Swamp Ash: Leo Fender's Electric Guitar Bodywood of Choice
Guitar builders, or luthiers, around the world use Swamp Ash wood to make electric guitar bodies. Specifically, they use soft textured white ash grown in the Southern United States. The reason swamp or punky ash is so popular is because of design specifications that Leo Fender made in the early 1950's.
Fender Guitars Early History
Fender Guitars, based out of Scottsdale, Arizona is one of the largest manufacturers of guitars and musical instruments in the world. However, it was not always that way.
In the late 1930's, the company was founded by its namesake Leo Fender, as Fender's Radio Service in Fullerton, California. Approximately ten years later Fender transitioned the company from radio equipment repair to musical instrument and amplifier production.
Essentially, by the late 1940's Fender was in the infancy of the company that we know today. Initial growth was slow and steady. In truth, it took 10 years of tinkering and experimenting before growth accelerated significantly.
However, the next 15 years were so successful for Fender that Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) purchased the growing company in 1965 for $13,000,000.
Additionally, vintage guitar collectors place a premium on pre-CBS guitars produced by the Fullerton-based company. There was a perceived drop in quality-control at Fender that players attributed to CBS purchase.
Early Fender Ash Guitars
Although the first solid body electric guitar, the Broadcaster, incorporated pine as a body wood, ash and alder were used in the production of Telecaster and Stratocaster models. However, while alder was a popular guitar tonewood, ash is the wood specie that is universally associated with Fender guitar production.
There is much speculation about why Leo Fender initially chose Swamp Ash as the primary body wood for Fender's electric guitars. Notably, he did not use expensive hardwoods or softwoods in the early models.
Currently, Fender uses plenty of exotic high end woods, primarily in their Custom Shop and Masterbuilt lines, now made in Corona, California. Fender's Principal Master Builder, Ron Thorn, describes Fender's Custom Shop as a “Hot-rod shop.”
Leo Fender was an outsider among instrument builders. In part, this explains why he was eager to experiment with woods, materials and designs. Currently, we see Fender's traditional designs as vintage industry standards. However, at the time, his ideas were quite unconventional and outside the realm of standard luthiery norms. He wasn't neither a luthier or even a serious musician. Rather, he was a pragmatic tinkerer. Accordingly, if he was alive today, he would probably laugh at the reverence of his wood choices.
Leo's Swamp Ash Guitar Legacy
In guitar forums and in music folklore, much emphasis is placed on the tone characteristics of ash wood. Fender's own website refers to the warmth and brightness associated with the wood. However, very little evidence exists that suggests Leo used the wood for tone-related reasons. The most likely scenario is that he selected it for its distinctive grain pattern, ease of machining and relatively low cost. These are three pragmatic reasons that made production easier. If he did any tone-tapping or sonic wood analysis, he inexplicably kept that information to himself.
Thus, while the Broadcaster quickly faded from the production floor, models such ash the Esquire, Telecaster and Stratocaster propelled Fender into the mainstream of pop culture. Rock and Roll exploded in popularity. Accordingly, rock guitarists such as Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck and countless others helped cement Fender's place in history.
