squier telecaster ummm makes me think

[copachino]

hi all, i have a squier for many years, i use it for practice, and happens that i have never wonder about the "wood", while i was looking the guitar the other days i realize that in fact there its no wood, its maded with MDF, and makes me think why, i had a japanese squier before and sound much better than the standard i have, maybe that was maded with real wood??

[Frag Magnet]

The wood is irreverent to the tone of an electric guitar.  I'd say the most likely culprit for a difference in tone between the two guitars is the pickups.

[jkokura]

The wood is irreverent to the tone of an electric guitar.  I'd say the most likely culprit for a difference in tone between the two guitars is the pickups.

That's actually not true. Wood matters, and construction techniques matter a lot in both acoustic and electric guitars.

An 'electric' guitar is still considered an acoustic instrument, because the reaction is the string resonating with the instrument itself. There's a reason why some guitars are made with Mahogany, and some with Alder.

Play an Alder Tele and a Swamp Ash Tele with the same hardware, pickups, and neck (I have done so) and you can hear a difference (I have).

Jacob

[GermanCdn]

I'm of the same opinion as Jacob.  In fact, you can have two guitars made out of the exact same materials with the exact same electronics, and they can sound different.  I have two SC250s which had (I've changed the pups now) the exact same configuration and they did not sound the same.  Now, they didn't sounds worlds different, but you could tell the difference between the two.

Typically, the better an electric guitar sounds acoustically, the better it will sound electrically.  If the body is not resonant (and plywood is not resonant), it will dampen the vibration of the strings, which will in turn change the characteristic of the disturbance of the magnetic field created by the pickups, and this carries down the tone chain.  Same reasoning applies to why you want a solid/tight neck joint, preferably wood on wood.

Pickups are the quickest and easiest way to change the tone of the guitar, but you can't place pickup X into two different guitars and expect them to sound the same.  A JB in the bridge of a Les Paul sounds different than a JB in the bridge of a RG or strat or tele.

It's definitely cheaper for Gibson to make Les Paul bodies out of basswood (cheaper to source, can be found domestically, easier to machine, less prone to tearouts, not on any CITES lists, etc) than mahogany, but the reason they don't (and if they could cut corners they would) is because it doesn't sound the same.  They tried the "sustainable wood" series of Les Pauls for a couple of years.  Didn't catch on, primarily because it didn't sound enough like a Les Paul.

[copachino]

but for a squier maded with mdf, man that cheap, i thought that my only guitar maded with MF, was my first guitar in my life, a palmer strat, which i still have for setimental reasons, but my squier japan its maded with maple, but the standard its MDF.... that crap jejeje , but i wonder why fender its so cheap, mahogany its not that expensive at least not where i live, i can get real natural growth mahogany for 3USd square feet, that cheap, but still, fender its doing bad with MDF

[jkokura]

but for a squier maded with mdf, man that cheap, i thought that my only guitar maded with MF, was my first guitar in my life, a palmer strat, which i still have for setimental reasons, but my squier japan its maded with maple, but the standard its MDF.... that crap jejeje , but i wonder why fender its so cheap, mahogany its not that expensive at least not where i live, i can get real natural growth mahogany for 3USd square feet, that cheap, but still, fender its doing bad with MDF

I've never seen a squier made of MDF, and I'd doubt its real to be honest. How do you know it's MDF?

Jacob

[gtr2]

I thought most of the Squires were pine?

[pickdropper]

MDF would be really heavy; that would surprise me.

I do know that Squire uses Basswood.  The Vintage Modified Cabronita I looked at a while back has a Basswood body.  I think I'd want a more traditional wood for that type of guitar, although Basswood has been used in plenty of nice guitars over the years.

[copachino]

but for a squier maded with mdf, man that cheap, i thought that my only guitar maded with MF, was my first guitar in my life, a palmer strat, which i still have for setimental reasons, but my squier japan its maded with maple, but the standard its MDF.... that crap jejeje , but i wonder why fender its so cheap, mahogany its not that expensive at least not where i live, i can get real natural growth mahogany for 3USd square feet, that cheap, but still, fender its doing bad with MDF

I've never seen a squier made of MDF, and I'd doubt its real to be honest. How do you know it's MDF?

Jacob

i know its MDF cos on day the guitar got damaged by some guy who drop it, and for my suprise it was MDF same as my palmer guitar

[pickdropper]

but for a squier maded with mdf, man that cheap, i thought that my only guitar maded with MF, was my first guitar in my life, a palmer strat, which i still have for setimental reasons, but my squier japan its maded with maple, but the standard its MDF.... that crap jejeje , but i wonder why fender its so cheap, mahogany its not that expensive at least not where i live, i can get real natural growth mahogany for 3USd square feet, that cheap, but still, fender its doing bad with MDF

I've never seen a squier made of MDF, and I'd doubt its real to be honest. How do you know it's MDF?

Jacob

i know its MDF cos on day the guitar got damaged by some guy who drop it, and for my suprise it was MDF same as my palmer guitar

How much does it weigh?  MDF is pretty heavy stuff.

I've read a few posts online that claim some of the old MIJ Squires used MDF, but I haven't heard of the current ones using it.

[copachino]

but for a squier maded with mdf, man that cheap, i thought that my only guitar maded with MF, was my first guitar in my life, a palmer strat, which i still have for setimental reasons, but my squier japan its maded with maple, but the standard its MDF.... that crap jejeje , but i wonder why fender its so cheap, mahogany its not that expensive at least not where i live, i can get real natural growth mahogany for 3USd square feet, that cheap, but still, fender its doing bad with MDF

I've never seen a squier made of MDF, and I'd doubt its real to be honest. How do you know it's MDF?

Jacob

i know its MDF cos on day the guitar got damaged by some guy who drop it, and for my suprise it was MDF same as my palmer guitar

How much does it weigh?  MDF is pretty heavy stuff.

I've read a few posts online that claim some of the old MIJ Squires used MDF, but I haven't heard of the current ones using it.

its an old one about 10 punds, its heavy

[pickdropper]

but for a squier maded with mdf, man that cheap, i thought that my only guitar maded with MF, was my first guitar in my life, a palmer strat, which i still have for setimental reasons, but my squier japan its maded with maple, but the standard its MDF.... that crap jejeje , but i wonder why fender its so cheap, mahogany its not that expensive at least not where i live, i can get real natural growth mahogany for 3USd square feet, that cheap, but still, fender its doing bad with MDF

I've never seen a squier made of MDF, and I'd doubt its real to be honest. How do you know it's MDF?

Jacob

i know its MDF cos on day the guitar got damaged by some guy who drop it, and for my suprise it was MDF same as my palmer guitar

How much does it weigh?  MDF is pretty heavy stuff.

I've read a few posts online that claim some of the old MIJ Squires used MDF, but I haven't heard of the current ones using it.

its an old one about 10 punds, its heavy

A 10 lb strat or tele would make a good argument for MDF.  And if it's older, Japan would be more likely as well.

The good news is that I don't think you'll get stuck with MDF on a newer one.

[culturejam]

A believe the Affinity / Bullet guitars are made of agathis, which is actually pretty nice wood for guitars. It's light as a feather and surprisingly resonant.

A lot of the cheaper Chinese guitars also use agathis. It's cheap and widely available and not endangered.

[copachino]

i know its a heavy guitar, but it stay at home on my testing rig always,

[pickdropper]

A believe the Affinity / Bullet guitars are made of agathis, which is actually pretty nice wood for guitars. It's light as a feather and surprisingly resonant.

A lot of the cheaper Chinese guitars also use agathis. It's cheap and widely available and not endangered.

A lot of the Chinese guitars also use Nato wood (not sure about Fender/Squire).

There is also "Asian Mystery Wood."  Ancient Chinese secret.