Just curious this forum's opinion of tone wood on electrics.

After 40 years as a Luthier, always testing that question ... the answer it YES , Paul agrees... as does every other Luthier I have ever met.

In addition , and I'm sure Paul would agree ... EVERYTHING makes a difference , although as Moondog point out , the impact is most significant the more air that is in the design.

To prove this .. grab ANY model PRS and play them in thier different wood combinations .. your eyes and ears will be opened.
 
Of course it makes a difference!! If not then you'd not likely hear any difference when picking up the same model of guitar for a start yet with the same pups, bridge, nut, tuners, scale length and strings, a guitar can sound different. It maybe subtle, nuanced etc, especially clean, but when you turn the gain up to distort, dial in your amp, EQ your sound and whatever else you do to change the sound to get the 'tone' you want, the subtle nuances maybe 'lost'.

Also, when it comes to 'Electric' guitars from a Musicians perspective, they can't often change the woods to see what difference it would make - therefore dismiss 'woods' as its not really something they can change. They can change things like Pups or Strings, nut, tuner or bridge and if that doesn't work for them, sell the guitar. Therefore 'woods' don't matter to many - its not something they can change and doesn't matter because their Pedals, amps etc will 'change' the Tone to what they want anyway...

But as a Simple' experiment, try putting a Rosewood neck on a Strat for example. An identical carve, identical fret material, identical nut/tuners. Keep the same strings, bridge, body and pups - and you'll notice a Difference in the Tone - both unplugged and plugged in Clean. Therefore the woods have 'changed' the Tone.
 
After 40 years as a Luthier, always testing that question ... the answer it YES , Paul agrees... as does every other Luthier I have ever met.

In addition , and I'm sure Paul would agree ... EVERYTHING makes a difference , although as Moondog point out , the impact is most significant the more air that is in the design.

To prove this .. grab ANY model PRS and play them in thier different wood combinations .. your eyes and ears will be opened.
Like you said; I have played supposedly identical guitars and found big differences in tone and playability. One would be meh and the other golden. Wood density? Pickup wraps? Joint fit? Hardware fit? A combination of all of it? And as an owner of guitars that I bought new and played over many years, I can tell you that the wood can “sweeten “ as it ages.
 
Check out all the Warmoth wood shoot out videos on YouTube to get a sense of what changes you can expect from different woods. Usually very subtle.

I will say, typically I notice a difference in the total package, the guitar as a whole compared to others of the same model. I've definitely played some dead guitars where the particular one I was playing just felt dead.

Having said that, I think you should go based on how it feels and sounds when you play it.
 
^ Mozzi there’s a great video on YouTube where a guy takes a Tele through a clean amp then just takes the pickups, bridge same nut and bolts them to a table with the same scale length strings, string height. And again plays through a clean amp setting. It’s eye opening. As I’ve gotten older I truly go down the road of pickups affect electric guitar voice more than any other factor. And while we’re at it I feel wood choice actually affects acoustic guitar tone/voice. I’m Sure not a popular opinion but then again I just laugh at monster cable too. Cheers Ken
 
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