Can you hear the "hollow" in an electric guitar?
- Thread starter RVA
- Start date
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
HAHA "What I really don;t want to do is get the Squier mixed up with the Custom Shop"
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
Don, I swear even despite 26 years since I owned my first guitar, my 1979 Black Les Paul Standard, I can still smell, feel and almost taste that guitar. If someone actually found it and a twin and gave them to me, I could possibly pick out mine.
DonP
Guest
I've just tested mine, and yes, the Gibsons all smell different, as does the PRS. And my old acoustic with French polish smells like an old church - I think that is to do with the beeswax polish.
My 1974 SG smells different from any other of my guitars. The second I open the case, I can smell it.
It makes me wonder...(<---Led Zeppelin reference).
We smell because our olfactory organs detect the molecules in the air. So, if we smell something, we are inhaling it.
Maybe the finish of different guitars acts like a drug and makes us subconsciously play differently, affecting tone?
Now THERE'S a debate, right there!
(Adrian...take this and and run with it!)
Maybe we don't hear the "hollow". Maybe we smell the hollow!
*************
(No, I'm not serious!)
It makes me wonder...(<---Led Zeppelin reference).
We smell because our olfactory organs detect the molecules in the air. So, if we smell something, we are inhaling it.
Maybe the finish of different guitars acts like a drug and makes us subconsciously play differently, affecting tone?
Now THERE'S a debate, right there!
(Adrian...take this and and run with it!)
Maybe we don't hear the "hollow". Maybe we smell the hollow!
*************
(No, I'm not serious!)
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OP
RVA
Ambassador
Nope, they will all be different. But why should that matter for those who can hear the hollowness?
OP
RVA
Ambassador
So it is not my playing that stinks, it is my guitar...excellent!
DonP
Guest
I'm positive that is so. Think of the huge amount of bare wood inside a hollow.
Can't tell you anything for sure, but I can hear the difference between my former band's Gibson Les Paul and his Epiphone Casino without looking. I have strummed a Gibson ES-335 ONCE and did not like the sound of it....
OP
RVA
Ambassador
Sadly for me, I think I am right on. This started with a desire to justify an ES335 guitar and the hours it would take to fish the pots out through the F-Hole for a mod. Unfortunately, I think that my premise stands intact - there is no audible difference, so why bother. Then again, that has never stopped me before!
It doesn't take hours, at all. I've changed the pots in my semi-hollow Washburn in about 30 minutes, or less (not including the time to solder the components together outside the guitar). Build your harness outside the guitar. Then, run aquarium tubing from the holes for the pots, switch, and jack through the F-holes. Push the tubing onto the pot shafts, the switch (remove the switch tip), and into the jack. You may have to tape it onto the jack, as well. Then, gently pull the parts into position. It's not that tough, at all. You just have to be careful as you work the harness through the f-holes into the cavity.
******
Also, my "warmer"/"colder" comments aren't referring to your premise. Your expectation of the outcome may be correct. You were careful to use the term "audible" which is a good way to phrase it, because a real test may show there is a difference, though not audible to us...or it may show other things which I've already mentioned.
But come to think of it....conceivably, you can run your own listening test if that's the way you want to go. You have some Les Paul-style Agiles, correct? Anyway, take all those components out and install them in an ES-335-type guitar, and see for yourself.
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jtcnj
Ambassador of the Crossroad
Now I have Stairway... playing in my head again.
Smitty makes a good point, this really does make me wonder, AND I think you are on to something when you say the look, feel or even smell of a guitar affects YOU, and then how you play it, which in turn - that guitar WILL sound different - therefore the ESSENCE of the Hollowness is what makes it different.
Can I personally tell solid vs semi on any given track, probably not.
Similar thing: I was playing the used Ibanez AS73 I got recently. Bone stock, near mint. It has ceramics that I dont care for with OD for the blues rock type of songs I want to play on it.
So, at the same time I have been stumbling my way through Iron Maiden Number of the Beast and The Trooper rhythm parts as I have mentioned.
I turned up the pedal gain and guitar volume for some "more", and plugged away at those 2 songs on a guitar I would typically not play them on.
I tell you the stock ceramic didnt sound bad at all.
I cant say I identified any specific hollow body attribute to the sound, but I do believe it affects the way the strings vibrate, as some of the energy is dissipated through the nut, tuners, bridge, tailpiece and wood - the vibration or resonance you feel and contributing to what you hear unplugged.
I usually play those on the beater Pacifica with the Seymour Duncan Custom TB-5 bridge p/u.
A higher output PAFish ceramic.
What a dilema to have, right?
I'm just thankful to have at least one good playing guitar and plenty of strings to keep on keeping on.
Smitty makes a good point, this really does make me wonder, AND I think you are on to something when you say the look, feel or even smell of a guitar affects YOU, and then how you play it, which in turn - that guitar WILL sound different - therefore the ESSENCE of the Hollowness is what makes it different.
Can I personally tell solid vs semi on any given track, probably not.
Similar thing: I was playing the used Ibanez AS73 I got recently. Bone stock, near mint. It has ceramics that I dont care for with OD for the blues rock type of songs I want to play on it.
So, at the same time I have been stumbling my way through Iron Maiden Number of the Beast and The Trooper rhythm parts as I have mentioned.
I turned up the pedal gain and guitar volume for some "more", and plugged away at those 2 songs on a guitar I would typically not play them on.
I tell you the stock ceramic didnt sound bad at all.
I cant say I identified any specific hollow body attribute to the sound, but I do believe it affects the way the strings vibrate, as some of the energy is dissipated through the nut, tuners, bridge, tailpiece and wood - the vibration or resonance you feel and contributing to what you hear unplugged.
I usually play those on the beater Pacifica with the Seymour Duncan Custom TB-5 bridge p/u.
A higher output PAFish ceramic.
What a dilema to have, right?
I'm just thankful to have at least one good playing guitar and plenty of strings to keep on keeping on.
OP
RVA
Ambassador
I sort of have done this. I picked up my beloved CS336 and wanted to hear the soft whisper of the blues, but all I heard was '57 classics! They are not my favorite pups, but I want to keep this one stock because it was a gift from my parents.
syscokid
Ambassador of War & Peace
That's one beautiful guitar.
The '57 Classics are an excellent PAF style pups. A "soft whisper of the blues" is only an amp adjustment and or a guitar's volume and tone adjustment away.
My LP R9 has a set of '57 Classics. A huge variety of tones anxiously await for freedom from this combo. Even the mysterious hallowed hollowness...
gball
Ambassador of Boogie
Answering the initial question, yes I can hear the "hollowness" in a semi- or full-hollow. The attack is different and there is a little bit of a midrange attenuation vs a solidbody. You hear these subtle things when you play them and you end up playing them differently because of it.
I know the tonewood argument is ongoing. I fall squarely into the camp that believes that wood type and construction do make a difference. One thing I am absolutely sure of is that a Les Paul with a maple neck plays, sounds, responds very differently from one with a hog neck and no matter how you switch the electronics around they are going to retain their individual character. With a semi the difference is even more pronounced. How does the wood effect the tone? Don't know, don't care, but I can hear it and feel it so that means I can use it to make the noises I want to make.
I know the tonewood argument is ongoing. I fall squarely into the camp that believes that wood type and construction do make a difference. One thing I am absolutely sure of is that a Les Paul with a maple neck plays, sounds, responds very differently from one with a hog neck and no matter how you switch the electronics around they are going to retain their individual character. With a semi the difference is even more pronounced. How does the wood effect the tone? Don't know, don't care, but I can hear it and feel it so that means I can use it to make the noises I want to make.