Commonly used body woods for electric guitars and their timbre characteristics
Hello everyone, it’s time for our COVENANT guitar class. Today we continue to talk about the topic of the previous issue “The common body woods and their timbre characteristics of electric guitars”
Mahogany
An accessory to maple, mahogany is typically used as the top and plywood body, and usually the neck wood.
It is also used as a full veneer guitar. As for Gibson’s classic guitars, the Les Paul Jr., Les Paul Special, and SG are all solid mahogany (mahogany necks), and over the years, countless luthiers have used mahogany for solid and semi-solid designs .
Originating in Africa and Central America, Mahogany is very dense, medium to heavy in weight. And can produce bodies of many weights, depending on the source of the wood. Mahogany is warm and somewhat soft in tone, with good balance and nice texture, and generally has a good depth of tone and a full, not tight bass.
Maple
Often used to make the body and neck, maple is a hard, compact, heavy wood, mostly from the Northeast and Northwest regions of the United States and Canada, and is usually used as a plywood body material. Usually with the second lighter woods, all-maple pianos are not unheard of. But due to the nature of the wood, they can be quite heavy. The maple body tone is bright, and the bass is solid and precise. It is a light wood, the texture is compact but not fancy, but there are also In particular, Gibson had Les Pauls in sunbrust from tiger maple in 1950.
Maple is also the body most commonly used on semi-hollow plywood electric guitars, which contributes to firmness and clarity.
Maple+Mahogany
The all-time favorite plywood body wood, maple tops and mahogany backs bring out many of the wood’s best tonal characteristics. The sound of solid maple or mahogany is thick, warm and loud. You can find the smooth, attractive bass of the mahogany with good sustain, and some clarity and a maple tone.
Poplar
Compared with many hardwoods, poplar is relatively soft, and its usage has gradually increased. Asian guitar manufacturers use the body of low-end electric guitars, which looks relatively dull and lacks texture. Although the sound is balanced, the poplar body is relatively There’s no resonance or sustain, and hardly any audio or tone is particularly boosted.
Rosewood
Very precious wood. Commonly used on fretboards, as well as the back and sides of many acoustic guitars. But it is rarely used on electric guitars, George Harrison’s rosewood Telecaster is a famous exception, and Fender made small quantities from 1969 to 1972. Rosewood pianos are heavier and more expensive, and are usually more interested in appearance than sound, or for novelty.
Walnut
Tight and fairly heavy, with a timbre similar to mahogany, sometimes used on electric guitar bodies, the tone tends to be warm and full, the bass is usually firm and overall tight, walnut has a rich tan, grain The pattern is beautiful and would look great with normal gloss paint.
other wood
Exotic woods such as Purple Heart, Hawaiian Acacia, African Rosewood, and Gem Mulberry are commonly used to make custom violins, but cannot be mass-produced. Most of these are hard, firm, and have unique grain patterns. Wood, its natural properties make for a nice color, and is usually one of many used for plywood bodies, spruce and cedar—two of the woods most commonly used for acoustic guitar tops, but rarely on electric guitars structure, although luthiers sometimes use spruce as the top of a semi-hollow electric guitar.