What does a “Dark” guitar sound like?

[laxu]

To me dark is just lack of highs, which can be what you hear when playing the guitar acoustically.

I feel my 8-string Skervesen with BKP Mule/Juggernaut is on the darker side as far as my guitars go. It's not dark when playing acoustically though, just the pickups tend to be pretty fat which makes it lean on being perceived as darker.

I compensate with amp EQ but might end up experimenting with the electronics at some point to give it more brightness. It just never gets the kind of bright where I want to roll the tone knob back, which is something I do on most of my guitars.

The DiMarzio Pre-B1 tele bridge pickup I had in my KDC Tele was also pretty dark. I swapped it for a Cavalier Nocaster Holy Grain Lion and that's more like the brightness I expect from a tele bridge pickup.

 

[Achilles]

If one guitar out of 14 doesn't work...

Hell, each time a guitar is identified as a special needs case it gets returned or sold.
Don't even need to plug into an amp to tell if a bunch of wood just ain't playing together nice.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Its just the word people who prefer a more treble forward tone use instead of "warm"

 

[davesultra]

Night.

 

[Abe]

For years I had done most of my electric guitar playing on a Gibson Les Paul Studio which I no longer have.
Recently I acquired a hollowbody PRS which I knew might be a little 'dark'. My first Hollowbody electric.
However, with the action set right and with pickup height adjustments and EQ and amp settings I was able to dial in the tone balance I was looking for with the bridge pickup, neck pickup, and both combined. It was an improvement and now I no longer lack the ability to achieve a range of bass and treble with this guitar.

But in general what I'd say a 'dark guitar' sounds like is jazzy HH humbucker sounds, (the opposite of what a Stratocaster sounds like on the single coil bridge pickup.)