What's more important, Wood, or Pickups?

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mightywarlock

mightywarlock

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I say WOOD!

Sometimes I'll get a guitar, and it might not sound exactly right to my ear, and so I go through the routine of changing pickups, but it may never sound exactly right, as possibly the wood for the guitar may not be as high quality, or dense as another piece of wood.
I find lately, I've been liking more solid pieces, as I feel they give me a tighter response, and lighter wood guitars are more soft on the bottom end.
Regardless of what pickups you choose, sometimes you just can't dial these factors out.

am I right, or am i wrong here?

is it the wood, or just the construction?
this argument could be made, such as a Chambered guitar, with good wood, still sounds soft, because it has been chambered.
I know I've had this issue in the past and have gotten rid of guitars that I could not dial the soft tone out of, or just didn't sound good to MY ears.

Is it the wood or the pickups?
I have also found you can take a great guitar, which has bad pickups and think it sucks. but pop in the correct pickup for that guitar, and it can be amazing.

well...

which is correct?
 
From my experience, they both have a huge influence on the tone and feel of a guitar. And they work together, (or against one another).
 
Without a pickup, wood makes no noise. Without wood, a pickup still makes noise.
 
I think both are equally important but I have found that if a guitar sounds good acoustically then it usually sounds good when it's plugged in...
 
Kind of a chicken & egg conundrum IMO. Both influence each other. Some woods work better with certain types of pups and visa versa. The first time I heard the Suhr Aldrich pickups was in an ash body super strat and I was underwhelmed. But in an mahogany LP they rock. Doesn't mean that ash guitars are bad and mahogany guitars are good.
 
It's a lot easier to change a pickup than it is to to change the wood! ;)
 
Both are important, for me its more about the wood because i owned a few ofthe same guitar with the same pickups and one would sound great and the other sucked, even with expensive guitars this has been my experiance and sometimes after multiple pickup changes im still not happy. Over the years i owned a few guitars that was just dead wood, lifeless and no tone.
 
another vote for wood, like others, what the guitar lacks or has too much of with stock pups determines what pups I try in it.
 
Like many things, it depends entirely on what you're playing.

Also, it's a mix, some amazing pickups may not sound as good in certain woods and visa versa.
 
JakeAC5253":tnkytysy said:
Without a pickup, wood makes no noise. Without wood, a pickup still makes noise.
Click to expand...

i disagree. i can play an electric guitar without anything plugged in and tell whether or not its dead, plays like shit, etc. - the guitar will make plenty of noise without electronics, and for years i played guitar and practiced music without anything BUT a guitar - just play and practice in a quiet room.

the woods are more important. electronics come second. just as with an airplane and the wing/wind analogy - wind has nothing to do with the flying, the wing design does. air is always present and always around us, and a faulty wing still wont get you off of the ground. design it a specific way, and it will work. the third variable you need is a force to push the wing through the air/drag otherwise its still wont do what it is intended.
 
Althugh a good set of both is needed i believe wood is what gives those special sounds quality.Fr example a pickup could never 'produce' a maple fretboard vibe.
 
Wood. EX. A glider is like a guitar without pickups-it will still fly, but not give you everything a jet will, with all the instruments, engines and electronics.
 
Definitely wood is most important. Good pick ups won't make bad wood sound good.
 
I think a medium guitar with excellent pups tends to sound better than a super high quality guitar with shitty pickups...

I don't know which is more important, but I think the impact of both is equally important...
 
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