How a guitar can lack 'soul' - Surely that's more down to the player and whether they put 'soul' into their playing?
How someone cannot accept 'tone wood' as being important - yet still has no issue accepting that models made to the exact same specifications, same electronics, PU's, scale length, strings nut, bridge etc do sound different - if its all down to 'just' the PU's, then how come there is a difference in sound? Its even more obvious if you compare a Core PRS to a WL version with very different woods - for example a Core 509 with mahogany neck and body with a Maple cap and Rosewood Fretboard compared to a Swamp Ash body and maple neck/fretboard 509 - yet somehow 'woods' don't matter. Ask someone who thinks Tone wood is BS why two exactly the same model built to exactly the same specs don't sound exactly the same and its slight differences in woods yet woods don't matter in Electric Guitars. They then bring up Cardboard guitars, perspex/plastic guitars etc - yet every 'solid' substance will have 'resonance'. It can be 'hit' and will make a sound. It will 'vibrate' and sound is made. Sound is 'vibration' of air and why no sound can be heard in space because there is no 'air' to vibrate.
Sorry, that's a bit of a Rant but I find it hard to understand why others struggle with this. It might not be the 'biggest' influence on tone but it does have some impact on it. The next 'ridiculous' statement will be saying woods don't matter with Acoustic guitars either because they can make them out of Carbon Fibre - its all down to the strings vibrating, the size and placement of the hole and the 'volume' of the 'hollow' space in the guitar - hence thicker body no cutaway guitars sound Louder, deeper and fuller than a thinner acoustic - its not the woods used because non-wood guitars still make a sound...
Why do Americans insist on sport that is predominantly based around using your 'foot' to kick a ball, soccer yet a sport that's predominantly based around holding, throwing a 'ball' (all be it a non-spherical 'ball') and catching with your 'hands', football? Maybe I shouldn't mention this on a mostly US occupied Forum... LOL I am sure they may find the things UK people refer to some things difficult to understand too...
Why can't some things 'evolve' - Classic example would be Gibson Les Paul and all the 'fuss' made of their HP circuit and numerous tonal options in their 'Standard' for 2019 and can't accept a 'Traditional' which is made to 'traditional' specs as being the 'traditional' Gibson? PRS on the other hand can innovate, can evolve their guitars. Its not as if the likes of Jimi, Jimmy etc were playing 'vintage' instruments and things like Wah, Fuzz etc was pretty much brand new tools too that these guitarists experimented with and why these were 'unique' and ground breaking artists, why they had a big influence on artists that followed them. I can understand that some may want to recreate the 'traditional' tones but why limit an instrument to just those 3 options in a Gibson LP when you can add reversing the Phase (a la Greeny), splitting and tapping the coils (both options via a dip switch to go between each) and you still have the Traditional LP tones if you don't bother with the push/pull pots. Doesn't that limit 'creativity' and make you sound like any other Les Paul player? I believe it was the 'experimentation' with new tools (new electric guitars with new amps, new pedals etc) that created new sounds that inspired the artists to create 'new' music as we heard from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin etc
I am sure I could go on and list numerous other things I don't understand but this is enough for now....
