Isaac cruz
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Help me build a great PS Paul’s Guitar.
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veinbuster
Zombie Three, DFZ
Tonart
Tone of the Art......or is that backwards?
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Pernambuco has no longer been available from PRS for 3 or 4 years now, due to timbre supply. Not sure if it due to shortage or regulations due to its endangered status.
Of course, any species of wood gives good specimens and bad specimens. Perhaps certain species has a higher probability of producing good blanks than bad ones, but that’s all. Gibson Custom Shop Reissue Les Pauls consistently have great resonance and woody tone and they use genuine Mahogany - Sweetenia Macrophylla (Honduran Mahogany), but I bet they sieve the best timbre out from every batch. So it’s still important your dealer or better still yourself be there to tone tap the blanks.
There’s been videos and written records of Paul saying his preferred neck wood is Chaltecoco, which is probably why it ended up on his personal prototype guitar. Paul has years of experience tapping wood blanks and ears that can hear bat frequencies. I guess it’s a safe bet!
11top
Cousin Eddie's cousin
Ebony fret board. Let the birds (or other inlay) pop out, and allow the other woods to stand out.
Isaac cruz
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Update: so it seems like Chaltecoco isn’t an option for neck wood at this moment for PS builds, so I’m still deciding which type of wood to go for.
I would go mahogany, but have had some double cutaway guitars where a lot of notes past the 12th fret have awful sustain. Some have mentioned that mahogany tends to have this issue more than other woods. I had a Santana that was very guilty of this issue.
My choices for the neck are mahogany, some type of rosewood or maple I guess.
I would go mahogany, but have had some double cutaway guitars where a lot of notes past the 12th fret have awful sustain. Some have mentioned that mahogany tends to have this issue more than other woods. I had a Santana that was very guilty of this issue.
My choices for the neck are mahogany, some type of rosewood or maple I guess.
WA Paul
All dogs go to heaven
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Dark Peruvian Mahogany is quite good. But my favorite is Brazilian Rosewood.
EDIT: make sure they tone tap the neck blanks - can get very different results for the same type of wood!
veinbuster
Zombie Three, DFZ
I can’t disagree.
Peruvian mahogany is the ticket if you want a traditional sound with a good balance through the guitars range. Any variation of rosewood fingerboard and you can’t go wrong.
Braz has a great feel and a deep meaty tone. I love it for big, bad blues.
alantig
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This. I was 100% on Indian Rosewood when I walked into the vault for my build. When we got to the neck blanks, the Indian just didn’t do it for me. Brian picked up on it right away, but he let me go through them first, then suggested Honduran Rosewood. Not as dark, but man did it ring. Never looked back.
WA Paul
All dogs go to heaven
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I was listening on the phone during wood selection for my P245T PS build (avatar) and was stunned how different the Braz neck blanks sounded. The one my dealer, Tina and Paul Miles recommended out of the five choices that met my weight requirements was clearly the winner by a country mile, which we all know is much longer than a city mile
Tonart
Tone of the Art......or is that backwards?
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Agree with this. Some factions of the World Wide Web have labelled tone tapping as woo woo, but it’s worth noting the commenters are not luthiers.
It looks primitive but I believe it’s the best tool we have available to test the ability of a piece of wood to vibrate and transfer some of that vibration characteristic onto a string.
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So true! We've all probably seen Paul on video tapping woods to show how they ring. There’s a reason for that, and there’s a reason a PRS sounds so good.
If it were me, and no one's asking. I dislike rosewood neck tones. It does change the mid character and to me sticks out funny, but it's personal preference.
Were I ordering:
Maple top, Mahogany back and sides. MAYBE go Korina/Limba instead as it's a bit more articulate.
Ebony or African blackwood fingerboard. (Feels soo good).
Paul's electronics, but agree on a second volume control.
I'd also go DGT neckshape, but standard PRS frets
I don't care for piezo sound so I'd never do that myself.
Now I know you don't care for cosmetic as much..but since i'm ordering..(not, but dreaming).
boatwake flame maple top. the old Scarlet red. Natural binding and natural back.
Old bird inlays, or 20th if they'd do it.
Maybe one cool odd colored at the 12th fret...like a red stone or some such.
Dunlop straplock ready
Cannot agree more. when building my custom guitar, the builder let me sort through his neck blank stash
The one I chose vibrated so hard it was silly. Hugely noticeable compared to the others.
The back wood had a pleasing resonance as did the top.
It's one of, if not the best sounding guitar I own, I attribute that a lot to teh ring of the neck. (Tone starts there IMO).
It's worth it. Especially if the guy really knows what he's doing and how to 'tune' the guitar with the resonance.
You also get a very fast note attack with ebony, so it’s very articulate. Perfect for players who do a lot of fast solos or rhythm work, or who just want something out of the ordinary.
I usually like rosewood on an electric guitar for its warmer tone and slower, more searing attack, but my playing style relies more on longer note melodies where RW seems to help me out.
For PS, I find PRS’ Madagascar RW gives a beautiful tone, as does BRW, if you prefer rosewood. The Madagascar is lighter in color than IRW or BRW, but the guitars I have with it sound fantastic.
On an acoustic or hollow guitar, I love ebony.
Mozzi
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And there are still people who think tone wood is just BS created by manufacturers to add to the price and sell more guitars...
And there are still people who think tone wood is just BS created by manufacturers to add to the price and sell more guitars...
to quote Paul 'everything effects everything'.
Weather or not one is willing to pony up the $$ to make it so, (or it's not worth it to them) is a different matter.
Mozzi
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You don't need to convince me! I am aware of 'everything affecting everything'
I love discussions like the ones you have here where others are aware of the way wood choice affecting the tone without some idiot jumping in and claiming its all BS and its all just Pick-ups. These same people then going on to mention those guitars made of 'solid' but not wood guitars and failing to realise that basically ALL solid objects can resonate which causes air to move and 'sound'. What they fail to understand though is that 'tone wood' is used to shape the tone and the characteristics of the guitar in a predictable manner. Even the idiots who say Tone Wood has no affect will know that a Solid Mahogany LP is darker sounding than a Maple capped LP with the same PU's, scale length, bridge and nut.
its just nice to see people describing their experience and preference or woods and their characteristics and tone shaping qualities without people arguing about whether tone wood is a real or made up thing - especially with Electric Guitars
Holy carp! That’s an 11Top.
To me, I’d love a rosewood (Insert your favorite variant here) neck if it’s only for playing solo. It impacts tone in a particular way that is warm and chewy. Delicious! If I were trying to carve a space in a mix with a need to step out from other instruments, I’d not choose rosewood. Totally agree with the descriptions of the immediacy of maple, which is a factor, but personally, it’s a mahogany neck that defines my humbucker experience. The decision is SO subjective!
Good luck with your decisions.
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And there are still people who think tone wood is just BS created by manufacturers to add to the price and sell more guitars...
And ignorance gets them exactly what they deserve.
I resemble that remark.And ignorance gets them exactly what they deserve.
