What is the best cheap wood for electric guitars?
Posted in cheap guitars | January 22nd, 2010
I’m building an electric guitar, but i want some good sounding, but relatively cheap wood. by that i mean, not like mahogany expensive. any suggestions?
Hello there,
If you are looking for wood for an electric guitar body, you can use Poplar. Many brands including Fender use Alder. Alder is an oriental Poplar. If you like plan to finish the body naturally (not painted), you can use Maple for an overlay.
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If you want wood for the neck. You should go with a hard Maple.
Later,
6 Responses to “What is the best cheap wood for electric guitars?”
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January 21st, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I’ve never understood what impact the wood in an electric guitar has on the sound. As the sound is generated from magnetic inductance between the strings and the pickup-coils, one could maybe think that it wouldn’t really matter what kind of wood was used. And so it would be just as good to use cheap plastic as expensive rainforrest mahogany????
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January 21st, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Pine and maple are both good sounding and cheap.
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January 21st, 2010 at 4:15 pm
well cedar is pretty standard and I don’t think it is too expensive. That is what most strats are made from (with a rosewood fretboard usually). Pine would be a cheaper alternative, i believe. Cherry, oak or maple would look great, but more expensive. Also, it doesn’t matter too much for the sound, it’s more for the heft, ease of building, and longevity
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January 21st, 2010 at 4:33 pm
You might try ash. Baseball bats are made of it, so it must be pretty sturdy and fairly readily available. I would stay away from the softer woods, like pine or cedar. Since this is your first project, maybe talk to someone at a lumber yard to learn more about the specific qualities of different types of wood.
I agree you should not spend too much at this point, but look on it as part of the learning process.
Good luck!
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January 21st, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Hello there,
If you are looking for wood for an electric guitar body, you can use Poplar. Many brands including Fender use Alder. Alder is an oriental Poplar. If you like plan to finish the body naturally (not painted), you can use Maple for an overlay.
If you want wood for the neck. You should go with a hard Maple.
Later,
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January 21st, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Stewmac.com has alder body blanks for $79.88. It’ll be difficult to find anything much cheaper than that. They have everything else you need as well.
Good luck.
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