What wood is best for a first time builder?

[PRSpoggers]

Hello, I am a first time builder and I am looking for wood for a body. I was thinking to just work with mahogany first, then mahogany with a flame top, then that but semi hollow, and the same thing but with swamp ash and buckeye burl. I am just looking for something good, not top grade, just for a first build

[Bizman62]

In another post you said you've got some inexpensive wood for your fretboard and neck. Let's stick with that logic!

For your first build I'd recommend a solid body of one species. It can be glued from two or three adjacent blanks as it doesn't matter either tonally or structurally. Three pieces of 2 x 4 may be a bit too narrow, a 2 x 5 in  between would be enough. For a carved top you'd need something thicker but as we're talking about your first build I'd recommend you to build a basic guitar without a neck break angle. Something along the lines of a Tele, a Strat or an LP Junior. They're all known good guitars but much easier and faster to build than a carved top LP or PRS.

As for wood almost anything would work as long as it's dry and solid without major knots or cracks. There's builders that prefer those as features but again, we're talking about a first build. Mahogany is good, aspen and poplar are also common choices. Basswood and aspen as well. Ask your local dealer for an inexpensive choice for properly dried light to medium weighed hardwood that is easy to work. Birch and maple are dense and heavy, suitable for tops but not that much for bodies due to the weight. Buckeye burl is too soft for a body, it can be used as a top but even there it requires lots of strengthening with resin, super glue or something similar. -There's thousands of wood species and even within a single species the way the tree has grown can make a huge difference concerning mass and workability. Thus weighing the wood is important, for a body a 2 x 12 x 20" blank(s) shouldn't weigh much more than 6 lbs.

Here's some good reading regarding weight: https://guitargearfinder.com/faq/electric-guitar-weight/

[PRSpoggers]

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

In another post you said you've got some inexpensive wood for your fretboard and neck. Let's stick with that logic!

For your first build I'd recommend a solid body of one species. It can be glued from two or three adjacent blanks as it doesn't matter either tonally or structurally. Three pieces of 2 x 4 may be a bit too narrow, a 2 x 5 in  between would be enough. For a carved top you'd need something thicker but as we're talking about your first build I'd recommend you to build a basic guitar without a neck break angle. Something along the lines of a Tele, a Strat or an LP Junior. They're all known good guitars but much easier and faster to build than a carved top LP or PRS.

As for wood almost anything would work as long as it's dry and solid without major knots or cracks. There's builders that prefer those as features but again, we're talking about a first build. Mahogany is good, aspen and poplar are also common choices. Basswood and aspen as well. Ask your local dealer for an inexpensive choice for properly dried light to medium weighed hardwood that is easy to work. Birch and maple are dense and heavy, suitable for tops but not that much for bodies due to the weight. Buckeye burl is too soft for a body, it can be used as a top but even there it requires lots of strengthening with resin, super glue or something similar. -There's thousands of wood species and even within a single species the way the tree has grown can make a huge difference concerning mass and workability. Thus weighing the wood is important, for a body a 2 x 12 x 20" blank(s) shouldn't weigh much more than 6 lbs.

Here's some good reading regarding weight: https://guitargearfinder.com/faq/electric-guitar-weight/

I was thinking along the lines of Paul Reed Smith's first guitar. He built it out of mahogany, it was an LP SC body and a flat top. I was thinking along the lines of that since it's simple! I wanted to move up as I kept building. After that I would experiment with a figured top and stuff like that.

[Bizman62]

Well thought! There's enough to do even with the simple ones.

That said, all you'd need is some 2" blanks, the wider the better.

[komodo]

African mahogany, maple neck, rosewood or ebony fretboard. Focus all your energy on the craft!

[mistermikev]

well if I HAD to answer this at face value... I think it would depend on how you are doing it and what you are doing.  mahog seems to me to be the easiest to work so that'd get my vote... ash seems to be the most difficult (if we're talking about hand carving).  Ultimately I think you probably learn more by stumbling anyway so I wouldn't let that dictate my choice.