How much should you consider the neck wood when selecting pickups? The Seymour Duncan tone wizard asks for body and fretboard wood but not neck wood. A Les Paul has a mahogany body and neck making it a warm instrument. Therefore you wouldn't usually install dark pickups. What if the Les Paul has a maple neck? How much more would it brighten up? Would darker pickups now be okay? And lastly if the neck is a bolt on, does it have less of an effect on tone than a neck thru guitar? Thanks.
How Much Effect Does Neck Wood Have On Tone?
- Thread starter Renderman
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WoodyTone
New member
Re: How Much Effect Does Neck Wood Have On Tone?
Hold on there Render. You would not THINK a Les Paul would match with dark pickups, but some Lesters (like one I have) have deep maple tops and are very bright as a result.
Neck and fboard woods have a big effect on tone, same as body wood. And no it does not matter if it's bolt-on or neck-through.
Hold on there Render. You would not THINK a Les Paul would match with dark pickups, but some Lesters (like one I have) have deep maple tops and are very bright as a result.
Neck and fboard woods have a big effect on tone, same as body wood. And no it does not matter if it's bolt-on or neck-through.
Re: How Much Effect Does Neck Wood Have On Tone?
Thanks Woody. I meant generally speaking, warm guitars get bright pickups for balance and vice versa, with exceptions and personal taste aside.
I was curious how an all mahogany guitar with a maple cap would sound in comparison to a mahoany body with no maple cap but with a maple neck. So with what you said, I can assume a maple neck will help to balance out a mahogany body to a degree, just as a maple cap will. That will help me select pickups. Thanks again.
Thanks Woody. I meant generally speaking, warm guitars get bright pickups for balance and vice versa, with exceptions and personal taste aside.
I was curious how an all mahogany guitar with a maple cap would sound in comparison to a mahoany body with no maple cap but with a maple neck. So with what you said, I can assume a maple neck will help to balance out a mahogany body to a degree, just as a maple cap will. That will help me select pickups. Thanks again.
DrNewcenstein
He Did the Monster Mash
Re: How Much Effect Does Neck Wood Have On Tone?
Well, it depends on your personal preference - do you want the pickups to amplify the acoustic tone, or do you want to counteract ("balance") the acoustic tone?
Well, it depends on your personal preference - do you want the pickups to amplify the acoustic tone, or do you want to counteract ("balance") the acoustic tone?
Fikealox
New member
Re: How Much Effect Does Neck Wood Have On Tone?
I think there's a danger in working from 'on paper' specs in selecting pickups. Two pieces of a given wood won't sound identical, and you might therefore have two guitars with identical on paper specs, but which sound totally different (generally, and in terms of brightness/warmth).
But having said that, (and since that wasn't your question), the conventional wisdom is that neck wood makes about the same difference as body wood (some say less, some say more), but that in a neck-thru guitar the neck determines the majority of the tone (since the 'body' merely comprises a couple of glued-on wings).
I think there's a danger in working from 'on paper' specs in selecting pickups. Two pieces of a given wood won't sound identical, and you might therefore have two guitars with identical on paper specs, but which sound totally different (generally, and in terms of brightness/warmth).
But having said that, (and since that wasn't your question), the conventional wisdom is that neck wood makes about the same difference as body wood (some say less, some say more), but that in a neck-thru guitar the neck determines the majority of the tone (since the 'body' merely comprises a couple of glued-on wings).
Zerberus
Baron Von Shred
Re: How Much Effect Does Neck Wood Have On Tone?
The neck wood definitely has a large impact on the instrument´s acoustic (and therefore amplified) tone.
As far as the advantages and disadvantages of different construction styles, there are a few threads covering the subject in the guitar shop.
I choose pickups by listening to what is currently in the guitar and figuring out what it´s missing, then choosing a pickup to bring out those frequencies.
The neck wood definitely has a large impact on the instrument´s acoustic (and therefore amplified) tone.
As far as the advantages and disadvantages of different construction styles, there are a few threads covering the subject in the guitar shop.
I choose pickups by listening to what is currently in the guitar and figuring out what it´s missing, then choosing a pickup to bring out those frequencies.
ganzosrevenge
New member
Re: How Much Effect Does Neck Wood Have On Tone?
I have a mahogany HSS wired up in lonestar configuration. It's mahogany (2 pc centerseamed), a maple neck, and a rw board. I put into it a '59, and it turned an acoustically dark stratocaster into a bright stratocaster. Insert a 10k brobucker, getting closer... 11k brobucker... PERFECT! Wood + pup = sound is a good general formula, but it's not an automatic guarantee of a great combination. Usually mahogany is a dark wood, it has a lot of mids and low-mids, however when you put a contrasting wood near it (a maple top, or a maple neck, or even both, or an ebony board), you get a combination of the two woods, or dominance of one wood over the other. If I put a mahogany neck on a mahogany strat, it will sound much closer to a gibson than a maple neck on a mahogany strat due to the same type of wood.
Also, no two pieces of wood sound alike. With both the body and the neck, you have to factor in the cut of the wood (riftsawn vs. quartersawn), the density of the woods going together (even from the same plank, 2 different guitars can sound COMPLETELY different, depends on wood density), and many MANY other factors (moisture content, how it was "cured", etc. It is because of these factors that what pickups may work for one guitar of a certain wood composition may sound dreadful in another guitar of the exact same wood composition, and that's why there are so many threads on here of forumites tinkering and experimenting with caps and pots and pickups and other woods and whatnot. Good tone is subjective, as is the ultimate goal of the guitar... do you want to emphasize or counterbalance the inherent acoustic tones, and how much so. Do you want to keep things vintagey or go full-on modern... do you have a price limit, or is it cost-be-****ed?
If you want to see an all-mahogany guitar with a maple cap, go look at a les paul or a fender showmaster elite, and you'll see a common philosophy (mahogany body and neck with a Maple top) interpreted in 2 very different ways. As for without a maple cap, TYPICALLY it's less bright and more middy... but that's just my .02.
Jason
I have a mahogany HSS wired up in lonestar configuration. It's mahogany (2 pc centerseamed), a maple neck, and a rw board. I put into it a '59, and it turned an acoustically dark stratocaster into a bright stratocaster. Insert a 10k brobucker, getting closer... 11k brobucker... PERFECT! Wood + pup = sound is a good general formula, but it's not an automatic guarantee of a great combination. Usually mahogany is a dark wood, it has a lot of mids and low-mids, however when you put a contrasting wood near it (a maple top, or a maple neck, or even both, or an ebony board), you get a combination of the two woods, or dominance of one wood over the other. If I put a mahogany neck on a mahogany strat, it will sound much closer to a gibson than a maple neck on a mahogany strat due to the same type of wood.
Also, no two pieces of wood sound alike. With both the body and the neck, you have to factor in the cut of the wood (riftsawn vs. quartersawn), the density of the woods going together (even from the same plank, 2 different guitars can sound COMPLETELY different, depends on wood density), and many MANY other factors (moisture content, how it was "cured", etc. It is because of these factors that what pickups may work for one guitar of a certain wood composition may sound dreadful in another guitar of the exact same wood composition, and that's why there are so many threads on here of forumites tinkering and experimenting with caps and pots and pickups and other woods and whatnot. Good tone is subjective, as is the ultimate goal of the guitar... do you want to emphasize or counterbalance the inherent acoustic tones, and how much so. Do you want to keep things vintagey or go full-on modern... do you have a price limit, or is it cost-be-****ed?
If you want to see an all-mahogany guitar with a maple cap, go look at a les paul or a fender showmaster elite, and you'll see a common philosophy (mahogany body and neck with a Maple top) interpreted in 2 very different ways. As for without a maple cap, TYPICALLY it's less bright and more middy... but that's just my .02.
Jason
Zhangliqun
Questionologist
Re: How Much Effect Does Neck Wood Have On Tone?
Neck wood sure does make a difference. Swapped Strat necks from all maple to maple with rosewood board. Surprise, it was not only different but brighter. Which shows that not all rosewood is dark and/or not all maple is bright.
Neck wood sure does make a difference. Swapped Strat necks from all maple to maple with rosewood board. Surprise, it was not only different but brighter. Which shows that not all rosewood is dark and/or not all maple is bright.
Re: How Much Effect Does Neck Wood Have On Tone?
Thanks guys. I realize no two pieces of wood will sound identical. The problem is that I have a guitar that I built and it has never had pickups in it. Therefore I don't know what it's lacking or has too much of. I can only go on generalizations. Now I know to add the neck wood into the total equation.
Thanks guys. I realize no two pieces of wood will sound identical. The problem is that I have a guitar that I built and it has never had pickups in it. Therefore I don't know what it's lacking or has too much of. I can only go on generalizations. Now I know to add the neck wood into the total equation.
