Originally Posted by: matonanjin2Christopher, thank you for the elucidative, hugely helpful response.[/quote]

You're welcome!

Originally Posted by: matonanjin2As you said, Alder is lighter and more consistent than Ash. but I also read that swamp ash is even lighter yet.

I've read that & heard guitarists say it, but I'm really not sure just based on personal experience. I did find this in a search.

"Low cuts of heavy ash may weigh as much as upper cuts of swamp ash, and very external and low cuts of swamp ash may be so light that they weigh similar to basswood or even less and this is the reason for the great confusion there is on this subject."

source: https://www.frudua.com/hard_ash_vs_swamp_ash.htm

That page is very brief but has a lot of interesting info I've never read before. So, thanks for the discussion resulting in me learning something new!

[quote=matonanjin2]It's not like I am in any hurry on this; I have lots of time to study and "try a bunch of guitars & ask questions! ". And I'll do this whenever we can get out and go shopping again!

Right on! Have fun with it!