Guitar's Core >> The Wood - body

From time to time, I got many students asking me about the guitar. What is it made of? Wood. Wood from a tree. The same wood you have in your furnitures. Your chair , table, cupboard...blablabla.
Ok . Why is it so expensive since it's only wood. Ah ha.... now they started thinking. Guitars are made of carefully chosen wood. Not the normal poplar you get in woodwork shops. (But nowadays China guitars uses poplar because it's cheap.) The wood commonly use in guitars are expensive, thus the price after it's been fully made into one.
The common wood used in branded guitars are:-

1) Basswood - more mid/inexpensive/widely use in Ibanez
2) Alder - more high and low/telecasters
3)Swamp Ash/Ash - USA wood/more mid & low
4)Mahogany - Thick sound/Strong low & mid lows.
5)Walnut - brighter/hard/strong mids.

6)Koa - upper mids/darker
7)Korina - super mahogany/sweet mids
8) Soft/hard Maple - brighter in mids/korea
9)Spuce - more high & lows.
10)Lacewood - brighter than Alder, richer than maple.

These are just common ones. The price will shoot up if the Koa is from a rare Japanese 1000 years old tree. Different wood body will influence the sound and tone of the guitar.This is the main important of the wood, the better the wood the better the cut the better the quality all contribute into the sound that the guitar will produce. Vai even said the body has a pitch, and the neck too. The combination of the neck and body will somewhat produce an interval. If the combo is a consonant it will sustain better , if dissonant vice versa. If Octave the better. All depends on the luthier. On how he wants the guitar to be.

One more cool thing about guitar bodies are, we have tops and base. Common tops are maples. Either a flame maple top/Tiger flame maple or Quilted maple , this add the difference in wood tone and of course the guitar looked fabulously awesome.
The wood that China ripoff guitars uses are mainly poplar, just like the cheap furniture you have in your house. The wood produce no tone, Flat and poor sustain. SO pls, stay away from them. RM250 for a jumpstart. Pls.... ROTFLOL

You can google around and look for more information what wood gives you what tone in detail.
WHY PRS guitars are expensive? They have employees to personally choose the wood to be use. Every wood have to be unique and top quality.

Cheers!~~~~