Strat style guitars - Alder or Swamp Ash?

[Calebz]

I haven't had a strat in 30 years. I'm eyeballing a few different cheap-ish strats and copies. I don't really have the option of trying most of them. most of them are alder, but there are a few swamp ash bodies in the pile as well. So I put it to the brain trust here - Ash or Alder bodies?

Tone, weight, other factors?

Which way to go?

Does it even matter?

Awe me with your deep and powerful wisdom, oh Marshall forum hivemind.

(I'm not much into emulating other people's tones, but if I had to pick a target, it would be Wish You Were Here era Gilmour)

 

[jeffb]

 

[Derek S]

^^^ That guy cracks me up!

I prefer alder for my super strats, just feel like it's the perfect balance of lows, mids and highs, an ideal body wood IME, the others tend to make me have to experiment more with pickups, necks and fret board types to create a well balance axe - alder just seems more often 'good to go' with a wide range of choices (IMO of course)

 

[Dblgun]

I'm not going to help you much in making a decision. I like them both. I think my Alder bodied guitars a more neutral and less bright. I don't have conventional S/S/S pickup setups in very many so that is a consideration. My swamp ash guitars are lighter, but it may depend on the individual body and rout. My alder hard tail is heavy for a strat but sounds phenomenal.

 

[NumbSkull]

I have always liked the look of swamp ash,
but I have not got any swamp ash guitars because it has never been a major factor in buying a guitar.
It just seems more expensive, and its possible to make strats look good with other woods.
I selected does not matter because there are always going to be bigger factors.

 

[jeffb]

On a serious note, I greatly prefer ash and will choose it every single time, given a choice- visible or not. Of all the Teles and Srats I've owned , only one I really loved was made of Alder. It was a super thin nitro can sprayed partscaster with a hardtail and very open sounding. Most of the time I find alder "balanced" to the point of being bland- whether poly or a typical fender style nitro job.

Ash bodies, one piece maple necks.

 

[jeffb]

^^^ That guy cracks me up!

Idk who it is to be honest. Just saw it on Twitter one day and it cracked me up.

 

[knulp]

Gilmour choice has always been alder body and maple neck and yes,it sounds different than ash/rosewood.

The more light and resonant the wood is,the more different it sounds

 

[Derek S]

Idk who it is to be honest. Just saw it on Twitter one day and it cracked me up.

He goes by "cholofit" on YT.

 

[Lo-Tek]

IMO, it's the sum of the parts more than the type of wood. ymmv

 

[kungpow!]

just so you know... I voted your mom


Ash has nice grain and is often used in transparent finishes

 

[Dogs of Doom]

Strat = Alder
Tele = Swamp Ash

 

[Deftone]

I don't like either one. My '81 is Ash and I've had a few USA Alder models, never cared for the tone. I've got a '91 MIJ "Hot Rod '50's Strat" that is made of Basswood and sounds awesome. In fact, I put a Basswood body on my '81 and it sounded awesome. Basswood is light weight too. Love it.

My 1st Gibson ('84 Explorer) was Alder, sounded like ass. Sold it and bought a '76 Reissue (Mahogany) and it sounded awesome.

Basswood or Mahogany for me. YMMV

 

[Vinsanitizer]

 

[Vinsanitizer]

I don't like either one. My '81 is Ash and I've had a few USA Alder models, never cared for the tone. I've got a '91 MIJ "Hot Rod '50's Strat" that is made of Basswood and sounds awesome. In fact, I put a Basswood body on my '81 and it sounded awesome. Basswood is light weight too. Love it.

My 1st Gibson ('84 Explorer) was Alder, sounded like ass. Sold it and bought a '76 Reissue (Mahogany) and it sounded awesome.

Basswood or Mahogany for me. YMMV

Same here. I've got a '92 MIJ '72 Reissue Strat (bought new in '92), with a basswood body, maple neck, and it's the guitar that made me a guitar player. I've done probably well over 100 300 gigs with it.

I was thinking about which woods I like the sound of the most. I was like, "well, mahogany, and with a maple top - I know, a LES PAUL!!".

If I hadda make a choice for a Strat, it'd be swamp ash or basswood. I had a '54 Reissue when they first came out, in that milky white color. It was nice and light at 7.0 lbs. and sounded great.

 

[knulp]

Basswood is very similar to alder according to everyone having experienced guitar body swaps
If any it’s more consistent in sounding like good lightweight alder,and easier to find light these days
But a nice alder body will always be better balanced and basswood can be undefined sounding without a maple top

But this only matters with low output single coils and with a good neck that will make the real difference in tone

However to me the real problem with basswood is that it can’t take the abuse i do to a 2 point tremolo..
try to torture a trem on a basswood body and you will learn how soft it is..but really you can dent it by just looking harder at it so for me is a no go.

If you really love that body you have to put a maple (or other hard wood..) insert to mount the trem studs .. but I never see someone abusing the trem like Henderson or Beck..
Most players don’t even know where the bar is

 

[Calebz]

I hadn't considered basswood. I had a couple really decent Ibanez RGs back in the day that were basswood bodies.

I need to look at my list again now

 

[What?]

But a nice alder body will always be better balanced and basswood can be undefined sounding without a maple top

I have owned strats of Alder, Swamp Ash, and Basswood. My favorites have been Alder. Basswood, definitely undefined. I only owned one Swamp Ash strat, and it was too defined, upper mids pokey on the eardrums.

 

[coffeecupman]

At present I'd say I don't have enough experience to make the call on either, but I don't think Swamp Ash is more dense than Alder. It's easier to find lighter ash bodies than alder ones. Although perhaps the chart is comparing ash that hasn't had its cells exploded by swamp waterlogging.

I have all kinds of strat and tele bodies waiting to be finished into full guitars, so I WILL know the answer, but right now I have the most FAITH in alder.

Strats are great in that their harmonic system has a lot of variables. You've go to have a neck, body, and bridge that all want to ring together, or else you get cancelations. Well, there are always cancelations and harmonics, you just hope that they happen for the notes you care the least and the most about. Then ya gotta grab those vibrations with pickups riding on a ringing sheet of plastic. There's a lot that can go wrong, and maybe it's amazing that so often it goes pretty damned right.

So I'm saying alder, but I picked your mom for the poll.

Also, to further fuel the problem, there are strats out there made of poplar/pine, mahogany, walnut, korina, and the abovementioned basswood. Ya just gotta start somewhere.

 

[Jubilant]

I’ve had all 3 the swamp ash with a maple neck was awful.Bass wood with maple neck ok.Alder with rosewood is my favorite with sss pickups of course.