Characteristics of Warmoth Guitar Wood
- The Warmoth wood used on a guitar will affect its sound.electric guitar professional image by Jeffrey Zalesny from Fotolia.com
Warmoth is an electric guitar parts manufacturer and supplier. The company sells finished guitar parts that you can buy online, or you can design your own guitar neck and body by using their online custom guitar builder. Warmoth uses many different types of wood in their guitar parts, and each wood has different characteristics that affect the guitar look, finish, sound and feel. - Warmoth uses Alder to create some of the laminate tops and guitar bodies. It is a lightweight wood with a closed grain that is easy to finish. A Strat guitar made with Alder weighs about 4 pounds. Many Fender guitars are made from this wood, and it produces an even balance of low-, mid-range and high- tones.
- Warmoth uses two types of Ash: Northern Hard Ash and Swamp Ash. Northern Hard Ash is very dense and heavy and makes a Strat guitar that weighs about 5 pounds. The density creates a bright tone with a long sustain time. The heartwood is creamy with brown or pink tints, and its grain is open-pored, so it will take a great deal of finish to get the final finish smooth.
Swamp Ash is lighter wood, making a Strat that weighs less than 5 lbs. It is a creamy color with an open grain that can be finished with a clear finish. It tends to produce a good balance of warm and bright tones. - Koa wood comes from Hawaii, making it slightly more expensive than other woods because of its limited supply. It is used for laminate tops, bodies and necks. Koa is a medium to heavy wood and produces a tone that is conducive to bass playing with a warm tone and a slight bright edge to it. An oil finish can be used on Koa wood.
- Lacewood comes from Australia and has a distinctive "lace" or fish scale grain with small to large pores. It is of medium weight and used for laminate tops, bodies and necks and looks best with a spray high-gloss finish. Lacewood produces an even balance between a warm and bright guitar tone.
- Indian Rosewood is used for laminate tops, bodies, necks and fingerboards. It is a heavy wood that creates solid Strat guitars that weigh over 6 pounds, but you can dictate whether you want a hollow or solid guitar body. The oiliness of the wood promotes smooth chord changes on the fingerboards, but it can make finishing the guitar difficult. Although Indian Rosewood is among the heaviest woods, it does produce a mellow, warm tone, making the extra weight worthwhile.
- Walnut is a heavy, durable wood with an open grain that can take an oil finish or a clear gloss. It is used to make laminate tops, bodies and necks. It tends to produce a brighter tone. Warmoth also uses figured, flame walnut for its matchbooked laminate tops.
