Moving on From My Pickup Thread...

Sp8ctre

Sp8ctre

Ambassador of Steel
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I started the thread about pickups and it got me thinking. Of course everyone has an opinion on how much is the right amount and where the theory of diminishing returns comes into play.

So my question to you now is; what is the MOST important part of your electric guitar when it comes to producing the sound you are looking for?

Is it the fretboard wood? The body wood? The top? The strings? The pickups?

I'm aware that the amp will also be a big part of the sound, but in the guitar where do "you" think the basis of a good tone lies?

I know many will be tempted to say "The Player"...but for this thread let's leave that out of the equation please...:D
 
Maybe this wasn't what you are after, but good setup, fully functional electronics and playability works wonders on tone.

Most pickups sound quite good when everything else is working correctly; the G310 cheap ceramic pickups still sounded pretty decent, once the crap electronics, crap nut, crap bridge were sorted out.

I kinda think that a nice sounding guitar is when all the elements are balanced and working well, even a small item such as badly cut nut or noisy tone pot can have a strong affect on the best pickups. Obviously strings too. Balance...

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Setup. It needs to stay in tune, buzz free and tolerable action height. If you have these things, any guitar can be made to play a song and make the people smile. At that point, it does not matter if you have kitchen magnets and chicken wire tuned to pitch, you can play a song.
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Maybe this wasn't what you are after, but good setup, fully functional electronics and playability works wonders on tone.

Most pickups sound quite good when everything else is working correctly; the G310 cheap ceramic pickups still sounded pretty decent, once the crap electronics, crap nut, crap bridge were sorted out.

I kinda think that a nice sounding guitar is when all the elements are balanced and working well, even a small item such as badly cut nut or noisy tone pot can have a strong affect on the best pickups. Obviously strings too. Balance...

2c4853ac0097347e3e6401d64cc9dc70.jpg
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That is a good answer...the pots and wiring can have an ill effect for sure!
 
Sp8ctre said:
Soooo anyone believe deeply in "Tone Wood"?
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I wrote this in another thread this morning
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This leads me to my personal journey with tone wood, ...There was a multipart video, and in my opinion reasonably unbiased, analyzing whether wood resulted in different tones. There were some interesting experiments which I thought showed some differences, as confirmed by other videos I had seen. I was on the edge of my seat. In the end, the experiment concluded that any difference was so marginal, that it was guaranteed to be obscured by so many other things, like guitar wiring, patch chord length, pedal impedence, all the crap that goes on inside an amp (like tube choice and age and matching and biasing), amp placement, room acoustics, etc. In the end, he said it would be too small a variable to matter. I agreed. To this I added that the listener barely knows the difference between a guitar and a bass, much less a 3/4" maple cap from all hog. So I never cared again, not even a little. I will do credit to Biddlin here, who is the one who got me thinking about this in the first place (story for another time). Could you imagine, even the best of musicians and luthiers among us standing together, listening to you play and saying "hey, you have an orange drop cap in there don't you" or "That must be a Brazilian rosewood fretboard, not that east Indian crap!!!!!" No, never, not going to happen.

Focus on playability, free your mind of these matters, look the crowd in their collective faces, and ROCK!
 
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At the Guitar Factory in Orlando Fl a few weeks back I was regailed by the skilled Luthier that built these guitars for the stars, Jimmy Buffet, Joan Baez, and many others--- he quoted Rick Nelson of CHEAP TRICK ----who ordered a custom Guitar Factory guitar and told Doug, "save all that fancy wood for someone that gives a poop" ---- hhhmmmmm he didnt seemed concerened with tone wood.......and he has made a damn slide load more $$$ than I playing geetar.......

You might be right there RVA.


OH the guitar factory ........great guitars.....cool old dudes.....
Guitar Factory
 
eSGEe said:
At the Guitar Factory in Orlando Fl a few weeks back I was regailed by the skilled Luthier that built these guitars for the stars, Jimmy Buffet, Joan Baez, and many others--- he quoted Rick Nelson of CHEAP TRICK ----who ordered a custom Guitar Factory guitar and told Doug, "save all that fancy wood for someone that gives a poop" ---- hhhmmmmm he didnt seemed concerened with tone wood.......and he has made a damn slide load more $$$ than I playing geetar.......

You might be right there RVA.


OH the guitar factory ........great guitars.....cool old dudes.....
Guitar Factory
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I own every type of tone wood you would want to play in almost every combo. Few have agreed to take the tonewood challenge, none have succeeded. Hell, a few weeks ago we did a blind Goldtop P90 LP v. Standard Strat test. No one guessed right. I am reminded of those wise words "Just shut up and play the guitar!"
 
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