Tonewoods: Body Woods
Alder
About: Dating back to guitar construction in the late 1950's, this is the wood found in more single coil, double cut-away guitars than any other.
Tone: Alder produces a very familiar sound, a "vintage tone” - primarily a thicker, midrange tone. It is very full in the low midrange yet produces enough upper midrange to be clear and articulate.
Finishes: Alder is medium tan in color with little to no pronounced grain pattern. It looks best with Opaque colors, or a select few Transparent colors - such as 3 Color Burst, Tobacco Burst, Transparent Red, Transparent Amber, Transparent Cherry and Transparent Blue.
Basswood
About: This wood gained popularity in the 80s and for a time was probably the most used wood for Floyd Rose equipped guitars of that era.
Tone: It is very light weight and produces a fairly even and full mid-range response throughout the entire band width. Many people feel it is extremely well matched with humbucking pickups because it produces a lot of the same frequencies that humbuckers reproduce. Single coil tones are great as well.
Finishes: Its natural color is light blonde to off-white with little to no discernible grain. For this reason, Opaque finishes are usually chosen for a Basswood body.
Limba
About: Limba (also known as Korina) is considered to be a gem in the tonewood world, reminding people of a golden era in guitar making when manufacturers were beginning to explore more exotic materials.
Tone: Sonically, Limba has a strong, mahogany-like quality, but with more presence. Some may say it is prettier sounding with more high end, and some may say it is brighter.
Finishes: Transparent and Natural finishes show off Limba’s namesake black streaks. Its open grain structure allows for gorgeous applications of TV Blonde, TV White and Dog Hair finishes.
Mahogany
About: Mahogany is a sought after wood that became popular primarily being used on short-scale length guitars since the 1950's.
Tone: It presents with strong, focused and dominant midrange muscle, laying out the frequencies humbuckers most easily reproduce and project. Great for in your face rock sounds, especially when combined with a couple of humbucker pickups.
Finishes: Due to Mahogany's natural reddish. brown color, this mid to mid-heavy weight wood combination looks fantastic with darker and earth tone Transparent colors. Note: for open-pore finishes such as our Dog Hair finishes, Okoume is a better option.
Okoume
About: Okoume is a very favored Mahogany-like tone wood from Africa—so similar, in fact, that it is usually mistaken for Mahogany and often referred to as Equatorial Mahogany.
Tone: Sonically, its Mahogany-like timbre is easily and effortlessly thick, fat and full midrange. Our friend Christopher Johnson did a very in-depth video about it here.
Finishes: Visually, the main difference is a slightly more dramatic and open grain structure, which allows for gorgeous applications of TV Blonde, TV White and Dog Hair finishes.
Roasted Pine
About: You might not think of Pine as a guitar wood, but in recent years many luthiers have taken to this light, sustainable, and tone-full option. The Roasted part means it’s been treated with high temperatures to produce its rich brown color.
Tone: Not as soft and as singularly mid-focused as Basswood, Pine has a more focused bandwidth than either of its Alder or Swamp Ash contemporaries. Beautifully dimensional, with a musical voice all its own.
Finishes: Roasted Pine is dark tan in color with little to no pronounced grain pattern. It looks best with Opaque colors, or the color specific to Roasted Pine called Rustic Brown.
Swamp Ash
About: The other so-called “vintage wood” also began its usage in single cut-away guitars during the early 50's.
Tone: It has a rather scooped out midrange tone with a robust low, low end and beautifully musical sparkling highs. The type of ash we use is Swamp Ash. It is lighter in weight and more porous, producing a timbre that is usually richer and less harsh than heavier ash. A super musical and multifaceted tone emphasizing an abundance of soft, sparkling, high end and rich, low-low end frequencies.
Finishes: Its color is light blonde, highlighted by a darker brown elongated grain pattern. This wood looks extremely good with many Transparent colors.
