Tonewoods myth

xzyryabx

xzyryabx

Well-known member
since when is this a thing?!!
too often I am coming across this topic and there seems to be serious discussion about it.
has it always been around or is this a new phenomenon?
reminds me of the anti-vaccine movement and the Obama wasn't born in the US hysteria...
 
Are you questioning the fact that different woods = different tone? Or are you questioning the people that question it?
 
I remember I had a wood shop teacher that dabled in fixing guitars and took himself for a connaisseur in the field (corksniffer)...he said to me once that the wood didnt matter that it was all the pickup and electronics that determined the sound....I then said well lets make some guitars out of broomsticks and save a hell of a lot money...its all the same! :LOL: :LOL: fucking dumbass :doh:
 
glassjaw7":37ql2rdb said:
Are you questioning the fact that different woods = different tone? Or are you questioning the people that question it?
Click to expand...
Questioning the people that question it of course!
Kinda boggles the mind...
 
xzyryabx":10f8nv0h said:
since when is this a thing?!!
Click to expand...
Since the invention of the electric guitar

xzyryabx":10f8nv0h said:
too often I am coming across this topic and there seems to be serious discussion about it.
has it always been around or is this a new phenomenon?
Click to expand...
It's always been around

xzyryabx":10f8nv0h said:
reminds me of the anti-vaccine movement and the Obama wasn't born in the US hysteria...
Click to expand...
You don't really think that birth certificate was legit do you? Show mw another from the early 60's that referred to the "African American" race. ;)
 
xzyryabx":33y9mc4i said:
glassjaw7":33y9mc4i said:
Are you questioning the fact that different woods = different tone? Or are you questioning the people that question it?
Click to expand...
Questioning the people that question it of course!
Kinda boggles the mind...
Click to expand...

Ah..then yes, I agree. People are nuts if they think wood has no effect on tone!
 
I have been playing for over 20 years and I've owned more guitars than I'd care to admit (to my wife). In my youth, I even sold guitars "professionally" at retail. And I have always, ALWAYS believed that wood matters. I mean, how couldn't it? Different guitars, even with the same pickups, clearly sound different - a mahogany-bodied guitar obviously sounds different than a basswood-bodied guitar obviously sounds different than a maple-bodied guitar, and so on. We've all played many different guitars and know this to be true.

And yet...

There are videos starting to pop up where people have actually tested the assumption, and the data suggests that the things that really matter are the strings, contact points (bridge and nut) and the electronics.

In this video, a custom guitar builder plays and analyzes the sound coming from a nice strat-style guitar, then takes the neck, pickups, bridge and electronics out and installs them in a different body made of cheap particle board, and sonically the two guitars are indistinguishable:


In this next video, the same builder plays the same guitar before and after removing the ENTIRE FREAKING NECK and the tone and sustain seem to go unchanged:


Videos like these haven't made me a full-fledged believer that wood doesn't matter, but it's definitely made me question what I think I know and I'm now more curious than ever to see more data on both sides of the argument.

As of this moment, the only thing I can say for certain is that every guitar FEELS different to play, and I wonder how much of that "feel" difference translates into what we perceive as sound difference. Also, even in guitars with the same pickups, how do we know that each pickup has truly been wound exactly the same? And how do we know that the wires and pots and capacitors, etc. are *exactly* the same unless we swap all of those bits, too, when we swap pickups? Could a bunch of what we attribute to "wood" really be differences in electronics, pickups, bridges, strings and nuts? Many of you will say no. The data, which doesn't rely on human perception, is starting to suggest maybe. Very interesting stuff, I think.
 
I've had people try and tell me the same thing, "it's the bridge, strings, nut, and pup". If wood didn't matter...who are these idiots?
 
How do you know wood matters? Can you prove it, or is it just something you know in your bones to be true?

How do you refute what seem to be reasonably well-conceived and executed tests that suggest wood does not impact tone, at least not to the extent most of us believe?
 
Vede":3irksxdq said:
How do you know wood matters? Can you prove it, or is it just something you know in your bones to be true?

How do you refute what seem to be reasonably well-conceived and executed tests that suggest wood does not impact tone, at least not to the extent most of us believe?
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Why doesn't every guitar with the same pups, strings, bridge, and nut sound the same?
 
Vede said:
How do you know wood matters? Can you prove it, or is it just something you know in your bones to be true?

How do you refute what seem to be reasonably well-conceived and executed tests that suggest wood does not impact tone, at least not to the extent most of us believe?[/
Double post
Click to expand...
 
How about those clear acrylic and plexi glass guitar bodies. Do they sound good with a good sounding pickup in them?
 
For what its worth I have two Carvin DC747c's. Same pickups. The body wood for one is koa with a maple cap and the other is alder with a maple cap and the necks are the same. They sound quite different.
 
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