GUITARS

	Body Styles
	Pickups
	Bridges
	Neck Joints
	Woods

Buying an Electric Guitar -- Woods

While the pickups will affect the overall sound, the woods used can play a big part in the sound and performance of your guitar. Think of it this way; if you have a singer (or guitar) with a great voice with a bad microphone (or pickup), you still know that the singer is good. But a great microphone (or pickup) used by a bad singer (or guitar) -- well, it all starts with the wood.

CHOOSING BODY WOODS
One wood or a combination of woods is used to produce a specific tone. In general, light woods sound warmer than heavy woods. Sonic qualities aside, make sure the guitar's weight is manageable for you. An aching shoulder is not what you need.

Alder -- full and rich, with fat low-end, nice cutting mids, and good overall warmth and sustain. Alder is one of the "traditional" lightweight body woods and is relatively inexpensive. Its grain is not very distinct, so it is usually painted in solid colours.

Ash -- exhibits a "snappier" tone with a bright edge but with a warm bass and long sustain. Light coloured, medium weight with an attractive grain, ash is the other "traditional" body wood.

Poplar -- nicely resonant with a meaty tone and similar sound characteristics to alder. Lightweight with a soft grain pattern, it's lighter in colour than alder and usually painted.

Basswood -- great sounding with a tonal response similar to alder. It's lightweight but a little soft, so basswood guitars need to be well taken care of.

Mahogany -- provides deep, warm mids, good sustain and nice "bite," and is famous for its heavy "crunch." It's a hard, heavy wood with an open grain and a reddish colour.

Maple -- punchy and bright with a nice bite on the high end. Because it's very heavy, it's often used only as a laminated top and not for the entire body. Maple can be highly decorative with "flame" and "quilted" grain patterns, finished with a transparent colour that allows the grain to shine through.

Cort G250
basswood body

Samick AV5
mahogany body

Dean Hardtail
mahogany body, flame maple top

Samick TR2
mahogany body, quilted maple top

NECK WOODS
The neck withstands the pull of the strings and is the guitar's backbone. Therefore, it's made of extremely hard wood or a composite (the type of strong, lightweight material used in tennis rackets and fishing poles). If it's wood, it is usually maple or mahogany, and for a good reason. They are durable, stable, attractive, affordable woods requiring little maintenance. The neck joint may have a greater impact on sound than the neck wood.

FINGERBOARD WOODS
The fingerboard is generally made from rosewood, ebony, or maple. The warmest sounding fingerboards are maple, followed by rosewood, and ebony is the brightest. If you want more sustain, go with rosewood. Ebony and maple are better suited to faster playing styles where a quick decay is preferred. This is just a guide, though. Plenty of musicians play fast on rosewood fingerboards, and some musicians get fat sustain on ebony.