On tonewood in GW

[Pinch]

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/the-aristocrats-guthrie-govan-on-guitar-tonewoods

Basswood bad, alder OK, mahogany good is my opinion.

[sparquelito]

Finally, a fresh, all new subject that we can sink our teeth into!!

😃

['Scales]

yay!

[Sgt. Pepper]

13 hours ago, Pinch said:

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/the-aristocrats-guthrie-govan-on-guitar-tonewoods

Basswood bad, alder OK, mahogany good is my opinion.

RW is nice. I have one in that flavor. Hog too.

[Karloff]

13 hours ago, Pinch said:

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/the-aristocrats-guthrie-govan-on-guitar-tonewoods

Basswood bad, alder OK, mahogany good is my opinion.

I kinda agree. I've probably had more alder guitars than anything,  but mahogany I like best. Ash is nice too

[Rabs]

It comes down to hardness mostly...  The rough idea is the softer the wood the higher the bass response and the harder wood gives you a higher treble response. 

Its why they put a maple cap on LPs to give it a brighter snap (and why specials sound darker)... 

So Mahogany sits right in the middle of the hardness scale and thus its vibration response is in the middle and also why they make bass guitars out of lighter wood like basswood. Korina and Walnut are pretty sweet too being harder than Mahogany but softer than maple. They sit right in the sweet spot.

BUT as we have mentioned on here many times. With electric guitars we have pedals and amps that can compensate for these differences, so, in the end, does it really matter? And then once you add distortion these differences become pretty minimal anyway.

Of course if you put two guitars made with different wood side by side they will sound a bit different. But all you then have to do is go to your amp and change the EQ settings to make it sound how ever you want. So who really cares? 

Edited June 21 by Rabs

[NighthawkChris]

1 hour ago, Rabs said:

It comes down to hardness mostly...  The rough idea is the softer the wood the higher the bass response and the harder wood gives you a higher treble response. 

Its why they put a maple cap on LPs to give it a brighter snap (and why specials sound darker)... 

So Mahogany sits right in the middle of the hardness scale and thus its vibration response is in the middle and also why they make bass guitars out of lighter wood like basswood. Korina and Walnut are pretty sweet too being harder than Mahogany but softer than maple. They sit right in the sweet spot.

BUT as we have mentioned on here many times. With electric guitars we have pedals and amps that can compensate for these differences, so, in the end, does it really matter? And then once you add distortion these differences become pretty minimal anyway.

Of course if you put two guitars made with different wood side by side they will sound a bit different. But all you then have to do is go to your amp and change the EQ settings to make it sound how ever you want. So who really cares? 

My wife tells me that I have a high treble response. What about the tone effects for nuts?

Edited June 21 by NighthawkChris

[Sgt. Pepper]

11 minutes ago, NighthawkChris said:

My wife tells me that I have a high treble response. What about the tone effects for nuts?

I think once again, ask the wife.

[NighthawkChris]

7 minutes ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

I think once again, ask the wife.

Yeah, good call. Hoping that it adds that extra slap in the tone

[Sgt. Pepper]

2 hours ago, NighthawkChris said:

Yeah, good call. Hoping that it adds that extra slap in the tone

Or one across the face or worse. . .

[OrdinaryNimda]

A pickup will vibrate with the piece of wood or other material it is bolted to. And while vibrating itself, the pickup picks-up electro-magnetic string vibrations. So what we have are vibrations within vibrations. Pure physics in action?

Guthrie Gowan has a very wide range of styles and sounds on his albums (Erotic Cakes, and The Aristocrats 1-4 (haven't heard "Duck" yet)), so we can at least enjoy the music.😎

[merciful-evans]

Guthie's insight will be widely applauded I'm sure. Oh, and all those folk in the room with him too of course. 

And I wish I'd been in that room, because I would've liked the chance to have been  convinced as well. 

[Valeriy]

On 6/21/2024 at 5:52 PM, Rabs said:

BUT as we have mentioned on here many times. With electric guitars we have pedals and amps that can compensate for these differences, so, in the end, does it really matter? And then once you add distortion these differences become pretty minimal anyway.

Of course if you put two guitars made with different wood side by side they will sound a bit different. But all you then have to do is go to your amp and change the EQ settings to make it sound how ever you want. So who really cares? 

Rabs, that's not entirely true. Some people care about this. Yes, from the outside a listener, including a good guitar expert or a developer engineer with a good ear, may not notice the difference, especially since guitar equipment has a very narrow frequency range (often within 5 kHz). But I remembered reading somewhere about Van Halen that he admitted that replicas of his guitar (I don’t remember which one) made by other manufacturers were felt better in the game than the original. He, as far as I remember, played using special amp settings (with distorted channel) and effects too. And for his guitars he experimented a lot, repainted it many times, and of course sometimes he could disrupt the effect of the body on the sound.

I.e., by contrast to testing audio devices, here, as the guitarists say, the guitar should be “listened” to with fingers, not ears. And the feelings of the performer-guitarist, how easy or difficult it was for him to play, will be unknown to the listener. I think it's because of this feeling that some guitarists, including May, always return to one guitar, especially if it's made from 100-year-old board . Here I agree with OrdinaryNimda regarding relationship among the vibrations of the pickup and a piece of wood.  
 

[Rabs]

2 minutes ago, Valeriy said:

Rabs, that's not entirely true. Some people care about this. Yes, from the outside a listener, including a good guitar expert or a developer engineer with a good ear, may not notice the difference, especially since guitar equipment has a very narrow frequency range (often within 5 kHz). But I remembered reading somewhere about Van Halen that he admitted that replicas of his guitar (I don’t remember which one) made by other manufacturers were felt better in the game than the original. He, as far as I remember, played using special amp settings (with distorted channel) and effects too. And for his guitars he experimented a lot, repainted it many times, and of course sometimes he could disrupt the effect of the body on the sound.

I.e., by contrast to testing audio devices, here, as the guitarists say, the guitar should be “listened” to with fingers, not ears. And the feelings of the performer-guitarist, how easy or difficult it was for him to play, will be unknown to the listener. I think it's because of this feeling that some guitarists, including May, always return to one guitar, especially if it's made from 100-year-old board . Here I agree with OrdinaryNimda regarding relationship among the vibrations of the pickup and a piece of wood.  
 

Well I didnt say no one cares or we wouldnt have discussions on it.

But if we can all agree that the whole point of an electric guitar includes amps and effects which are adjustable to your tastes then whats the difference? 

And theres not even anything wrong with caring about it or even believing that it makes all the difference. What ever inspires a person to play and makes them happy is ok by me.