With the wide variety and availability of electric guitars, words like body wood, neck joints and pickups are commonly used and can get a little bit confusing. Understanding the different materials used to make a guitar can tell you a lot about how it should sound. Every little part of the guitar makes a difference to the overall sound and the wood used to make the body of the guitar is probably the largest factor in this.
This guide will run you through the most common woods used to make electric guitar bodies and just what to expect.
ALDER
This wood has a medium hardness and excellent workability. It usually comes in a light brown colour with a subtle grain in the wood is found in North and Western America. This wood produces a very balanced sound with a very strong midrange. We use this wood on most of our Pacifica range guitars and a lot of our bass guitars.
ASH
Ash is a very hard and heavy wood that is known for having a large, distinctive grain. Swamp Ash is an alternative that is considerably lighter in weight and is also used on a lot of guitars. The wood provides a clear response from low to high end and has a lot of clarity in the sound. The Mike Stern Pacifica and some of the higher end bass guitars have Ash bodies.
MAPLE
Hard, heavy and dense, Maple is creamy-white in colour. Comes in Quilted, flamed and several other grain types. It is an extremely attractive wood and often used as top materials on premium guitars. Maple bodies are heavy and have a hard sound with an extremely strong, powerful mid to high-end response. Maple is usually combined with other softer materials such as mahogany to tailor both the tone and the weight of an instrument. Maple is used throughout the Yamaha range on the SG guitars, as well as the high-end Pacifica guitars.
MAHOGANY
This wood has a soft, medium weight. It varies in colour from a grey to a red-brown colour and is brought in from Central America. The guitar has a weak response and high-end sustain but has excellent low to mid-range balance. Mahogany is often combined with Maple to extend the high-end response.
Mahogany combined with Maple is used in the AES920 guitar.
NATO
Nato is also known as Eastern Mahogany. It is a reliable, strong wood that is slightly more available than Mahogany and still shares a lot of the properties and character of its cousin. It has a great low to mid balance and can be great for driving rhythm guitar. Nato is used on several guitars in the AES range to great affect.
PLYWOOD
This wood is widely used for the bodies of cheap guitars. It is not a good choice for electric guitar bodies. It can be a very heavy wood that produces an unclear sound. Lamination lines can also appear around the body with time. Plywood is cheap and easy to use but is best left away from guitars. Yamaha electric guitars do not ever use Plywood in the construction of their bodies.