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Alder
- Fender adopted alder for electric instrument bodies in mid-1956, probably for no other reason than it was there; it was readily available and more affordable than ash. Ever since, it remains the body wood for the majority of Fender electric instruments. It was and still is a very good choice.
www.fender.com/articles/behind-the-scenes/ash-vs-alder-whats-the-diffAsh vs Alder: The Difference in Tone Woods Used in Fender Guitars
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What kind of wood is a Fender electric guitar made of?
What are tone woods on a Fender guitar?
What were Fender guitars made of?
Are Fender guitars made of basswood?
Are Fender guitars made from ash?
What Wood is used in a guitar body?
When you’re looking over the specs of a Fender electric guitar or bass, one of the first things you’ll see listed is the kind of wood the body is made of. And with few exceptions, two mainstay woods have been used throughout Fender history for fashioning electric instrument bodies — alder and ash.
- Maple Neck
- Ash and Alder as The Main Woods For Guitar Bodies
- Properties of Ash
- Properties of Alder
- End of Mass Production of Ash Guitars
- Adapting to The Situation and Finding New Woods
Almost all models, with a few exceptions, have maple necks. In the first decade of production, the necks were all maple. In 1958, a change came about, and Brazilian rosewood was used for the fretboard of the Jazzmaster. A year later, this change would affect the remaining models. Brazilian rosewood was used until 1966 when it was replaced by Indian...
In the early years of their production, from 1950 to 1956, Fender made the guitar bodies exclusively from ash. From 1956 onwards, alder became the primary choice of wood for guitar bodies. It is not clear why Fender decided to include alder wood among the materials used, but the most likely option is that alder was just broadly available at the tim...
Since the beginning of production, Fender has used American ash. It’s a North American tree that grows throughout the eastern half of the continent. It’s commonly used for furniture, baseball bats, and flooring. For guitars is used northern ash or, more commonly, southern ash, which is called swamp ash. It grows in wetter areas, is brighter and lig...
As I have already mentioned, the choice for this wood was probably pragmatic, as alder, which grows throughout the world in temperate zones, was readily available in quantity, geographically accessible, and affordable. There are two main alder species, each geographically available for a different continent. Black alder is found in Europe and Asia....
In 2020, Fender announced that it would no longer use ash for mass production. For sustainability reasons, it will only be used for selected models. Justin Norvell, Fender’s Executive Vice President for Fender products, commented on the topic in an interviewwith Guitarworld, detailing the reasons why Fender is discontinuing mass production of instr...
Fender is currently looking for new species of wood to be used. Pine is being tested and has appeared on several models, being quite popular. And other woods are being looked at.The company continues to approach it pragmatically as Leo Fender used to do—he simply took what was available. Today, Fender still uses woods that grow fast and are quickly...
A Description of Tonewoods. There are many kinds of electric-guitar bodies. Most of them are solid bodies, which are guitars carved from solid wood, usually several pieces, that are laminated together. This simple use of hardwoods contributes to the tone Fender guitars are famous for. Neck & Fingerboard.
- What types of woods are used for guitars? Not all woods are suitable for use in all parts of a guitar. Spruce, for example, is often used for tops in acoustic guitars (“spruce top”) but is not an ideal material for electric instruments.
- Maple. Maple is a very hard type of wood with good tonal qualities and good sustain. Guitar necks are traditionally made from the dense wood of maple, in part because of its strength, and in part, because the material can highlight and amplify the wood in the body.
- Mahogany. Many guitar and bass bodies are made from Mahogany. There are 49 types of Mahogany, but many are practically extinct because of the wood’s popularity for furniture and musical instruments, and the types used today are not the same as the Mahogany used in guitars in the 1940s or 1950s.
- Basswood. Basswood comes from Linden trees, and it is soft and easy to work with. A side effect of being soft is that it also dents easily. Because it doesn’t have much of a grain or color, it’s most commonly used on instruments that have an opaque paint-job, though this isn’t always the case (as in the photo above).
For the most part, tone woods are a detail of electric guitar construction that are often considered but rarely well understood. Today we will be having a look at two of the most popular, specifically for the bodies of Fender guitars; ash and alder.
Generally, heavier woods like mahogany resonate differently than a medium-bodied wood like alder and a lighter wood like basswood. And don’t forget feel. A big part of your tone comes down to how you play — how you fret chords and how you strum or pick. At the end of the day, electric guitar tone is a magic brew made up of a lot of factors.
Alder: full and rich, with fat low-end, nice cutting mids, and good overall warmth and sustain. Alder is generally considered to be one of the "traditional" Stratocaster body woods. Ash: exhibits a "snappier" tone with a bright edge, but with a warm bass and long sustain.
