How would you describe the sonic difference between:

[Hotspur]

I know, this is an impossible question. Nevertheless, I'm interested on how people with more experience than me describe the difference of the sound between the following:

(Please assume that all else is equal.)

Hard tail vs trem.
Long scale length vs. short
Hollowbody vs solid body.

Obviously every guitar is unique in some ways, but with the platonic example of each of these qualities, what does it do to your expectation of the sound of the guitar?

 

[Serious Poo]

Stoptail vs Trem - Stoptails have a very fast attack and tight feel. Trems have a softer and slower attack but longer resonance due to the reverb tank built into the body of the guitar.

IMHO, YMMV, Batteries Not Included, etc.

 

[Black Plaid]

Ok, here goes. Caveat that this is only for PRS guitars.

Hard tails have a bit more character, woodyness, bouncyness, trems are much more even.

Shorter scales have a bit more grunt and warmth, longer are a bit more sizzle and sing.

 

[RickP]

Hard tail vs trem.

I notice this more on note stability in bends, especially across strings. The tuning benefits also favor the stop tail. The floating nature of a trem feels a touch more, perhaps, expressive. There isn’t enough difference (to me) to make me pick one guitar or avoid another. I like them both.

Long scale length vs. short

Scale has more to do with the sound than most people think. It is why single coils in a Les Paul never sound Fendery and why Teles sound a snappy as they do. It’s also why PRS 25” scale is such a versatile guitar. The physics of it also say that the amount you bend on one has to be adjusted on the other or you’ll be going flat or sharp on every bend… depending on which scale you’re used to.

Hollowbody vs solid body.

Weight, and in more ways than one. A hollow guitar normally has a more fibrous sound that people often call woody. It’s a kind of acoustic tone that comes through electrically. The solid body sounds harder, edgier, and can get much louder through an amplifier before the onset of feedback. In my mind’s eye, I see one as a rounder tone, and one more defined. Of course, there are individual guitar exceptions to every rule.

 

[Moondog Wily]

Well, I probably have as little or less experience than you, but here are my two cents on the solid vs hollow.

I just yesterday received my PS CU24. In Feb of this year, I had purchased my first PRS, a McCarty 594 HBII. I also have a core CU24.

The pickups in both my PS and my HBII are 58/15 LT. On the PS, they are TCI so there is a slight difference. But for me, with pickups the close to the same, and bridges the same (both of these have two piece stop tail bridge), the PS has a lot more bite. The sound is thicker and cleaner. I would conjecture that some of this is due to the pickups not getting any of that echo of the sound chamber, but that is just talk off top of my head. I love the tone on both of these, but if I was playing rock, it would be a no brainer, the PS CU24. Sounds like it could crunch rock licks all day and sound clean as a whistle the whole time.

Not much there, and it is from having only lived with this new guitar for 24 hours now, but that is what I am getting out of it so far when it comes to differentiation from a similarly pick-uped guitar. I will try to do a side by side between my two CU24's and write back if my ageing brain remembers to. There we would have very different pickups though, but both would be 24 fret. One with stop tail and the other with trem.

Happy pickin'!
MW

 

[Tonart]

I believe the endgame for any guitar to be its ability to affect the vibration of the string in a pleasant musical manner. I believe that is where “tone” comes from.

Think of it like a bouncing trampoline sitting on an earthquake.

I am therefore more partial to stoptails - more direct transfer of impetus from guitar body to string. That said, I have some trem guitars that are distinctly toney!!