So tell me how an all-rosewood neck sounds compared to mahogany.

[László]

My favorite RW neck PRS was a McCarty RW with P-90s. That thing just smoked. The RW with a bit more low-mids balanced out the brightness of the P-90s, and the guitar was very clear sounding with a ton of "push". One I should have hung on to.

 

[aduayer]

I don't have a opinion about the sound of rosewood (india, Brazilian, etc) necks. But I do love how they feel in my hand and how the guitar seems alive when I play it. That feeling is awesome.

 

[rugerpc]

I took a High School aged patient of mine and his father out to buy the student a new SE. The student was at the point where he was getting to be much better than the cheaper guitar he was playing and it was holding him back.

He was looking for a singlecut and the store had 3 in similar finishes, one was just awesome looking. Of course, that is the guitar he wanted. I said let's try something.

We went to one of the teaching studios with the three guitars. I had the student sit and close his eyes. I handed him each guitar randomly, sometimes the same one twice until he didn't know which one was the pretty one. I had him choose the guitar by the way it played in his hands and the sounds he was hearing. It didn't surprise me or his father when he chose one of the plainer guitars. He really wanted the pretty one, but the one he chose played so much better.

I suggest everyone should do the same when choosing a guitar to play. Even if your are comparing different styles or woods. If you don't trust yourself to not be able to identify a guitar by feel (RW vs maple vs hog neck, etc,) or shape, bring a buddy who can play with you. You sit blindfolded while he switches between guitars playing the same licks and chords.

Our ears should be the first arbiter. Then playability. Everything else is just cosmetics.

 

[butterfly]

To assist you in answering your question, I "stole" this post from another forum.

2) There isn't a perceptible difference in amplified tone between identical electric guitars made of different woods. In this case Ash and Alder.

3) The different tonal characteristics of an unamplified electric guitar don't affect the tone of the amplified instrument in any perceptible sense.

4) Experts cannot reliably identify specific instruments under double blind test conditions.

5) Vintage instruments don't sound better than new instruments.

7) Bolt on necks have the most sustain followed by set neck (LP) and lastly, neck though construction.

8) There is no perceptible difference in tone between the 3 types of neck joint to the human ear.

To sum up... If you expect a guitar to sound better based on it's reputation, that expectation has a measurable effect on your experience. Your unamplified tone doesn't affect --or have any measurable relationship to-- your amplified tone. Your tone is overwhelmingly dependent on your pup's and amplification. Vintage or played in instruments don't sound better than new ones of similar quality. Experts can't identify similar instruments solely by their tone. The neck joint --let alone hide glue-- makes no difference to your tone.

The bottom line is get the best looking top you can and change the pups accordingly... If you still think a '59 Burst sounds better, I can prove you wrong with 5 Historics, a blindfold and an FMRI machine

Or as the late philosopher Johnny Ramone said: "when you turn the volume all the way up they all sound the same"

That said, each guitar does have its own character, some more than others.

 

[docbennett]

The post above ^^^^^ includes concepts that I took from another thread that discussed this topic in great detail. I just want to disavow any relationship between the post above and my own opinions....I don't necessarily agree with what was quoted...I just felt that the original post had some very interesting concepts and provided some interesting links. Taken out of context, as quoted above, it appears as though the quotes and opinions came from me.....and again, I wish to disavow any relationship other than the fact that I posted it to provide some relevant opinions from others.

 

[László]

The post above ^^^^^ includes concepts that I took from another thread that discussed this topic in great detail. I just want to disavow any relationship between the post above and my own opinions....I don't necessarily agree with what was quoted...I just felt that the original post had some very interesting concepts and provided some interesting links. Taken out of context, as quoted above, it appears as though the quotes and opinions came from me.....and again, I wish to disavow any relationship other than the fact that I posted it to provide some relevant opinions from others.

As far as I'm concerned, you made it clear with your first post that you weren't expressing your opinion with them, and posted them just for reference.

The Toledo study of woods was done by a student, self-published, and involved two guitar bodies. His response curves are, in fact, different. Of course, they're similar in shape, since the same notes were played on each one. But they diverge. I've seen this study posted before, and in my opinion, it's not very well done or thorough.

The violin study was also student-done and involved two instruments. The sample size isn't particularly convincing... The owner of the played one correctly identified his 20 out of 24 times. That's statistically significant.

The point, to me, is that we have all heard differences in the tone of various instruments, and we are all aware of the various styles that certain instruments seem to enhance. This isn't insignificant; it's a sign that thousands upon thousands of players hear differences in the instruments. We may be limited in some way(s) in understanding exactly how the brain INTERPRETS information the senses collect. Tiny differences may in fact be interpreted as larger than they appear to be when measured.

The interaction between brain, hands, ears and instrument are, as I said, a feedback loop. But do the differences exist? Lots of very experienced musicians say, "yes." And have done so for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

 

[butterfly]

The post above ^^^^^ includes concepts that I took from another thread that discussed this topic in great detail. I just want to disavow any relationship between the post above and my own opinions....I don't necessarily agree with what was quoted...I just felt that the original post had some very interesting concepts and provided some interesting links. Taken out of context, as quoted above, it appears as though the quotes and opinions came from me.....and again, I wish to disavow any relationship other than the fact that I posted it to provide some relevant opinions from others.

I did edit Doc's post for brevity sake-and yes he did make it clear in the initial post the opinions were not necessarily his (which I thought I made a point of keeping in the quote if I didn't my bad). If we can't tell the difference in sound, we're all in trouble ha ha.

Johnny's point is wise though.

 

[wilerty]

Some debates go on forever ... which is good. I pick rosewood over mahogany. How the guitar feels in my hands is more important than the sound out of a particular guitar. I can change the pickups, amp, strings, pole height, equalization, pedals, speakers, etc, etc etc, but I can't change the feel in my hand. The setup, strings, weight, trem, etc can all be different on the same model guitar sitting next to each other on the wall. When I picked out my PS I knew I HAD to have a rosewood neck, ebony fretboard, DGT frets, stoptail, pattern neck, and a McCarty chambered (lightweight) body. Where's Kevin, we haven't fought about this in a long time.

I like the 408 switching and originally picked that with uncovered 5708s for the PS. When the P22 came out I switched to P22 switching with uncovered 5310s.