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I've got my next guitar purchased narrowed down to Gamp;L Lebacy 2HB. Choices are hardtail with painted alder body OR tremelo with honeyburst swamp ash body. Both models would be with maple neck and fretboard.

I've owned nothing but mahogany bodied guitars. I've read the differences between the tone woods but am curious to see if anyone with first hand experience has any insight to provide. Thanks.

ALDER Unless you wanna go total classic strat... personally I think alder has much better tonal properties.

Rock On!

Alder is the classic quot;rockquot; strat tone...ash is a tad brighter with less mids, at least Swamp ash is...

For single coils I'd go w/ ash, but with dual humbuckers like you've described I'd probably go w/ alder.

Both Xeromus and myself had a swamp ash Gamp;L Invader pass through our hands and we both agreed it was too bright. HOWEVER, it had a JB bridge and maybe a bassier pickup would have tamed it.

I'd stay with alder. Swamp ash is best on Teles, played by country players, who are specifically looking for a snappy hollow sound. At least that's my opinion. I have a swamp ash tele that I like, but I've quickly sold any ash strat I've had.

Personally, I love my ash Hamer Daytona. I'm of the opinion that it's a unique guitar in terms of tone because it isn't overly bright (not unlike me...lol). If you're looking for a real classic strat clean tone, go ash. Otherwise, go alder. IMO.

For single coil strats, I prefer alder. But I've heard a few fender style guitars with swamp ash bodies and humbuckers, and I think that combination works well.

My Legacy is ash, and I love the tone of it. It is bright, but not overly so. I can thicken it up a bit through my Marshall and still cut through.

I've got an alder strat, and an ash ibanez from the early 80's. I even prefer the weight of the ash. Great tone, but to me, there wasn't as huge of a difference in the tone from wood. Might have been a little on the bright side, but that's about it. I put the SD dist. pickup in the neck, and it's a great crunchy rock sound.

maple neck and fretboard swamp ash body trem = bright anemic icepick. Reminded me of what it sounds like if you turn the bass and mids all the way down on your amp and turn the treble all the way up. lol. Well that's an exxageration. But no balls, nothing, no meat, just mosquito.

I dislike swamp ash a great deal for guitar bodies. But I'd heard people that make it sound good. I would always choose alder personally.

With the right pickups and amp, you can tame the brightness of ash, but generally I would recommend alder. I also prefer a hardtail myself, so that's even better.


Originally Posted by the guy who invented fireAlder is the classic quot;rockquot; strat tone...ash is a tad brighter with less mids, at least Swamp ash is...

I rarely disagree with you Christian, but I think alot depends on the weight. Alder is often heavier than Swamp Ash and, IMO, often brighter. My Alder Tele is brighter than either of my swamp ash Teles.,,and it's a little heavier too.

I like my alder Strats.


Originally Posted by Xeromusmaple neck and fretboard swamp ash body trem = bright anemic icepick. .

xeromus-
I've heard others say the same thing, but it's not my expereince and I'm betting it has a lot to do with the pups and possibly the grade of wood, or actual 'swamp' variety of ash.

My favorite strat, hands down, not even close to anything else I have ever played, is a maple neck, swamp ash Zion. I actually like stock Zion swamps almost as much, but there are 2 things that I perceive that help give this guitar a very special sound... it's releativley scooped midrange, has very tight powerful bass, and has slight peak that gives just a hint of treble bite before it rolls off the top end-

1. Joe barden dual rails- These pups just have no comparison in my book- They sing they scream, they bite, all depending on what the amps doing.

2. I dont think this is the major contributor to ashe working good but I also have some pretty diverse wiring - Ability to roll off as much of 2nd blades as I want and series paralel options-

But I've got a buddy with an identical zion that doesn't have the bardens and there's enough differnce that I think the Bardens are key.

Very intersting thread!

I've been reading there can be a great deal of variance from one batch of swamp ash to the next, where as alder tends to be alot more consistent. Any input on this?

I wouldn't know, but my Legacy sounds as ballsy as hell, definately not what you'd normally associate with ash.

I prefer ash

I love the souund of alder strats alot more, great for blues and well anything. But I must say swamp ash is so ****ing sexy, expecially in honeyburst. So cosmetically I like ash more but sound alder is better

Swamp ash is the sh*t to me. Its got a quot;popquot; and liveliness to it that I find lacking in alder. Ash takes to single coils like nobodys business. With that said, dual humbuckers with swamp ash? Nah

Alder is the chicken of wood, it'll sound good with just about anything (not amazing, but good). Dual humbuckers would work with alder (plenty of super strats are made with that wood. However, I think the best dual humbucker sounds come from a mahogany body (whether you want the maple cap is up to you).

This is the way I typically think: single coils go with swamp ash; humbuckers/p90s/Filtertrons/H-S-S setup strat go with mahogany (with or without a cap); and for a different H-S-S or different flavored dual humbucker setup go with alder.