theodoropoulos Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 I am actually planning a guitar Prs style with mahogany body.And i want to achieve a balance with the warm mahogahy and and something else...Do you think wenge would manage to do it?And with what fretboad?? the woods i have for neck as alternatives for wenge are padauk,mahogany,maple,rosewood, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 Wengé is a great wood. I have used it as laminations in a Mahogany neck before (7-string 26,5" electric) which resulted in a nice stable neck and a great-sounding instrument. To be fair, it is difficult to describe how it works with Mahogany. I'd say it gives a less "soft" or "rounded" sound to the slowness of Mahogany however I am not a big believer in "tonewood" as a rule. What I would say, is that every instrument I have used it in has been very stable and sounded great. it is a very appropriate wood for instruments, perhaps moreso than many of the more commonly-used woods. Great for basses, so you might find the resulting instrument to have a very powerful, present low end. The monster pores in Wengé and its tendency to throw massive splinters that almost guarantee sepsis are a working issue to bear in mind of course. Padauk and Maple might introduce a balance to Mahogany better than the others. Maple is a "faster-sounding" and more "immediate" wood. Nothing wrong with a laminated Mahogany/Wengé neck with a Wengé fingerboard. It happens to look great as a fingerboard when quartersawn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theodoropoulos Posted May 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 well would you suggest mahogany for body and wenge for neck ?The tone i want to achieve is a tight low end and very strong /clear mid range... perhaps i think that the mist crucial part are the pick ups.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 You're perfectly correct in that the pickups are far the most important factor in the final sound. Wenge certainly helps clarify the low end. As for the Mahogany, it depends on the piece and the species as they vary. In general I feel it is a "slow-sounding" wood which probably has more to do with the warmth than anything else. I don't think you will fall too far from your intentions with this combination, however as always it is good to hear a second opinion. Your avatar creeps me out, staring at me whilst I type. Brrrr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theodoropoulos Posted May 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 hehe i am not a serial killer thanx anyway!!! you are so correct!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 You're perfectly correct in that the pickups are far the most important factor in the final sound.Ehh. They are important but I consider them equalizers. Using EQ on a bad source only makes the final product slightly less bad. Enough Voodoo.First.Building guitars for a certain sound is Russian Roulette with time and wood.Second None of what I am about to say is scientific and it is all based on voodoo take it for what it is.In my humble experience I would say that Wenge neck with the correct type of Mahogany will produce close to what you are after. I personally would use Khaya and not Sapele (the later producing darker tones). I have no love for Genuine Mahogany so I would steer clear of that combo.I would not use Padauk as it tends to add bright crisp overtones.I have had good luck with all my Wenge necks. Padauk is more of a crap shoot.Voodoo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 I do love the darker tone of sapele. I have no experience with kayha in tone,but I am working with it now and the "tap tone" is more "bell like" than sapele. The Sapele/maple V I built a while back is dark indeed in tone,but still very clear,possibly from the neck being rock maple and the top big leaf maple.I quite like it Not that that agrees or disagrees with anything posted here,but I felt like sharing.Must be the huge cup of espresso I just had Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Wes, Pro and me prolly need to lay off the caffeine today. On top of that I ran 3 miles at lunch... I feel like an airplane is buzzing in my head. Sapele is one of my favorite dark sounding woods. You put it with Zebrawood and you get dark powerful voodoo. My favorite sounding guitars combine Khaya (aka African Mahogany) and Zebrawood or Sapele and Zebrawood. My Wenge V runs a close second to those. So there is no way you are going to lose with any of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 I'm good for caffeine actually. On the beers because it's Finland vs. Germany in the hockey tonight. Currently winning 2-1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theodoropoulos Posted May 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2013 hehe you guys are crazy !!hehehe and i love it!! so a clinet asked me something that i confess i have no idea about it..... He not olny wants strong midrange tone...he wants CLEAR midrange tone in his guitar.. how the hell cani do it?i suppose Prostheta is correct...Russian roulette... i dont even believe that someone can controll it with woods only.... any opinios??? ps:we do drink too much beer here in Greece....and coffee!!!! summer is on the way!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 4, 2013 Report Share Posted May 4, 2013 Alder is capable of the most midrange IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 4, 2013 Report Share Posted May 4, 2013 Agreed about Alder. I see woods as being the subtractive part of the sound and many seem to scoop the mids or muddy them. You can't put in what isn't there in the first place, etc. Wengé has clarity. Mahoganies can be the opposite however Khaya may well be the solution if Mahogany is a client call. Again, most of this will be in the pickups. A JB or ToneZone would be my "off the shelf" gut instinct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theodoropoulos Posted May 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2013 guys thanks so much..your advice were very crucial..! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 Jatoba is supposedly very midrangy as well. I've used it for 4 necks and they all are guitars with strong midrange tones. Impossible to say how much the jatoba necks influenced that, but they certainly did nothing to disprove the idea of jatoba adding midrange. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 10, 2013 Report Share Posted May 10, 2013 Just a point of language there Scott....no wood will "add" midrange since a guitar of various materials as a system is only subtractive and not additive. To be correct I guess you would say, "attentuates the midrange less" rather than "adds midrange". Unless energy is being added to the system, that of the vibrating string is all that there is within the system. In that respect I am quite excited to be able to compare the qualities of Birch to those of Maple. Historically acoustic instruments benefitted from Birch having what is often termed a "natural EQ" of warm and wide low end with a subtly scooped midrange and pleasingly good high end. Kind of like your "smile curve" I guess. This is why it was used so much in drum shells before the advent of mic'ing apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted May 10, 2013 Report Share Posted May 10, 2013 To be correct I guess you would say, "attentuates the midrange less" rather than "adds midrange". Good point. How about it highlights the midrange? I suppose that means it absorbs highs and lows. Interesting how that now sounds similar to what happens when you "see" a color. For instance when one sees an object that is the color blue it means it absorbs every color in the light that hits it except the color blue which is reflected back and therefore visible. Hmm. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 10, 2013 Report Share Posted May 10, 2013 I guess so. I'm only going off my basic knowledge of physics and using analogies to make ideas digestible. I'd like to try a few "middy" woods myself to get a feel for them in combination with pickups I am familiar with. Should be fun. I feel the urge to make something with a ToneZone in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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