Suhr Modern - Basswood/Maple?

se7en

se7en

Active member
Just curious who has played or owns a basswood/maple top Suhr Modern and what your thoughts are on it. I know John refers to this combo as the holy grail, just interested to see what others think as I'm considering buying one with a roasted maple neck - similar to the Guthrie Antique Modern. I don't have a chance to try ahead of time, so any experience would be appreciated.

Thanks guys...
 
I use to have a Modern with a basswood body/Quilt Maple top + maple neck/African rosewood board. While I did like it, I overall just preferred an alder body Modern. I do think it would've been that much better with Aldrich pickups instead of the SSH+/SSV combo I had in it. I love the SSH+/SSV in alder bodied Moderns, but not in anything else. My other Modern is has a mahogany body/curly koa top, all pau ferro neck, Aldrich pickups...it's equally kickass as my alder bodied Modern. The tone of the basswood Modern I had was exactly as you might imagine....very balanced. I thought the maple top would have added a bit more highs or whatever, but not to my ears really.
 
Hmm, I guess the maple top is supposed to affect basswood, more than say alder. I recently read that John finds that basswood/maple gets closer to a Les Paul in tone than does a mahagony body...interesting.
 
i have one. i also have an alder body suhr and a mahog as well.

the basswood/maple is the most balanced of them all. there isn't too much or too little of anything. i also appreciate the weight. the mahog one is actually a 7 string but has a bit of a honk to it. great decision for a 7 in my opinion as i do not like the scooped sound, especially given that guitar's tonal range. the alder one is even more middish to me, more like an old (strat) friend. a lovely top end.

you cannot go wrong with basswood/maple, at least from suhr. i have never been happy with basswood ibanez bodies, but i dont think any of them have had maple attached to them!
 
I have a basswood/maple with roasted maple neck - It's my main squeeze. My other suhr is a Guthrie Govan set neck. Totally in love with both of them, but would have to say the basswood/maple modern has a tighter/snappier low E string response, most noticeable from frets 1-3. Also on the high E, it just punches like no other guitar I have ever played around the 12-19th frets. I have the same pickups and hardware on both guitars, so the main difference is the woods and neck joint.
Next modern will be an Alder body for sure...
 
I have a Basswod/Maple top, roasted maple neck on the way :rock: I've played a Mahogany/Maple top Mahog neck Modern for the last 3 years so it will be different.

se7en":10gprvx4 said:
Hmm, I guess the maple top is supposed to affect basswood, more than say alder. I recently read that John finds that basswood/maple gets closer to a Les Paul in tone than does a mahagony body...interesting.
Click to expand...
I haven't heard this before but I can't wait to compare the two.
 
It came Wednesday but I've been too busy playing to lurk on RT :yes: . First off I'm amazing at what different wood combos really do to a guitar. This is the first time I've had 2 of the exact same guitars but with different woods. The Mahogany/maple top, mahogany neck/rosewood board is warmer, more compressed and smoother. Just a nice honky midrangy tone. The lows and mids really jump out. Now the basswood/maple top, maple neck is a lot different. In general it's more open and the natural eq'ing of the wood is very balance. In a full band setting (2 guitars, bass, drums and 3 vocals) it cut's perfectly to sit in the mix without being in your face. I can say the description of tone woods I've read online are accurate. If I had to pick only one to use it would be the basswood/maple. It's seem to do everything great. Clean, mild dirty to all out distortion are all incredible. I love mahoganies honky midrange grunt but the basswood/maple does everything just soooo well.
 
It's 3/16". I don't know how much it's affecting the tone because I don't have an all mahogany or all basswood bodied guitar to compare to a maple topped one. But I do think it helps a considerable amount. I was also going agree that in S styled guitars the basswood/maple does sound more like a Les Paul than a mahogany/maple version. But it also does amazing single coil strat clean and dirt tones (I think the all maple neck helps with that). Thats why I would pick basswood/maple over mahogany/maple. Mahoganies honky midrange snarl totally smokes on overdrive gain tones. But the basswood/maple just does everything soooo damn well.
 
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