Another Question Regarding Woods

[Anglagard]

First of all, I would like to thank you guys for all the information and advices in this forum and in the PG site.

After some minor projects and lots of reading, I'm going to start building my dream guitar (almost).

I would like to know your opinions regarding my choice of woods.

I'm building a PRS inspired carver tog guitar with a bolt on or set neck (I'm not sure yet).

I'm a bit limited regarding the woods that I have available, but I managed to find some wood that has been air-drying for several years, in some cases, several decades.

The neck will be laminated and I'll be using:

The centrepiece in Jatobá (Hymeanaea spp), then two laminates of Brazilian rosewood and the two outer laminates will be made of Tacula (Pterocarpus soyauxii or african paduak).

It will have a Brazilian rosewood fret board.

My question is, since I've never played a guitar with theses species of wood, what sound should I expect?

I'll be using them mainly because they are all dried and stable. And, since I'm going for a laminated neck, I shouldn't have neck-warping problems.

The other question concerns the body. Originally I wanted to make a 1 piece mahogany backed guitar with a book matched top.

But since I cant get a decently figured wood, is there any disadvantage if I use a 1 piece mahogany body?

I can get a piece of mahogany big enough to do it.

Theoretically, I think that a 1 piece body will have the best sound possible, but what do you think?

Sorry about the long post and some errors and thank you in advance for any advice.

[al heeley]

With that wood and construction you should get a pretty deep and dark sounding guitar, depending on the body thinkness. PRS do a single mahogany body too now but most are maple-capped which is said to add some brightness. i think PRS guitars are generally more bright than Les Pauls and this can be attributed to the greater thickness/weight of the LP bodies as well as the pickup choice. If the mahogany is a nice even grained piece then a single-piece body will sound great. Personally I think a bolt-on neck will add a bit of treble than a set neck, so the whole guitar doesn't end up too bassy and muddy.

[Anglagard]

With that wood and construction you should get a pretty deep and dark sounding guitar, depending on the body thinkness. PRS do a single mahogany body too now but most are maple-capped which is said to add some brightness. i think PRS guitars are generally more bright than Les Pauls and this can be attributed to the greater thickness/weight of the LP bodies as well as the pickup choice. If the mahogany is a nice even grained piece then a single-piece body will sound great. Personally I think a bolt-on neck will add a bit of treble than a set neck, so the whole guitar doesn't end up too bassy and muddy.

Thank you Al Heely!

Actually I do like more dark sounding guitars. I was thinking about making it a bolt on for the reason you mentioned. To kind of balance de "darkness" of the wood.

I forgot to mention that the guitar will have a fixed brigde and two humbuckers with series/parallel/single mini toggles in adition to the "regular" 3 way switch.

Would an ash top be a good match?

Edited September 11, 2006 by Anglagard

[al heeley]

well I would stick with what the pros have shown to work so well. Take a leaf out of Gibson and PRS's books and use a maple cap on mahogany. Ash is normally used for solid bodies, not a cap.

[Vince D]

I am currently working on a guitar with a jatoba body. It is a very hard a stable wood so I dont think it will problems with warping. It is the most difficult wood I have worked with. As far as sound goes I think it would turn out very warm.

[prs man]

I have a prs style guitar that I used alder for the back and ash for the top.

the guitar simply rocks and sounds like a charging rino.

I have 2 humbucker in it duncan 59 in the neck and a jb in the bridge.

I used a hard tail [string throiugh] bridge

I will say this about ash for a top it is hard but worth it when done.

to carve the top I started with a router then went with a small 1'' hand plane and file and scraper to do the contours top and back.

there is nothing wrong with using ash. the grain in ash is so nice to look at I finished it in a clear cherry red

there is nothing wrong with a solid mahogany body.

after building a few guitars I find when building with alder or mahogany for back and ash or maple for tops the sound is nice and well ballenced.

Edited September 11, 2006 by prs man

[SoundAt11]

Wow, good choice of woods. Jatoba and Padouk are quite strong (and pretty looking woods). Brazilian Rosewood is legendary.

Mahogany, is of course, awesome, I'm using it on my own PRS guitar:

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...c=25427&hl=

In my opinion, 1-piece looks better (and usually doesn't cost much more) and if you're someone who doesn't want any glue used in the body, then you won't have to worry about it with the 1-piece bodies.

It sounds like you've got a great combination of woods and I'd second PRSman's pickup suggestion, the Duncan '59 and JB would be great choices (the SH-5 Custom humbucker is great to).

[Anglagard]

First of all, thank you for all your kind advices.

The neck wood will be as I described, but for the body... At this moment I'm thinking of a 1 piece carved top mahogany body. Soundwise it should be better choice since there are no glue lines whatsoever.

And what do you think about using a 1 piece african padouk body? I can get paduak as easely as mahogany. I can get my hands on several boards of paduak 3 to 4 meters long and more than half meter wide, with enough thickness for a 1 piece body.

I can get both kinds of wood real cheap and all the wood is stable and air dryied. The thing is... I've never played a paduak bodied guitar, so I'm playing safe with mahogany.

Maybe I'll end up making two guitars to get the best of both worlds because I also have a piece of quartesawn flame beech that is asking to be turned into a guitar neck..