Tonewood question.

[Rabies]

Would alder be lighter and/or less dense than basswood? I seriously need to know...

 

[WackyT]

Basswood is softer & lighter than alder.

 

[Rabies]

Basswood is softer & lighter than alder.

So it is safe to assume that my Squier 51 is in fact made of recycled underpants as noted on a certain guitar part retailer's website?

Because when you pick up my 51 (which is supposed to be a basswood body), and pick up my new Squier Affinity Tele (which is supposed to be alder), the difference is night and day. The Tele feels like 3 pounds lighter than the 51???

 

[marnold]

So it is safe to assume that my Squier 51 is in fact made of recycled underpants as noted on a certain guitar part retailer's website?

Because when you pick up my 51 (which is supposed to be a basswood body), and pick up my new Squier Affinity Tele (which is supposed to be alder), the difference is night and day. The Tele feels like 3 pounds lighter than the 51???

That quote is funny. Basswood tends to be lighter but can vary greatly. My Fender is basswood and is as light as a feather. My Model 7 was basswood and weighed about 65 metric tons.

 

[just strum]

So it is safe to assume that my Squier 51 is in fact made of recycled underpants as noted on a certain guitar part retailer's website?

Smell it, that should tell you

 

[Rabies]

Smell it, that should tell you

Way ahead of you...it doesn't smell like poo and urine.

 

[thearabianmage]

What, so is alder a bad wood? I was always under the impression that due to its density, it was a desirable wood for electric guitars to be made of.

 

[Rabies]

What, so is alder a bad wood? I was always under the impression that due to its density, it was a desirable wood for electric guitars to be made of.

I wasn't saying either of them are bad, just that my alder tele is WAY lighter than my basswood 51.

 

[thearabianmage]

Fair enough.

 

[R.B. Huckleberry]

All woods vary greatly in weight. I point to mahogany as an example: an all mahogany body can be a lead weight, or really comfy.

 

[Bloozcat]

What, so is alder a bad wood? I was always under the impression that due to its density, it was a desirable wood for electric guitars to be made of.

Alder is considered a good wood for guitar bodies because it is tonally neutral. The tone from lows, to mids, to highs, is in relative balance. Basswood has more pronounced lows than alder, but not so much as to make for a tone that is too dark or muddy sounding. It's just a little darker sounding than alder with maybe slightly less top end.

Basswood is definitely a softer wood, though. Screw holes in a basswood body can strip out after taking the screws in and out as little as one or two times. Because of this, and my propensity for changing pickups often, I installed threaded brass inserts into the body of my Squire 51 for the pickguard screws:

Now I can pull the pickguard to my hearts content without stripping the screw holes.