Well, I just had a chat with my luthier yesterday about Poplar. He told me that he despised the wood for a long time, however the Hungarian Swamp Poplar he used for my guitar is the superior equivalent to the more common Chinese and American sort used in mass production, the main difference being the wood growth pattern. Whereas the inferior type doesn't grow straight and has often crooked wood pattern areas, resulting in the unsatisfying sound, the Hungarian species grows steady and straight, being light, very well to work with and having a transparent tone with a defined bottom end, rich mids and highs and a healthy presence. He even told me he knocked on the wood to hear the acoustic properties before selecting said piece and putting it together with the Canadian Maple for the Neck and Fretboard, resulting in a cutting, defined and ultimately light guitar that fits my needs. There soo much more to building a guitar then most people could imagine... :o
