Choosing the Right Woods for a Custom 7 Baritone?

[Carl Kolchak]

I have a custom build starting in a couple of months. It's a 7-string with a 27" neck that will be tuned to G standard and hit with a lot of gain. I was thinking of going with a basswood body and a maple neck, as I'm not digging swamp ash or mahogany atm on account of the extraneous flub.

So might there be a better choice than basswood for more focused mids and highs?

 

[_MonSTeR_]

I always worry that folks who go for a custom instrument and then feel the need to ask for advice have probably bitten off more than they needed to chew so to speak.

That said, I always think that in general, alder tends to be a bit more focussed in mids and highs than basswood which tends to sound more spongy to my ears, but I also think that having the right pickups for the woods help as well.

Questioning the general consensus on woods, but so many djent machines are made from swamp ash because it fights the flub, that I wonder what sound you’re going for that you think it’s a ‘flubby’ sounding wood?

 

[TimSE]

Your pickups are vastly more important than the woods, so I wouldn't stress over it too much.

As for Basswood, it would be a good choice. I used to hate it on the old ibanez guitars I had but completely 180'ed when I got a JP7 (all basswood body) with a BKP miracle man bridge pup. I had that down in A and was a monster! Basswood with a high output pickup will be just right for what youre after I think

 

[budda]

Ask the builder?

 

[akinari]

I have a basswood guitar with a maple neck tuned down to Ab and it's one of the most aggressive sounding guitars I have. You should be fine, just get a badass pickup.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

wood really doesn't matter for solid body guitars ime. Pick woods for aesthetic reasons. I've had bright and tight mahogany, swamp ash, alder and limba guitars. I've also had dark and murky sounding mahogany, basswood and pine guitars. All of which were either helped or hurt by pickup swaps and amp settings.
It's hard to figure out how to tailor the sound of a guitar until you spend some time with it.

 

[The Spanish Inquisition]

Honestly, wood doesn't matter as much as you might think. However, swamp ash or similar looks killer, especially with a porous finish.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Construction? Pickups?

With baritones bright woods + pickups can quickly get harsh and very hard to dial out. I see a lot of people order baritones and then end up selling them when they didn't spec them out right. If you're looking for tight hi-gain in low tunings I'd recommend a black limba body. It doesn't have the flub mahogany can have.

 

[Carl Kolchak]

Your pickups are vastly more important than the woods, so I wouldn't stress over it too much.

As for Basswood, it would be a good choice. I used to hate it on the old ibanez guitars I had but completely 180'ed when I got a JP7 (all basswood body) with a BKP miracle man bridge pup. I had that down in A and was a monster! Basswood with a high output pickup will be just right for what youre after I think

This is good, because "old basswood Ibanez" is what I'm shooting for.

 

[Wolfhorsky]

Construction and pickups play far more important role. The neck wood and construction have vastly greater influence on the final result. The alder is one of the most consistent woods out there. It is quite important to point out that when we compare the different pieces of the same wood species we have a big varietyof resonance frequencies, stiffness, density etc. Maple-alder or maple-ultralight swamp ash is my fav combo.

 

[bostjan]

Just have fun with it!©

I mean, get a used prestige.®

Seriously, though, I'd talk to the builder first and go from there. Honestly, different specimens of the same species of wood can colour your sound in vastly different ways, and your builder will likely know best.

 

[chance0]

Yup. Tonewoods aren't really a thing for electrics. Just get what looks best.

 

[Señor Voorhees]

If you don't even know what woods you want, don't buy a custom.

 

[Masoo2]

If you don't even know what woods you want, don't buy a custom.

I put woods (other than top and fretboard woods for aesthetic reasons) at the bottom of priority list when it comes to judging or speccing guitars. Heck, I'd argue I don't even consider it practically at all.

See no problem in ordering a custom without caring about the body wood when there's other more essential specs you're concerned about, such as scale length, fretboard radius, neutral fret, neck profile, body shape, weight, top wood/finish/aesthetic, electronics/wiring, bridge, ergonomics, etc. all of which are much more legitimate of reasons to order a custom than "yeah but what if this Ibanez had a swamp ash body?" imo.

That being said, go aesthetic if there's something that catches your eye. Black limba, deep mahogany, roasted ash, or see through/porous/sandblasted ash are my favorites assuming it's not a solid finish over the back. If not, stick with the classics like basswood, swamp ash, alder, or mahogany.

 

[Bearitone]

Different woods won’t fix flub but pickups will.

The best guitar woods are the ones that give you a very light weight but, very rigid overall construction. In my experience at least.

I would do the body out of roasted ash and the neck out whatever is lightest but, have him add carbon fiber or graphite reinforcement rods

 

[diagrammatiks]

Wood is wood.

 

[syndrone]

In my opinion it is not about the wood per se but more about the density of the chosen piece. A dense piece of swamp ash will sound significantly different than a very light one.
Construction, setup and how you play that instrument will probably have the most influence on how it sounds, though.

 

[Carl Kolchak]

If you don't even know what woods you want, don't buy a custom.

stfu

 

[Carl Kolchak]

Different woods won’t fix flub but pickups will.

Not always.

I swapped the stock pups (Lithiums) out of a flub prone Kiesel DC700 with a BKP VHII. That, according to the magic pickup proponents, should have fixed things, shouldn't it have? Yet it didn't. The Kiesel still sounded, for all intents and purposes, tonally the same, except now it's noticeably clearer sounding thanks to those BKPs.

So no, in this case, pickups did not fix the flub.

 

[budda]

What did the builder suggest?