Poppa, ever try another wood combo for tone block?

[Tone?]

So I was thinking that maybe a Swamp Ash tone block would work better for a Basswood bodied guitar. Especially with an all maple neck.

Maple necks add good midrange so i was thinking that the mahogany tone block might be a bit too much.

Maybe Swamp ash which has sweet highs and a good bottom end would give basswood that extra something to it. and maybe it would roll off a tad of the mids as well.

any thoughts??

cheers,

 

[Slingy]

Doesn't Luke's old black sparkle have a maple block? I remember him mention it from a gear video.

 

[GWDavis28]

Doesn't Luke's old black sparkle have a maple block? I remember him mention it from a gear video.

Don't think so.

Glenn |B)

 

[Astrofreq]

Balsa, all the way.

 

[Slingy]

Don't think so.

Glenn |B)

Ah don't make me go find the video, it's the one where Luke shows off his pedalboard, guitars and EBMM swag.

 

[GWDavis28]

Ah don't make me go find the video, it's the one where Luke shows off his pedalboard, guitars and EBMM swag.

That wasn't the Black Sparkle, that was like the Luke/20th they made for Luke, he still plays it a lot, but it has the same tone block as the 20th's did, that was the creation of the tone block time frame.

But if you've got something man, I'll watch it, I've made mistakes before, trust me, but I had my paws on the guitar I'm talking about in Dallas along with a lot of others.

Glenn |B)

 

[robelinda2]

Yeah that little vid is from the Toto dvd, in the extras.

 

[Smellybum]

SoMaple necks add good midrange so i was thinking that the mahogany tone block might be a bit too much.

I might be a ham-fisted talentless player, but the maple neck with a mahogany tone block is a killer combo.... I suppose you'd want to stilton on a cheeseburger??

Please don't mess with perfection, For me when trying a guitar it's all about the sound and vibration before plugging it in - when i got my tone block AL I didn't plug it in for 2 days,

I reckon these fellas know what they're doing tone, plus if you look at the ealier workings of guitars for sustain etc, mahogany has a pretty good track record?

 

[walleye]

I might be a ham-fisted talentless player, but the maple neck with a mahogany tone block is a killer combo.... I suppose you'd want to stilton on a cheeseburger??

Please don't mess with perfection, For me when trying a guitar it's all about the sound and vibration before plugging it in - when i got my tone block AL I didn't plug it in for 2 days,

I reckon these fellas know what they're doing tone, plus if you look at the ealier workings of guitars for sustain etc, mahogany has a pretty good track record?

i dont mean to be rude but i think youre missing the point of wood choices. theyre all about preference, its unfair the suggest that theres a "perfect" wood choice or a perfect combination.

that being said (arguing both sides of the argument here ) its all about the artist's preference. so whatever's "perfect" for luke or jean de petrucci is made in the end, right?

another thing to consider is that (and dont get me wrong, i know very little about woods) a factor in wood combination choosing is how they interact with each other, i.e. how they expand to humidity and different temperatures. some woods are meant to not work well together in this regard. although im not sure how affected a toneblock is by humidity, seeing as its buried. not sure about that one..

 

[Dead-Eye]

I wouldn't be surprised if they tried any combination they could think of before making a decision...

 

[koogie2k]

Yeah...believe me...they just didn't pull that out their a$$. There is a ton of research and protos to test many combinations. This is what they chose in the end. Cool with me and obviously cool with the artists.

 

[V_S]

They could easily make a complete swamp ash body... wasn't the problem, that good mahagony is pretty expensive and therefor made only a "small" toneblock, which has the same effect as a body made enteriely of mahagony?

 

[beej]

The Gold Roller is all mahog ...

They're constantly prototyping, trying new things. I'm sure they picked the winner from the bunch.

And I'm sure that's not the last thing they'll try ...

 

[Big Poppa]

OK We did try all.....we did not select the size based on wood cost and since the guitar is sealed humidity is not an issue.

the combo of the maple and the mahog is really the best irregardless of the body wood

 

[Kaloyan]

Agreed.

 

[Tone?]

OK We did try all.....we did not select the size based on wood cost and since the guitar is sealed humidity is not an issue.

the combo of the maple and the mahog is really the best irregardless of the body wood

Thanks Pops after all that!

that is what I wanted to hear. lol

I would be really cool if you could give us an analysis on what you found. Or maybe you did the experiments with a couple of beers and not as scientifically as I am saying. lol

What was the close runner up I wonder?

So what was your decision on what the tone block added to the guitar/s?

Im sure it sounded different with the different combos of wood in the guitars as well.

thanks tons for all the input Poppa, I mean that!

cheers

 

[Dante]

i'd love an Ash made JP but it's not something i can't live without. ash is really a peculliar wood, it's distorted sound is quite brash compared to mid rich woods. i like it for lots of stuff, but generally, it's not as good as basswood (yes, i said it, i like the sound of basswood. i learned to play it!) and mahog.

 

[Pablo]

i'd love an Ash made JP but it's not something i can't live without. ash is really a peculliar wood, it's distorted sound is quite brash compared to mid rich woods. i like it for lots of stuff, but generally, it's not as good as basswood (yes, i said it, i like the sound of basswood. i learned to play it!) and mahog.

How about a natural swamp ash BFR with a solid rosewood neck? Yeah, we can all dream.

 

[Slingy]

I can't tell the difference between Alder and Ash.

 

[Dante]

How about a natural swamp ash BFR with a solid rosewood neck? Yeah, we can all dream.

waste of rosewood since it would round out the Ash's sound. maybe a walnut neck with an ebony board, since we're dreaming.

I can't tell the difference between Alder and Ash.

alder closer to mahog and ash is another step in the opposite direction, alder is sweet sounding with a tone adequate for sustaining, ash has more "pop" and "schwing!"