Mark Vinciguerra Luthier @ VCS Guitars, does a tap tone test between Alder, Basswood & Poplar! Let your ears decide! www.vcustomshop.com #vcustomshop.com #vcsbasses #vcsguitars #customguitar #custombass #luthier
This does have an effect on the transient attack of the note and how much high end content is let through. Also effects the amount of natural compression during that initial note energy. Certain build formulas dont allow these qualities to even rise to the surface. Once you build a few instruments using a thoughtful process from start to finish you realize what really effects the final product. The proper explanation using simple physics is a long read which ive gone through many times. All these videos disproving tone woods showing different necks on the same body etc, are amateur science projects. These videos usually involve build philosophies that are hardly effected by wood selection, they are also usually guitars not basses. An electric bass guitar is one of the most dynamic instruments and really shows the limitations of its design when the strings are dug into aggressively. Sampson Stringed Instruments
My whole 6 piece ludwig is made of 7 ply poplar. Nice sounding kit, nice sounding wood. Ludwig also makes a kit with maple wood in the middle sandwiched between to poplar plys. But crazy expensive.
Remarkable. As a youth I would glue up pieces of basswood and make model jet airliners(dad was a woodworker and and as a youth observed WW2 bombers that flew practice flights over his home that he carved model bombers out of cedar). Light but reasonably strong for what it was.
@@GabrielBarbosa-sn5ys The difference in pitch is definitely all about the size of the piece. I was listening to the overtones, or the lack of….. the purity of note, regardless of pitch. I should’ve cut (tuned) them to the same pitch for a better illustration.
Hello! I feel basswood lacks definition on the low area of the sound, thinking of a bass guitar. It's probably my dear basswood instrument that is cheap and unbalanced, but I feel alder is tighter (for the lack of words), for example. I would like to ask if you know if the types of woods have freq. areas of resonance or lack of resonance that one could try to work on eq. This video gave me an interesting perspective. Thanks for that.
Expensive EVH guitars have basswood body. They do have a maple in top I believe. My 90’s Japanese Fender strat has a basswood body and it has a nice deep bass to it when played unplugged. For what it is worth.
@@nieko3038 whate you hear acoustically is being drained from the string. My experience is that the electric signal of basswood bodies generally don't have as strong low bass as Alder or Mahogany. Ash seems to have the best low bass.
Hi, just about to do a very cheap guitar (strat style kit) with a poplar body. Would this be suitable for a thin vintage style finish or is poplar too soft? I had a highway 1 stratocaster in black that was alder and that dented if you weren't careful but also had a very thin finish. Thanks 🙏🏻
@@VCustomShop I have found a solid spruce body for my new tele project. Is that about the same softness as a basswood? Itst unbelively light and beautiful. Its also close to pine as i see, when we talk about softness.
Recently purchased a Epiphone SG Special. I like buying cheap guitars and modding them to be a decent player. I have a couple of the cheap Epiphones and am super happy with their playability and tone. After a little elbow grease and replacing the tuners, which is a must on cheap Epiphones. So I get this SG and it’s sounds ok until I go to play something with chunk to it. Like heavy downstrokes and palm muting. Sounds thin compared to the other guitars. Changed pickups, same result. Changed wiring and pots, same result. Come to find out it’s a poplar body…the other guitars are basswood. Long story short, I’m selling the poplar body guitar. Stay away from poplar if you play rock or metal.
Interesting how many different opinions and personal experiences there are about "tonewood" and solid body electric guitars. Some saying it is all in the pickups, and others that the body wood makes a big difference in the final tone of the guitar. Even with a change in pickups, wiring and pots in this example, the sound apparently did not change. One thing that I do know being a cabinetmaker and furniture builder, is that there are many species of Poplar wood available to build things with. There is also a variance in the density from one slab to another depending not only on species, but also the size and age of the tree that the slab came from, as well as where on the log the slab was cut. Lumber cut from logs can be processed as Live sawn, Plain/Flat sawn or Quarter sawn. These different lumber cuts will all have fairly widely varying characteristics depending on how they are used and placed in a finished product, like a guitar body or neck. Lots of variables, just in wood selection. Processing costs among the various cut methods , even within a single species, also vary widely which is reflected in the price of the wood used and the final cost of the instrument itself.
Excellent points I never really considered. I think it ultimately comes down to each individual guitar. I never would have believed that the wood, and all its variables, would’ve made such a difference in an electric guitar. Until I bought a guitar that just didn’t have the sound that I’m used to. And then to change all the electronics out and it still sound the same…basically sounds like it has less output. It’s very confusing.
@@125grizzle That would lead me to surmise that the density of that particular wood, body and neck both perhaps, is low enough to affect the natural resonance of the instrument overall. It could be leading to sort of an "absorption" of some of the sound (vibrations) that should have been available to be "pulled out" of the guitar. One of the first things that I do during the initial evaluation of a particular electric guitar, is to play it and especially while strumming it acoustically. Some guitars just feel sort of dead, from a natural resonance standpoint. Others seem to come alive in my hands and sound and feel good, vibration and resonance wise, even before being plugged in. Ideas to consider?
This debate doesnt need to be a thing; simply go to a store and try two identical guitar models where the only difference in specs is the wood. Like try the pine vs alder versions of the American Professional ii, and decide FOR YOURSELF if its different to you. If not great, if so, great, it only affects you.
I believe the whole design philosophy of a fender instrument does not allow different wood choices to manifest. It is built around the pickup and designed to be consistently fender like.
Just listening to the overtones….. not really pitch. Otherwise they would all have to be the same dimensions and thickness…… but of course that would have nothing to do with a guitar shape with holes in it and hardware mounted to it! Lol, this was just to hear the overtones or clarity of the pitch produced.
@@VCustomShopIf alder's a better "tonewood" than basswood, why do people say mij fenders sound better than mim fenders? There's a cognitive disconnect somewhere...or idiots just repeating what some gear snob said on a forum
I agree with you I view it like this God gave Leo Fender, the knowledge of woods for creating instruments. When we start experimenting with other woods, it just doesn’t come out the same.. Alder is No.1 for bass
The fact that the foundation, where these pieces of wood were standing on, couldn't affect the natural frequency should give you idea that wood wouldn't affect the natural frequency of the strings as well :) Damping from guitar body may affect the sustain only, not the frequency range. I'm talking about electric guitar, of course.
Yeah, definitely won’t affect the frequencies of the strings, but the way the instrument sustains those frequencies and allows them to resonate (as you stated above), but potentially the most important thing that is influenced (on a solid body bass) is the transient or attack of the note. The more dense (or bright) that the mass of the bass is, the more snap and fast bright transients that there will be. I found there to be a limit on the density where the bass has a ton of natural compression on the notes….. bright and snappy with no butt!! But those are not these woods….. lol
How do you figure that? Strings exert pressure, which increases tension on the wood. That should increase the pitch. The fundamental heard should be the freq that drains most string energy, but there can be more than one strong resonance, as in that piece of poplar. The neck also has such resonances. String energy can also be drained at various freq's by the surface fibers under the frets, and at freq's not heard acoustically. I had a cheap neck that absorbed almost all high end acoustically and electrically, but had great midrange sustain compared to another neck of the same model. Wood is unpredictable.
Basswood guitar bodies are crap. I bought a new guitar, Strat style, 15 days ago : The body is too light and the guitar is always leaning forward when I play standing up with a strap which is extremely tiring because you have to raise it constantly while playing, but the worse is that after less than 20 hours of careful use in my home studio it split on several sides above and below the joint on the neck. Basswood guitars = money thrown in the trash. NEVER buy this. My other strats are made of ash or mahogany but I have tried one made of alder long time ago, it was too light, even much lighter than basswood, the neck was leaning down instantly while playing, horrible.
@@AlbertoMuse My good US stratocasters are made of ash tree and my good chinese clones are made of mahoganny, they are easy to play and don't have any issue. Alder strats whatever the price and chinese clones made of basswood are too light and their neck is leaning down which is very tiring. I even can't understand how some guitarists may prefer a light guitar. My favourite US older strat (79 25th Anniversary) is made of ash tree and has a better sustain than any Gibson and more power than a Telecaster, it weights more than a Les Paul. But a guitar is not a 5 or 6 string bass and even a little french guy weighing less than 55 kg like me has no problem holding a well balanced guitar weighing 1 kg more for 4 hours...
It is not basswood fault. I have Japan made Ibanez RG made of basswood it it has great balance, relatively heavy weight for superstrat, great sustain and attack. I also had Japan made Jackson Dinky. It was made of alder but got too light weight, leaning forward when I play standing up with a strap (as in your case), very thin tone and weak sustain. Also I had two 80s American made Fender Stratocasters. They were alder made and were great. Great balance and tone. I played Korean Ibanez made of mahogany that was great too and Indonesian Ibanez made of Ash that was crap, while American made Ash Peavay was fantastic. So my conclusion is basswood as any other wood piece can be good cut or bad cut. And I would like mention high end guitar builders like Suhr and MusicMan oftenly use basswood for their expencive guitars.
@dv8322 The main issue with basswood (and alder and all other light woods) is not that it splits (the expensive Fender relics and time machine have splits and cracks made on purpose to make them artificially older than they are) but that they are too light to be well balanced and it's very tiring to play permanently trying to raise a neck always leaning down. If I bought this guitar it's because it's the only 24 frets strat perfect replica that I ever found in my life, so I like my "crap" very much for this reason and the fact that I like how it sounds and I am testing a way to make it heavier adding metal under the pickguard. Be sure that I 'll never buy a light 21 or 22 frets strat whatever the price ! Since it seems you prefer light guitars just explain how you feel always fighting and struggling with your neck trying to avoid it leaning down while playing ? It's a real mystery to me and a real question.
@@OrkhanJulfa So if you have seen balanced basswood or alder guitars it would mean that these woods may have very different densities. Because necks are always about the same weight. Honestly all alder Fender strats I tried were much too light, the neck instantly leaning down, I remember trying a 1979 strat and it was awful for me. The seller saying "well it's alder..." !
