Revelation: Floyd cavity with backplate is a "chambered" guitar.

[Top-L]

I have been fixing up my guitars over the past week. Polishing frets, setting action. Getting them ready for the long winter.

On all of my electrics, I had removed the backplate and truss rod cover, because those were things I needed to access while setting up the guitars, and I didn't see a practical reason to keep them on.

I've been playing them the past... ten(?) years or so this way. I realized that if I didn't locate the plates and all the tiny screws, I may never.

So I put them all back together.

One of the guitars in particular, my #2 s540 actually sounds a good bit more resonant with the plate on. I haven't A/B tested all the guitars, but I'm certain that the backplate on that one makes that guitar project acoustically better. These are solid backplates, not the kind with adjustment slots.

I mean, this actually makes sense, doesn't it? A chamber in a guitar could be built into the wood, or it could be a trem rout covered with a thick piece of plastic. More interesting is that this particular chamber houses the bridge and all its vibrating mechanicals.

Food for thought.

 

[Demanic]

I have a DXMG Jackson that still has it's backplate. I like the way it sounds.

 

[Mincer]

I have been fixing up my guitars over the past week. Polishing frets, setting action. Getting them ready for the long winter.

On all of my electrics, I had removed the backplate and truss rod cover, because those were things I needed to access while setting up the guitars, and I didn't see a practical reason to keep them on.

I've been playing them the past... ten(?) years or so this way. I realized that if I didn't locate the plates and all the tiny screws, I may never.

So I put them all back together.

One of the guitars in particular, my #2 s540 actually sounds a good bit more resonant with the plate on. I haven't A/B tested all the guitars, but I'm certain that the backplate on that one makes that guitar project acoustically better. These are solid backplates, not the kind with adjustment slots.

I mean, this actually makes sense, doesn't it? A chamber in a guitar could be built into the wood, or it could be a trem rout covered with a thick piece of plastic. More interesting is that this particular chamber houses the bridge and all its vibrating mechanicals.

Food for thought.

Do you hear the difference plugged in?

 

[beaubrummels]

I think I've noticed a subtle change before, but I never bothered to investigate it far enough to figure out if it was just the trapped air alone with the body, or if it was something to do with the springs resonating and closing it in with limited air to move change how the springs resonate?

 

[Top-L]

I don't know how or why, but on that guitar the notes on the treble string seem to have more zing or projection.

I'm not talking about much, probably would not be noticed plugged in.

Just a realization that everything affects the tone. When you listen from behind a Floyd guitar, it typically has more resonance. With the plate, you are covering up the "sound hole"; does that cause the vibrations to reflect within the chamber and possibly translate through the rest of the guitar?

 

[ICTGoober]

Just a realization that everything affects the tone.

Exactly. From your fingers to the speaker cone - it's all one chain.

 

[Mincer]

I only worry about stuff that will affect it plugged in, though, as that's when I will hear it.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I could see a solid plate affecting the resonance a little bit.
Strat backplates normally have the six holes for restringing, or a broad slot on some.
With a Floyd you don't need those and can use a plate without any holes.

Still, with the Floyd you've got a pretty large rout and it's open to the air on the top side.
So it isn't actually sealed, the way it would be in a chambered body.

Guitar tone can be affected by all kinds of factors, sometimes subtly and sometimes quite obviously.
I think - as with many other aspects - this one might make more of a difference on some individual guitars than others.

Might just get a no-hole backplate and try it out on one of my Floydcasters.

 

[Top-L]

I could see a solid plate affecting the resonance a little bit.
Strat backplates normally have the six holes for restringing, or a broad slot on some.
With a Floyd you don't need those and can use a plate without any holes.

Still, with the Floyd you've got a pretty large rout and it's open to the air on the top side.
So it isn't actually sealed, the way it would be in a chambered body.

Guitar tone can be affected by all kinds of factors, sometimes subtly and sometimes quite obviously.
I think - as with many other aspects - this one might make more of a difference on some individual guitars than others.

Might just get a no-hole backplate and try it out on one of my Floydcasters.

Of the four guitars I replaced the plates on, two are large/heavy guitars with slotted backplates, and I didnt notice a difference.

The other two guitars with solid plates, are skinny Ibanez s540s. On one of the other guitars, the difference is noticeable. Single notes are louder. The last guitar, it might have made a difference but not sure. These are my #1 and #2 resonant guitars. #2 is now #1. Its uncanny actually.

I don't know if they sound better plugged in (havent tested) just acoustic resonance.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Since these are "electric" guitars, I wouldn't worry too much about how it sounds unplugged with the plate on or off. It won't make a difference at all when it's plugged in.
If you DO think you hear a difference when it's plugged in, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd be willing to sell you which will improve your tone dramatically just by virtue of owning it.

 

[JMP/HBE]

.

Floyd route isn't really a "chamber". Its just a hole.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Eric Johnson prefers his Strats with no backplate attached. I'm not suggesting that's better, but he has good ears and it supports the idea that backplates can make a difference.

 

[beaubrummels]

Makes a difference to a guy who can hear what brand of battery is in his pedal.

(I actually think there's something to that, but it would be related to the volts and amps the battery puts out changing the pedal performance. Did you know a Duracell 9-volt is not actually a 9-volt battery? It's six 1.5 volt batteries in a package and is slightly smaller - and has a tendency to explode under certain conditions - happened to me twice.)

 

[Masta' C]

Quick...someone start marketing brass backplates as a "resonance enhancer"!

Oh wait: https://reverb.com/item/35088047-fender-stratocaster-brass-backplate-sustainer-satin

 

[GuitarStv]

Eric Johnson prefers his Strats with no backplate attached. I'm not suggesting that's better, but he has good ears and it supports the idea that backplates can make a difference.

I think Eric Johnson is a pretty great guitar player. Nothing he has ever done has convinced me he has good ears though.

 

[JMP/HBE]

How did we get talking about batteries lol ?

 

[Mincer]

I think Eric Johnson is a pretty great guitar player. Nothing he has ever done has convinced me he has good ears though.

He does. however, have a pretty unique guitar sound that really was a revolution when he broke on the scene nationally. I don't know how that translates to having the best ears in the business, though. There are many audio engineers who have exceptional hearing, too.

 

[JMP/HBE]

 

[Top-L]

Eric Johnson prefers his Strats with no backplate attached. I'm not suggesting that's better, but he has good ears and it supports the idea that backplates can make a difference.

Here is what I can say about putting the back plate on that guitar, as objectively as possible.

Without the plate on, if I hold the guitar away from my body and strum, the guitar is quite resonant with the sound of the trem projecting out the back rout. Held closer to my body and listening from the front, the guitar is resonant, but not as much as from the rear.

With the plate on, the sound from behind is not as loud (because the backing plate is in the way of the trem), but from the front of the guitar, I hear more resonance in the single notes. It seems to have subtracted resonance from behind, and added it to the front.

Don't know if the treble sound waves are bouncing around and coming out from behind the trem, where before they went out the back. Or it could be that enclosed in a small space, that there is sympathetic vibration of the body from the waves bouncing around inside. This is a very thin guitar with a quilted Sapele veneer (afaik).

On my thicker guitars, I didn't notice a difference, but they have slotted back plates.

I think what I'm hearing is trem vibration projecting through the underside of the trem. It is a nice effect and makes the guitar more enjoyable unplugged.

 

[GuitarDoc]

You've got great ears.

But when your "electric" guitar is plugged in and played the way it was meant to be played (through an amp) you will not hear a single teeny weeny bit of difference. So, either put the cover plate on or leave it off, whichever you prefer, and stop worrying about it.

In any case, the guitar with the cover on is NOT a chambered guitar in any way, shape, or form (otherwise every single electric guitar ever made would be considered a "chambered" guitar). Right?