Mahogany vs IRW Necks and amp eq's

[tiboy]

Does anyone have a a general rule of thumb for eq changes to the amp when going from a hog neck to a IRW neck guitar? Thanks.

 

[veinbuster]

I don't change it. I just go with the different sound from the neck.

 

[jfb]

I don't change it. I just go with the different sound from the neck.

Same.

 

[VHTStark]

Definitely no set rule here. Depends on the amp, the specific guitar, the pickups and of course....player preferrance! I find my PRS's with rosewood necks to have a "bigger" sound overall. By this I mean the low-mids and lows as well as the top end is extended. You will primarily notice it in the lower frequencies though. An interesting thing I find is that these traits even come through with high gain. A mahogany neck, in general, will impart a more focused midrange to the overall tonality (compared to rosewood). I suppose if you wanted to eq them up the same you could dial back some lowend while bumping the mids a bit when switching from mahogany to rosewood. Personally, I do what the fellas above do: leave the amp alone and go with the different sound!

 

[László]

I'm always tweaking the controls on the amp for different tunes, guitars and microphones. Or simply to accommodate different moods.

 

[blaren]

hmm interesting. I often wonder just how much difference necks make in tone. Rw vs hog, hog vs maple, set vs bolt-on, maple board vs rw, rw board vs ebony....
At acoustic guitar forums when people ask about even a topwood's (soundboard's) properties/tonal qualities, the poor guy inevitably (and I think not always or 100% correctly) things like...the builder matters more...bracing matters more...there will be more difference from one set to the other so generalities don't work....blah blah blah...

I mean it IS true that the build of an acoustic weighs VERY heavily on how it's gonna sound but wood selection is important....I say critical.
At first I was skeptical about acoustics with bolt-on necks. You know...like a LOT of the modern ones are (including Taylor and my fave, Halcyon) doing...but there is no big loss of tone. Ok maybe Taylor is a bad example lol...but a M&T bolted joint can sound just as good as a glued-in dovetail.
They say that the neck joint on USA PRSs is the same whether it's a bolted-on CE's neck or a CU's setneck. The only difference is glue vs screws. Some people say the CEs are "snappy" sounding because of the bolt-on, some credit the maple neck of the CEs while others say it's mostly the old Alder backed CEs that are snappy sounding...because of the Alder.

Many of the new SE models have maple necks. But SETnecks in maple. I've searched and even asked but have found and received nothing that says the maple necked SEs sound snappier or different than the hog necked SEs. And I haven't heard and haven't found with mine, that the for example, Tremonti SE Custom (with maple neck) sounds "snappy".

Hey, I wish I had a rw necked guitar for sure. and I DO believe that EVERYTHING on a guitar is important in defining that guitar's voice. I also know that a guitar is much more than the sum of it's parts a lot of times. But I'm also very aware that woods and stuff have a much greater influence on acoustic guitars than electric ones.
Does a rw neck really have a signature and repeatable and measurable effect on a guitar's tone? It would be nice to have, say a CE with 3 necks. One maple (maybe with a maple board?), one in hog and a third in rosewood. Same tuners and nut and fretwire and the heels cut to within .0002" of each other or so and then run it through a spectrum analyzer to see the difference as well as a fixture with a mechanical "strummer" and 3 recordings to see if a difference can be heard.

I am not for a SECOND saying that different neckwoods have no effect on tone. I'm just applying what the acoustic guitar nay-sayers to the electric world...which is that...you can't judge a guitar by it's wood! Which I do NOT agree with.
Anytime I have an acoustic built, selecting woods, to me, is as important as following a baking recipe or a project's blueprint.

Interesting food for thought though either way and...I WANT a rw necked PRS :-(

 

[tiboy]

Thanks guys. Like most I have always kept the same settings for all guitars. I just got to thinking I was missing something. I confess I'm not much of a tweeker as I prefer to use my guitar time playing the guitar rather than playing with knobs. I figured if I had a general rule of thumb, I could avoid reinventing the wheel or at least have some direction so as to minimize knob twisting. Ironically, my MEQ sounds closer to the Stripped 58 than it does to the IRW P22 with uncovered 57/08's. Not close, but closer.

 

[veinbuster]

Hey, I wish I had a rw necked guitar for sure. and I DO believe that EVERYTHING on a guitar is important in defining that guitar's voice. I also know that a guitar is much more than the sum of it's parts a lot of times. But I'm also very aware that woods and stuff have a much greater influence on acoustic guitars than electric ones.
Does a rw neck really have a signature and repeatable and measurable effect on a guitar's tone?

Yes a guitar is more than the sum of its parts.
Yes a rosewood neck really does have an audible effect on the sound of a solid body guitar.

 

[John Beef]

I often wonder just how much difference necks make in tone.

It would be nice to have, say a CE with 3 necks. One maple (maybe with a maple board?), one in hog and a third in rosewood. Same tuners and nut and fretwire and the heels cut to within .0002" of each other or so and then run it through a spectrum analyzer to see the difference as well as a fixture with a mechanical "strummer" and 3 recordings to see if a difference can be heard.

http://www.petelacis.com/2010/07/08...p-the-definitive-comparison-with-audio-clips/

I finally found it. I have been talking about it over and over, finally, sound clips to back up my assertions.

Two Suhr strat types, identical electronics, one alder body with maple neck and Brazilian rw fretboard, one ash body with one piece maple. Record, then swap the necks on the two and see if the tone stays with the body or follows the neck. To my ears, especially "bridge pickup dirty", the tone follows the neck.

To me this demonstrates how crucial the neck wood is to the tone equation for electric guitars... and in this case it's really only the fretboard that differs.

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

I don't think I'd tweak eq's for neck types.

Pickups certainly but I'd just live with the subtle differences caused by the materials if I had similar guitars.

 

[László]

Thanks guys. Like most I have always kept the same settings for all guitars. I just got to thinking I was missing something. I confess I'm not much of a tweeker as I prefer to use my guitar time playing the guitar rather than playing with knobs.

It doesn't really take much time to see if moving a knob will give you more or less of what you want.

 

[Tag]

Does anyone have a a general rule of thumb for eq changes to the amp when going from a hog neck to a IRW neck guitar? Thanks.

For me I add treble, and cut as far back on the bass as I can to try to keep the bottom end clear.