Ash vs Alder

[Louthunder]

Everybody goes on about the coveted solid, or 2 piece ash tele body. They do sound great and have some nice characteristics, but sometimes we overlook how nice Alder can sound on a tele. Alder just sounds nice and "balanced" to me.Just a nice smooth sound. agree, disagree?

 

[stephent2]

Absolutely. I like mahogany too.

It shouldn't be "vs." it should be "and". I say buy one of each.

 

[jhundt]

I love my alder Tele and Strat. I assume they are alder, because they are both from 1968 and finished in Olympic White. But I have no idea if they are really alder or plywood underneath the finish.

 

[jedi]

Not an issue in my mind of one better than another. But what you are looking for at any given period of time.

ASH - more push, punchy
ALDER - warmer, less mids

 

[boris bubbanov]

What is this "vs" wood species?

I'd like to try that sometime.

Nah, nevermind; couldn't be as good as ash and alder.

1 piece figured USACG alder.

 

[Louthunder]

What is this "vs" wood species?

I'd like to try that sometime.

Nah, nevermind; couldn't be as good as ash and alder.

I was originally going to ask ash vs alder, who'd win in a fight I didn't mean to put ash against alder,I was just trying to also show the merits of alder. We all know how well ash performs.Although I think the differences are more "subtle" than we may admit!

 

[K-Line]

Subtle? I think so. I think that the neck material has more to do with it than the body. However, it all works together. I prefer alder rosewood on a Tele and Ash maple on a strat, call me crazy. Kind of bass akwards to many but I like my strats to have some punch and snap and the tele to be rounder.

 

[brookdalebill]

I have two ash Teles, one hollow ash Strat, and 2 alder Strats.
They all sound, look, and play great.
Ash gets my vote for appearance.

 

[DavyA]

I think that ash is very versitile (rounded). I have an alder/maple Am Tele with Glendale bridge (3 saddles), SD jazz HB in the neck and a Lindy Fralin in the bridge. Push/pull tone and a 3 way switch. Very vesitile. I use it mostly for Blues. I use a 52ri for Country stuff....Ash is nice! Or it it Nice Ash?

Have fun!

 

[garymaddox]

1 piece figured USACG alder.

That's a really lovely chunk of wood! Did it require any grain filling? I have not worked with alder yet but from the posts I've read here, alder requires very little if any grain filling.

 

[kenfolk]

i like the figure of ash better

 

[Fatmanstratman]

Alder just sounds nice and "balanced" to me. Just a nice smooth sound.

I have Teles made of both, and I'm not embarrassed to say that, unless I stopped to think about it, I probably couldn't tell you which is which.

In all honesty - I couldn't really care less. When I pick up a Tele, the first thing I do - oddly enough - is plug it in, so that I can hear what it sounds like when it is doing what it was made for. I don't go much on the old "I like to listen to a Tele unplugged so that I can hear the tone and resonance" - try standing in front of a crowd of people, strumming unplugged, and saying to THEM "Hey! Can't you hear that superb tone? Can't you detect the resonance and sustain?".

Once the body wood is sprayed a pretty colour than gooped in that thick poly finish, I can't see the type of wood anyway.

I have to ask - has anyone ever picked up a Tele in a store, played it, liked it, then refused to buy it because it turned out that it had an ash body rather than an alder (or vice versa)? Similarly, has anyone ever been approached at a gig, and asked "What type of body wood is that Tele?" - and if you have, has anyone ever said "ASH??? Jeez - I'm never going to listen to YOU playing ever again - I'm strictly an Alder man...."

As it happens, my No. 1 is a CIJ 62RI Tele Custom, which, I believe, happens to have an Alder body. It DOES have a nice, "balanced" and smooth sound as the OP says - but only since I took out the dreadful stock Texas Special bridge pickup and put in something which makes it sound way better......

JMHO - YMMV.....

 

[Telemarkman]

I once had two 1965 Teles, one Blonde/ash/RW and one Red/alder/RW.

I can guarantee that none of you guys could identify which was which in a blind test ... I know I couldn't.

 

[Strongpersuader]

I once had two 1965 Teles, one Blonde/ash/RW and one Red/alder/RW.

I can guarantee that none of you guys could identify which was which in a blind test ... I know I couldn't.

I fully agree with your statement Telemarkman. My guess is that nowadays, due to those early 50's very nice sounding axes when compared to the majority of the late 60's ones, most of the guitar players have turned out tbe be gear heads. I am quite sure that back in the day, what really meant to Leo, and each and every other guitar manufacturer, was just to be able to get a good sounding and selling product with the lowest cost and the best final price. IMHO pickups will make the greatest difference in tone in any guitar.

 

[j.vasek]

I have an alder Tele w/ rosewood board,3 brass saddle bridge, SD antiquities as well as a G&L ASAT with an ash body, maple board, 6 saddle ashtray, and MFD pickups.

Those two guitars sound as different as two Teles can. The alder one has a bit more of a woody and hollow sound while the ash bodied ASAT is bright and percussive. I love 'em both.

 

[Nighthawk]

Ashler or alternatively, aldesh. Actually I have an American Deluxe and Alder sounds real good to me.

 

[Telemarkman]

I have an alder Tele w/ rosewood board,3 brass saddle bridge, SD antiquities as well as a G&L ASAT with an ash body, maple board, 6 saddle ashtray, and MFD pickups.

Those two guitars sound as different as two Teles can. The alder one has a bit more of a woody and hollow sound while the ash bodied ASAT is bright and percussive. I love 'em both.

Those are two totally different guitars with different saddles and not least different pickups - there's no way you can compare them and attribute the tonal difference to the wood species ...

 

[Fatmanstratman]

Those are two totally different guitars with different saddles and not least different pickups - there's no way you can compare them and attribute the tonal difference to the wood species ...

Telemarkman, my old friend - you are of course absolutely 100% correct, but I fear you may just be "banging your head against a brick wall" when it comes to convincing others whose pre-conceived ideas about the subject are set in stone, never to be changed regardless of the voice of any reason...

 

[boris bubbanov]

That's a really lovely chunk of wood! Did it require any grain filling? I have not worked with alder yet but from the posts I've read here, alder requires very little if any grain filling.

It did not "need" it but it might have finished faster had I used some Bartley's. On this body, I did not try it. Just lots of shellac, followed by lots of gloss Deft rattle can lacquer. Deft is slower than the "good stuff" and no good for production, but the skin is more "high tech" and I think it will resist aging and checking. And cracks. The opposite of what some folks want, I know.

 

[boris bubbanov]

i like the figure of ash better

90% of the time, I will agree with this. Finding really eye popping alder figure is probably much harder than I realized when I got these bodies. And the ash can be partially obscured with toner, etc. This body figure would "disappear" with just a few passes of toner.