Best Wood for Electric Guitar Body

Aug 15, 2022 musiccorners

Best Wood for Electric Guitar – Surely many of you already know about the types of wood that are widely used to make a guitar, or maybe even further, already know the tone character of these types of wood in the process of making a guitar. Starting from the process of selecting the felled tree, to the process of finishing a guitar.

Will the type of wood affect the sound of the guitar? the answer is ‘yes’. In fact, two guitars made from the same tree will sound slightly different. But I will not go into that detail, because it will certainly be very long, it will even end in one book.

I will discuss in general several types of wood that are generally made by several guitar manufacturers, as well as the tone character produced from these types of wood.

The following types of wood are usually used as guitar body materials. Choose which is the best wood for electric guitar according to your character.

The Type of Wood for Electric Guitar Body

Alder

The easiest example to recognize what the character of this wood is like, we can hear on guitars – guitars from Fender, or guitars used by guitarists in the 80s. In tonality, this wood has a character that is in the middle; not too bright and not too warm (low), with good sustain. This type of wood guitar is widely used for rock music, especially rock music in the 80s.

Ash

This type of wood has a character that is almost like alder but is a little brighter and more “twangy”. The most notable thing about this wood is the interesting wood groove. An example of a guitar that often uses this wood is Fender.

Basswood

Wood is easily available and has an affordable price, so guitars that use this type of wood are often associated with economical guitars. Although not entirely true. In fact, this wood has a good tone and it is not uncommon for guitar manufacturers to use this type of wood for high-end guitars and produce good quality. The main characteristic of this type of wood is its light weight with a sound that tends to be warmer than alder. Examples of guitars that use this wood the most are; Ibanez.

Maple

With a hard character, we often encounter maple wood as the main material for guitar necks. The tonality of this wood is bright, whereas the use of maple wood for the neck also contributes to producing a tight and cut sound (appears/sounds between dense musical compositions).

Rosewood

This is the type of wood that is most often used on various guitar fretboards. Its dark color and distinctive wood grain make this wood easily recognizable by guitarists. Tonally, this wood has a slightly warmer character than maple.

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Mahogany

Like maple, mahogany is a material often used to make guitars – both for the body and the neck. You can hear this wooden character through the sound of a Gibson, Les Paul, or SG guitar. The tonality of mahogany wood is warm (low) and tends to sound soft. This wood has a fairly heavy weight and is arguably often used by modern musicians because of its warm and punchy tone character. The combination of mahogany or maple is a wood composition that is often used by guitar manufacturers, because it produces a sound that is deep, tight, and also with good punch and sustain. These guitars generally tend to be more expensive.

Through the above review, we can find out some types of wood that are often used by guitar manufacturers. Although some types of wood have characters that are identified with one type of music genre, it does not mean that the wood is not suitable to be played in other genres. Although there are many other factors that affect the sound of our guitar. Like the construction of the guitar to the electronic components in it (which we will discuss in the next article). However, by understanding the character of wood, we will be more concerned with the character of the guitar that we play and we can know where the Best Wood for Electric Guitar is. The knowledge that can enrich our guitar sound and choose the right guitar.