What kind of wood?

Peggy Green · Post by **Peggy Green** » 25 Jan 2000 5:58 am

What kind of wood is a Fender Champion made of? What is the pearlized covering made of?

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 25 Jan 2000 9:01 am

I can't say for sure what type of wood they used; my guess would be alder. The plastic covering is called pearloid, sometimes referred to as "mother of toilet seat". It's made of celluloid, a tough flammable thermoplastic consisting of nitrocellulose and camphor that was invented by John Wesley Hyatt in l869.

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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

mikey · Post by **mikey** » 25 Jan 2000 12:02 pm

I'm not sure either, but I remember someone saying at one time the MOTS covered guitars were pinewood, like the old K&F's,
Mike

Peggy Green · Post by **Peggy Green** » 25 Jan 2000 2:03 pm

Mine just arrived. My first impression is how extensively the string vibrations resonate throughout the body. Which led me to ask what the body materials were. It's so light that poplar or pine could be plausible answers.

Troy Cody · Post by **Troy Cody** » 25 Jan 2000 4:12 pm

Most of the double and triple necks delux were white oak MOTS were yellow pine some of the 6 string laps were alder and poplar. It depended on the finsh that was to be used and what wood was on hand. The wood in a steel guitar has very lettle to do with the sound. If the pickup is working wright it has none.

Mike Tatro · Post by **Mike Tatro** » 26 Jan 2000 10:49 am

Peggy-
I had a yellow MOTO '50s Fender lap years ago. The underside was stained green but I think the wood was pine.

BTW, pine is a very respectable tone wood. I'm building a pine bodied Telecaster right now. Some of Fender's early prototype Teles were pine bodies.

Troy-
I say this with as much respect as I can muster... you're dead wrong, plain and simple.

Anyone who's ever played both a maple-bodied steel and anything else could never make such a claim ("The wood in a steel guitar has very lettle (sic) to do with the sound. If the pickup is working wright (sic) it has none").

Body wood makes a huge difference in the overall tone and feel of a steel guitar (or any electric instrument for that matter). Even in the PSG world, some guys still prefer wood necks to aluminum. Guess why? They like the tone better

I guess you just have to know what to listen for.

My .02, your mileage may vary.

Mike D · Post by **Mike D** » 26 Jan 2000 11:05 am

Gotta stand with my fellow Mike here. Construction also makes a difference i.e. I f the guitar is strung through the body or not.

Troy Cody · Post by **Troy Cody** » 26 Jan 2000 4:45 pm

The tone of a steel guitar is produced not by the body of the guitar but by the pickupand amp take one guitar that you like the sound of and try it on some one elses amp and you will see that it is in the electronic or change the pickup and use the same guitar and amp.

mikey · Post by **mikey** » 26 Jan 2000 5:03 pm

Troy, Troy Troy,
I've been building guitars for a quarter of a century...yes, electronics and amplification do affect tone, but the MOST critical factor is the woods resonance, the electronics DO NOT operate in a vaccum...but perhaps yours does,
Mike

Troy Cody · Post by **Troy Cody** » 26 Jan 2000 5:11 pm

If wood is the maine factor why do we all spind so much on electronic .

mikey · Post by **mikey** » 26 Jan 2000 8:27 pm

Actually, I spind more on the wood, a good chunk of Koa is quite expensive, the electronics is just a matter of taste,
Mike

Mike Dennis · Post by **Mike Dennis** » 26 Jan 2000 9:11 pm

I agree wood is a big factor in tone....

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 26 Jan 2000 10:14 pm

I'm gunna have to say everything from the wood to the electronics to the cords you plug in to the amp you play through and from the room your playing in and your hands your picks your bar and everything else in between has a factor on the sound>it all makes up a sound. Wheather one thing is more important or more so a factor than another is all a matter of how your ear hears it. I've been working on my new Hawaiian steel and I cut no corners. I got the best sounding wood to my ears by knocking on it>got the best sounding metal(brass)to my ears; for all the metal parts>got the best pick-up system I like for the way I want the sound to be picked up>and making sure everything about this steel is in contact with everything that makes up this steel for it all to "work together" to make a sound. I cut no corners in parts and design and it is very very expensive to do that>which is the way I think a steel should be built. So I spent my life savings(which for a musician is what most people have in their back pocket

> on my belief that everything involved makes a difference in the sound.
That's Just what I hear and believe.

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Ricky Davis
ICQ# 62060713
http://hometown.aol.com/sshawaiian/RickyHomepage.html
http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/steel.html
sshawaiian@aol.com
[This message was edited by Ricky Davis on 26 January 2000 at 11:01 PM.]

Peggy Green · Post by **Peggy Green** » 27 Jan 2000 7:51 am

I just spent the weekend with Becky and Bill Lawrence. They do believe that you can get an entire range of tones with one pickup system on one guitar. But, they also believe that with such a system the characteristics of a guitar are emphasized. And a bad guitar will sound even worse.

I strongly believe from my experience that a guitar must resonate.

Mike Tatro · Post by **Mike Tatro** » 27 Jan 2000 9:58 am

Peggy-

Hangin with the Lawrences - sounds like fun.

FWIW, I think the PU he is supplying to Mellobar for the 6 string SuperSteel neck is absolutely superb, I'm talkin' jaw dropping, ohmygoshIneversoundedsogood, fantastic.[This message was edited by Mike Tatro on 27 January 2000 at 09:59 AM.]

Ed Naylor · Post by **Ed Naylor** » 27 Jan 2000 2:14 pm

With all this talk about wood and pickups, I personally don't believe anything can match the old Bakelite Rickenbacker.Several months ago I built a guitar for a customer using his ideas on wood and pickups plus some other features. It sounded like Ricky. Ed Naylor Steel Guitar Works 1-800-749-3363

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 27 Jan 2000 3:39 pm

Hey Ed if you talkin' about it sounded like me; It wasn't. My wood is Australian silky oak and you can't find that around here> I got it when I was down under.

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Ricky Davis
ICQ# 62060713
http://hometown.aol.com/sshawaiian/RickyHomepage.html
http://users.interlinks.net/rebel/steel/steel.html
sshawaiian@aol.com

Tommy Mark · Post by **Tommy Mark** » 27 Jan 2000 4:39 pm

Ive got a nice piece of oak that I have been planning to build a lap from.Ive been collecting parts for some time.I don`t know what to do about a fret board.Are these available custom made?BTW the tele bridge idea is great. I may have to change my thinking on this.

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Troy Cody · Post by **Troy Cody** » 28 Jan 2000 4:10 pm

Peggy,
I apologize for getting everyone off your original post. There was a lot of great input on all subjects that were brought up
and even though everyone does not agree with me..I don't agree with every one of them...but all of us is entitled to his/her own opinion.
I have found in my 50 years of playing that there are as many different ideas as there are players... some are great and some are ....
as Ed Naylor has brought up...some of the most sought after guitars are not wood they are a plastic material or aluminum.
Thanks for everyone that replied to my statement... be it right or wrong........