Many people dont even realize that just because you have an electric guitar, doesnt mean that the wood it is made of doesnt have anything to do with the sound. in fact, it has EVERYTHING to do with the sound! so what is the right wood for you? how are woods different? are there any drawbacks to certain types of wood?? thats what we are here to discuss!
 BODY WOOD
      The wood you choose for the body of your guitar is VERY important. the body acts as a kind of big ol' Resonating soundboard that help decide which frequencies you hear more, how warm or bright your tone is, how long your sustain is, etc.
     th bridge on your guitar is attached to the body and acts as the point where vibrations from the strings are transfered to the wood. a really dense wood will carry those vibrations more easily and in turn help the sustain because the wood is not "forcing" the strings to stop vibrating because it is not vibrating itself.... i know.... sounds wierd.... we wont get into everything in detail like that....
   here are pictures of some common body woods and a description of how each affects the tone of your guitar.as well as an example of some popular guitars that employ this wood in their building.
 
    ALDER
This wood has a nice, well rounded sound. it handles highs equally as well as lows, although it does not do either of them absolutely spectacularly. great for an all around guitar that has to play a lot of different types of music, classic rock. not the best for guitars that need to have extreem cutting highs or heavy tuned down lows.
 
 

 SWAMP ASH
Swamp ash is a great wood. wonderful old stratocaster tone when used with single coils, and screams till you think you will burst with humbuckers. its tonal qualities are mid range, slightly leaning twords accentuating the highr registers. great rock/blues wood. again, not highly recommended for tuned down applications.
 
 
BASSWOOD
This is a very common body wood that is very popular in more modern rock. it has a tone that slightly leans twords the lower, warmer side. you will find many ibanez style rock guitars made of this wood. great for all around rockin' all night long.
 
 
 

 MAHOGANY
Mahogany is my personal wood-of-choice for anything hard hitting and heavy. this wood accentuates the low end quite heavily while maintaining the abilty to get nice, creamy sounding highs. if you tune down, try this wood out. if you like a creamy, warm tone rather than a cutting high... try this wood. if you like les pauls.... surprise...this is what they are made of...and this is what men are made of.
 

MAPLE
More commonly used in necks, but also can be used as a body wood. now that we covered the low end of the spectrum with mahogany, we come to the ULTRA HIGH end of the spectrrum with maple. if you want to cut through anything in your path, this is the tone you want. very little low end accentuation makes this wood scream like a baby sheep drowning in a tar pit. if used with singlecoild it accentuates the "twang" of the pickup and gives you one hell of a hardcore country sound...
 
     OK, now that was just a few of the more common body woods. there are many others that can be used for bodies as well, but rather than overload you, i would rather show you the basics. in all reality, if you are ready to go past the basics, you probably already have a sound and a wood in mind from your own research. next, i will show you some different woods that can be used for necks. keep in mind that some of the previously mentioned body woods are also used for necks, but do a bit of a different thing for tone and sustain than when they are used on the body.
 
MAPLE AGAIN!
ok, maple is probably one of the most common woods used for necks. it is extreemly dense and bright sounding which can help in a couple ways. the first is sustain. this wood can help you hold a note till the next coming of jesus... the second, is that it works well to help a more warm sounding body wood cut through in the higher registers. a great neck wood.
 
 
MAHOGANY AGAIN!
MAhogany is another common neck wood. it is normally used on guitars that already have a mahogany body, but can be mixed and matched as well. when used with a mahogany body, it helps to maintain that famous warm tone that everyone loves, when mixed, it is usually used to slightly accentuate low tones and add warmth to the body woods tone, it can however take away sustain in some cases and anytime it is used in conjunction with a mahogany body, it should come from the same tree in order to match densities and frewquency response as well as possible.
 
BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD!!!
This is IT people! my god i hope you have a lot of money. this is a very special, very rare, very expensive wood with a look, feel, and tonal qualities to DIE FOR! if you need endless sustain...this is it. it has a warm tone and does not give up the sustain. it requires no finish, and quite honestly it would be a crime to finish it. it feels very very smooth to the touch and is great for you fast players out there. absolutely beautiful. to have a neck made out of solid brazilian rosewood you can expect to pay upwards of $900- $1000... yes... thats just the price of the neck.....
 
well, that is a basic guise for you if you wanted to learn a bit more about what each of the woods ca do for you. the pictures and reasearch was done on http://www.warmoth.com/ go there and you can create the guitar of your dreams with whatever wood you want! like i said, there Are a TON more species of wood to choose from, but these are the basics. have fun!