Does wood affect the amplified tone of an electric guitar
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jak3af3r
Jake
That's because of energy losses in the dampening/attenuation of certain frequencies in a given material.
ViperDoc
Plugged In.
This topic is shrouded in as much religion as science. But ultimately, wood undeniably affects the tone of a guitar because it is part of the fundamental tone of the guitar itself. The electronics of a guitar and of the signal chain it's being pushed through differ in how that fundamental sound is delivered to the listener. Without waxing biblical, the various densities, dimensions and construction of wood will resonate at various frequencies and affect things like timbre, sustain, volume, overtones, harmonics, all of that. Those contributions are VERY difficult to fully capture and can often be overwhelmed by electronics. Take a set of low output PAF humbuckers and install it in the mahogany neck and bodied, maple-topped 594 and you get that full-bodied rock and roll rhythm sound. If you were to magically exchange the fingerboard from rosewood to ebony, you would hear more high end harmonics due to ebony's density. Now take both those guitars and install some BKP Nailbomb (super high gain) pickups, for example, the wood's tonal signature will likely be made irrelevant and inaudible due to high levels of distortion. And in between all that, you get the widespread sea of enjoyment we all get out of our preferred nuances in all the limitless combinations that exist.
To quote someone who's built a few guitars, "Everything affects everything"...
shinksma
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Of course the wood or other substrate can affect the tone, because the strings are attached to "something", and that something absorbs the string energy (vibrations) through dampening.
The wood will absorb that energy differently across frequencies and maybe even as the energy drops, which is why plywood guitars, even if very stiff, sound awful.
If you have a sufficiently effects-based and high gain chain to go through, especially if you tweak the pickups just right, maybe you won't notice much difference in tone (but I bet you will in pure sustain) - which is why those lucite/acrylic/whatever guitars still "work".
But guitars aren't made out of pine or spruce for a reason.
The wood will absorb that energy differently across frequencies and maybe even as the energy drops, which is why plywood guitars, even if very stiff, sound awful.
If you have a sufficiently effects-based and high gain chain to go through, especially if you tweak the pickups just right, maybe you won't notice much difference in tone (but I bet you will in pure sustain) - which is why those lucite/acrylic/whatever guitars still "work".
But guitars aren't made out of pine or spruce for a reason.
Ovibos
Naughty Wood Librarian
DISTORT6
NJ Devil
Tony M.
New Member
Remember, I know nothing,
but...
I have these 2 ES 335s.
Same electronics
Same hardware.
Same pickups.
Same strings.
Same setup.
Same me playing both equally badly
through the same cable and amplifier.
One is all mellow and nice sounding.
The other is a total screamer.
How can this be?
Different trees?
Hmm...
but...
I have these 2 ES 335s.
Same electronics
Same hardware.
Same pickups.
Same strings.
Same setup.
Same me playing both equally badly
through the same cable and amplifier.
One is all mellow and nice sounding.
The other is a total screamer.
How can this be?
Different trees?
Hmm...
Going Modal
I should be practicing right now.
One is you playing badly in a mellow mood, and one is you playing badly in an angry mood?
Maybe one was built on a Monday, and the other was built on a Friday? (That used to be the excuse years ago for some cars coming out good/bad from the factory.)
Surely it cannot be the woods or the construction of the guitars themselves.
Ovibos
Naughty Wood Librarian
The obvious answer is
Gibson quality control (or lack thereof...)
Bookface
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Yes. But not as much as an acoustic instrument. Tone wood deniers are out there though who will tell you it makes no difference if you make an electric guitar out of aluminium or alder.
Funnily enough a violin maker was telling me there are ongoing experiments with 3D printed violins, the reason being it takes all of the guesswork out of the material. Someone wants a particular sound, you simply work out a thickness/density of material that will provide that and print it. Very early days obviously, but possible.
Funnily enough a violin maker was telling me there are ongoing experiments with 3D printed violins, the reason being it takes all of the guesswork out of the material. Someone wants a particular sound, you simply work out a thickness/density of material that will provide that and print it. Very early days obviously, but possible.
Guitar pickups are microphonic. They're not only magnetic, they act like microphones. So they "hear" the wood directly. And...
This is also true.
So the answer is YES. The wood matters, the hardware matters, whether the guitar has resonances via a hollow or semi-hollow body matters. In fact, everything on the guitar that vibrates is passed to the strings while they're vibrating and all that is picked up by the pickups and sent to the amp.
The infinite varieties of tone created by tone woods means that every guitar has its own thing. Don't believe anything you read to the contrary, it's utter and complete BS. Play enough guitars, and the real answer is obvious.
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Tony M.
New Member
One isn't better than the other.
They are both excellent guitars,
just different from each other.
Paul has a great TED talk on this . I've been a Luthier for decades and have explored this topic in depth with many build types and wood species. The quick answer is Everything effects tone. On an electric solid body , less so than on a more acoustic instrument . The more the wood is allowed to be part of the actual resonance , the more it matters. Mahogany and Maple is a musical match in that there inherent resonance compliment each other. That is true of other species with similar density and resonance .
Gtrbldr
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Im firmly in the camp: it affects the overall tone, however not nearly as much as PUs do. Or hardware for that matter.
I do not have the extensive background, however I built guitars for fun and at some point made two telecasters side by side. Different body wood, same neck wood and fret board. Same PUs/hardware. One tele was an alder with maple drop top, one was an swamp ash body. Hard pressed: the swamp ash had a hair more air amplified and a little recesed mids, however it was minor. Acoustic they were more apart.
So the lesson for me: PUs should not be an afterthought in the budget for a guitar.
I do not have the extensive background, however I built guitars for fun and at some point made two telecasters side by side. Different body wood, same neck wood and fret board. Same PUs/hardware. One tele was an alder with maple drop top, one was an swamp ash body. Hard pressed: the swamp ash had a hair more air amplified and a little recesed mids, however it was minor. Acoustic they were more apart.
So the lesson for me: PUs should not be an afterthought in the budget for a guitar.
Yeah I like to stir the pot. Here’s another one. Why do you need electric when you’ve got an acoustic?
Billy Strings tonight at the Frost.
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Mozzi
https://imgur.com/user/BAMozzy/posts
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Of course it affects the tone of a guitar!!
However, it's not something you can or generally do change so how much it 'matters' to a guitarist is down to the individual but for a lot, the things they can change are far more important. It's far more important to the Luthier to be able to craft an instrument that at its 'core' is a musical instrument regardless of what the 'Musician' changes.
If you look at it from a Physics perspective, the neck and body are resonating and each piece of wood will 'resonate' at its own frequency which will impact on the underlying sound as it will amplify some frequencies and/or reduce others (out of phase). That's why if you buy a 'new' neck for a tele/strat in Rosewood for example, keeping 'everything' else (strings, bridge, tuners, nut, pups, electronics etc) you'll have a 'different' sounding instrument. Therefore the neck wood has impacted on the tone directly...
Like I said though, its not something that Musicians tend to do and the 'wood' is not something that you can often change so it's not really a 'consideration'. Pickups can make a big difference - like Mics can in front of a Speaker Cab so it becomes the easiest way to alter the way the guitar sounds and as they don't change 'woods', these become 'irrelevant' and even non-impactful. On top of that, they also have other ways to adjust the sound with Pedals, Amps, Cabs etc so the 'importance' of the 'wood' is negligible at best. But to the Luthier, it's a LOT more important and is a fundamental characteristic of the instrument and becomes 'important' to a musician when they want to craft a guitar for their needs but for the majority, it's not important because you can't change it and therefore ignore/dismiss it, focussing more on the bits they can change.
At the end of the day, its not worth arguing about. In most cases, you can't change the woods so does it matter? You have many ways to tweak the tone and change it and if the Luthier has done their Job, the Core is still going to be a great musical instrument and you'll dial in your settings to your taste anyway.
that is a good vid , and to an extent proves Paul's point that guitars are "Subtractive" in nature , i.e. that the various elements all produce some form of dampening . The trick as a luthier is to find those complimentary blends that provide " musical subtraction " Like Mahogany mellowing the tone a bit , and ebony brightening it .. all subtle shades of tone
