I guess I'll use cheap plywood for my next custom Guitar! :)

I've swapped out a tele body from alder to ash and can hear the difference. I've even had two american deluxe swamp ash telecasters made from the same exact year, same color and everything and they sounded very different. One weighed about 6 lbs and the other was around 12 metric tons; one was lifeless and tight sounding while the other was nice and vibrant. This was both plugged and unplugged.

I will agree that tone wood is a bit overrated IMHO and it will never have the same amount of impact as a pickup swap or something, but the strings aren't completely isolated from the impact that the body has on the vibration of the string; namely the resonance and harmonics created. If the strings vibration is influenced at all the tone is effected; period. Anyone ever have a guitar that had a dead note on it? I'm not talking about fretting out or something, but a specific note or place on the fretboard where the signal was just dead? It didn't die on it's own.
 
I've often wondered about woods on an electric and personally feel it's more about pickups & design than the specific type of wood and believe denser woods would be better for sustain. For acoustics, absofrigginlutely!

That said, here's a little something to scratch your head over LoL

Lashbrook pickup on a cinder block:

Lashbrook Guitars played by George Worthmore - YouTube!
 
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I'm wondering if this guy had EMGs on all these guitars... If so, then there's his problem. :razz

This is coming from an EMG fan.
 
Sidivan said:
The guitars should then be strapped into a harness and all strings muted except the target note, which would be fretted by a clamp that has a dial to increase/decrease pressure in very small increments. The string would be plucked using some sort of machine with a pick attached to it so that literally every note was played exactly the same on every guitar.
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Sounds like real world application ;)
 
My first guitar was a 1991 Squire II Stratocaster. I had always heard rumors that it was made from plywood. When I needed to put some new pots in it I needed to carve the body a little for clearance. Turns out it really was made from plywood.

I guess I just needed some new pickups and strings and it would sound as good as a Custom Shop according to this guy....
 
I hope he was just doing that in his spare time and it's not actually a part of his studies, because that sounds like some rather poorly executed "research".
 
Yeah MaxTwang!
That site was my go through when planning for my custom!

The electronics are definetly the biggest impact. But the mass is definetly a factor on sustain etc. The site that Max pointed out is pretty complete as well!
 
Sebastian said:
Sounds like real world application ;)
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In order to get to real world application, you have to boil things down to 1 variable at a time to figure out just how much impact each one has. After that, you can decide what trumps what in real world terms all the way up to "Amp choice affects the tone more than guitar choice".
 
Sidivan said:
In order to get to real world application, you have to boil things down to 1 variable at a time to figure out just how much impact each one has. After that, you can decide what trumps what in real world terms all the way up to "Amp choice affects the tone more than guitar choice".
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I hear you, I was just mocking. That's the scientific approach after all.
OTOH, there was a grain of seriousness in my post. Scientific studies, especially when it comes to complex things, tend to "dumb down" (not literally meant) interactions by the notion of "ideal x" and "left out y" etc. So you always have to be aware of those circumstances, compare to "real world" and keep a healthy dose of skepticism :)
 
while pretty stupid, i think it is worth mentioning that dealing with tone woods can be tricky. for example i asked the guys a suhr how to get a les paul tone out of one of their guitars and the first thing they said is to not use mahogany
 
It's an interesting debate.
The " Heavy wooden body " guru's who swear a heavy wooden body can only get good sound are well backed - Gibson Les Paul solid bodies weigh a tonne but sound amazing.
But the Steve Vai + Satch signature models ( Crystal planet and the funky Jem with an acrylic lit up body ) would in theory sound like hell, yet both sound great.
Ditto the Steinberger bass guitars which were barely stringes held together with pickups !
And on a side note, I went to a jazz part with an electric double bass which again had barely any body, just strings and a bridge held together by tension - and it sounded amazing too !
Seems purists and players aside there's not much of a limit on what can make an amazing sounding instrument.
 
Man guys like that just rub me the wrong way! I am not sure if he ever made any real points because I couldn't hear his words over his derogatory tone.
 
I thought of something today that may come into play here: pickup microphonics.

Almost everybody agrees that different woods, mass, etc... Sound different unplugged, but if that's true, wouldn't a pickup that's even slightly microphonic pick up some of that and reinforce some frequencies more than others? Surely the resonance of the wood could affect the string vibrations the same way blasting an amp at your guitar does.
 
Sidivan said:
I thought of something today that may come into play here: pickup microphonics.

Almost everybody agrees that different woods, mass, etc... Sound different unplugged, but if that's true, wouldn't a pickup that's even slightly microphonic pick up some of that and reinforce some frequencies more than others? Surely the resonance of the wood could affect the string vibrations the same way blasting an amp at your guitar does.
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Playing a prospective guitar unplugged is as important as playing it plugged in. Acoustic resonance, tone and response do come though.

Keeping an open mind is also important as 6 months ago I would have said 'never' to a maple fingerboard with humbuckers or anything with a basswood body. I recently bought a Suhr M8 on a whim (humbuckers, maple neck/fingerboard AND basswood body) and I haven't played or even seen my other humbucker guitars in the 3 months since.
 
I think that the Wood type really comes into play at gig volume. I doubt that this study was conducted through amps at gig volume.

If I record through the Axe ll direct while monitoring through headphones, and then in the same room with FRFR monitors at gig volume, the tone is different. Even though still recording direct. Because of the "coupling" of the sound waves coming out of the speakers and vibrating the body and strings in a feed-back loop. Different wood types, shapes, and sizes make a deference in the overall tone IMHO.
 
nateb said:
Until you play one. They have been constructed using masonite or plywood. Guy @ work brought one in. The novelty wore off pretty quickly as it was a piece of shit.

-Nate
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Strangely enough, I like the sounds I get with my Danelectro through the Axe FX more than my Les Paul (can't get a decent clean tone for sh** with the LP). I think the Danelectros (with upgraded tuners) are interesting tools for certain things. Mine is a 12-string with the second set removed, phosphore bronze Martin 13s tuned down to C, though. Sounds like a piano or something.

Anyway, just an observation.
 
rsf1977 said:
I'd love to see a real scientific test.
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Well, I hope you speak a bit of German, because the most scientific (and thorough, and still entertaining) publication on the issue, "Die Physik der Eletrogitarre" (The physics of electric guitar) is only available in German. Here's a conference paper by the author for all of you English speaking people that outlines his research. The entire book is incredibly dense, but it's an eyeopener for sure.

https://hps.hs-regensburg.de/~elektrogitarre/physikelektrogitarre-Dateien/TMT_2010.pdf

https://hps.hs-regensburg.de/~elektrogitarre/index.html

so long
Andreas aka Ace
 
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