Does this look like an ash body?

[art027]

I'm thinking of buying this guitar, the seller says the body is ash. To me it looks like ash, only the grain looks kinda fine but i'm certainly no expert on this. Can this also be alder?
This is the only picture i have.

http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...asteroptie.jpg

thanks in advance,

Michell, Netherlands

[Rod Parsons]

It looks like alder. The color and the grain look more like alder than ash. Alder is good, though.

[SixShooter]

Originally Posted by Rod Parsons

It looks like alder. The color and the grain look more like alder than ash. Alder is good, though.

+1.

[dmaneleven]

It's Alder

[NastyMojo]

Alder fo sho

[Lazer]

To me it looks like ash, but a closer picture would make it easier to tell.

Cheers
L-zr

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by dmaneleven

It's Alder

I think so; the picture is so tiny. I'm quite certain it is not ash.

The more important thing is not the species of the wood, it is the sourcing of the parts. Is this a reworked Harley Benson or a kit of some kind, a de-imaged Fender?

With all kind respect, this guitar might be magnificent or it might not be worth ten dollars. I am concerned the vendor is pretending the guitar is ash as a sort of litmus test, to see how savvy you are and whether you might make an easy pigeon. That's the real reason he's making this "mistake", I fear.

[art027]

Thanks guys for your help,

I'm interested in this guitar only for the body, i want maximum twang and somehow i got in my head swamp ash is the only way to go but is it?
Can alder be a good basis for twang?
I guess it also depends on what twang means isn't it? For me it's Keith, but also Albert Lee, Ricky Skaggs's guitarplayer in the eightees etc.

I'm making a partscaster for my brother who's in a Rolling Stones cover band so Keith's Telesound is what i'm searching for i guess. I know sound is in the hands for a great deal but i would notice it if Keith played the Brown sugar intro on a Strat, wouldn't you?

I can buy this guitar for 120 euros which will be something like 140 $US. The plan is to strip the finish and respray with nitro cellulose. Neckhumbucker and a good bridge pu.

Thanks,

Michell

[Rod Parsons]

Why not buy a swamp ash body new, if that is what you want? Or go on ebay or somthing. Less money and way less work, and you have lots of choices. I'm sure that body is alder, but alder is a great tone wood and would do Keith fine. What kind of guitar is it, exactly that is in your photo..... Can you at least try it out before buying?

[Bartholomew3]

I think the pickups you use would get you closer to the sound than type of wood but in any event have a vintage swamp ash tele beside me stripped and that pic is not ash - grain is wrong as mentioned above.

Suggest you steer clear of bs vendors who don't know the difference, find a 100% reliable vendor who ships to your area, that pic looks like an Asian copy.

But the price is good.

[Ronkirn]

Awllder awwll da time….

rk

[art027]

I'm always wondering, Bartholomew says ''it looks Asian'' but does that automatically mean of less quality? I mean, If the body IS alder why then would alder used on an Asian copy not be as good as alder used on a Fender. Isn't alder just alder? How does that work?

If i use this body, change the supposedly crap electronics for good stuff, good neck etc. will the guitar be of less quality only because the bodywood is made of alder from an Asian copy?

I could buy the guitar, sell the left over parts: neck + tuners $50, pu's $30, bridge $20 i'd have a desent body for $40.

Or, yeah, just get an ash body as i planned.

[Five-O]

If you use that body, and do the mods you are considering, the neck, which is the most important part of the equation anyways, may just bolt up there and that thang may play and feel like a dream, even though it's Alder.... you just never know.

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by art027

I'm always wondering, Bartholomew says ''it looks Asian'' but does that automatically mean of less quality? I mean, If the body IS alder why then would alder used on an Asian copy not be as good as alder used on a Fender. Isn't alder just alder? How does that work?

Lots of different wood types come along, and the salesmen have to come up with a category to place the wood in. Alder is as good as any a term, I guess, but it could be any of two dozen species of other sorts of hardwood (not meaning hard wood, meaning not coniferous wood). Squier has a line of guitars made of "red cedar" but the wood isn't cedar at all. It is really called tun and it is a tropical hardwood.