questions about building a custom guitar..

[Opus(sy)2]

ok can anybody help me with this?

What do people think is the best wood to use in an electric guitar? and also what do people think would be the best neck joint to use?....the guitar is a RAN custom built, King V, Standard Floyd Rose and EMG81 at the bridge and i will be using it to play death metal, thrash metal and anything heavy as fuck, so can you answer my questions?

 

[Sunbane]

No-one can tell you what guitar wood would be better for DM - same with neck joint types. It comes down to what you like in a guitar.

Bodywood makes a big difference tonally, but despite having owned several very different guitars, I can't say that one wood has a 'better' tone than any other...although I'm personally very fond of mahogany guitars.

One word of advice though: Avoid "junk wood" guitars, i.e. plywood bodies. With the exeption of a Kramer I once had, all other plywood body guitars I've seen were just horrible sounding pieces of junk.

Different types of neck joints probably affects tone as well, but I don't think it matters to the same degree - at least to me, that's more of a feel thing...and I think it's really only of any significant interest when you're playing the very upper frets.

I've had both bolt-on and set-neck guitars (no neck-thru's so far), and to me the difference between bolt-on and set-neck is that the upper frets are a little easier to reach on a set-neck compared to the generic bolt-on design (as found on Fender strats for instance). But...a well built, modern bolt-on will be almost as good as any set-neck guitar - Jackson's bolt-on guitars are a good example of this, IMO.

If you play only rhythm, I'd doubt that you'd note much difference between neck joint types when you're actually playing. If you're playing lots of leads tho', you should consider what feel you like better in a neck.

'bane

 

[chaoticmanifesto]

i myself would use mahogany, or alder for body wood.
and for neck joints i'd use a neck through or set-neck. but it's your choice and how comfortable you'll feel. i suggest go to a guitar store and try out different guitars with different woods and neck joints, see how you feel.

 

[Opus(sy)2]

thanks 'bane and 'chaotic'