Why Wood Matters | Rules of Tone: Episode 1 | PRS Guitars

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pipelineaudio said:
I am stating the fact that species of wood does not have a sonic signature and further that any claim that it does is dendrochronology denial
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Did you not hear the obvious sonic differences in the Warmoth video from page 1? Or do you hear it but refuse to acknowledge it? Pretty much any answer doesn’t bode well for your case.
 
pipelineaudio said:
When it comes to magical or religious beliefs, the burden of proof is on the claimant.

My novelty is irrelevant, as I am the one asking for people to back up their claims, I'm not the one making claims that fly in the face of math and physics

I'm ok with that. I'd like to separate the claims though

Claim 1: Hopefully we are all ok with the fact that a claim in different sonic properties based on species of wood in guitar construction (acoustic or electric) is ridiculous right?

Claim 2: Then there's the claim that different species of wood can have an effect on the electrical output of an electrical guitar. I think we can all agree that that has been debunked to death, and even if it hadn't it first have to clear the impossible hurdle of claim number 1

Claim 3: It can be identified beyond chance in a high gain tone which is an EMG 81 and an EMG 87. This is one I'd like to test. I'll try to post some informal ones without super strict control and if that looks promising, I'll try to make one closer to something like the JREF Million Dollar Challenge standard (without of course the million dollars). I won't be super surprised either way with this one, but I think it would be pretty interesting to show it to Glenn Fricker.

I'll try to do clean, crunch and high gain. I'm thinking high gain will be indistinguishable. Crunch seems like it will be extremely difficult to get consisten, but I could do it with the same string type excitation that you would use for safety testing hard drives or reciprocal saw blades, but because it wouldn't make any sound that is in any way musical to it, I don't think it'll be very easy to ear test it
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Shit, I think the same species of wood from different aged trees would sound different. Tighter or wider growth rings and such…

Hell, even drying process could be different between processors which I think would attribute to slightly different tonal structure.
 
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dcburn mk.ii said:
Shit, I think the same species of wood from different aged trees would sound different. Tighter or wider growth rings and such…

Hell, even drying process could be different between processors which I think would attribute to slightly different tonal structure.
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Of @dcburn and @dcburn mk.ii, which is the older growth?
 
Home Depot or almost any hardware store sells lumber. There's usually hundreds of boards in a store that are the same dimensions and same species. They even have boards that are the same dimensions but different species of wood. Very easy to hear for yourself for free.





Lots of measurements in the second video.
 
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Hiwatts-n-Gibsons said:
If you're saying no companies will state in their marketing materials as well on as any applicable patent applications that it is not the raw materials utilized in their products, but instead some proprietary process(es) that differentiate them from their competitors even when said process(es) end up being practically the same, then I would say you don't understand corporate thinking as well as you believe.
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What?

That's not what I'm saying.

How did you even get to that from what I said?

Edit: YKw I'm not explaining myself properly. I'm saying that one side will always be swayed by the direct marketing of any way that's claimed to make things different

The other side is swayed through "tests" and blogs with cool graphics and numbers.

They are not the same customer groups.
 
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JohnnyGtar said:
And I wonder why if Jim Lill's work is so solid, why isn't he rich from making and selling guitars with plywood bodies and laminated pine necks?

In fact, I ask the "wood doesn't matter" crowd the same question.

And Jim really should grace with with his solid state copies of tubes amp since they perform equally.
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I like to note that he makes these tests, and then goes to a gig or session playing an Anderson tele through a Cornford amp
 
CDawg said:
Home Depot or almost any hardware store sells lumber. There's usually hundreds of boards in a store that are the same dimensions and same species. They even have boards that are the same dimensions but different species of wood. Very easy to hear for yourself for free.





Lots of measurements in the second video.
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wood matters more in acoustic / hollowbody guitars vs solidbody electrics.

other aspects of the signal chain will have a greater impact on the guitar tone than the wood of a solid body guitar. voodoo magic myths never die.


Screenshot 2025-07-20 134335.png
 
rsm said:
other aspects of the signal chain will have a greater impact on the guitar tone than the wood of a solid body guitar. voodoo magic myths never die.
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The player and engineer matter the most, yet somehow this argument never gets taken to its logical conclusion of "it doesn't matter. Learn to play/mix better", even though that would actually solve THE MOST issues for the person asking it
 
rsm said:
other aspects of the signal chain will have a greater impact on the guitar tone than the wood of a solid body guitar.
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True and this makes for a better topic. What degree of impact do each part have on an electric guitar’s tone/feel?
 
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JohnnyGtar said:
LAME dodge. And where did I say he should give us anything?
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Its not about giving things away, its about being a complete non sequitur. He isn't in the business of making guitars. He is in the business of trying to find out how sound is created and what factors influence its creation.

But regardless, its a genetic fallacy. Him selling or not selling guitars has nothing to do with the facts that he shows
 
pipelineaudio said:
Its not about giving things away, its about being a complete non sequitur. He isn't in the business of making guitars. He is in the business of trying to find out how sound is created and what factors influence its creation.

But regardless, its a genetic fallacy. Him selling or not selling guitars has nothing to do with the facts that he shows
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oh boy.gif
 
pipelineaudio said:
Its not about giving things away, its about being a complete non sequitur. He isn't in the business of making guitars. He is in the business of trying to find out how sound is created and what factors influence its creation.

But regardless, its a genetic fallacy. Him selling or not selling guitars has nothing to do with the facts that he shows
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Thank you for schooling us on logical fallacies. :rolleyes: May I suggest...
 
rsm said:
wood matters more in acoustic / hollowbody guitars vs solidbody electrics.

other aspects of the signal chain will have a greater impact on the guitar tone than the wood of a solid body guitar. voodoo magic myths never die.


View attachment 408556
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Sounds like we're going to agree on a lot of things.

If you made an electric guitar with the best sound absorbing materials and another guitar out of metal do you think they'd sustain the same?
If you made an electric guitar out of balsa and you another guitar out of the gaboon ebony do you think they'd sustain the same?

I think with extreme scenarios in a solo performance one could hear and measure the differences between wood on an electric guitar.
 
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