Wood talk: Ash

Ash is as synonymous to Fender as alder but it's history. No, not that it's extinct but it was the initial body wood which saw Fender guitars gain reputation & tone signature. Ash is a massive wood so the pedigree used in guitar manufacturing are largely the less massive, more spine-friendly, swamp ash version, very resonant wood this one. Inherently, ash gives off a strong top end twang, assuring some clarity in the mix. The mass of the wood ensures a convincing bottom end response, even the lighter ash types has a healthy low frequency ring. As such, ash gives off some natural 'scooped' output & sounds simply right with single coil equipped guitars or situations necessitating large doses of distortion.