Body Blanks for Guitar & Bass

Two or three peices of quality Alder wood to make up a minimum size of 555mm x 400mm x 50mm. Ideal for Telecaster style electric guitars. Can also be used to make strat style guitars as well.

Alder. Alder is light in weight with soft tight pores like Basswood. But there is a large swirling grain pattern to it with harder rings and sections. So imagine a Basswood type texture but with harder rings peppered throughout. That adds to the stiffness, and the complexity of the tones. It retains more of the highs that Basswood softens, but also gives some room to the lows. You have a broader spectrum of tones, which leads to the perception of a little less mids than Basswood.

Two or three peices of quality Ash wood to make up a minimum size of 555mm x 400mm x 50mm. Ideal for Telecaster style electric guitars. Can also be used to make strat style guitars as well.

White Ash. It exhibits a "snappy" loud tone with a bright edge, but with a warm bass and long sustain. It is more aggressive sounding than alder. Ash is considered as the "traditional" Fender Telecaster body wood. The tonal character of ash is surprisingly loud and bright, with a strong midrange and a crisp bass. Ash is not used very often for acoustic guitars.

Two or three peices of quality American Rock Maple wood to make up a minimum size of 555mm x 400mm x 50mm

This wood “shouts”. It is loud with a strong upper midrange, bright highs, and tapered off but very tight lows. A pickup that produces good lows will find them in a Hard Maple body, but they will be tight and will not interact with a loud half stack.

NOTE: Guitar makers traditionally use more than one piece of wood in construction unless the guitar is of very high quality. A single piece of specially dried and selected wood would be high grade and much more expensive. Because wood is a natural material it has flaws and imperfectionsm and a tendancy to warp (bow) - the larger the piece, the larger the warp. To reduce the chance of these flaws spoiling the guitar during machining / finishing, several smaller pieces are selected and combined to give the final size thereby keeping costs low while ensuring a pleasing finish. In most cases just two pieces are supplied and these are combined to make the final body.

The process of guitar building is explained in many books which we can help you with if necessary.

Two or three peices of quality Brazilian Mahogany wood to make up a minimum size of 555mm x 400mm x 50mm

Open grained with large pores, Mahogany has a more uniform grain pattern and density than Swamp Ash. Its density is constant within the ring and from one ring to the next. So it’s rigidity is inherent in its composition, not in a “skeleton” with soft sections in between. It’s constant density compresses the mids a little, and this can be considered a thick sound, because it does still produce good lows and low mids. Without the mids popping out, being responsive to dynamics, its more of a “wall of sound” Its not that it isn’t midrangey, because it resonates those guitar frequencies well, but its not as responsive to them as an Alder or Ash. It also combs away more upper midrange frequencies for a more nasal sound. It has a good balance of fundamental and overtones for higher register soloing. High notes are richer and thicker than Alder or Ash.

NOTE: Guitar makers traditionally use more than one piece of wood in construction unless the guitar is of very high quality. A single piece of specially dried and selected wood would be high grade and much more expensive. Because wood is a natural material it has flaws and imperfectionsm and a tendancy to warp (bow) - the larger the piece, the larger the warp. To reduce the chance of these flaws spoiling the guitar during machining / finishing, several smaller pieces are selected and combined to give the final size thereby keeping costs low while ensuring a pleasing finish. In most cases just two pieces are supplied and these are combined to make the final body.

The process of guitar building is explained in many books which we can help you with if necessary.

Two or three peices of quality, figured American Rock Maple wood to make up a minimum size of 555mm x 400mm x 50mm

This wood “shouts”. It is loud with a strong upper midrange, bright highs, and tapered off but very tight lows. A pickup that produces good lows will find them in a Hard Maple body, but they will be tight and will not interact with a loud half stack.

NOTE: Guitar makers traditionally use more than one piece of wood in construction unless the guitar is of very high quality. A single piece of specially dried and selected wood would be high grade and much more expensive. Because wood is a natural material it has flaws and imperfectionsm and a tendancy to warp (bow) - the larger the piece, the larger the warp. To reduce the chance of these flaws spoiling the guitar during machining / finishing, several smaller pieces are selected and combined to give the final size thereby keeping costs low while ensuring a pleasing finish. In most cases just two pieces are supplied and these are combined to make the final body.

The process of guitar building is explained in many books which we can help you with if necessary.