Does Bad Hardware = Bad Guitar Tone? | Rules of Tone | PRS Guitars

Every component of a guitar has an effect on the overall tone. Whether or not you think that tone is good or bad is down to the owner and listener. Add a ton of gain and those small differences become less. If hardware didn't make a difference, there wouldn't be a huge aftermarket industry.
 
What guitar manufacturer, in the year of our lord 2025, uses RUBBER for bridges, nuts and tuners? Paul is so fucking out of touch, I can't listen to 20 minutes of his drivel after that opening.

Hit me with a bone vs brass vs titanium for nut material. Hit me with ZAMAK vs Zinc vs Aluminum vs Brass vs Steel for bridge material.. But to open with fucking RUBBER. My Chibson came with "METAL" parts as he described. I'm angry.
 
It's always a game of diminishing returns. I noticed a small improvement when I tried to cure some Sheraton neck dive by dumping the Grovers for vintage klusons. Gave it a little more air that was completely unnoticeable at gig volumes.
 
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7704A said:
The audiophile industry says otherwise. Make sure to use only the best tonewoods for the volume knob on your stereo system!
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Are you seriously comparing a stereo to a guitar?

Paul Reed Smith is a quack. With that said, you can change the overall tone of a guitar by changing the hardware. Swap the bridge saddles on your strat for a set of graphite saddles. Tell me you didn't notice a tonal shift. Change a bridge made of pot metal for one made from steel or aluminum or brass. There will be a tonal shift. It is up to each individual player to decide if that shift is a good thing or a bad thing.
 
What I see many people doing is upgrading parts and then singing praises about how the tone improved.
..... But they just put new strings on when they changed the part.... So, of course you're going to get brighter tone with new strings.
 
VonBonfire said:
It's always a game of diminishing returns. I noticed a small improvement when I tried to cure some Sheraton neck dive by dumping the Grovers for vintage klusons. Gave it a little more air that was completely unnoticeable at gig volumes.
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It's true that a single slight difference that hardware imparts on the guitar could easily get drowned out by a full band mix but I'm also of the opinion that adding up 3 or 4 small differences leads up to a big one that's easily audible in any situation.
 
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in the entire signal of a solid body electric guitar, from the player to the speaker; or to the mic(s) on the speaker to FOH there are several components that contribute the majority to the tone/timbre of what we hear:

Player, pickups, amp, cab, speaker, any effects, mic on speaker, soundman, FOH, FOH cabs.

Everything else, as long as it works as expected, contributes a rounding error difference.

IMO.


unless you believe in tonewoods and nitro cellulose in solid body guitars.


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vultures said:
What guitar manufacturer, in the year of our lord 2025, uses RUBBER for bridges, nuts and tuners? Paul is so fucking out of touch, I can't listen to 20 minutes of his drivel after that opening.

Hit me with a bone vs brass vs titanium for nut material. Hit me with ZAMAK vs Zinc vs Aluminum vs Brass vs Steel for bridge material.. But to open with fucking RUBBER. My Chibson came with "METAL" parts as he described. I'm angry.
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He's using hyperbole to illustrate a point.
 
thegame said:
It's true that a single slight difference that hardware imparts on the guitar could easily get drowned out by a full band mix but I'm also of the opinion that adding up 3 or 4 small differences leads up to a big one that's easily audible in any situation.
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Agreed.
 
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