I was out looking at amps tonight and when I found one that I thought might be a serious candidate to go along with my recent NF3 purchase, I went and grabbed a PRS Studio that had the narrowfield pups to see if I liked it with the same pups my guitar has. This is where my question/observation comes in: the Studio sounded radically different than my NF3, even when using only the narrowfields - should this surprise me as much as it did? Or is the difference between a bolt-on neck and a set neck really that obvious? My NF3 has a distinctive Strat-like vibe in the bridge/middle setting, but the Studio maintained a lot more of the humbucker tone. Anyone else notice this with these or other pup/guitar combos?
Same PUPs - Different Guitars
- Thread starter GeoDude
- Start date
Yup! What's great about this is that you now know for certain that it isn't just the pickups and hardware that make a difference in a guitar's tone; you've heard first-hand that the neck attachment method, the woods, and the other stuff matters!
Of course, it's not just the bolt-on vs set neck, there are different woods at play as well, the mahogany/maple combination, the carved body, the pick guard on the NF3, etc.
Next time someone insists that there isn't a difference in tone with these body and construction differences, you can simply smile and know in your heart of hearts that whoever's saying that is utterly ignorant.
Yup! What's great about this is that you now know for certain that it isn't just the pickups and hardware that make a difference in a guitar's tone; you've heard first-hand that the neck attachment method, the woods, and the other stuff matters!
Of course, it's not just the bolt-on vs set neck, there are different woods at play as well, the mahogany/maple combination, the carved body, the pick guard on the NF3, etc.
Next time someone insists that there isn't a difference in tone with these body and construction differences, you can simply smile and know in your heart of hearts that whoever's saying that is utterly ignorant.
+1
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]-[@n$0Ma☩!©
Zombie Zero, DFZ
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Everything affects everything and rarely are two of the same thing going to sound identical. The best we can hope for are generalities (tonally speaking).
I had two R9's that were from the same year and were only 40 serial numbers apart. They were notably different instruments.
I had two R9's that were from the same year and were only 40 serial numbers apart. They were notably different instruments.
Pots are known to be widely variable, even good ones, so definitely something to do with it. And perhaps even the pickup windings could be one or two winds different.
John Beef
Opaque
I've told this story a bunch of times. There was a guy several years ago on The Gear Page who had two Suhr strat style guitars, both with identical hardware and electronics. One had a maple neck with a maple fretboard and ash body. One had an alder body with maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. He did sound clips, and you could hear the difference between them. Then he swapped the necks and did sound clips again. At least 80-90% of the tone followed the neck - and keep in mind that the only difference was the dang fretboard material.
In this case, the NF3 and Studio models are drastically different - different body woods, different neck woods, different fretboard woods, different scale lengths, different neck attachment methods, different pickup mounting methods, different body thicknesses, different body carves, and possibly even different bridges. Why the heck would it sound the same?
In this case, the NF3 and Studio models are drastically different - different body woods, different neck woods, different fretboard woods, different scale lengths, different neck attachment methods, different pickup mounting methods, different body thicknesses, different body carves, and possibly even different bridges. Why the heck would it sound the same?
]-[ @ n $ 0 |v| a T ! ©;134497 said:
This. And bolt on guitars vary even more IMO. Pick up 5 strats that are exactly the same construction wise. 5 different tones, and some can almost sound like a totally different style of guitar!! Big and thick, small and thin..etc etc. PRS does the best job of any manufacturer I know at keeping like models sounding consistent.
gball
New Member
So true. My Stratocaster is by far my darkest sounding guitar, more so than the PRS' or even my LP. It's not at all typical of what people think of as the "Strat sound" but also the reason that I love it so much. No other Strat I have ever owned sounded so aggressive and un Strat-like, and mine has a maple fretboard and floating trem.
First - Thanks to all for the thoughtful replies. I am aware that this very issue (i.e., does the wood really matter to the sound; can a fretboard material affect the sound, etc.) is a touchy and often debated subject, but I had always assumed the differences to be subtle - not the significant "two completely different sounds" I experienced. Having said that, you are correct to note that the guitars, aside from the pickups, are radically different, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised after all. Anyway, thanks for the education.
I have a mccarty 25 ann, with narrowfiels, and my budde has a nf3. same pups, very different sound. both sound great, but different.
another example. I put a set of 59/09's in a mccarty korina and love them. put a 59/09 bridge pup iin my singlecut thinking i liked it so much in the mccarty it has to sound great. WRONG! didn't like it at all and yanked it out for a 57/08, and love was in the air again. body wood, body thickness, maple cap/no cap, neck wood, fretboard wood, tremelo/no tremelo, it ALL makes a differance.
another example. I put a set of 59/09's in a mccarty korina and love them. put a 59/09 bridge pup iin my singlecut thinking i liked it so much in the mccarty it has to sound great. WRONG! didn't like it at all and yanked it out for a 57/08, and love was in the air again. body wood, body thickness, maple cap/no cap, neck wood, fretboard wood, tremelo/no tremelo, it ALL makes a differance.
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