from guide: Guitar Wood Types and Tones

Ash

Ash is lightweight and has a good texture. It is particularly good for clear/ transparent finishes. Ash is often used for expensive guitars. (The Guitar Builders FAQ, Part I: Electric Guitars, version 1.4, 10 July 1995)

[Ash body with Quilt Maple top:] Auditioned with a Madagascar Bois de Rose fingerboard. I used to think that the Alder Body/[Maple neck/]Pau Ferro fingerboard was one of the best overdrive tones.... Hmmmm , the Ash Back has that open ring with good clarity. The Maple top seems to add another dimension. Not harsh at all but very alive sounding both clean and dirty. Also an excellent look for transparent colors both on the back and front. Makes for a light guitar as well. I'm getting the itch to build myself one real bad! Nice punch, scooped mids.


Ash; Lightweight

It is one of our specialty items. It can be used with a clear finish and has good texture. It is used in a lot of expensive guitars. It grows mostly Southeastern USA.


Ash; Northern Hard

This stuff is very hard and heavy. A Strat body will weigh from 5 lbs. and up. With its density, the tone is very bright with a long sustain. Its color is creamy, but also tends to have heartwood of pink to brown tints. The grain is open and takes lots of finish to fill up. Hard Ash is popular for its bright, long sustain. [As body material.]


Ash; Southern Soft (Swamp)

Southern Soft or Swamp Ash is a prized wood for many reasons. This is the wood many 50's Fenders were made of. It is easily distinguishable from Northern Ash by weight. A Strat body will be under 5 lbs. This is a very musical wood offering a very nice balance of brightness and warmth with lots of "pop". The grain is open and creamy - a nice choice for clear finishes. Swamp Ash is our second most popular wood. [As body material.]
Not to be confused with Northern "Hard Ash" Swamp Ash has huge, open pores with hard and soft layers within each ring of the tree. So you basically have a very rigid skeleton with open and softer pores throughout. It is very resonant across the whole frequency spectrum. It has clear bell-like highs, pronounced mids, and strong lows. It has some random combing away of mid frequencies, which will vary the sound per guitar more than Alder or Basswood. Two Ash bodies are more likely to sound more different from one another, whereas Basswood and Alder are more consistent. A heavier piece, or a piece from higher up on the tree will be more dead and lifeless. More dull sounding, because the wood is harder and more uniformly dense. So the sweetness of the soft open pores is gone, and left is the compressed sound of a rigid, non-responsive wood, without all the brightness and sustain of a harder wood or the openness of a softer wood.

Production notes: An Asian mass produced factory guitar should be checked for weight, and openness of grain if the finish allows. Ash used at the big factories has a higher ratio of poor pieces than with smaller boutique builders, or other US builders, probably because it is a US wood.

 

Light weight American wood, has a distinct ringing tone [when used as body material]. This wood works well with spring tremolo systems and single coil pickups to produce a transparent timbre with bell-like overtones. Medium weight bodies yield the best tonal balance and sustain. Extremely light bodies have a weak bottom end and sound thin.( Rich Lanser: "The Quest For Ultimate Tone"; Guitar Player magazine; February 1992; quoted acc. to Michael G. Peck ; rec.music.makers.guitar; February 7, 1994)

The main type used by Fender USA [as body material] is swamp ash because it provides a light weight (body weight about 5 lb.) guitar with a balance of high and low end.

Southern Soft or Swamp Ash is a prized wood for many reasons. This is the wood many 50's Fenders were made of. It is easily distinguishable from Northern Ash by weight. A Strat body will be under 5 lbs. This is a very musical wood offering a very nice balance of brightness and warmth with lots of "pop". The grain is open and creamy - a nice choice for clear finishes. Swamp Ash is our second most popular wood. [As body material.]

Popular in the 50's for electric guitars this wood is alive and light weight. Swamp ash just wants to vibrate. Bright and sweet at the same time, excellent grain pattern, all transparent finishes look great on Swamp Ash. [As body material.]

Learn more about Woods, Body, Body Tops, Necks and Fretboards at guide: Guitar Wood Types and Tones