Why wood matters... ?

[Sascha Franck]

IMO, we try way to hard to declare some sort of binary truth about it and I don't think it works that way.

It pretty much defenitely doesn't work that way. I have seen, heard and played guitars made of very unlikely material combinations sounding pretty traditional (such as a Trussard steel Tele with a mahogany neck that just sounded like an excellent Tele) and other guitars that refused to sound like they possibly should do (such as my G&L Legacy that doesn't deliver any traditional Strat tones, regardless of the pickups used).
In addition, I sort of often found some acoustic properties to translate well into the amplified realm - just to almost instantly find another example of where things simply didn't translate well at all, sometimes even more like the opposite.

I already said so in my first post in this thread: I absolutely believe that wood matters, but more often than we may like it, the ways in which it matters are pretty unpredictable.

Apart from all that, yes, there seem to be some tried and trusted wood and construction combinations delivering more or less reliable results.

 

[JasonE]

I am in the wood matters camp. I too have experienced the very noticeable difference in tone when swapping the neck on a bolt on guitar. I clearly heard the difference between maple and rosewood fretboards. I have also seen guitars that had a tone in them that stayed there even with pickup swaps. It was part of the base tone of the guitar and could be heard acoustically. That tone was always present regardless of the pickups that were installed in the guitar. If you are someone that plays with a ton of gain, delay and reverb on your tone you may not hear this as much. That stuff really covers a lot of things up.

 

[Eagle]

One thing I should say is wood matters in the sense that is must work acoustically and be strong enough to perform the function but the exact type of wood used doesn’t matter if it passes this test. The bottom line is an electric guitar must perform well as an acoustic instrument in everything but volume . This is why guitars can be made out of other materials too. They need to pass this test regardless of what they are made of. Everything matters. The term “ tone wood “ referring to specific types of wood is pure marketing bs.

 

[laxu]

One of my guitars, a Flaxwood Rautia, is made of spruce fiber and resin. It feels like ebony and it sounds like a good electric guitar. It's a PRS-ish hollowbody where even the back plate and nut is made of the same material.

There's a whole lot of marketing about traditional "tone" woods but there are plenty of alternative materials - manmade or just different woods. We also should not ignore that things like metals of the bridge etc also contribute, as does how all those parts are connected together.

 

[Eagle]

One of my guitars, a Flaxwood Rautia, is made of spruce fiber and resin. It feels like ebony and it sounds like a good electric guitar. It's a PRS-ish hollowbody where even the back plate and nut is made of the same material.

There's a whole lot of marketing about traditional "tone" woods but there are plenty of alternative materials - manmade or just different woods. We also should not ignore that things like metals of the bridge etc also contribute, as does how all those parts are connected together.

Everything matters.

 

[Jarick]

IMO the neck is the most important part of the guitar and the wood definitely matters here, along with the frets, scale length, etc.

I don't know about body wood because I've never done real testing here. It's hard to isolate just the body wood. If a Gibson sounds fatter than a Fender with the same pickups, is it the body wood, or the neck wood, or the scale length, or neck joint?

All I know is I have had the same pickup in many different guitars and they all sounded pretty different to me, so it's not just the pickup only.

 

[rocknrollshakeup]

It’s not my opinion it’s facts, physics, counting.
2+ 2 isn’t an opinion.

ok genius, I’m ready to read your thesis, feel free to post it.

 

[Eagle]

ok genius, I’m ready to read your thesis, feel free to post it.

Read my “ ask me anything “.

 

[rocknrollshakeup]

Read my “ ask me anything “.

Look up the Dunning Kruger effect

 

[Dimiguitar]

Read my “ ask me anything “.

Did you read his posts?

 

[Eagle]

Did you read his posts?

He’s the one talking rubbish.,

 

[Dimiguitar]

He’s the one talking rubbish.,

I accidentally responded to you, but meant that towards him.

 

[AlbertA]

Episode 2

 

[maddnotez]

I don't know. I did a test a while back swapping necks on a pair of Strats. Both American Standard Fender maple necks, one with a maple board, one with a rosewood board. The one with the rosewood board was darker/smoother and the maple board had a brighter, snappier attack, and swapping the necks, it moved with the neck! Same pickups, same hardware, same everything else. I was actually completely shocked how easy it was to hear the difference, and even our wives could pick it out 100% accurately.

I really did not expect that at all. I thought the tone difference in the guitars was likely from other things and if wood mattered, the body wood would matter more than the neck and the neck more than the fretboard and therefore it would be very difficult if not impossible to hear anything reliably. Had to eat crow on that one, and it cost me a dinner and wine tab.

Yeah, after playing an all maple neck ive learned that the wood doesn't matter stuff is horseshit.

 

[AlbertA]

Episode 3

 

[maddnotez]

Episode 3

Cool video, need to check out the channel. Paul seems pretty awesome tbh, the fact that guy worked his way up in the company like that is great. Seems like they take care of their employees.

 

[HotRats]

All I know is I have had the same pickup in many different guitars and they all sounded pretty different to me, so it's not just the pickup only.

I agree.

I have a 1991 SG that have seen several different pickups over the years (490/498, 57s, P94s, 59 Tribute and even an Ibanez ceramic in the bridge) and always maintained her underlying character.


I have 3 Les Paul with custom buckers, all 3 very close in terms of measured impedance, and they clearly have different characters.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Wood doesn’t matter………if you’re Glenn Fricker. For people that don’t always play with the gain on 11, it will matter.

 

[László]

Yeah, after playing an all maple neck ive learned that the wood doesn't matter stuff is horseshit.

Yes.

Wood doesn’t matter………if you’re Glenn Fricker. For people that don’t always play with the gain on 11, it will matter.

Yes.

It's fascinating that folks would choose to believe something a pseudo-scientific internet person says in a video than the sensory input of their own ears.

If wood didn't matter and it was only the electronics, we would expect a hollow body electric guitar to sound the same as a solid body guitar with the same electronics. I think most of us would agree that a hollow body electric has characteristics that are different from a solid body electric.

A PRS Hollowbody is a true hollow body, and can be had with the same pickups and materials as a solid body PRS. They do NOT sound the same.

Anyone here think that even a semi-hollow 335 with PAFs sounds exactly like a Les Paul with the same pickups?

If wood didn't matter, maple neck/fretboard would sound the same as mahogany/rosewood. Most of us would agree that the two sound different. Most of us would agree that a Strat with a humbucker sounds different from a PRS McCarty with a humbucker.

We can predict that if we get a hollow body electric it's going to have a different ADSR envelope and different resonance from a solid body electric guitar.

In fact we can play thousands of guitars, and not find a hollow body electric that sounds the same as a solid body electric. We will also discover much more about the differences.

Same with other wood species that differ in less obvious details. It doesn't matter how many you play, certain characteristics will repeat themselves over and over.

This used to be accepted by players for many, many years (I've been playing since 1967). That it has become somehow controversial is puzzling, and I think it's because the internet has become a lot of folks' ear substitute.

Part of the problem is that people play with a lot more gain now. Here's what happens with high gain:

Amplifier gain that results in 'clipping' means that the top of the sine waveform is 'clipped off', turning it into something more like a square wave. The frequency response and harmonic series change.

That's also what a fuzz box does - it's a square wave generator. Most of us would agree that a fuzz box pretty much takes over the guitar's tone and alters it substantially.

An amp driven to clipping will also generate its own harmonics, as will an overdriven speaker. All this is part of what we think of as electric guitar tone. Thing is, the amp and speakers' harmonics are different from those of the guitar, and tend to overwhelm and mask whatever the guitar is doing. So the more distortion - the name 'distortion' pretty much tells you what you're hearing of the signal ain't the same - the less of the guitar we hear.

A pickup is also a microphonic device. If I get close to the pickups of my 1965 SG Special and speak, my voice will come through the amp. The pickups will in most cases reproduce some of the acoustic sound of the guitar. The microphonic nature of pickups contributes to what we hear as feedback, and this is why hollow body guitars tend to feed back more than solid body guitars.

Just my two cents.

 

[Mikael Dez]

Yes.

Yes.

It's fascinating that folks would choose to believe something a pseudo-scientific internet person says in a video than the sensory input of their own ears.

If wood didn't matter and it was only the electronics, we would expect a hollow body electric guitar to sound the same as a solid body guitar with the same electronics. I think most of us would agree that a hollow body electric has characteristics that are different from a solid body electric.

A PRS Hollowbody is a true hollow body, and can be had with the same pickups and materials as a solid body PRS. They do NOT sound the same.

Anyone here think that even a semi-hollow 335 with PAFs sounds exactly like a Les Paul with the same pickups?

If wood didn't matter, maple neck/fretboard would sound the same as mahogany/rosewood. Most of us would agree that the two sound different. Most of us would agree that a Strat with a humbucker sounds different from a PRS McCarty with a humbucker.

We can predict that if we get a hollow body electric it's going to have a different ADSR envelope and different resonance from a solid body electric guitar.

In fact we can play thousands of guitars, and not find a hollow body electric that sounds the same as a solid body electric. We will also discover much more about the differences.

Same with other wood species that differ in less obvious details. It doesn't matter how many you play, certain characteristics will repeat themselves over and over.

This used to be accepted by players for many, many years (I've been playing since 1967). That it has become somehow controversial is puzzling, and I think it's because the internet has become a lot of folks' ear substitute.

Part of the problem is that people play with a lot more gain now. Here's what happens with high gain:

Amplifier gain that results in 'clipping' means that the top of the sine waveform is 'clipped off', turning it into something more like a square wave. The frequency response and harmonic series change.

That's also what a fuzz box does - it's a square wave generator. Most of us would agree that a fuzz box pretty much takes over the guitar's tone and alters it substantially.

An amp driven to clipping will also generate its own harmonics, as will an overdriven speaker. All this is part of what we think of as electric guitar tone. Thing is, the amp and speakers' harmonics are different from those of the guitar, and tend to overwhelm and mask whatever the guitar is doing. So the more distortion - the name 'distortion' pretty much tells you what you're hearing of the signal ain't the same - the less of the guitar we hear.

A pickup is also a microphonic device. If I get close to the pickups of my 1965 SG Special and speak, my voice will come through the amp. The pickups will in most cases reproduce some of the acoustic sound of the guitar. The microphonic nature of pickups contributes to what we hear as feedback, and this is why hollow body guitars tend to feed back more than solid body guitars.

Just my two cents.

In the Hollowbody vs Solidbody argument, there would definitely be more of a difference for obvious reasons - and I DO think that wood species matters even in a solidbody, but let’s say “Les Paul with a maple cap vs Les Paul solid mahogany” is where I think you’re starting to split hairs. My PRS Hollowbody with modern pickups (SDs) sounds different than my Majesty with Dimarzios - but I don’t think anyone would be able to say “that’s a Hollowbody” in an A/B recording of my metal riffing, they’d just go “A sounds different than B”

And even the Strat vs McCarty thing, they’re different scale lengths on top of different body shapes and maybe different tone woods, so there’s a lot of variables there.