you have much more room to move about than you would if there were 200 people.

EDIT: Now that I really stop and think about it, if the body resonates more that means the sound waves are leaving the body into the air more quickly. To have more sustain they'd have to stay IN the body longer, so perhaps I had it wrong.

according to the laws of physics, wave travel faster if the atoms are closer to each other ie in denser material.for eg wave travels faster in solid than in liquid than in gas.
faster in denser wood than in less denser wood. if the volume is the same, more dense == more weight.

i have no idea how that affects sustain tho.

my experience-
heavy guitar=more sustain, worse tone
light guitar=better tone, less sustain

slade

I bega playing in 1980-1 and I remember that there was a belief that the heavier the guitar the better the tone and sustain. In fact, my 1982 strat weighs around 10lbs and so to most Les Pauls of that time. Later on, I've noticed that the trend has changed for a while and lighter guitars where more appreciated. I have a Tom Anderson classic which is much lighter than my strat but sustains the same. These days it's pretty much either way. In summary, I would say that, irrespectively of their weight, good guitars sustain well and bad ones don't

M.


Originally Posted by MarinbluesIn summary, I would say that, irrespectively of their weight, good guitars sustain well and bad ones don't

Yeah I'm guessing build quality parts used will have just as big an impact as the wood

I'm sure one of the luthiers on the board will clear it up though

Of course, a lot more goes into sustain than just wood. An ultra light alder bodied strat will sustain a lot more than an 11 lb Les Paul if the LP has crappy hardware and the Strat has great hardware. Plus, if a set neck is done wrong (too much glue), it will sustain noticeable less than a well done bolt on neck.

Most offff the shelf Les Pauls I read about these days = 9 to 13 lbs.

Custom Shop Les Paul = 6 to 8 lbs.

I'll leave the figuring upto you.


Originally Posted by screamingdaisyMost offff the shelf Les Pauls I read about these days = 9 to 13 lbs.

Custom Shop Les Paul = 6 to 8 lbs.

I'll leave the figuring upto you.

are u trying to say that Custom Shop Les Paul's have less sustain then the cheaper ones?



I think he's saying that if Custom Shop LPs weigh less, than weight must not help sustain. The thing is, those are chambered bodies.


Originally Posted by screamingdaisyMost offff the shelf Les Pauls I read about these days = 9 to 13 lbs.

Custom Shop Les Paul = 6 to 8 lbs.

I'll leave the figuring upto you.

6 pound les paul!????? The lightest I've heard of was like 7 lbs 3 oz
my custom shop paul is exactly 9 pounds, that seems to be the average for historic. 9-10 seems to be the average for production les pauls


Originally Posted by mnbaseball91I think he's saying that if Custom Shop LPs weigh less, than weight must not help sustain. The thing is, those are chambered bodies.

dude i know. i was just kidding.

but contributing to the thread. weight does NOT equal sustain, it can go either way. But in most cases a very light peice of tone wood is very resonant and therefore more lively and sustaining.


Originally Posted by mnbaseball91I think he's saying that if Custom Shop LPs weigh less, than weight must not help sustain. The thing is, those are chambered bodies.

only the class 5 les pauls and the cloud 9 les pauls(which are discontinued) have chambered bodies. Everything else in the custom shop is solid


Originally Posted by pac112dude i know. i was just kidding.Sorry, I'm clueless that way.

I think the moral of the story is that there isn't really a direct comparison between weight and sustain.


Originally Posted by ledzepp296 pound les paul!????? The lightest I've heard of was like 7 lbs 3 oz
my custom shop paul is exactly 9 pounds, that seems to be the average for historic. 9-10 seems to be the average for production les pauls

Yeah, I should've typed 7-9 but I f*cked up.

Here's an interesting article on Les Pauls that has some info on guitar wieghts and whatnot;

from : localhost//forum/showt...055#post477055

imo, sustain is governed not only by the weight of the body wood but a combination of body and neck wood, fingerboard and hardware.

what's your defination of sustain? i would like to think all wood sustain to a certain degree, but not overly less or more than any kind or weight of wood. i don't expect a piece of heavy mahogany to sustain 5 minutes more than a light piece of mahogany or swamp ash over alder etc.

what i am saying is, sustain is probably no more than a matter of seconds between different weight of the same wood or different species of wood. what's more important than the obsession on sustain should be how weight affects the tone of the guitar.

i have a couple of swamp ash strat bodies of different weight. i played them using the same neck, hardware and pickups and realized that the heavier bodies tend to have too much highs and lows while my lightest piece (slightly less than 4lbs) has the best tone. more 'airyness' and resonance with a better balanced throughout the frequency spectrum.

i am not a professional on guitars or wood. but that was the result of my experiment. i have yet to do this on mahogany, alder or any other wood. but based on the organic structure of wood, i am sure this will not differ much on any other wood. however, tone is subjective. what i like might not be your cup of tea.

guess what i am saying is, we should use tone in relation to weight as a basis of picking out a piece of wood rather than sustain in relation to weight. in addition, lighter wood will be more back-friendly while gigging and more sustain can be achieved using a compressor that does not colour the original tone of the guitar much.

just my .02.
dani