How does wood effect tone technically?

[greendy123]

I was just reading in pickup forum how pickups use string vibration to make a signal to send to an amp. Then I started thinking about how wood affects tone, I know wood affects sustain and tone when unplugged. When its plugged in an amp does the wood just affect how the string vibrates thus making differences in tone between the same pickup in different guitars? This thing has been bugging for hour so far. Or could it be the wood affects the pickup somehow.

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

ive always wondered the same thing. i know it does make a difference, but i have no idea how. my friend brought up a point, in that maybe its the way the wood lets the whole guitar (and the pickups) vibrate that makes it darker/ brighter sound. i have no idea if this is right, but its a thought.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

Pickups don't vibrate to make sound, it's the strings that vibrate. The type of wood affects the anchor points where the hardware connects and the vibrations of the strings transmit through those anchor points to the wood. If you anchored the hardware to steel the vibration would be far different than plastic or wood. It's the vibrations man.

I'm sure someone else could explain it better than me.

 

[greendy123]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

Basically your saying is the wood and hardware on a guitar effects the strings. So the only thing that recieves all the tone changes is the strings and pickups just recieve the vibrations that are different based wood type.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

I would say that, yes.

 

[chcjunior]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

Weird timing on the post as I've been pondering the same question for the past week. My nephew started playing guitar and asked the question. I came up with the same theory as offered here....the wood must affect the string vibration.

 

[greendy123]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

Now that brings the question now that the frequency of strings is affected by wood type. I know that the strings move at a certain frequency to play a note. How does that then play into the notes that are actually played? To make this clear, pick the low e on a strat and les paul, are both sound the exact same note on the same octave or different ones but still its the same note.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

Wood usually makes my guitar sound harder, and perhaps a bit more upright.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

It would not change the pitch frequency. If I put my hand on my RGT42 I can feel the wood vibrate, I'm sure it would be different on a LP as to how much I could feel. That's were things like sustain and warmth are affected.

Back to the pickup thing they will vibrate in the guitar body so I would assume that movement and how it reacts to the movement of the strings alters tone...which is a little different than what I meant before.

 

[FretFire]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

Different woods have different densities, and the various frequencies (or pitches) created when plucking a string travel through wood differently based on this density. That's why some woods seem bright and others seem dark, a bright wood lets the high frequencies travel more and "soaks" up the lows so to speak, and vice versa. IMO it's similar to the way we see colors due to a material reflecting or absorbing parts of the light spectrum.

 

[greendy123]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

Thanks for the info guys this makes it clear understanding this stuff.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

The amazing thing is that the neck/body combination really translates into the amp the way it does. It seems almost impossible, but then again look at how humans look so different from each other. That's about the way wood is too.

Where you really hear it is in acoustic guitars. It's amazing that Taylor, Martin, Seagull, Gibson, and Washburn can all have a mahogany/spruce body with a rosewood neck, yet each one has it's own sound. It's all about wood and construction. People wouldn't believe it unless they heard it.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

In a nutshell, without going into the exact physics of what exactly happens in denser or "lighter" materials and how sound travels in different construction types (Fretfire is on the right track):

1. Denser heavier woods tend to let more high frequencies through
2. More porous woods tend to let the bass "breathe" better thanks to the overall greater surface area
3. Natural oils still in the wood will attenuate high frequencies

The size of pores and type /content of oil will "bleed" frequencies of different bandwidtsh in different amounts, these are just as a general rule of thumb.

For Example, we´ll look at a few common woods.

Maple is a very dense wood, quite non-porous, with little to no natural oils, so it´s expectedly on the brighter side of the spectrum

Ash is similar, but more porous, so the Bass gets a bit thicker

Alder or poplar are lighter, but again close grained, but with a bit higher mineral content (the green streaks in Poplar, for example), and therefore end up pretty "middle of the road"

Mahogany is generally a bit denser, but has more natural oils and open pores, so it sounds darker still

Rosewood is very dense, but it has more natural oils than any other common guitar wood, hence it´s notably more "rounded" tone as a fretboard or neck wood (compared ot maple) but it´s significantly brighter tone than mahogany.

Ebony os harder than any of the others, has nearly zero visible pores, but sounds darker than maple, yet brighter than Rosewood. Why?

Exactly, once again, those pesky natural oils are at it again screwing up our density / pores = tone equation... Goshdarn it, go back to nature if you´re so hot on it :laugh2:

BTW, this is also one of the reasons it´s if prime importance that wood is properly dried before being turned into guitars.

Also, remember that as soon as a finish goes on top, the tone will also become darker.... how much depends on the exact type, drying time, and final thickness.

 

[tone4days]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

another thing to remember is that the frequency of the fundemental pitch played is only a small component of the tone that ultimately is produced ... the harmonic multiples of the fundemental are what shape the overall tonal spectrum transduced by the pickup ... this is one of the reasons why a les paul and a strat sound different even when you play the same note on each ... the scale length differences result in different mechanical tension on the string which in turn results in different harmonic content when the string vibrates ... similarly, the wood differences produce constructive or destructive resonance of different overtones which contribute to the cumulative disturbance in the magnetic flux ... then, each pickup will add or subtract during the transduction based on its resonant frequency, etc ... even the strings themselves are a vital part of the process as old strings will not generate as many higher harmonics due to dampening by crud in the winds or worn into the solid core

GJ is right - it is almost a miracle that any of this stuff works at all

mr paul reed smith is correct when he says that all guitars are acoustic ... it is one big happy electro-magneto-mechanical circus goin on

t4d

 

[ES350]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

And this is generally about wood in solidbodies...the choice of wood becomes a lot more critical when you get into archtops or any design where the acoustic properties contribute more to the overall tone. On a big box, it makes quite a difference if you use ebony, rosewood, or mahogany for a bridge saddle...

 

[marvar]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

This is why, when I'm shopping for guitars, that I usually don't even plug them in- really confounds the salespeople- I buy a guitar on the way it sounds acoustically-how it resonates on it's own- I know I can put whatever pickup I want in to get the exact sound I'm looking for-

 

[Zerberus]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

This is why, when I'm shopping for guitars, that I usually don't even plug them in- really confounds the salespeople- I buy a guitar on the way it sounds acoustically-how it resonates on it's own- I know I can put whatever pickup I want in to get the exact sound I'm looking for-

+1

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: How does wood effect tone technically?

There's some great information posted here. Another factor of the woods is sustain. Generally, as a rule of thumb, heavier woods produce better sustain. For example, Mohogony works so nicely because it's dense enough to produce good sustain, but still be resonate enough to produce fat tone at the same time.

However, this rule of thumb has many exceptions to the rule. Another example, is the heavy ash used by Fender during the 70's. Besides sounding thinner and brighter; it actually produced less sustain than the light weight ash used during the 50's.

Another example of the sustain rule not always following; is the fact that Pau Ferro fretboards usually produce more sustain than ebony fret boards. Both sound bright and clean.

Rosewood fretboards have tendancy to not only attentuate the highs a touch, but also the lows, emphasizing the mid range. Maple neck woods produce a very pure tone, and allow both the highs and the lows to pass on unfettered.

I'm finding that the fretboard/neck woods have a slightly greater effect than the body wood on tone. Perhaps this is because, this is were both your hands and the woods interact directly with the strings.

Everybody has a signature tone in their hands. Some people naturally get a brighter tone and others naturally get a darker tone, and so forth. You should choose your guitar woods based on the tone you naturally get. If your hands produce a brighter tone, you can off set this by using darker woods, or the opposite. Over time, many players develop an ablitity to control their timbre with just their hands to a large degree, regardless of the woods.

Basswood is interesting, in that seems to evenly produce fat lows, mids, and highs. This may be why some players find basswood bright, and others dark.