Tone, Tone, TONE !

[fortyearspickn]

As opposed to  "Location, location, location,"    "It's all about the economy." ,  "Buy Low and sell high."   and other cliches -  we here (hear?) by and large, feel Tone is what we look at  as the #1 factor in evaluating a guitar.  Yeah, I know,  playability, looks, price  -  are all close seconds, but assuming they are  acceptable - TONE  is the big variable  we focus on once we've narrowed it down based on the secondary criteria. 

We know that  things like strings, picks, saddles and technique can affect sound - but want the  built in sound of the guitar itself to be very close to  what we are looking for.  What we want to hear. 

My wife convinced me to begin using 'hearing aid's a few years ago.  The kind with a little 'receiver' that sits  behind your ear and has a little wire with a transmitter on the end that fits inside your ear.  Danm things cost more than a couple of Gibsons when I got them.  I used them only for 'conversation' or  'tv' for years.    Because I  KNEW  what my guitars sounded like.    Until the day I left them on after some guests left and picked up my J45.   The hearing aids today adjust that portion of the sound range where you have the loss to compensate for it, they don't  'just make everything louder'.   So,  I now really know what my guitars sound like.  Mucho Better !  And, since everyone's hearing is a little different - I'm pretty sure  they all hear slightly different tone when listening to the same guitar.  Which isn't a 'bad' thing.  It explains why choosing a guitar is a much more personal thing than  I realized.     (Hope I didn't pass on any 'keepers' before I got these hearing aids !! )

[62burst]

3 hours ago, fortyearspickn said:

. . .  Danm things cost more than a couple of Gibsons when I got them.  I used them only for 'conversation' or  'tv' for years. . .The hearing aids today adjust that portion of the sound range where you have the loss to compensate for it, they don't  'just make everything louder'.  

Expensive, you say, but maybe I could've saved a lot of time and trouble with a quick adjustment to the EQ via bluetooth, and gotten something like this:

[uncle fester]

Pretty funny FYP...  similar but not the same, my father was saying 'geeze i think the snow looks really white this year, do you think everyone staying home from COVID cleaned up enough pollution to do that?'  After thinking for a second, i replied back, 'maybe, but I'd be willing to be it was your cataract surgery that made the difference'.

[fortyearspickn]

Both points well taken.  

62B,  My banjo - unfortunately - sounded the same with or without hearing aids !   I don't think a First Act guitar could be made to sound better either.     

Fester  I thought you were going to go for the Yellow Snow.  Well played with Cataract Surgery !    The older you get, the more time you spend in The Repair and Reconditioning Shop !  

edit:   Woke up today with an ear ache.  Deja vu or Freudian Slip...  I'll have to see if it impacts the tone on my bell wether J45

[BoSoxBiker]

My left ear has a very sharp low-range dip when the Eustachian Tube is clogged shut. I have spent quite a few years of my life like this, much worse when I was a kid. It robs depth and detail. Hearing vocals in songs is hard enough to begin with, but goes out the window when this happens. Somethings cause Migraines. TV speakers are the worst. Certain frequencies of folks whistling, a friend of mine from the riding club whom I used to make sure my right ear was facing him when he was around.

Anyhow, back to your guitar story. I remember after mine opened back up after a few years of being shut. I fired up my amp and electric guitar and heard an awful racket where there was once tone. My wife asked me what was wrong -   -  -   and it turned out that little miss patience was being way too patient and was just happy that I was finding joy playing guitar. She didn't have the heart to tell me that that it sounded like poor alley-cat's roofy didn't take.