Alright, first off... I new here. I don't know how much creds you guys will give me for just jumping right into the theory aspect of building guitars, but don't just go all out on me and be like "HAHA N00B!!1! GET LOST".
Back on topic (sorta, it's a bit of an unorganized rant)
One thing I noticed in MULTIPLE issues of Guitar Player/World mags is that whenever they put guitars up against eachother (something they did in the May issue of Player) was that MAHOGANY seems to always get high ratings. Look for yourself... Odd, isn't it?
Well... "What about your technique?" you inquire, right? haha
I was experimenting with materials and shapes and such for solid electric guitar bodies. I noticed something about how the guitar body resonates when it's backed with a half inch of Poplar, specifically a species of populus commonly called "Aspen". Try it yourself (or don't and just take my word for it)! Take a 1.5 inch thick piece of mahogany and slap on a half-inch thick piece of aspen. It doesn't matter how long/wide the piece is... Knock on it a couple times. Rings really nicely, doesn't it? Try knocking on the mahogany side, then on the aspen side. You might notice that it resonates a little better on the mahogany side.
Whether or not you like the way it resonates on a guitar is 100% personal opinion. But I love the way it screeches soft warm cries with a dimarzio Evolution set. Yes, screeches warm tones... kinda. I don't know how to describe it. It really depends on how chop it up. Bottom chops (see pic) will screech/deepen the tone, and top chops* (with no bottom chop) will keep the tone warm. This is of course probably the case for most woods, it just gets a little complicated when you start slapping on maple tops or mixing wood species.
Bottom Chop example:
That's just a rough cut I took on a friends camera, I wish I could have taken more pics... I don't have a cam.
I also wish I had another piece of mahogany that had such an EFFING BEAUTIFUL FLAME... I didn't at the time so I just slapped on a random piece of mahogany. Those two sides *are* both mahogany from the same tree though.
Note that the mahogany is on top. As said before, it resonates a little better when the mahogany's on top. And just to clarify, it is not just the mahogany creating the tone.
Pull what info you want from this little piece of doc. It's mostly for reference, of an opinion.
Have any of you tried a wood combo that you like? How about shape? It'd be nice to hear your theories on shape/type of wood as well.
