The never ending debate rages on!!!

[Ichabod]

Ok, I know this is beating a dead horse but.......

Does wood matter on an electric once it is plugged in.....

This video has some compelling points

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

*Scott Grove video*

 

[Ichabod]

Do tonewoods matter on an electric guitar at all? - Rich Menga

this?


Is he like retarded or something? just recently found his stuff. seems legit but idk

 

[TheHandOfStone]

I happen to agree that wood type matters a lot less than people realize. Not only because pickups and amplifier matter magnitudes more, but because different cuts of the same type of wood introduce way more variance than species differences. We take it for granted that maple is denser than mahogany, but forget that individual cuts of maple and mahogany vary hugely in density. That's even assuming that specific wood densities greatly impact tone to begin with (I think they do, but not significantly). He's also right that zero frets are godlike, and that tune-o-matic bridges have ass sustain (at least in my experience).

 

[Ichabod]

I agree with u, I think there are way more important factors involved in tone. I have a tune o matic bridge in my favorite guitar tho

 

[Given To Fly]

I played a 1993 Ibanez RG550 which had a 1 piece quarter sawn maple neck. I don't believe Ibanez makes any of their necks like this anymore mainly because 3-7 piece necks are stronger and less susceptible to warping. The levels of resonance were quite noticeable though. I could really "feel" the notes as I played them and I can't imagine anybody not preferring a guitar that does that. However, the catch is in neck stability. The guitar I played had a warped neck; it just so happened the neck had twisted in just the right way that the only negative effect was the action on the bass strings was slightly higher than normal.

Sometimes I think we forget we "physically play" our instruments which are in fact made of wood. If you take tonal qualities out of the equation, the wood still affects the physical responsiveness of the instrument which in some ways is more important than tonal qualities.

Is a rosewood fretboard better than an ebony fretboard? As basswood inferior to mahogany? I don't care.

 

[Cnev]

I played a 1993 Ibanez RG550 which had a 1 piece quarter sawn maple neck. I don't believe Ibanez makes any of their necks like this anymore mainly because 3-7 piece necks are stronger and less susceptible to warping. The levels of resonance were quite noticeable though. I could really "feel" the notes as I played them and I can't imagine anybody not preferring a guitar that does that.

But how do you know that was the sole reason for the difference in responsiveness that you noticed? The thing for me is that there are so many variables that can perceivably change certain aspects of a particular guitar's sound and/or feel that I have no idea what actually DOES contribute to or detract from them. I've played bolt on, maple necked guitars that sound warmer to my ears than set-necked all mahogany ones and vice versa. I've owned a Stratocaster that had no spank at all, a set-neck, all mahogany Schecter with p-90s that was so bright I turned it into a finishing experiment, and then an all mahogany, bolt-on Godin with P-90s that is one of the darkest guitars I've ever played. But, it's not like I go play Les Pauls when I'm looking for a good, jangly tele tone. There are obviously such drastic engineering differences that contribute to each guitar's unique sound. But, I just think there are aspects that hold a much greater influence on a guitar's overall sound than wood type or number of pieces used in it's construction; like pickups, for instance. just my . As long as my guitar and amp can match the sound in my head I couldn't care less, really.