I had a student ask me a question along these lines a while back, and since then have been asking friends who are luthiers, physics geeks, whatever, and the consensus seems to be that no one is really sure. It seems like there are lots of science and engineering folks around here so…
Why do different steel stringed instruments sound so much like “themselves” when amplified using magnetic pickups?. A magnetic pickup only responds to electromagnetic vibrations, (mostly) generated by a nearby metal string which, as far as we know, are not affected by korina guitar bodies, spruce tops, tone chambers—whatever. So that means that the vibration of the string itself is somehow affected enough by the acoustic quality of the instrument so as to have a huge effect upon what comes out of the amp.
I think anyone who has any experience with electrified guitars can agree that a Martin acoustic and a Les Paul, amplified with identical magnetic pickups, will not only sound radically different from each other, they will retain at least some of their own acoustic character when run through an amp.
Where/how does all of this ambient sonic information get transmitted to the string/pickup? Phase cancellation transmitted to the string through the air? What else is there?
There is lots of BS and half baked guesswork on various forums out there. If anyone here has any specific knowledge, or even knows of a place to do further reading, I would be grateful.
BTW my Google searches yielded some pretty funny results, e.g. I found lots of acoustic guitar tab for a band called “Magnetic Fields”
Why do different steel stringed instruments sound so much like “themselves” when amplified using magnetic pickups?. A magnetic pickup only responds to electromagnetic vibrations, (mostly) generated by a nearby metal string which, as far as we know, are not affected by korina guitar bodies, spruce tops, tone chambers—whatever. So that means that the vibration of the string itself is somehow affected enough by the acoustic quality of the instrument so as to have a huge effect upon what comes out of the amp.
I think anyone who has any experience with electrified guitars can agree that a Martin acoustic and a Les Paul, amplified with identical magnetic pickups, will not only sound radically different from each other, they will retain at least some of their own acoustic character when run through an amp.
Where/how does all of this ambient sonic information get transmitted to the string/pickup? Phase cancellation transmitted to the string through the air? What else is there?
There is lots of BS and half baked guesswork on various forums out there. If anyone here has any specific knowledge, or even knows of a place to do further reading, I would be grateful.
BTW my Google searches yielded some pretty funny results, e.g. I found lots of acoustic guitar tab for a band called “Magnetic Fields”