i have nothing agaisnt pine as long as its chosen well... i am not saying leo spent ages chosing wood but he definately had better wood stocks to choose from. we dont, you cant pop down to b&Q and find wood suitable for a guitar as most of that comes from fast grom stock that will twist in front of your eyes on a warm day.
not hard to find older pine though, loads of it gets thrown away every day.... i noticed a particulary nice source at my local crematorium but if i take that they will have no pews
on another note, melvyn hisc--k is apparently experimenting with douglas fir for a neck wood.. could be interesing. personally i really like using redwood in a guitar and thats another softwood
i feel all this softwood talk is useless to the metal players on the board.. it generally means a more resonant, acousticy tone from a guitar