American vs. Mexican Teles/Strats

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 21 Feb 2006 9:03 am

Anyone tried the korean G&L ASAT Tribute guitars?

Brad

Harvey Reams · Post by **Harvey Reams** » 21 Feb 2006 9:23 am

I don't know where the "swamp" ash name comes from, but white ash ( fraxinus americana ) is probable the choice of the 3 woods talked about. I've been building furniture for over 30 years and buy woods from all over the world...none of my suppliers sell swamp ash. Ash is in the olive family and has great density, its noted for its stabilty, I use it alot in my shop.
Red Alder ( alnus ) is a good utility wood, we call it a poor mans cherry...its a birch relative, its is used alot for upholstery framing because of its stability and it also takes a good stain.
Yellow Poplar ( liriodendron ) is moderately soft, low density. It takes a pretty good finish and is in the hard wood family. west coast poplar is called cottonwood, yellow poplar will grow up to 200 feet tall and grows at a fast rate, making it a high yield wood.
IMO the bottom line, "cost", for fender and most of the guitar companys thats a big factor. The same is true in my shop, I use poplar when ever I can, its cheap!

Poplar runs about .90 a board foot
Alder runs 2.30 ABF
Ash runs between 3.00-4.00 ABF

Ok, so much for wood 101, I just thought some of these facts may help from someone who works with wood everyday. I have build alot of blanks for guitar bodies for friends and guitar makers, I would never choose Poplar.
HR
[This message was edited by Harvey Reams on 21 February 2006 at 10:45 AM.]

Cliff Kane · Post by **Cliff Kane** » 21 Feb 2006 3:51 pm

Swamp Ash, from the warmoth site:

"We have two very different types of Ash: Northern Hard Ash and Swamp Ash (Southern Soft Ash). Northern Hard Ash is very hard, heavy and dense. A Strat® body will normally weigh 5 lbs. and up. It's density contributes to a bright tone and a long sustain which makes it very popular. It's color is creamy, but it also tends to have heartwood featuring pink to brown tints. The grain pores are open and it takes a lot of finish to fill them up. Swamp Ash is a prized wood for many reasons. It is a very musical wood offering a very nice balance of brightness and warmth with a lot of "pop". It is a fairly light weight wood which makes it easily distinguishable from Hard Ash. A Strat® body will normally weigh under 5 lbs. Many of the 50's Fenders were made of Swamp Ash. The grain is open and the color is creamy. This wood is a very nice choice for clear finishes. Swamp Ash is our second most popular wood."

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 21 Feb 2006 4:00 pm

I like the Fender USA: Highway 1 Tele.
Threw on some Seymour Duncon STK3 Vintage stacks. Twang, no-hum. Yeeehawww!

------------------
SHO~BUDS,FENDER AMPS& GUITARS, TUT TAYLOR RESO'S

"What a long, strange trip it's been"

[This message was edited by Larry Robbins on 21 February 2006 at 04:01 PM.]

Webb Kline · Post by **Webb Kline** » 21 Feb 2006 4:18 pm

Brad, I honestly like the Korean G&L Tributes better than the American ones as far as their necks are concerned. Personally, I just don't care for the G&L necks, but the Tributes are very nice and the ones with the big ugly pickups sound great in my opinion.

Our guitarist is playing a Tribute Tele right now that is one of the best sounding guitars he owns for country. Amazing tone. He's owned a guitar shop for 26 years and owns just about every guitar imaginable. But, he's really impressed with the Tribute.

Luke Morell · Post by **Luke Morell** » 21 Feb 2006 6:00 pm

I have a Mexican Tele,I love it.it plays as good as any U.S. made one. I had a guy to try trade a U.S. made strat even up but i said no way

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 21 Feb 2006 7:17 pm

I thought it funny someone would mention the Korean Teles. I own this one. It is a Fender Lite Ash with the prettiest birds eye maple neck I've ever seen. It has abalone dot inlays, vintage style hardware, real seymour duncan pups, etc. I own many Fenders including a USA made Eric Johnson Strat, USA Tele, and a really cool special edition flamed maple strat MIM. They are all different guitars at different price points. This Korean made Fender Tele is the best bang for the buck tele I've ever owned.

------------------
God Bless,
Steve Stallings
D10 9x7 Rains (On order)
D10 8x10 Emmons (Black Beauty)

Bob Smith · Post by **Bob Smith** » 22 Feb 2006 7:53 am

You usually get what you pay for. Chinese teles ,now they gotta be a real buck banger.