Wood used in guitar construction..question?

[captcoolaid]

I have done so many battles with that moron on line. The facts about wood and tone. Yes it does make a huge difference. Mohogany for example is not as dense as say Canadian Maple so it is a warmer tone wood, Alder Vs Ash same thing. Not all tone woods are equal as someone pointed out before.

Effects and the effect on the tone wood. Pending the effect used your tone wood wil still have the characteristics that it has on a non effects setting. IE muddy bottom end, thin etc.....

The fact is every part of the guitar makes a difference. Slug material in the pickups, the tuners, nut steel in the bridge or stop bar. It all counts and it all adds up to tonal output.

 

[blues_n_cues]

years & years ago a friend made an SG out of purple heart w/ birdseye maple neck, about an inch thick ebony board & a brass nut. I won't even describe the sound on that "thing" but I will say if you dropped it on your foot it wouldn't be the headstock that broke first.

 

[BlackSG91]

and then there's this guy.

Guitar Setup And Facts For The Guitarded Intro By Scott Grove - YouTube

Exactly!

Guitar unplugged - makes a difference

Guitar plugged-in - no flipping difference whatsoever!

 

[blues_n_cues]

Exactly!

Guitar unplugged - makes a difference

Guitar plugged-in - no flipping difference whatsoever!

tell Les Paul that.

 

[BlackSG91]

tell Les Paul that.

I remember reading a guitar magazine back in the late 80's on how some Les Paul guitars were selling for outrageous amounts of money due to the flame tops. Some people thought this made the guitar sound better, but Les Paul himself said it made no flipping difference.

 

[johnfv]

Fixed:

Guitar plugged-in = Guitar unplugged + pickups + effects + amp + speakers (+ mic +mixing console + effects +etc.)

It ALL matters. Pickups and amp matter more than wood but it ALL matters. In a recording situation what happens in the mix can matter even MORE. I can drastically change the sound of a recorded instrument, even reamp it.

Now why the hell am I still paying attention to this silly thread???

 

[poeman33]

Exactly!

Guitar unplugged - makes a difference

Guitar plugged-in - no flipping difference whatsoever!

If you are plugged into some extreme high gain amp with a shitload of pedals...yeah maybe.
But plug the guitar straight into my Tweed Deluxe clone (purest sounding amp I have), and you can definitely tell the differences between woods. Plug something plastic in it, and it will sound plastic.

A good example is two guitars I have. They both have Fender Deluxe Ash bodies. The sound similar acoustically, but one of them sounded a little thin and week when plugged in. I just got my pickups installed that I had made for that guitar, to solve that problem...and WOW...now it sounds great...and now you can hear the wood. I will make a video later. But here is the two guitars. Yes there are other differences too besides the body, and those all contribute, but you can definitely hear the Ash...(in person anyway, and that is also a good point, as recording will often miss all the subtleties).

Maya originally (Maya now has some balls)

Ready...Basically the same body. Same year, and within a rew ounces of each other in weight.

 

[slide222]

one question I've always had is how would a bare wood body compare to a heavily painted finished body - how would their sound compare

 

[BlackSG91]

If you are plugged into some extreme high gain amp with a shitload of pedals...yeah maybe.
But plug the guitar straight into my Tweed Deluxe clone (purest sounding amp I have), and you can definitely tell the differences between woods. Plug something plastic in it, and it will sound plastic.

A good example is two guitars I have. They both have Fender Deluxe Ash bodies. The sound similar acoustically, but one of them sounded a little thin and week when plugged in. I just got my pickups installed that I had made for that guitar, to solve that problem...and WOW...now it sounds great...and now you can hear the wood. I will make a video later. But here is the two guitars. Yes there are other differences too besides the body, and those all contribute, but you can definitely hear the Ash...(in person anyway, and that is also a good point, as recording will often miss all the subtleties).

Maya originally (Maya now has some balls)

Ready...Basically the same body. Same year, and within a rew ounces of each other in weight.

Those are real nice geetarz you have. I think it has to do more with the pickups and as you mentioned when you changed pickups, you get a better sound. You have a humbucker in one guitar while Maya is single. I think hearing the wood is somewhat subjective, but that's MHO. When you mention the clean sound on your amp, I consider that more acoustic because once you add a bit of distortion or gain, it's a whole new ballgame, even if you didn't have 50 effects pedals hooked straight-in.

 

[mickeydg5]

A guitar is the starting point for any guitar based sound. That includes all of its parts. That sound will be carried through no matter what type of high gain amplifier or distortion effects are used. It is due to one simply fact. You can detract from the original sound but you cannot build upon something that was never there.

A guitar with articulate pronunciation and clarity, an even full body tone and resonance will always sound that much better than a lesser guitar no matter what follows it in the signal chain. Likewise, a dark guitar will always sound darker and a brighter guitar will always sound brighter with the same setup.

 

[blues_n_cues]

I remember reading a guitar magazine back in the late 80's on how some Les Paul guitars were selling for outrageous amounts of money due to the flame tops. Some people thought this made the guitar sound better, but Les Paul himself said it made no flipping difference.

well duh, a 1/16" veneer top or 1/8" cap maybe not so much but I guarantee a 2" solid body mahogany body vs. say plywood sounds a helluva lot different.
I can tell the differece between my mahogany LP & the basswood one even through a DAW amp sim,same w/ my strats.

 

[BlackSG91]

well duh, a 1/16" veneer top or 1/8" cap maybe not so much but I guarantee a 2" solid body mahogany body vs. say plywood sounds a helluva lot different.
I can tell the differece between my mahogany LP & the basswood one even through a DAW amp sim,same w/ my strats.

You must have supersonic hearing I suppose. Hey, if plywood is well aged with all the moisture removed, then I believe it could sound just as good as mahogany. As long as the wood is dried properly, then the guitar will eventually sound good. I still think tone woods are not a big factor in electric guitars like they are in acoustics.

 

[xxx256]

Of course there is an audible difference in tonewoods. I can hear the difference between alder and mahogany even under moderate gain. Have you ever swapped in some high end passive pickups into a cheap agathis body? I can tell you its not worth it. The guitar will of course sound slightly better than with the cheap stock pickups, but its still a dead plank even after the swap.

With all due respect but "mmmm kay"-trolls that engage in endless narcissistic rants on youtube shouldn't be taken too seriously.
IF the body material would not matter as in tone quality our guitars would be made from plastic since its much cheaper.

If EMG's, drop tunings, and modeling software are your thing you probably will never hear any difference.

 

[poeman33]

I do remember the black plastic abomination of the 80's that was pictured earlier in this thread. Thankfully it died faster than the popularity of the Mullet.

I do know one guy, who was a guitar tech, who loved the thing and used it at all his gigs. He was also the one tech that butchered one of my Strats worse than anyone I have ever seen...coincidence?

 

[dreyn77]

Adrian must have been bored!

then why are you all buying LP's and strats, if you want your own sound?

woods in construction is 95% marketing BS.

they're all strong enough to hold the string while it vibrates. the rest is just for fun.

You either like it or you don't care or you hate it....

I find the best wood to be gum tree / wattle tree. One variety has wood that is bright orange in colour. I couldn't believe it myself! it was a giant size tree too. 4 trunks that out grew all the other gum trees of the same age by at least 5mtrs.

Gibson used mahog because it had a reputation from furniture making and boat building. and that was just because of its colour and it was resistant to bugs and it was wasy on the tools....
maple was used because it was easy to get it was hard and it was cheap and it could be coloured to any colour...

Use any wood you like!
try not to paint over it!

 

[johnfv]

...woods in construction is 95% marketing BS...

unsubscribed as I should have done long ago

 

[Biddlin]

First few are polycarbonates. Harmony tenor guitar c. 1955- birch and west Indian rosewood. They all rock!

 

[blues_n_cues]

You must have supersonic hearing I suppose. Hey, if plywood is well aged with all the moisture removed, then I believe it could sound just as good as mahogany. As long as the wood is dried properly, then the guitar will eventually sound good. I still think tone woods are not a big factor in electric guitars like they are in acoustics.

you're forgetting the fact that an 8lb plywood guitar is about 4-5lbs of glue.
resonation as compared to a pure 8lb chunk of hardwood?
why do you think studio moitors & most speaker cabs are now made of MDF.
it sure ain't because of weight considerations.

and yes my hearing is superfantabulous & sonical.lol

 

[Appetite4distortion]

A chain strenght is strong as the weakest of its links.
Influence of wood on electric guitar plugged in tone is definitely there, and is inversely proportional to the quantity of gain and effects used, and to the intrinsic quality of amplification (don't expect to hear huge differences on POD, expect more on a clean blackface), to the quality of cables, etc etc etc .
For some modern heavy tones it's almost the same if you slam pickup and strings on a broom, as long as they stay in tune. Not joking, plenty of demo videos about.
Try then to cope a convincing tone of, I don't know, Rolling Stones, Zeppelin, Dire Straits, or any classic tune etc with the same approach, and tell us about wood matters or not

 

[dreyn77]

See some like to put tone first others put song construction first etc...

if you put that much emphisis on tone, you're going to 'get lost'.

At somepoint tone must take a back seat and volume wins.
I now know enough to know that tone is only achieved once everything else is set and then I only have a small amount of adjustment to find a tone that I like more than other sounds.

A guy like ennio morricone listens for tone and sound types and he uses all that info for each recording for really great effect.
Most guitar tone chasers are conducting the same level of research that ennio does but they throw it all in the rubbish bin and only use one sound for all the songs. it's a bit stupid to do this!
It all becomes one horrible blob of sound that only lasts for one record. then the search is on again.

just spend 5 minutes looking for tone and that's all! but if you're going to record like ennio, spend as long as you like on guitar woods etc...