Solid Ash Guitar
Guitar Body Wood?
I'm building a neck-through guitar, and I need buy some wood to form the wings.
I've decided on either swamp ash or basswood, to balance the sharp tone of the maple/wenge neck peice.
I can't find any ash or basswood that's 1 3/4" thick, the standard body thickness.
Can I laminate two sheets of wood on top of one another to produce the correct thickness? Will that comprimise the guitar's sound?
If it helps, it's a solid body with active pickups. I'm duplicating Glenn Tipton's 80's Hamer Custom GT.
Yes, you can do that... if you want a REALLY cool looking body and are going to put a clear or tinted finish on it, sandwich a thin piece of walnut (or wenge) between the other 2 pieces. Be absolutely sure that you cover the surface completely with glue and that you make sure that the entire piece is clamped all over... not just on the edges.
Also, there are usually at least a dozen or so people selling ash, alder, basswood, mahogany, etc on eBay in the size you'll need.
Just so you know, basswood and ash are very different sounding and you should take this into consideration as you proceed. Basswood also looks kinda crappy when finished clear or tinted, and ash requires a grain filler (not wood putty) prior to finishing.
On an electric guitar, the maple neck will not do too much as far as "brightening" the tone but will definitely increase the sustain. The wenge will give similar results to ash- even though it is much heavier the grain structure is similar.
If you are using wenge for the fingerboard you'll need to cut the fret slots very slightly oversize since it is very unforgiving and might crack if forced too much.
Don't forget a truss rod in the neck, and make sure you have sufficient body length to allow proper bridge positioning for scale... but then you probably already knew that.
Best of Luck!
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