Originally Posted by: KasperowAh. Okay. So if I want a guitar with a great sustain, I should go for something made from dense wood, and if I want a guitar that just lets the sound ring through clearly, I should go for one made from something about as dense as pinewood? I never thought the material would make any kind of difference in the sound...
This is a pretty vast subject... but just a little more insight.
Les Pauls get their sustain from a combination of things... Les Pauls use a set neck construction which mates the neck securely to the body allowing the resonance of the guitar to vibrate throughout the neck and the body. increasing the continuity of the vibration throughout the guitar - thus, increasing sustain. Fender, a long with a lot of other "Strat style" guitars use a bolt-on neck contruction style. This style, of course is much cheaper to manufacture and it also makes maintenence on the guitars much more affordable... However, it dampens the resonance because there is not a solid joint between the body and the neck. This disjoint is a common spot for improvement when seeking sustain in bolt on neck style guitars... Some would say that it simply adds to the characteristic of the "strat tone"...
Neck wood plays a big part in overall tone as well... not only will density increase sustain, it will also increase brightness as harder woods are able to transfer higher frequencies of vibration more effeciently... Thus, maple necks get a brighter tone and rosewood necks get a more smoothed out mellow response.
Remember, these tone woods are generally used in mid to high end guitars... Your cheaper guitars will be made of lesser quality woods. So usually you can't assume what the actual wood is unless it's clearly stated by the manufacturer. For instance, Fender uses a poplar on most of their solid color finished guitars becuase it's got a tonal property close to adler but is a bit cheaper because it doesn't have quite as intricrate wood graining... This is why they reserve their nice adler wood blanks for bodies that are going to have transparent finishes. Not something that a lot of people know.
In closing, it's always best to actually play a guitar before you buy just to hear how it sounds. I have ordered guitars off the internet without playing them and have always had good luck... usualy I have researched and researched to a point that is borderline obsessive before I buy though... And I usually try to go to a store and play a similar or exact model before I pull the trigger. But just some things to keep in mind when you're deciding on that next guitar...
