[QUOTE=blindreality]
I am looking into building an electric guitar and could use some information on a couple topics.
The first is what wood would you suggest to build the body out of? i see that Basswood is popular and so is swamp ash. I am considering using Paulownia. It is light and comes from a very fast growing tree. Has anyone tried this wood?
How large should the body blank be? Most seem to be around 1 3/4" to 2" thick, 14 Wide, and 21 or so long. Would 1 1/2" thick work or should I get 1" boards and join them?
For the top I have a 15/16" set of spalted maple. I like it and would like to find someone to mill it into 2-3 sets. Any suggestions on who to use for this?
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basswood is great, i have a bastardized tele with a bass wood body and it has been great for me since day one. i personally find that construction is more imortant than the wood used for the body. i find its nigh on impossible to tell what an electric is made from by ear alone, there are just too many other factors that affect the tone. Generally its fair to say that a heavier wood gives more sustain (more mass for the string energy to bounce back from) and a lighter wood gives a bit more tone/ character whatever. ie a new danelectro, virtually made from mdf, sounds cool. gibson lp, mahogany, sounds cool.
if you want something that looks great, thats a different kettle of fish, the spalt you mentioned is nice (what a cool lp pic by the way - the figure looks partially like the batman 'sign'!) whatever floats your boat. as long as the wood is sound, the tone is 90+% coming from the p/ups, fx and amp anyway. good luck, please post loads of pics!
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