Question about guitar materials

[Rock Hydra]

Hey, I was just wondering if anyone knew why guitars aren't made of certain materials. Eventually i'm going to build a custom guitar built to my specs, as soon as I get better, which will probably be years, but the thing I was wondering about was why certain woods are used and what their particular acoustic properties and resonances, sustain etc. I eventually want to experiment with a certain sound. I know common woods are basswood, alder, maple and the like, but I'm also wondering (since I'm not too sure about the wood's properties) if anyone knows about woods like cherry, ash or oak, or even pine or if someone has a site they can point me to

I'm also wondering about certain pickups and using other metals as the core for the windings.

I tend to play music more along the lines of Metal. I haven't talked to a builder yet, who would probably have those answers for me, but I was just wondering if anyone here knew anything. Thanks.

 

[EarthwormJim]

I'd suggest reading the ultimate-guitar forums. Specifically the building/customizing forum. Has pretty good advice and ideas.

Here's a little on some of the woods you mentioned.

Cherry and ash are commonly used too. My seagul accoustic guitar has cherry sides. It's kinda in between mahogonay and maple as far as tone.

Ash is brighter with a warm bass and long sustain. It's used in stats alot.

Alder has a fat low end, good warmth and sustain. Also used in stats.

Basswood is very similar to alder but used in alot of asian guitars since it's more common there.

Another wood you didn't mention is mahogany. Gibson uses it in their Les Pauls. It has very warm mids and amazing sustain. It's not cheap though.

Maple is pretty heavy and is usually used as a top, it's a pretty bright wood.

That's pretty much all I know about the wood properties, kinda vague.

 

[Rock Hydra]

Thanks for the info

 

[Christobevii3]

Alinico II = vintage sound softer
Alinco V = modern, heavier
Ceramic = hot, heavy sounding

For pickups

 

[Fritzo]

The woods you mentioned are used because they are dense, but still able to resonate sound. Woods like oak and cherry are way too dense to vibrate and give a decent tone (not to mention you'll break your back lugging an oak guitar around). You forgot probably the best woods for guitars- mahogany, sitka, koa, and rosewood.

Pine is for furnature- not for instruments.

Makeing a guitar is not an easy task. It takes luthiers years to learn thier craft, so I hope this isn't something that you're doing because "it sounds cool and cheaper than buying one".

 

[Rock Hydra]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
The woods you mentioned are used because they are dense, but still able to resonate sound. Woods like oak and cherry are way too dense to vibrate and give a decent tone (not to mention you'll break your back lugging an oak guitar around). You forgot probably the best woods for guitars- mahogany, sitka, koa, and rosewood.

Pine is for furnature- not for instruments.

Makeing a guitar is not an easy task. It takes luthiers years to learn thier craft, so I hope this isn't something that you're doing because "it sounds cool and cheaper than buying one".

I'm not going to build it, I'm going to a custom builder.