Tonart
Tone of the Art......or is that backwards?
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2018
- Messages
- 2,755
First off allow me to describe my idiosyncratic way of appraising an electric guitar. I listen to its inherent tone. By that I simply mean how the strings vibrate on that particular guitar. So I play the guitar acoustically and listen to its tone. Not the sustain, but the actual quality and character of the notes. String to air to ear - pure inherent tone, no middlemen.
I don’t worry so much about pickups since I consider them to be pure mimics or replicators. I don’t fancy them adding their own sauce to the mix, I just want my pickups and amps to mimic exactly how the string is vibrating and make it louder. If a pickup is not replicating the string vibration faithfully, I can always find a more faithful one later. Just saying this is my ideology in the context of this NGD, no interest whatsoever in debating you know, that topic from hell.
So, I got a big surprise when testing out some SE 594’s at the shop. All of them inherently had a fat clonky almost “woody” tone. The tone and the consistency really got me. It’s a milestone, it’s an event, truly.
I found one particular double cut that also had great playability and tuning stability. Oh and the top also looked fabulous. I just had to bring it home. It is now become one of my precious.
Naturally the new kid quickly gets compared with the existing ones. That’s where the real surprise is. I’ve got to say, in terms of inherent tone and playability, I don’t feel much difference between my private stocks and this SE 594. Yes the PS have that exquisite aura and collectibility about them. Pernambuco and African Blackwood necks, Celtic Knots, Picasso tops, Paul’s former personal guitars etc. Nothing detracts from all that.
Yet this SE holds its own, delights me with those tones. So far I’ve only noticed an A note that has a somewhat shorter sustain but it compensates by going into a pitch perfect harmonic. Hell. Otherwise everything is perfect. I look at the guitar and it has that exquisite feel about it, even more so when I upgrade the knobs. What more do I need from a guitar? I mean just look at the thing:
I don’t worry so much about pickups since I consider them to be pure mimics or replicators. I don’t fancy them adding their own sauce to the mix, I just want my pickups and amps to mimic exactly how the string is vibrating and make it louder. If a pickup is not replicating the string vibration faithfully, I can always find a more faithful one later. Just saying this is my ideology in the context of this NGD, no interest whatsoever in debating you know, that topic from hell.
So, I got a big surprise when testing out some SE 594’s at the shop. All of them inherently had a fat clonky almost “woody” tone. The tone and the consistency really got me. It’s a milestone, it’s an event, truly.
I found one particular double cut that also had great playability and tuning stability. Oh and the top also looked fabulous. I just had to bring it home. It is now become one of my precious.
Naturally the new kid quickly gets compared with the existing ones. That’s where the real surprise is. I’ve got to say, in terms of inherent tone and playability, I don’t feel much difference between my private stocks and this SE 594. Yes the PS have that exquisite aura and collectibility about them. Pernambuco and African Blackwood necks, Celtic Knots, Picasso tops, Paul’s former personal guitars etc. Nothing detracts from all that.
Yet this SE holds its own, delights me with those tones. So far I’ve only noticed an A note that has a somewhat shorter sustain but it compensates by going into a pitch perfect harmonic. Hell. Otherwise everything is perfect. I look at the guitar and it has that exquisite feel about it, even more so when I upgrade the knobs. What more do I need from a guitar? I mean just look at the thing:
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