Another 'What wood is this' thread

Hey guys,

I have a strat here and I've been curious about what wood the body is made from for a while, was never able to tell from the neck pocket. I've read a bunch of similar threads which show up in google search results and they weren't really a lot of help, just speculation based on the model or the year etc. I'm going to be upgrading the pickups to some SD APS-1's and decided I would shield the cavity's while I'm at it. So I decided to sand a little back in the cavity to have a look at what's underneath and I'm hoping to get a consensus of the wood type now that it's easier to see. I thought the paint would be pretty thin and just overspray but it was actually quite thick and harder than I thought to sand a bit off. Don't worry, it's not a collectible.

In order to reduce any opinion bias, I won't reveal too much info about the guitar until after. I have weighed it on some accurate kitchen scales today and came it was 3.55kg (7.82lb) fully assembled. It also seems to be quite a hard wood, doesn't seem to dent with a fingernail or even a screwdriver.

Hopefully this pic is good enough to get a straight answer.



Thanks.

Edit\Update:

Thanks for all the replies.

I also agree with the poll results that it's almost definitely Alder, the weight seems right, it seems a lot harder than basswood and the reddish tint and grain pattern all seem right.

Now onto what makes this a little bit interesting. This is a MIJ strat from 88-89 based on the serial number, there's no dates or markings on it. It's got a lovely maple neck stamped 'ST-357V' but it's not one of the re-issue style guitars, it's got modern tuners, logo and string trees. Onto the electronics it has a made in USA stamped CRL 5 way switch, full size pots, but cheap ceramic pickups (which I'm upgrading). Nothing unusual about the bridge, and it has a pretty small trem block, and now we've established, it has an Alder body.

I believe it was sold as a 'Strat Standard' by Fender Australia, but from what I've read online regarding MIJ strats, a couple of things about this guitar just don't make sense. As a lower spec guitar, should be basswood body, should have worse electronics to match the cheaper ceramic pickups etc. Anyway, it seems great to me, I'll be keeping it for a long time, just another example of the inconsistency of the MIJ strats I guess.

Putting this info up here as I found a lot of people having similar questions and this forum is indexed well by google, may help someone out in future.

Can upload more pics if anyone wants some. Cheers

 

Not saying it does matter one way or another, or one is better than another. Just something I'm curious about, that's all.

 

There's a little bit of a story behind the rest of the components and it doesn't make much sense based on what I know, which I will reveal tomorrow once I upload a few more pictures.

 

Thanks for everyone's replies. Updated the first post with a bit more info about the guitar.

 

Thanks guys, now that I've revealed it's an 80's MIJ strat, we can probably rule it out, as I don't believe they made any swamp-ash strats. I think swamp ash grain is a little less straight compared with Alder, but I'm no expert.