Characterizing Swamp Ash

[ViperDoc]

I've heard several clips of Swamp Ash PRS guitars, and I like what I hear--but I've never tickled the Ash myself. From those of you who know the Ash firsthand, how to you feel the wood sculpts your guitar's voice, what do you love, what do you hate, and would you do it again? It seems the Swamp Ash line of PRS instruments weighed heavily towards the Strat-influenced models with narrower field pickups and single-coil combinations. Does Swamp Ash provide a spankiness that lends itself to more country and blues tones, rendering it incapable of, say, heavy metal badness, or no? Your comments are well-appreciated!

 

[aduayer]

I am no wood expert, but I do have a tele style guitar made by Suhr that is a tone monster. I am pretty sure someone will come up with a very tech and full of details review here, and I would love to read it. I have also played a few swamp ash PRS guitars and they sound a more alive then HOG to me. to my ears, looks like hog has it's magic in the middle frequencies and swamp ash in the high and low ones. it doesn't sound better, just sound different and that's part of the magic of it.
when people say that swamp ash has that spanking bright sound associated to Fenders I think most of it comes from the bolt on neck construction and the pick up selections. my tele has a TV Jones power tons on the bridge an has a very open rock sound, with lots of bass, treble and definition.
If you check the PS Friday posts you will see a lot of guitars made with swam ash body, most of them with maple top, and I wish PRS had more of swamp ash guitars on the core line. I would love to see a single cut with \m/ pick ups.
anyway, I think Emil Werstler's and Dave's Weiner's 7 strings guitar are swamp ash body with maple neck/fingerboard and they definitely don't sound thin, spanking and etc.

 

[HANGAR18]

I don't know if I can describe it in words, I just know that I like the Swamp Ash PRS guitar that I own.

 

[László]

I like swamp ash, and have had swamp ash Fender style guitars and a couple of PRS SASes. It's got a lot of resonance that creates perhaps a woodier (some might say more hollow) tone than some other woods. Works really well with the right pickups IMHO.

 

[shinksma]

So...I am keeping tabs on various future models I might want to pick up, and the SASpecial (25th anniv?) with three NFs and the standard maple neck is looking pretty interesting - a huge departure from my Cu24 in many regards.

Anyone have any comments to make regarding the triple NF config vs the SAStudio (2 NFs and a regular HB at the bridge) vs the older HSH config of the original Swamp Ash Special?

And on a purely aesthetic note: anyone have a SAS with charcoal burst finish? Can you see any grain through that, or is it pretty well a solid-like finish? It looks basically like solid black / dark gray to me in the photos I can find...

 

[László]

Anyone have any comments to make regarding the triple NF config vs the SAStudio (2 NFs and a regular HB at the bridge) vs the older HSH config of the original Swamp Ash Special?

Both are nice, but I actually preferred the regular HB at the bridge. I like the NFs at the other two pickup locations.

And on a purely aesthetic note: anyone have a SAS with charcoal burst finish? Can you see any grain through that, or is it pretty well a solid-like finish? It looks basically like solid black / dark gray to me in the photos I can find...

I think they're charcoal, not charcoal burst. Hard to see the grain in photos, but it does show through. But let's face it, it's a dark color.

 

[ViperDoc]

Thanks for your comments. I thought there would be more Swamp Ash commentators out there having seen their acquisitions in recent SAS grab efforts! If you've got em or played, please let me know what Ash does to your tone. Thanks!

 

[Raven17]

I have a handful of them from multiple manufacturers. I love them all. They tend to be very bright and sharp. Pinch harmonics jump off of them especialy with maple fingerboards and BKP's. Buy one, you'll never look back. If you hate it just PM me and maybe we can work out a deal...LOL.

 

[ViperDoc]

I'm researching for a C# Private Stock semi-hollow P22 build using a very nice Cocobolo top, and I'm torn between body woods, chiefly Swamp Ash and Mahogany. BKPs won't be an option until I get it in hand, but I'm steering towards the Tremontis. TOO MANY OPTIONS!!!

 

[Raven17]

LOL, so true. The Tremonti pups are really good too! Take your time and enjoy, how often will you be able to do this?