Tone Wood? OH NO!

Elio

Student Of The Blues
Elio, first off thanks for sucking me back into this mess! :) Yea, I probably didn’t explain myself well (sorry)… My only point was/is, wood is a contributing factor acoustically for both acoustics and electrics… Wood is organic and each piece can be different even within the same log/species… You can take two identical Strats (for example) and play them unplugged and they will sound slightly different… It’s up to the individual to decide how important that difference is to them…

I will say this, one of the 3 samples in that video I didn’t care for… So a hypothetical question to the group based on the tone you heard from that video; (or didn’t hear)

If you walked into a store with $500 (or whatever) bucks and you have 3 identical guitars in front of you, looks, weight, feel, etc... Identical in every way except for the tone you hear from that video (You have to pick one)... Would you tell the sales person eh, pick any one you want because they are all the same? Or would you take the time to sample the delicate tone differences till you got the one you like best?? I know what I would do…

No problem, glad I could help! :sneaky: To clarify, I guess I'm in the camp that doesn't necessarily think there is much of a perceptible influence, so.... If i'm picking out a guitar, I use exactly your approach of evaluating the various tone differences, but without a preconceived idea that I will be able to predict what the effect of different wood species will have on tone.
 

Norfolk Bill

norfolk uk, just knoodling along
be nice to have it in the first place,,i wonder how the poor dirt farmers managed to get good tone without a pot to piss in
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Don't forget, you need to first empty the barrel. After that, if you can still remember that you are building a guitar, you are good to go!
I've had a lifetime of practice ........ but there's nothing wrong with a little more practice - always room for improvement they say!!
 

Chuck

Moderator (One of the Men in Black!)
Staff member
Well, I’ve got a lot of pedals that don’t get used anymore. I think I’m back to my original 2 pedals.

This pedal for $500 does look pretty cool to me. The price alone keeps me from jumping.
 

HotLks

Blues - it's in me and it's got to come out.
No debate here. He played with different woods. They sounded different.
Different (tone) woods DO have different sounds.
Oh, and tubes DO sound better than SS!
Hey! Hey Now!

See you down the road! :thumbup:
 

DesmoDog

Desmo was my dog. RIP big guy
When someone can tell me what kind of wood the body and/or neck and/or fingerboard is just by hearing someone strum the guitar, I'll maybe give a rip about any of the tone theories. Until then, it's all just one more excuse not to practice.

Full disclosure - I didn't watch the video. I'm assuming a guy was doing some sort of tap tone or whatever it's called. Well yeah, different densities/species of wood will sound different when you smack them. It is a big walk from that to "a mahogany bodied electric will sound more (fill in the blank) than an alder bodied guitar." Brings me right back to the first comment. If it makes a significant difference, show me the guy who can strum an electric guitar while blindfolded and tell me what the body is made of. Or neck. Or fingerboard.

All THAT said? I spent a lot of time reading about different woods when I was buying my Warmoth parts. I then rationalized some of my choices based on descriptions of tone. But the truth is, I bought the body because I liked how it looked, and I bought the neck because it didn't need a finish, and I liked how it looked... :p
 
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