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Gerard On Wood and Tone

 

Tone Reference

I usually avoid discussions on tone for the following reason. Tone is very subjective and the descriptions of tone can be somewhat misleading. Anytime tone is mentioned, we have to always consider one of the primary tone generators. Your Hands! Each individual’s hands produce a tone that is unique. The list that follows is my personal attempt to give you a complete description of the woods we offer and their characteristics.


Body Wood


Alder- This is probably one of the most widely used woods in the late 50’s and 60’s for 3 single coil style guitars. This wood will produce a very familiar "vintage tone" It is a clear and articulate sounding wood with thick mid-range tone. Alder is medium to light in weight and has a medium tan color with very little pronounced grain pattern. This wood looks good with sunburst and a few selected transparent colors including red, green and yellows.


Basswood- Stong midrange, balanced tone and light weight. Light blonde in color with no grain. This is a nice backing wood for maple tops when combined with humbuckers. Usually look best with opaque color on the back and transparent color on the maple tops.




Swamp Ash- Swamp Ash is just waiting to resonate! This is the other "vintage wood" used in single coil type guitars from the 50’s and 60’s. The ash we use is lighter in weight and less harsh sounding than regular ash. It’s color is light blonde with darker brown grain patterns. This wood looks good in all transparent colors. Being located down in Louisiana, we know a little about swamp ash. All of the good ash grows in the swamps and bayou’s of the deep south. The best part of the tree is near the water line so we have to fight off the gators and snakes! T-Fred Boudreaux (Boo-Dr-O) is our main logger. Nothin’ scares him!


Mahogany- The tone of mahogany is thick and with pronounced mids. It has a mid to mid-heavy weight. The grain is mild and color is medium brown which looks good natural or with red or orange tints.


Tops and Top/Body Wood Combinations


Burled Maple Flamed Maple Quilted Maple
Maple Tops- Maple is a light colored wood which is sought after for its gorgeous figured grain patterns. We offer it in flamed or sometimes called tiger or fiddleback maple, quilted maple, and burled maple. Our tops are 3/16th of an inch, which we finish in a natural edge binding.


Koa Top- This is a very beautiful wood from Hawaii. It’s color is golden brown and has a flamed grain pattern. This wood is getting harder to obtain in guitar quality due to the ban of harvesting koa in Hawaii. The tone this adds to the backing wood is similar to maple except a bit more pronounced in the mids.


Basswood/Maple Top- This combination produces a full sound with good balance between the low, middle and higher registers. An excellent choice for humbuckers! Sounds great when combined with a maple fingerboard.

Ash Back/Maple Top- Nice punch with scooped mids. Very alive and vibrant with an open ring and nice clarity. Sounds great clean and dirty! Light weight and looks good with all transparent colors.

Mahogany/Maple Top- Looking for something to really cut through the mix? This combination is thick and powerful in the middle with lots of clarity. It is not harsh sounding as many people would think. The weight is mid to mid-heavy and looks good with natural back or many transparent colors.

Hollow Tone Chambers- We offer this option at no charge on all of our guitars except the Pro Artist and Pro Artist T. The harmonic content is increased with the addition of tone chambers. The low end is accentuated and the highs seem to jump out a bit more. This is due to the compressed mid frequencies. Weight is greatly reduced also!



Neck Wood



All of our necks are quartersawn maple with separate fingerboard. We feel this is by far a stronger and more stable neck. A two way truss rod is used and is adjustable from the headstock without unstringing or removing the neck!

Maple- Our maple necks are two piece quartersawn neck and fingerboard. We use a very light satin wood feeling finish. Maple has a strong midrange tone with a spankin’ sweet high end. The bottom is very tight and articulate.

Maple/Rosewood- Warm, not too bright or dark. Very open in the mid frequencies. Our most popular choice. Colors range from brownish black to red or orange brown. We offer three types of rosewood:

East Indian Rosewood- Full and rich sounding. Medium to dark brown in color with open pores.

Madagascar Rosewood- Red brown with interesting grain patterns. A tight grained rosewood that sounds good with darker sounding body woods and humbuckers.

Pau Ferro- Also known as Bolivian Rosewood. The color is medium to light brown with very tight pores. Pronounced in the upper mids. Good clarity on "chunk" tones!

Mahogany/Rosewood- This tone is full and thick and usually matched with a Mahogany/Maple body. This is the wood choice on our P-90 Artist.