I want a guitar that has the tone of ash - basically, an ash body - but that (with the flick of a switch or the stomp of a pedal) can go into high gain death/puke/kill/chaos mode... or somewhere in between.

Basically, I want to be able to go from clean-as-a-bell to SRV-with-vicious-dirt to Tommy-Iommi-Lord-of-Darkness to Hammer-Smashed-Face/Gushers-Of-Ear-Blood all in a matter of seconds. Or even blend them somehow.

I got to try an ash-bodied guitar a bit ago, on clean setting, and it made my eyes water. I also really dug the light weight. I dunno what it is... basses are bigger but apparently they're better balanced than a typical guitar so they sit easier... whereas I get my first Strat (alder) and I was like "urrrgh!!! Hey, what the?!?!" I also like the look... a transparent blue finish on a finely figured ash body... that's what's in my mind's eye.

I prefer the HSS configuration. I've always been under the impression that if you put a high gain super-hot humbucker (i.e. something with ceramic rails... or something wound super duper hot with ceramic magnets, something along those lines) in an alder or ash guitar that it... won't work so well? That you need... a mahogany body?

I should qualify that I use super-fat 13-gauge strings and usually tune down to C#. This isn't because I play a lot of chunky extreme/nu metal chords or anything... I just like having the added range and I use it in solo work... as in, I'll be up at the 12th fret stretching towards the 20th and then, out of nowhere and without warning, "HWOOOOOOOONG" hit them with the open C#. And when I'm doing up-and-down-the-neck progressions, I like to go stomach-kick low. (It's the bassist in me.)

For what I'm after, is it better to put hefty middle-of-the-road pickups in an HSS ash or alder body and rely on effects and the amp for when brutality is desired? "Hefty" and "Middle-of-the-Road" as in, not all sweet and clean and jazzy... but not the whole guttural death metal "Jabba the Hutt's Lower Intestinal Tract" super flaming nuclear reactor hot side either... somewhere between the two extremes. So in this case, when it comes time to make their ears bleed and their teeth rattle... just stomp a pedal or flick a switch or something?

I know I've asked similar questions five million different ways... but this one involves which pickups can and can't-so-much go with certain tone woods, in this case ash, and then alder after it.

simple. search. then research.

When in doubt, go with what works 'clean'. You can get any kind of dirty sound you want through judicious selection and application of effects, but clean tone can not be faked-up. It either is, or it is not.

Makes sense!

whatever you choose for a guitar get emg's, no noise and super clean- plus the heaviest tone youll ever find!!

i've got EMG's, just a heads up 99% of the ppl on this forum don't have EMG's and therefore hate them by default. but in my opinion they are sweet as and damn perfect at things (maybe 2 perfect compared to standard pickups, which give em a lil less character), plus u can get em real close to the strings and real far away (because of magnetic impedence or somn a rather) so one of my pickups comes through clean no matter how much gain there is, and the other comes through beautifully distorted.

Originally Posted by: LordathestringsWhen in doubt, go with what works 'clean'. You can get any kind of dirty sound you want through judicious selection and application of effects, but clean tone can not be faked-up. It either is, or it is not.

That's pretty much what I was gonna say. So, yeah.

Pretty much any pickup will work with any wood...... The wood will however change the tonal quality of the pickup... or enhance it, you could say. Alder and Ash are pretty similar in the tonal qualities... Ash is used for it's slightly lighter weight and it's also used because it has a more aestetic grain pattern... that's why Fender uses it for their transparent finishes....... The tonal qualities don't differ much between the two though. They both generally have a brighter tone when compared to other woods... obviously less sustain than that of the heavy mahogany bodies... mahogany is generally a deeper or warmer tone wood.... due to it's weight. That's pretty much it though. There are no pickups out there that won't work with any wood... it's all personal preference really. I think you're on the right track with Ceramic magnets in the humbucker.... EMGs are great pickups.... They're just not very versatile outside of the rock/metal genre.... which is why I will never own a set... I have played numerous numerous guitars with EMGs.... and they sound great for rock and metal.. probably the best out there... but for versatility I wouldn't recommend them.... Look into Bare Knuckle pickups... they might be able to get your crazy hot pickups for you.

Ah, thanx guys.

You know what's strange... active pickups for bass are the be-all end-all for power and versatility. They can capture any passive pickup sound and can also do stuff that passives just can't.

It's strange to me that it's the opposite story when it comes to guitar.