Finding a guitar with the right construction - questions

[STRHelvete]

I disagree Character & atmosphere are important, and they will make a difference. A solo will not sound the same on a superstrat compared to a LP, even if the performance is the same. Cleans won't sound the same on a strat compared to a 2 humbucker guitar.
One gives you the right harmonics that will make you get all emotional and the other one just sounds okay. These details are important...

These things only matter to guitarists who like gooning out on details. We all have our preferences but the listener, non musician listeners, they don't know or care.

Not saying pick up any ol raggedy bullshit, and yes having good gear is nice for a psychological vibe but no one has ever discovered that the secret to a platinum or legendary album is because the guitarist switched from alder bolt on guitars to mahogany set necks

 

[budda]

if you’re too busy screening specs, it means you probably arent playing guitar at the same time (read: getting better at your craft) ymmv

 

[odibrom]

if you’re too busy screening specs, it means you probably arent playing guitar at the same time (read: getting better at your craft) ymmv

aren't we all doing that when surfing these web corners?

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

if you’re too busy screening specs, it means you probably arent playing guitar at the same time (read: getting better at your craft) ymmv

Man I don't want to write any more songs. I have like 50 songs written that I still have to record, and a whole album from another band that I want to record bass for and mix again, and my previous stuff that I should probably record again to bring up to my new standards. I don't want to add more to the pile.

And I'm not going to bother mixing again until I have some more serious monitoring gear.

So now I'm just focusing on the guitar tech stuff, fixing problems, upgrading the stuff that needed it, etc. I'm also interested in figuring out what makes a guitar the best it can be sound wise.
But honestly making music doesn't have to be the objective here, I find guitar tech stuff interesting enough on its own.

 

[gnoll]

Ok so I sort of agree that this stuff is a waste of time BUT op is asking for it so let's get nerdy.

1) Body and neck shape. This makes a difference but it's hard to always say what is good or bad. Pay attention to neck thickness though. A thicker neck is louder with more low frequencies.

2) Wood selection. Species of wood makes a difference, but it can also make a difference where it's grown, the soil type, when it was harvested, and which part of the tree is used. Typically you want low water and mineral content.

Note that you typically can't know shit about the wood from the guitar specs. Not even the species used. For example, "mahogany" could mean almost anything, but it's often some substitute wood harvested in Asia or possibly Africa. The "real deal" is native to the Americas but can come from plantations.

3) Hardware makes a difference. Look at the material and its properties like hardness. Nuts, bridges, saddles, how they're attached to the guitar, matter. Also look at shape and the surface area that's in contact with the strings. Here too it's hard to say what's good or bad, but be careful with soft materials for nuts and saddles, like brass. I think it's too soft and will take away high end frequencies. Floyd Rose trems and similar sound bad unless you mod them with things like a bigger block and a better, more solid connection between the block and the claw. Fender style trems sound good typically, look especially for the vintage style 6 screw ones, because you can deck them to the top of the guitar and have the bridge sit at 90 degrees while tightening the springs. Hardtails, t-o-m's can sound better or worse. It depends. Again, type of material and connection to the guitar matters.

4) Strings and picks matter. Obviously.

5) All this matters the most if you play clean through an amp with simple circuitry, plugged straight in, using low output pickups. If you play super saturated chugachug with a bunch of tubescreamers and stuff, it might all go out the window. The reason is that you're masking the sound of the guitar with heavy manipulation of the signal.

And also... if you ARE playing chugachuga, a "good sounding", resonant guitar might not even be what you want. I mean, would you take a fancy acoustic like a Martin D-45, install a pickup and plug it into a 5150? All that resonance and low end would be totally out of control when distorted. A thin sounding, band-limited signal would probably work better in that scenario even if it's not a "good sound" on its own.

 

[budda]

aren't we all doing that when surfing these web corners?

Exactly

 

[gnoll]

Oh also I forgot construction stuff like neck joint, that makes a difference obviously, but again hard to say what's good or bad.

 

[budda]

Man I don't want to write any more songs. I have like 50 songs written that I still have to record, and a whole album from another band that I want to record bass for and mix again, and my previous stuff that I should probably record again to bring up to my new standards. I don't want to add more to the pile.

And I'm not going to bother mixing again until I have some more serious monitoring gear.

So now I'm just focusing on the guitar tech stuff, fixing problems, upgrading the stuff that needed it, etc. I'm also interested in figuring out what makes a guitar the best it can be sound wise.
But honestly making music doesn't have to be the objective here, I find guitar tech stuff interesting enough on its own.

As a procastinator this reads like procrastination ngl.

You really have to record the 50 songs you wrote? And re-record and remix?

Nah dude thats where you were at, those songs are finished.

Cant mix without new gear? Calling bullshit.

If the objective isnt making music, sell it all and continue to look at specs. Dont gotta own anything to look at specs

 

[Stiman]

Yeah, something sounds off to me. You say that you've got your current guitars playing just right. I'm assuming you're happy with the pickups. If not, then that's probably where you should be focusing your time if you're really trying to dial this stuff in. Because everything else you're talking about is probably leading to buying new guitars haha. Which, is fun as hell, but yeah.

What is your goal here? If you have 50(!!) songs that are good, that you're happy with, then I don't understand why you're not going down the recording and mixing rabbit hole instead of the guitar spec minutia rabbit hole.

Anyway, I still enjoy reading the responses in this thread. It's been fun.

 

[jephjacques]

guitars all sound basically the same tbh

 

[gnoll]

guitars all sound basically the same tbh

They actually don't.

 

[ZLE]

When Mr. May (you know Brian's dad) took the piece of wood from the old fireplace, he knocked on it and said to himself: "That's it, that the real deal. My boy is gonna sell atleast 300 mln albums with that shit".

 

[STRHelvete]

As a procastinator this reads like procrastination ngl.

You really have to record the 50 songs you wrote? And re-record and remix?

Nah dude thats where you were at, those songs are finished.

Cant mix without new gear? Calling bullshit.

If the objective isnt making music, sell it all and continue to look at specs. Dont gotta own anything to look at specs