Paging Shawn.....or other technical issue experts

[AaeCee]

There's a know-it-all on TGP declaring that all PRS have compensated nuts, and are thus a hair closer to the bridge. He goes on to pontificate that this is the reason that PRS guitar tone sounds more 'sterile' than others (his words, not mine!).

I say he's just another fool and wrong on all counts, but I'll leave a sliver of plausibility for the nut issue.

Any truth to that one?

 

[PRSHB2]

He's a nut that is attempting to compensate.

 

[Lowmach]

I have seen the sterile sounding comments on mylespaul as well. Ignorance is bliss......

 

[justmund]

He's a nut that is attempting to compensate.

haha nice! We went over the compensated nut thing just recently http://prsguitars.com/forum/showthread.php?1848-A-question-re-tuning which has got some great info in there (thanks Les)

Ok not an expert by any means but here's my take, to rebut his statement:

1. PRSes do not have a "sterile" tone. If by sterile he means "rich in harmonic complexity" then maybe... Sterile to me is what a synthesizer sounds like, you know, those horrible power chord samples...
2. I don't think nut compensation has much to do with "tone", we're talking "tone" here, not "tune". "Tone" to me is how one or more strings sounds when put through an amplifier, moving the nut a poofteenth closer to the bridge isn't going to affect that, "tune" and "intonation" yes, "tone" no (but feel free to correct me here guys)
3. He's probably trolling....

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

Not sure he's trolling... The poor chap really seems to believe the nonesense he's spewing!

I'm a firm believer that most of the sound we hear comes from the player and how he / she interacts with the guitar. After that comes everything else of which the list is long and complex. There are days my guitars sound sterile and lifeless, however it's not really the guitars it's ME!!! If i'm not in the mood then whatever guitar I play will sound lifeless.

If he doesn't like the tone then fair do's. Can't please everyone and tone is such a subjective thing anyhow. But to come out with the generic 'PRS's sound sterile' is bad enough, but to link it to a compensated nut is downright daft! He provides no real evidence to support this claim other that 'what he's read'. Well, the internet is full of nonesense - particularly when it comes to guitars.

The guys views are built on nothing but hearsay and psychology and not remotely on fact.

As an example... You'll find lots of talk on ground loops inside guitars and using star grounding and a host of other things to rectify it. I've seen this come up a million and one times on various forums.

Ground loops in a guitar is nonesense... A guitars circuit is already a form of star grounding surely?!

Yet, the myth persists.

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

1000 wackos organize a hate parade in he middle of town. No one shows up to watch. No one protests. No one gets arrested. There's no news coverage. No one discusses it on the sidelines. Life just goes on.

They probably won't bother to organize another parade the following year.

 

[Albrecht Smuten]

If by sterile he means "rich in harmonic complexity" then maybe...

I once got the impression that my guitar has built-in octaver - on every tone I could clearly hear an octave. When I consulted it, I was told that it's just a damn good guitar. Same experience anyone?

1000 wackos organize a hate parade in he middle of town. No one shows up to watch. No one protests. No one gets arrested. There's no news coverage. No one discusses it on the sidelines. Life just goes on.

They probably won't bother to organize another parade the following year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtR2m20C2YM

(I know, it's not the same thing)

 

[ExpatGirl]

What the hell is nut compensation?

 

[justmund]

What the hell is nut compensation?

Follow the link in my above post and all (and more) will be revealed!

 

[rugerpc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtR2m20C2YM

I was IN that parade this year wearing my Über Ninja outfit - even the other Ninjas didn't see me, though I saw them!

:creep:

edit:

I just read the thread in question on TGP. I almost busted a gut laughing...

 

[Albrecht Smuten]

I was IN that parade this year wearing my Über Ninja outfit - even the other Ninjas didn't see me, though I saw them!

I'm practising Super-stealth for the next year. It's basically attending the parade without leaving one's desktop.

 

[garrett]

The position of the nut IS compensated: Linky

However, I have never understood this claim that PRS guitars sound sterile.

 

[fatherjacques]

Sterile!! For the fun of it I made a quick compaison track with my R8 VS my ME QUATRO. You know what ? I SOLD my R8

http://soundcloud.com/fatherjacques/paul-reed-smith-quatro-trem-vs

 

[rugerpc]

Yeah.... The word 'sterile' was bandied about in the TGP thread.

And I'm thinking, the music of RUSH, Heart, Grissom.... 'STERILE'???? That would be one of the last words that leapt to mind...

I have just one word to dispel the 'sterile' descriptive myth.... SANTANA!

THAT tone is ANYTHING but sterile!

 

[Drew]

I do not believe that PRS use true compensated nuts. On the PRS guitars I owned (sadly no more but a CU24 is in my future after we move across country) I do not remember it having the nut that my Ernie Ball guitar has....where each string has a slightly difference pinch point......identical to how a bridge is set up for intonation but much slighter differences in the pinch point locations. If I am understanding this correctly, PRS moves the entire nut a hair closer to fret #1 but the pinch point locations of the strings are still in-line with one another. That is a form of intonation compensation but you can't consider that a true compensated nut.

 

[Serious Poo]

There are many forms of compensating for certain notes going sharp in the lower frets of a guitar. For example, here's the nut on my Akkerman:

 

[Jhenri]

That's a zero fret right?

 

[Serious Poo]

That's a zero fret right?

Yep. That guitar has all sorts of cool, funky features on it.

 

[garrett]

I do not believe that PRS use true compensated nuts. On the PRS guitars I owned (sadly no more but a CU24 is in my future after we move across country) I do not remember it having the nut that my Ernie Ball guitar has....where each string has a slightly difference pinch point......identical to how a bridge is set up for intonation but much slighter differences in the pinch point locations. If I am understanding this correctly, PRS moves the entire nut a hair closer to fret #1 but the pinch point locations of the strings are still in-line with one another. That is a form of intonation compensation but you can't consider that a true compensated nut.

The nut ITSELF is not compensated (a la Earvana), but the POSITION of the nut relative to the first fret is.

 

[Audiowonderland]

haha nice! We went over the compensated nut thing just recently http://prsguitars.com/forum/showthread.php?1848-A-question-re-tuning which has got some great info in there (thanks Les)

Ok not an expert by any means but here's my take, to rebut his statement:

1. PRSes do not have a "sterile" tone. If by sterile he means "rich in harmonic complexity" then maybe... Sterile to me is what a synthesizer sounds like, you know, those horrible power chord samples...
2. I don't think nut compensation has much to do with "tone", we're talking "tone" here, not "tune". "Tone" to me is how one or more strings sounds when put through an amplifier, moving the nut a poofteenth closer to the bridge isn't going to affect that, "tune" and "intonation" yes, "tone" no (but feel free to correct me here guys)
3. He's probably trolling....

Well, if the compensation results in a more true intonation up and down the neck the reduction in disonance could potentially be heard as "sterile" if those minor disonances are perceived as "complexity". Their removal would make the sound more "sterile". To me its just the opposite. As intonation issues are removed the sound just gets bigger