Help w/wood choices for new modern

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fearhk213

Well-known member
Right now I have a Modern w/an alder body, maple neck, & pau ferro board. It's a killer playing and sounding guitar. It's so clear, articulate, and responsive it's like playing under a microscope. I want to pick up a second one, but I could use some help picking out the woods. What I'm looking for is something to keep those qualities, but have a punchier, meatier tone. I'm not looking for too thick of a tone because I've had axes in the past that were a bit too thick and incidently were overly wooly and lost too much punch and articulation. Anyway what do you suggest?

P.S. My only thing is I'm not fond of rosewood boards.
 
Mahogany body with Maple top and Mahogany neck with Pau Ferro board has become a very popular wood combination. It won't be dark at all with the Maple top and Pau Ferro board. Maple and Pau Ferro will provide brilliance and tight high-mids to go with Mahogany's mid-midrange focus. Another good combination is Basswood with Maple top and Maple neck/board or Maple neck with Pau Ferro board.
 
Thanks Ed. The first suggestion was what I was leaning towards, I just wasn't sure if it was going to be bright enough. Good to hear the maple and pau ferro bring enough to the plate.
 
fearhk213":cxzhmryd said:
Thanks Ed. The first suggestion was what I was leaning towards, I just wasn't sure if it was going to be bright enough. Good to hear the maple and pau ferro bring enough to the plate.
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The Mahogany/Maple body and Mahogany/Pau Ferro neck combo will have plenty of bite, tightness and punch, but Mahogany also has that nice slinky "give" when sustaining notes and doing string bends. Still, the Modern isn't at all like a Les Paul with this wood combo with its longer scale length and bolt-on construction. The 25.5" scale will give you greater definition and the bolt-on construction will give you a bigger and more open sound. This is a great example of an ideal marriage between two disparate worlds to create something different that really works and is great in its own right.
 
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