Swamp Ash VS Alder on a Legacy Special with Rosewood

[jredden2012]

Okay everyone...I tried to search this topic and didn't see anything. So I'm just posting a new thread.

I have the chance to buy my 1st G&L. Both are legacy specials...one has ash body and one is alder. They both have rosewood fretboards. What's the pros and cons of each? Ash sounds snappy to me, but I've only heard it with a maple fretboard. How's the ash/rosewood combo?

I'm ditching a Jeff Beck strat (brand new) to get a G&L. I've never heard a guitar compare. But I've only played a Legacy with alder body/maple neck...curious what you guys thing of the alder/ash w/rosewood comparison.

Thank you,

John R.

[Craig]

Okay everyone...I tried to search this topic and didn't see anything. So I'm just posting a new thread.

I have the chance to buy my 1st G&L. Both are legacy specials...one has ash body and one is alder. They both have rosewood fretboards. What's the pros and cons of each? Ash sounds snappy to me, but I've only heard it with a maple fretboard. How's the ash/rosewood combo?

I'm ditching a Jeff Beck strat (brand new) to get a G&L. I've never heard a guitar compare. But I've only played a Legacy with alder body/maple neck...curious what you guys thing of the alder/ash w/rosewood comparison.

Thank you,

John R.

This post in our Knowledgebase might be of use.

Hope this helps.

[jazzrat]

Just my opinion based on very few examples....
I'm a rosewood guy, never thought I'd play maple but I've come realize that I prefer a maple neck and boards on strat style guitars,
especially with ash bodies. The two or three ash/rosewood strats I've had just had a loose floppy low end.
Might just have been those particulars guitars or my lousy ear. I will say that I've not encountered an alder/rosewood or ash/maple
strat that had the same disagreeable tone.
If I could play both guitars you are being offered I might change my mind but buying blind I'd probably choose the alder/rosewood combo.

[Boris Bubbanov]

I have the chance to buy my 1st G&L. Both are legacy specials...one has ash body and one is alder. They both have rosewood fretboards. What's the pros and cons of each? Ash sounds snappy to me, but I've only heard it with a maple fretboard. How's the ash/rosewood combo?

I'm ditching a Jeff Beck strat (brand new) to get a G&L. I've never heard a guitar compare. But I've only played a Legacy with alder body/maple neck...curious what you guys thing of the alder/ash w/rosewood comparison.

G + L guitars are great but that Jeff Beck must be a dud to wanna drop it for another guitar, sight unseen.

Regret to say that you cannot reliably determine much of anything from the wood species of either the body or the fretboard.
Rosewood fretboards and perhaps pau ferro can take years of abuse that would hurt an ebony board. Maple boards get a finish and so they are slippery when playing in humid sweltering conditions - the rosewood sponges up the sweat. Conversely a seldom used rosewood board can burn your fingertips in Winter if you play too hard without moisturizing the board. Any other difference is aesthetics or anecdote. If one board type (or finish type) interferes with you playing, avoid it, or use it seasonally as conditions permit.

The alder/ash difference is just as non linear. Certain bodies have a sound you're not likely to hear from a body of another wood type but so many of these bodies, the best ones in many cases, "tastes like chicken or is it pork? You and I don't know unless we peek. Ash tends to offer extreme lightness or greater heaviness while alder bodies tend to be middlin in weight. You may some day find an alder or an ash body you love and will never forget, but the next 2 alder or ash bodies you play will just "sound great" but are not a dominant factor in the guitar's personality. Especially not under amplification.

So the differences are basically visual aesthetics. Some folks (even luthiers) are nervous about an ash body/rosewood board combo and if you wanna make them feel better, don't order that pairing. I tend to prefer ash because of the beauty in its appearance, but my 2 G + L alder guitars are very beautiful, also.

[jredden2012]

Well...if you look at my avatar, I bought a G&L Legacy Special. However, the seller isn't sure what the body wood is. It has a bowling ball green and black swirl finish. I've been warned these are really delicate finishes. However, no one has been able to tell me if those swirl finishes were only applied to swamp ash bodies (as the premier finishes are), or if they were put on alder only since the grain doesn't show through all that paint anyways. At this point, I don't care. I just wanted a G&L so badly. hahaha. I know it's going to be a great guitar regardless of the wood combo. I have another G&L (Legacy, not a Legacy special) that I may buy too if I like the Legacy Special I'm about to get. I love G&L already. A good friend has a Legacy (with STOCK pickups) that we used to A/B against the Fender Beck strat. After hearing/seeing/playing his Legacy beat the Beck, I was sold...I just got a Legacy Special because I wanted the stacked single coils and meatier sound it has...

When the guitar gets in my hands, I will do a setup/cleanup and string change and post some vids to youtube....I have no doubt it's going to a SMOKIN guitar.

[pauliewalnuts]

I had that exact guitar in blueburst finish ash/rosewood. Very harsh sounding guitar, I sold it immediately. I've read elsewhere that this combo isn't the way to go.
Bowling ball finishes are most likely alder. Keep the ash for teles, I'm always partial to the smooth mids you get from alder.

[jredden2012]

Well I've had this guitar for a few weeks now and it's def alder. I doubt they'd cover up the ash grain with such a heavy paint job. It's sings, it screams, and everything in between. I love this guitar. I've had some trouble doing the setup since I'm not used to guitars with trems.

Is it possible to make the tremolo sit against the body so that you can't pull back on it and only push down? Or are these designed to always be floating trems?