jrockbridge
Stealing Your Riffs
Where’s the wood?
Spot The Tonewood
- Thread starter jrockbridge
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Peen Simmons
Let’s Get Obtuse!
Your mom knows where the wood is
The part of the whole "debate" that drives me nuts is that the nuance of things being different turns into good/bad or better/worse rather than what it is, different. However, because people want things they have to be "the best" it's become an argument about whether materials actually change tone or not, so the nuance of the differences gets lost in the stupid.
jrockbridge
Stealing Your Riffs
On acoustic forums, people will argue that the nut material affects tone. Most say, bone nut material sounds best. But, is that really true, or is bone nut material simply tradition? When you form a barre chord, isn't the affect of the nut on the tone nullified? The arguments would often go on for pages on some forums without resolution. I'm convinced that plastic is a perfectly suitable substitute. I feel a bit different regarding wood material, even when talking about solid body, electric guitars.
I've swapped necks on Strat and Strat-copy guitars and been shocked how much difference the neck makes to the sound. I'm convinced that even fingerboard wood has an affect on the end resulting sound.
Having spent years on The Gear Page following the arguments, I'm a bit played out with the debates over tonewood. Some claim that the strings, electronics and pickups are all that matter to the sound in an electric guitar. If that were true, the Gittler guitar, which is devoid of wood, should sound like a typical solid wood guitar. Yet, the Gittler guitar sounds unique to me, with a voice all it's own.
If you crank up a solid body electric guitar through an amp, and knock your knuckles against the body, it will usually make a hollow sound through the pickups via amp. I've experienced a few guitars that sound somewhat dead when doing this, and they tend to sound a bit dull in general, compared to a more resonant, wood-body guitar.
I've heard a guitar, crafted out of plywood by a talented luthier, that sounded pretty damn good. I've got a masonite semi-hollow body guitar that sounds good. I have a Parker Nitefly that has a composite neck that feels amazing, yet multiple pickup swaps have failed to get it to sound great to me.
Bottom line for me, everything matters in a guitar, the design, the construction, the materials, the electronics, the pickups. Some things matter more than others. For me, nut material is one of my least concerns. Since I'm used to the way traditional wood, acoustic guitars sound, I probably would not be happy with an acoustic constructed from hemp, for example. Because I'm used to traditional wood, solid body, semi-hollow and hollow body electric guitars, the Gittler guitar would not be a suitable replacement for me. I sometimes anchor with my pinky on my pick hand, and the Gittler would preclude that technique. Otherwise, I think it's a perfectly suitable instrument. If I had one, I'd play it on occasion for something different.
baimun
Funkasaurus Rex
In my experience, It seems that the tone is determined the most by the combination of materials and build techniques between the two ends of the strings. String through versus trapeze bridge, nut material and headstock break angle, and then if each end anchor is in two different types of wood or not. It's not a simple "use these ingredients and your tone will be XYZ" but all these elements have to do with the attack, bloom, resonance, and decay of each note.... all integral to the tone, but the body shape and "wing" material won't affect the tone as much as the neck wood, IMO.
Then the remaining mass of body along with chambered versus solid, how they continue to resonate with or against the ringing notes, tremolos with springs in the back... all of these things contribute to the feel and feedback to the player. Often times pickups, amps, effects in the signal chain can all mask many of those elements to the listener, but the player generally has different types of interaction and feedback with those different materials.
DinoMikeSr
I have the box
These are among some of the best videos that explains many things when lots of things are constant. Looking though, as you’re playing nothing is constant. People aren’t the same. Wood grain isn’t the same not even in the same tree and so the rates of vibration are not constant. Construction isn’t constant. It all leads to something special when somehow everything alines for that one person. The metal guitar isn’t constant because one little thing becomes loose and the tone can flush until you find the one thing vibrating out if sequence that messes it all up.
Also, tone is in the fingers, except for Glenn Fricker.
Also, tone is in the fingers, except for Glenn Fricker.
jrockbridge
Stealing Your Riffs
I enjoy his videos. However, I do not believe his videos are definitive proof of anything. Why? Because they're YouTube videos. Things do not sound the same on a YT as they do in person IME. Subtle differences in sound get lost within YT. As one example, I recall watching a video that compared an Ibanez 808 Tube Screamer to a Klon Centaur. In that video, the TS and Klon sounded identical. I happen to own an 808 circuit OD and a Klon KTR. Not only do these pedals sound VERY different in person, but they feel different. They compress different. They affect the transients in a different way. Which brings me to my next point about his videos.
He does not talk about differences in feel between things in his videos. The way a guitar feels affects the way it gets played. So, the feel of a guitar affects the inspiration, and the end resulting sound.
Again, I enjoy his videos. My take on his videos, they are designed to make you think, but do not represent any definitive proof of anything. I like his approach of keeping an open mind, and not latching onto preconceived notions about gear.
I've encountered people that seem to think the air guitar in that video proves that wood does not matter, or that the neck in a guitar does not matter. I can't help but notice that the so called, "Air Guitar," is attached to a huge workbench that appears to be constructed of some wood. And, open tuning slide guitars tend to take the neck out of the equation. I've been given a few guitars with crappy feeling necks that make great slide guitars, but are not fun to play fretted.
Have you watched the video below? Do you really think his tool box amp, full of pedals, would feel and sound just like those tube amps in person? I'm certain they would NOT because of years of experience with amps and pedals. However, the video presents the idea that amps are not the ONLY way to get useable sounds in a recording. I agree with that concept. As an example, many albums have tracks recorded with guitars plugged straight into the soundboard. I have some amp in a box pedals that, when recorded direct, people could not tell they were not amps with speakers. I have found the same to be true of digital modeling, those can sound like a tube amp. Of course, when it comes to certain specifics of feel, operation, the way they take pedals, etc, there are differences in person that I find obvious. But, many things can be made to seem equivalent in a YT video. The bottom line for me is, try not to hold on tight to preconceived notions. Keep an open mind about gear and different ways of doing things.
I like the way the wood of guitars vibrates against my body when I play. That whole experience affects my inspiration, and the way I play, which in turn, affects the end resulting sound. Yet, I still think the Gittler guitar, devoid of wood, is a valid instrument. I'm open to the idea of playing one if I ever get the chance.