Wood affecting sound?

[Tumeniballs]

What do you forumites think about tone wood? Does wood affect tone?.I recently saw a You tube video and read through some of the comments. I don't feel like tell you all the thing I read but the most part from one giving comments was jut ugly. I don't know why and I sure am glad to be part of this forum.
Sorry for bad spelling and crapy English. I'm from Sweden, walking, a lttle bit unsober. About to try out my best friends new guitar...MM!

 

[beej]

I don't think there's any doubt that the type of wood you use affects the sound of your guitar. Not just wood, but construction as well- shape, size, whether it's chambered, solid, etc.

Think of it this way- when you pluck a string, the entire guitar resonates. How it behaves, what frequencies are absorbed, etc. are all a factor of construction, affected by everything on the guitar. The vibrating string is affected by this, and you hear the end result when sensed up by the magnetic pickup and amplified.

 

[JayDawg]

My Bongo's are made of basswood except for my PDN Honeyroasted. It is made out of African Mahogany. With it, it does have a slightly warmer tone to it.

 

[BUC]

What do you forumites think about tone wood? Does wood affect tone?.I recently saw a You tube video and read through some of the comments. I don't feel like tell you all the thing I read but the most part from one giving comments was jut ugly. I don't know why and I sure am glad to be part of this forum.
Sorry for bad spelling and crapy English. I'm from Sweden, walking, a lttle bit unsober. About to try out my best friends new guitar...MM!

When I was a younger guitar player, this question used to plague me also. I mean, it's an electric guitar, right?

Yet it's undeniable. Not just the type but the amount. The difference between a Mahogany body and a basswood body with essentially the same pickups, is easily heard.

When I think basswood, I'm typically thinking of a Petrucci or Satriani big spongy sound that takes up a lot of space (ymmv). When I think of Mahogony, a good example would be Guthrie Govan's old Suhr guitar sound, or some vintage voiced LP's. More focused and midrangey. There's a million other examples and of course there's outliers that will not fit my ears.

I'm certain there's tons of resources on the internet to educate you on the differences. This is an almost endless subject.

 

[KevinUK]

No question, it is the density and grain structure that effects a solid guitar sound. I once mounted a pair of EMG PUPS on my Gibson Les Paul Custom and then on my Patrick Eggle Big Jim Sullivan the difference is sound was immense, the les paulk I believe is Mahogany and the Eggle is Maple. I believe conclusive proof !!

 

[thejone]

When I think basswood, I'm typically thinking of a Petrucci or Satriani big spongy sound that takes up a lot of space (ymmv). When I think of Mahogony, a good example would be Guthrie Govan's old Suhr guitar sound, or some vintage voiced LP's. More focused and midrangey.

Well that's funny because actually for approximatly the last 5 years all the petrucci models have mahagony tone blocks in them, evan mahagony necks and maple tops. Regarding the woods these specs are not very different from guthrie govan models from suhr or Les Pauls.
I can really unterstand this confusion about woods because it is not really obvious whats going on sometimes. Any way I met Paul Reed Smith a month ago. He said that it is about the hole construction of a guitar. In his eyes there is the tone that comes from the strings. With different materials you can only take frequencies away. For example basswood could suck away the mid range frequencies and may be bass frequencies a bit. In that case you could anticipate that effect with the pickups or a certain neckwood taking away high freqencies. The result regarding the frequencies could be a balanced or evan midrangy tone. I would say it works the other way around with mahagony. PRS said that there are at least 30 parts on a guitar having influence on the tone(evan the tuning mechanics.....I don't believe that, but that is what he said). So in the end it is hard to associate the sound of a guitar to just one component I guess.
The guitars I own are all super strat types. While I am playing those guitars I really feel the difference in resonance and stiffness of the guitars or necks and so on. But when record I can hardly tell the JPs with mahagony neck apart from the others. Suprisingly my j.custom with mahagony body and maple titanium neck which feels great, sounds and feels the most different from the mahagony JP models.
So I think that woods do affect the sound of an electric guitar but still does not garantee that the guitar will sound like other guitars with the same wood specs.

Let's rock!
Regards, Jonathan

 

[Viter]

http://www.stormriders.com/guitar/telecaster/guitar_wood.pdf
Short answer: When the guitar is plugged in to an amp, no. There is alot of placebo for people though

 

[Petar]

Here is an example for this debate.

After The Burial - A Wolf Amongst Ravens - YouTube

 

[fbecir]

http://www.stormriders.com/guitar/telecaster/guitar_wood.pdf
Short answer: When the guitar is plugged in to an amp, no. There is alot of placebo for people though

Well, thank you for the link.
But sadly this study is really very poor and was made by a guy who has no knowledge of scientific experimentation and metrology.
Lot of things are wrong :
1. He is comparing the results of two measuring devices just by comparing Excel diagrams ... First you have to analyze the characteristics of each measuring device. For instance, if you look at the diagrams of the G string, you see that the amplitude of each signal is clearly different. If the note was played with the same intensity, it means that the two measuring devices do not have the same response.
2. If you want to analyze sound, you have to look at the harmonic content of each signal. For each frequency, you have to see the amplitude, the phase and see how it evolve with time.
3. you cannot compare two samples just by looking at nice diagrams ... Statistical analysis is a bit more complex ...

Nice study if you need toilet paper ...

 

[DrKev]

[physicist hat on] Yes, looking at his graphs the data is awful. 43 Hz resolution? Graphs starting at zero Hz? Masses of low frequency below the fundamental? Linear frequency axis? And his signal to noise ratio is atrocious. He has the right idea but he has not done the job well. He needs better data, at an appropriate resolution which means he must learn about FFT sample size, appropriate windowing, filtering etc., and he needs to learn how to display his data correctly.

This can be done very easily with audacity and freeware scientific graphing software. Just plugging straight into the line input of my MacBook and spending 3 minutes with Audacity I can see the fundamental and 11 harmonics of my low e-string as big distinct peaks above any background noise. It's not difficult.

So, who wants to do a science project with an ex-physicist? Anybody got two near identical bodies made of different woods they can loan me? Preferably Music Man, of course. I mean we want to have fun too, right

 

[beej]

I love it when the good doctor gets on a roll

 

[Stratty316]

So, who wants to do a science project with an ex-physicist? Anybody got two near identical bodies made of different woods they can loan me? Preferably Music Man, of course. I mean we want to have fun too, right

I'll do even better... I'll send all my guitars over. I have 2 Axis guitars for the test sample (same wood) an axis sport (ash) and a HHAL (Mahagony) as samples of the same pickups in different wood combos. The all sound different through the same amp. Though the AL being a different body shape puts that into consideration due to amount of body mass... But wood totally plays into what the magnetic pickups send to the amp.

And Sorry Kev... I'm not sending the guitars to Paris. You are welcome to send your MacBook to Vegas and I'll run the tests for you...

 

[uOpt]

It's not just wood species and construction.

I have 3 nearly identical Ibanez Blazer one-piece maple necks, all from 1983, maybe one 1984. They all sound different. Very easy too hear if you go through the trouble recording.

Or try my AVRI 57RI one-piece maple P neck and my 50s one-piece maple neck. Night and day. Same thickness, even same truss rod principle (not double or double acting).

 

[koogie2k]

Just a funny observation from me, and no, I am not some expert here. Just using my experience. I had a Rad Red JP and a Mystic Dream JP. Both were the same specs. The Rad Red just had a different "sound" to me. Same amp and same settings. It seemed a tad "brighter" to me and I really really liked that one. Again, both made of the same species with the same specs. I love both of them.

 

[kimonostereo]

I never really care what wood anything is made out of. The main thing is that a guitar sounds good when you play it. It could be made of styrofoam and fiberglass, or the best "tone woods" money can buy, but if it doesn't sound then who cares? A pretty maple top or an dazzling sparkle finish on a great tone wood doesn't always produce a guitar that sounds good.

Wood is a lot like people. Everyone is different. You might come from the same family or have a twin, but each has their own unique characteristics that makes them special.

Wood is just part of the equation and a good foundation for tone shaping a guitar, but there's so much more to it.... Where the tree was grown, how much water it got, what the weather was like, how long it lived, how long it was dried after being cut down... so many different variables...

Does wood affect sound? Yep, but in the end, a good sounding guitar is a good sounding guitar.

 

[ksandvik]

Yes there are so many factors involving sound on a guitar of which the wood is just one aspect, frets, pickups, neck, neck size, nuts, string saddles, term block, tuners....

 

[DrKev]

And Sorry Kev... I'm not sending the guitars to Paris. You are welcome to send your MacBook to Vegas and I'll run the tests for you...

And leave me to moderate the forum on just an iphone? HA! Not likey!

 

[thejone]

Hi guys!

Inspired through this thread I recorded all my guitars unde the same circumstances and made an comparison vid.
7 different guitars, Ibanez and Music Man, 3 different wood types.........
I wonder what you will say!

Ultimate guitar comparison. Do you know which one is which? - YouTube

Have fun!

Regards, J

 

[Stratty316]

And leave me to moderate the forum on just an iphone? HA! Not likey!

What's wrong with moderating on an iPhone?