Does wood make a difference?

[DreX]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Can the way a pick-up is mounted make a difference to how it sounds? Like, whether (a) it is screwed into the body of the guitar, or (b) it is suspended off a scratchplate or mounting ring.

This is rather easy to test, you can just wedge something between the body and the pickup in order to allow the body vibrations to directly vibrate the pickup in order to test for a difference. I've done this and could hear no difference. They float pickups on acoustic guitars, but in that case it's to take the weight off of the vibrating soundboard, and not for the benefit of the pickup.

Also what about the size of the pick-up cavity? Will a big 'swimming pool'/'bath tub' style cavity make a difference compared to a tighter fitting cavity?

It definitely effects the resonance of the body. Certain notes will be louder than others depending on the resonant properties of the guitar, because the reflected wavelengths end up being louder while all others are quieter, and when you take a chunk of wood out of the guitar, it changes which frequencies get reflected and those which don't. Whether it makes the tone better or worse is another matter, but I believe the neck slot in particular probably reduces the amplitude of vibrations that would otherwise occur between the headstock and the bridge, or the butt of the guitar. Guitarists like chambered electrics, but it seems to work out best when the chambers are on the sides of the guitar rather than somewhere along the center axis.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

It definitely effects the resonance of the body. .

the bigger question is how much material must be added or removed to make an audible difference

 

[jtougas]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Put me in the "Yes, wood makes a difference" camp.

I have a Squier 20th Anniversary Strat, with a maple/rosewood neck that had a few spots of ever so slightly punky grey in the maple. The tone of the guitar was nice, but without that glassy attack you get in a good Strat. I swapped it out for a Mighty Mite neck, still maple/rosewood, same tuners, and it made a noticeable improvement in the sound.

So not only the wood, but the quality of the wood.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

So not only the wood, but the quality of the wood.

+1

This is extremely important to remember.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

+1

This is extremely important to remember.

I agree–wood does make a difference (try a JB in Alder, Basswood, and Mahogany and you can hear a difference) and the quality of the wood too. IMO, some pieces are just dead and should be used for furniture not instruments

 

[uOpt]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Can the way a pick-up is mounted make a difference to how it sounds? Like, whether (a) it is screwed into the body of the guitar, or (b) it is suspended off a scratchplate or mounting ring.

Also what about the size of the pick-up cavity? Will a big 'swimming pool'/'bath tub' style cavity make a difference compared to a tighter fitting cavity?

Yes on both counts.

I also think that Stratocasters can sound differently depending on whether their pickguard happens to be convex on concave, especially if it is 1-ply.

 

[DreX]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Put me in the "Yes, wood makes a difference" camp.

I have a Squier 20th Anniversary Strat, with a maple/rosewood neck that had a few spots of ever so slightly punky grey in the maple. The tone of the guitar was nice, but without that glassy attack you get in a good Strat. I swapped it out for a Mighty Mite neck, still maple/rosewood, same tuners, and it made a noticeable improvement in the sound.

So not only the wood, but the quality of the wood.

I wonder how the woods differed on a technical level.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Dunno.

Rumor has it that the Squier necks and the Mighty Mite necks come out of the same factory, which would eliminate manufacturing details as a factor. *shrug*

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Dunno.

Rumor has it that the Squier necks and the Mighty Mite necks come out of the same factory, which would eliminate manufacturing details as a factor. *shrug*

Not necessarily... Ive seen factories that set up to parallel production lines, but one since it was for cheaper products skipped processes or checks to cut down on the production cost. In your case in particular the finishing is a place likely where the processes differ. But even before that it can occur the price thats paid is consistency. How much of "close enough" is allowed.

 

[greekdude]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Yes. Wood counts a lot. Woods that vibrate at frequencies multiple to the frequency of the string will kill the notes early. At the extreme case of neck/body material that does not absorb any energy the sustain will be long : AKA natural. In the case of wood, the materials color the sound.

 

[DarkMatter]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Like I said before, I think the neck has the potential to change the sound much more than the body. The type of bridge probably matters more than body wood. The style of truss rod (single vs double) probably matters more than neck wood unless you're talking about a solid rosewood or solid ebony neck.

But at the end of the day, it's true that the differences cannot be reliably identified by ear alone. The average human brain doesn't have a strong memory for our auditory inputs.

Just go with what you perceive is good and makes you play at your best.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Not necessarily... Ive seen factories that set up to parallel production lines, but one since it was for cheaper products skipped processes or checks to cut down on the production cost. In your case in particular the finishing is a place likely where the processes differ. But even before that it can occur the price thats paid is consistency. How much of "close enough" is allowed.

Fair 'nough.

 

[greekdude]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

The type of bridge probably matters more than body wood.

If the wood wants to vibrate (some say "resonate") at certain frequencies the bridge won't stop it. Bridge is mounted onto the wood. It does move, along with the wood that hosts it. Put your ear on to the body of your fixed bridge guitar, then to your floating trem guitar. Do you perceive any difference in volume? I guess not, at least not because of the bridge, because the bridge's material simply does not contribute positevely or negatively to the vibration, except for transfering them, unless we are talking about very very soft metal bridge, or one with loosely tightened components/parts, or one of such huge mass/inertia that the presence of wood is negligible.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Everything on the guitar will affect how it sounds, wood obviously being the biggest contributor. The bridge won't stop the wood from resonating the way it wants, but it will color it a bit.

But it's a mistake to say this or that type of wood (mahogany, alder, maple, etc) has this type of sound and stop there. It's true that each species has a general tonal characteristic but within each species there are hunks of wood that are outliers and even hunks of wood from the same tree can sound very different. For one example, the wood from the trunk closer to the ground is more dense than the wood up toward the crown.

Give me 10 Les Pauls all made from the same mahogany, rosewood and maple trees and I will give you 11 different tones.

 

[DreX]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

The bridge won't stop the wood from resonating the way it wants, but it will color it a bit.

I'd like to know what, if any, difference a heavy steel trem block makes versus a dainty zinc string holder.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

I'd like to know what, if any, difference a heavy steel trem block makes versus a dainty zinc string holder.

Have you ever upgraded a zinc/alloy to a solid steel/brass block? That would be a great way to hear the difference

 

[EDX]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Dark Lord Order (the same guy of the tyrano titan pickup, whose work is to design guitars) some time wrote that grubisa (the luthier from grubisa guitars, don't remember the first name) told him that construction wise the biggest difference between high end epiphones and gibsons were the truss rod route, gibson truss rod channels are shallower and tighter, just deep enough, while the ones on the epiphones were deeper, and wider than needed, with little tolerance control

so, if that is true, then the neck wood has probably the biggest impact on tone....

 

[DreX]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

Have you ever upgraded a zinc/alloy to a solid steel/brass block? That would be a great way to hear the difference

I have, several times, and I'm honest enough to admit I could be fooling myself if I were to opine one way or the other. Does it sustain longer, or do I want to believe it does? Does it retain more high end clarity, or do I just want to believe my money and time were not spent in vain?

I have a test rig which will eventually allow me to put this to the test, but I'm still in the refinement stages of measuring things in general. The problem with measuring these barely discernible audible differences is that they make for barely discernible visual differences in turn.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

I have an Ibanez...the block is zinc.....it is the loudest and liveliest guitar I have.....the bridge is the old lo-pro Edge...and nothing is going to make me wanna change that piece of hardware......and zinc is not cheap....

 

[uOpt]

Re: Does wood make a difference?

I routed a TT Tele for HH. Easily noticeable in blind testing.

The tremolo block material is more complex. The zinc blocks sound different, more driven, less lively, but not worse. I can see myself wanting one, especially if it is a hummelbucker guitar for more driven music.

Not all non-magnetic tremolo blocks are zinc. For example mid-1990s AVRI are not magnetic but sound like steel. Music Man never uses magnetic blocks in their 2-points but whatever they are doing there doesn't sound bad.