Ash

I managed to re-string this one during the CNY holidays. My TL71 has creamed off after four years & the ash grains are beginning to rival my floor laminate. Despite being ash-bodied, it remains light with the typical pronounced lower midrange coming from this wood type. The thing about Japanese Fenders, most of them feature a glossed neck & it might put off the purists. However, I deem mine to be as playable as my other non-glossed necked guitar; it's a matter of familiarity. I bought this one at Sound Alchemy when Beez was still their neighbour at Excelsior Shopping Center. 

That's right, I swapped out the string retainer for this rounded version for this guitar as well. 

Pickups: Hot Stack (b)/ Quarter Pound (n). These Seymour Duncan pickups are really something. So I have the Hot Stack in my TL-Rose as well & I love the stinging tone & it's more pronounced here due to the brass saddles there. The hot neck pickup was intentional just to underscore the fact that I don't do country music with this one - no disrespect to country music proponents out there.

Harmony strings are good albeit under-rated. If you wish for a neutral-sounding set (nether too bright nor too mellow), this is the brand to get. Together with Martin's Darco range, they are absolute value-for money.