pine or swamp ash body? also, what weight for use w/ warmoth pro neck?

Looks like I'll be grabbing either a pine or swamp ash body from Guitarmill and wondered a couple things:

1. which would should I choose? I already have one guitar w/ swamp ash, so I thought pine would be a good choice this time (I know it dents easy, but it will have a thin finish clear coat on it that I want to age & wear quickly, so that's no biggie).

2. how does pine sound different as a tonewood from swamp ash?

3. I'll be using a Warmoth Pro tele neck on it, which has the double expanding truss rod, which makes the neck a little heavier. What weight should I go for on the body? I don't want to go too light and have it be neck heavy. I'm assuming right around 4 pounds, but I can get a lighter weight body (3 lbs, 12 oz.).

I recently built a tele with a 4.5 lb body thinking it was going to be a bit heavy...not so....I think there is too much said about getting super light bodies... if you want more tone and sustain I think you need a little weight.

If the neck you're using is quite heavy I wouldn't go too light on the body or it will be neck heavy and not sit correctly which can be a drag.

Personally I would never use pine for a guitar as Swamp ash looks and sounds so good and can take more of a knock, so I cant really comment on the tone differences, but from all accounts Pine does sound good... but I would not go lighter than the 4lb weight....closer to 5 would be my ideal.

Like I said, it's the Warmoth Pro, which does have a heavier truss rod, but it's the standard thin contour, so it doesn't really feel much heavier than the allparts fat tele neck I put on my other tele.

Swamp ash would be the safer bet-- more durable, tried & true tonal qualities, great grain if you can see the actual body before buying. Pine would be a little more of a gamble in terms of tone & durability, but could end up surprising me. Given what I'm looking for out of this-- i.e. replacing the current MIM alder body w/ something that has a little more bite--- the swamp ash seems to be the more logical choice for me.

I would go as light as possible for the body but I prefer lighter bodies because of my back problems. In my experience there is no consistent difference in tone or sustain that can be directly attributed to weight. Here's a a 3.5 lbs. body paired with a Warmoth Pro neck (no neck dive and I think I could drop it to 3 lbs. and still not suffer from neck dive):
http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b182/elgorgon/Pine%20Tele/
To my ears the 3 Pine bodies I've finished have a bit less top end which translates to slightly more pronounced mids.

You might want to go a little heavier that you normally would. Don't get one "as light as possible" since you *will* end up with a neck heavy guitar.

Don't get one "as light as possible" since you *will* end up with a neck heavy guitar.
I've played many a neck-heavy SG. None of the various Tele combos I've owned or put together, temporarily or permanently, have ever been neck heavy. Even the Rosewood fatback, probably my heaviest neck, on my lightest body, a Thinline, wasn't neck heavy, didn't pitch forward and felt natural. I have not come across that feedback from other Thinline users either.
Of all the Teles I've played, in stores or through friends and acquaintences, I've never come across one that was neck heavy, at least for a standard Tele design (not counting Schechter's neck throughs and that ilk that are merely Tele shaped). I suppose anything is possible but my experience leads me to believe that even with the thickest neck on the lightest body a Tele will balance.