Tonewood v Semi-Hollow

Col Mustard said:
I'd tell the sound man, "There's my signal. Get a level on me....
Click to expand...

Excellent post, Colonel.

That line above is also why I will often use my processor at a down-and-dirty live gig rather than my pedal board and amp. When preparing for such an event, I'll spend quite a bit of time getting my patches right and I will have already tested them in rehearsal to know they sound good. It is WAY easier to just let the sound guy take a direct feed from my processor than it is to fuss with mic'ing a cabinet, and running all my lines (amp in, control switch, and FX loop) back and forth. The processor also takes up a lot less room.

Truth be told, I do actually like using an amp and pedals best. If setup time, the stage situation, and the set list permit that rig, I'll use it. But, sometimes logistics and ease of setup sort of dictate an alternate approach.
 
Well, well, well...

Lookie here, boys and girls!

I found a test done for an honors thesis by a student at Texas A&M. He conducted a pretty interesting experiment and documented all results. However, he only tested the low E, the D, and the high E strings. But, the results are still interesting.

Here are the first few sentences of his conclusion. I have the entire thesis linked at the bottom.


“This study examined the timbre of tones produced by two guitars of identical construction but different woods, maple and mahogany. The timbres were compared by analyzing the differences in the amplitudes of harmonics produced by each wood. It was found that the maple guitar had more harmonics for the low E string, the mahogany had more harmonics for the D string, and neither guitar clearly had more harmonics overall for the high E. On average, across all three strings tested, neither guitar ended up being consistently brighter or warmer than the other; rather, the difference in timbre for each guitar varied depending on which string was being analyzed. Maple and mahogany were chosen for this experiment due to their purported extreme differences in timbre. These results indicate that while choosing between maple or mahogany as a guitar material can produce difference results, it is not clear that one wood is consistently "very bright" or "very warm", ...”

 
Here‘s some more “Gee-Whiz” info.

This article, with waveform analysis, suggests that, after accounting for the initial attack transients, bolt-neck guitars, such as Stratocasters, actually have better sustain than set neck guitars, such as Les Pauls. This is true until you reach upper registers, like at the twelfth fret and beyond. At that point, the Les Paul starts to exhibit better sustain than the Strat.

I realize, this is not a “tonewood” discussion, per se. But, it is associated with the idea.

I do see a couple of flaws in the testing, but it does use real-world instruments and provides a direct comparison between a Les Paul and a Stratocaster.

www.cycfi.com

“Sustain” Myth and Science

Question: Which solid body guitar has better sustain, the Fender Stratocaster or the Gibson Les Paul? If you were like me, you'd probably pick the Les Paul. I've taken it as plain truth that there's no competition: Gibson Les Paul = incredible sustain. Boy, was I so wrong!An article by Motto
www.cycfi.com www.cycfi.com
 
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