Opinions on Poplar?

[bionic]

I have a '96 MIM top loader that I am turning into string through and have a nice Callaham bridge on it's way from a great TDPer (Thanks Dollar!), RS Guitarworks esqure pots, switch and cap, Electro (?) jack and will be getting a nice pickup for her. The next big plan is to strip off the poly finish and crappy arctic white and re do her in Olympic White. Am I polishing a turd here for a poplar body or will I get the same tonal effect as a Alder body?

[twangcaster1]

Not quite the same as alder, but close. I think you'll like it. I've seen great guitars made out of far crappier wood(old moldy worm-eaten barns, park bench slats, picknick tables, etc.).

[kylef]

interested in the facts here too....think my next guitar maybe be a build out of poplar.

[stevedenver]

if i had a preference its not poplar-
heres why
tonally like alder
easy to finish because its soft

my cij strat HR 62 is poplar great axe-but
the wood is soft-
so anchors like bridge posts may not be as secure and thin routing can break out
FWIW

[jkingma]

Poplar is a great "tone" wood and is somtimes called the poor man's alder. It's fairly light and stable and easy to work with. It makes a great solid guitar body.

[Telenator]

I find poplar to be similar to basswood. Sort of neutral sounding, a bit soft, easy to work with, and best suited to rock guitars where a good thick midrange is helpful.

[twangcaster1]

In no way do I thing what you've got is a turd.

[RotelliCaster]

Stripping a poly finish is NO EASY TASK! I'm sure there are several folks here that have tried it and a few that have actually done it. I did one once with all kinds of stripper and it was a mess and not very affective. I decided to try it one more time by sanding off the finish. Sanding isn't any easier, and just messy in it's own way. Sand it well enough to prep it for your color of choice, and shoot it. Your efforts and results will be much more gratifying.

[Ronkirn]

Poplar is fine, sound wise it’s virtually indistinguishable from Alder... Just some do not like green wood . . I mean green colored wood...

Ron Kirn

[spankdplank]

I have made a lot of guitars out of poplar. It is a fine tone wood and is easy to work, but it is not nearly as soft as basswood. I have had bridge posts on strats work out of the wood with basswood, but never with poplar. Rotellicaster is right, stripping an MIM poly finish is a tough task. I would lightly sand it and shoot over the existing finish. The big problem with poplar is that it tends to have ugly greenish brown streeks in the wood, so it is not suitable for see through finishes, but that shouldn't be a problem with a solid color.

[Bob Arbogast]

My '96 MIM Stratocaster is poplar. That guitar is tone-full -- it oozes quintessential Strat sounds!

As for soft woods and screw hole threads, I've sometimes done a Dan Erlewine trick: run a bit of super glue onto the screw hole theads. It hardens the wood significantly. That's what I did with the bridge-mounting holes on my CIJ Tele (basswood).

Bob Arbogast

[wnorcott]

Poplar sounds fine in guitar bodies. Nothing wrong with it at all.

[twangcaster1]

Matter of fact, I've got a buddy that has a strat made of poplar and it resonates really well.

[mrothacker]

Poplar tonally is very similar to Alder which is different sounding than basswood . From my experience (Ive built two bass guitars from basswood) it tends to boost the upper bass and lower mids roughly in the 150Hz to 300Hz range,which I dont like on a guitar or fretted bass, but to me sounds awesome on a fretless bass .Poplar and alder resonate or reinforce a slightly higher frequency range . Ive got a Tele copy with a poplar body and a flame maple top , I think it sounds great and I have had quite a few different pickups in it and all sounded at least good . Earlier today I was actually planning 3 new Tele bodies to build with poplar , I will be getting started on them in a few weeks .

[sjtalon]

I agree with those giving a thumbs up for Poplar. I have a '95 MIM that sounds GREAT!

TOP LOADER ....don't waste your time and $$ doing this string through deal.

The human ear won't tell a hill of beans differance and those that say different are just trying to impress people into believing they are some sonic wonder of nature !!

String guage, pups, pup height, pot and cap VALUES, AMPS...now your into difference in the SOUND.

Saddles (steel or brass) sometimes you could say there's a little difference but how can you say A is better than B to someone else, it's all a matter of what YOU like anyway.

Oh, I almost forgot, if you don't have a strap yet, try the leather ones, they make those Telecasters' sound AWESOME !

Have fun with the project !

Steve

[Rich Currier]

I rather like poplar. I have a friend building me a new Tele that will be made out of a 2 piece bookmatched poplar blank & it will be a see thru finish. His wife is going to carve the top with my design. They just finished a couple of similar ones. Check out some pix...

Rich Currier

[doggy1972]

Angelina. Poplar body. Sounds bloody amazing lol Go for it

[Tom S]

Originally Posted by bionic

Am I polishing a turd here for a poplar body or will I get the same tonal effect as a Alder body?

Poplar is relatively easy to work, usually moderate to light weight, and is often more suitable for paint than clear finish.

That's all you need to know about poplar. Since you are not building a body, it's all inconsequential.

Any questions about tone are unanswerable, due to the fact that no one knows what poplar "sounds like," and even if they did, no one could tell you with any degree of certainty whatsoever what your guitar will sound like once it's finished, relative to another tele of the same or different body wood. It will probably sound more like a telecaster than say, a tuba, though.

I thought my work here was done.

[woodman]

this hunk o' poplar worked out well for me. it was a joy to work with. absolutely no problems with screw tear-out or any of that, and i've been playing it hard. yeah, it's soft wood, and it's gotten dinged and scratched a little, but that's life for a player guitar. it's as good-sounding a body as i've ever had, one element in what turned out to be an exceptional partscaster.

the whole sordid story behind it is here: Rainbow Tele thread

[Telemarkman]

Originally Posted by Tom S

Poplar is relatively easy to work, usually moderate to light weight, and is often more suitable for paint than clear finish.

That's all you need to know about poplar. Since you are not building a body, it's all inconsequential.

Any questions about tone are unanswerable, due to the fact that no one knows what poplar "sounds like," and even if they did, no one could tell you with any degree of certainty whatsoever what your guitar will sound like once it's finished, relative to another tele of the same or different body wood. It will probably sound more like a telecaster than say, a tuba, though.

I thought my work here was done.

Welcome back Tom!

As you can see we still need you here ...

[bruceffect]

Originally Posted by RotelliCaster

Stripping a poly finish is NO EASY TASK! I'm sure there are several folks here that have tried it and a few that have actually done it. I did one once with all kinds of stripper and it was a mess and not very affective. I decided to try it one more time by sanding off the finish. Sanding isn't any easier, and just messy in it's own way. Sand it well enough to prep it for your color of choice, and shoot it. Your efforts and results will be much more gratifying.

I've done several of these now, and it's really not that bad. I've even stripped some of the heavy coated squiers. You need one special tool: A heat gun. Not a hair dryer, but a real heat gun. You can get one at the hardware or maybe the auto parts store. It takes a steady hand and some patience, but essentially you heat the finish until it becomes pliable or cracky and then scrape away with a good scraper. I can get the bulk of the finish off a MIM or Squier in less than an hour (strats take a little longer with all them curves) and finish up with sandpaper to get a nice lookin' piece of wood. Oh yeah, do this in a well ventilated area, i.e., not in your house as it will get really smelly in a hurry and the wife will get really agitated. You do have to be careful to not burn the wood by getting the heat gun too close and in the same spot for too long, but this really does work well. I do them in my garage with the big door open. Wear a dust mask and safety goggles as the paint chips sometimes go flying when you're scrapin'.

[GuloGulo]

Poplar is the white mahogany.

[bionic]

Originally Posted by bruceffect

I've done several of these now, and it's really not that bad. I've even stripped some of the heavy coated squiers. You need one special tool: A heat gun. Not a hair dryer, but a real heat gun. You can get one at the hardware or maybe the auto parts store. It takes a steady hand and some patience, but essentially you heat the finish until it becomes pliable or cracky and then scrape away with a good scraper. I can get the bulk of the finish off a MIM or Squier in less than an hour (strats take a little longer with all them curves) and finish up with sandpaper to get a nice lookin' piece of wood. Oh yeah, do this in a well ventilated area, i.e., not in your house as it will get really smelly in a hurry and the wife will get really agitated. You do have to be careful to not burn the wood by getting the heat gun too close and in the same spot for too long, but this really does work well. I do them in my garage with the big door open. Wear a dust mask and safety goggles as the paint chips sometimes go flying when you're scrapin'.

Wow, thanks everybody for the big thumbs up. This was my plan as I have home reno friends that can lend me a heat gun. I'll let you guys know how it turns out, just hoping I can get some colour and nitro shipped to Canada from Re Ranch

[Frontier9]

There's nothing wrong with being poplar.