Where does Guitar Tone Come From?

[James Steele]

No. Just mean it might be that the amp responds a little differently. A note played feels a tiny bit more immediate when you pick the string.

[Michael Canavan]

Nice looking Guitar Steve, I'm not a super V guy, but that red V I would play for sure.

Who’s Steve?

That was a brain fart for sure !

[James Steele]

Nice looking Guitar Steve, I'm not a super V guy, but that red V I would play for sure.

Who’s Steve?

That was a brain fart for sure !

Well, I know we both know Steve Steele... he's kind of a DP guru. We're not related, however.

[bayswater]

On tone wood, there is a mill an hour east of Vancouver that cut logs for construction lumber. The owner had been asked about particular types of wood from local instrument makers, and noticed that some of the lumber he milled looked like the wood they were asking for. He started setting that aside to be sold separately. Over time, he changed the whole operation to instrument wood. He has a warehouse about an acre in side filled with the wood. I went there last summer and he showed me around. There are stacks of blanks 8 feet high and 20 feet wide with signs saying “Ship to Fender”, “Gibson” etc. There are loads of test instruments laying around. It seems that as long as you use the right species, it doesn’t make a lot of difference.

He recently started looking at yellow cedar and found some that sound excellent and some that sounds terrible. He hasn’t figured out how to tell the difference from looking at it but will keep at it and try to get instrument makers to consider it once he’s figured out how to grade it.

I’ve made quite a few instruments. For solid body, I found alder and maple are safe choices, with maple always being a bit sharper. For hollow body, I recently started using catalpa with a sitka spruce top, and so far find it louder and more resonant than the usual woods.

[stubbsonic]

I would expect that louder & more resonant means less sustain-- i.e., string energy dispersed into body into air.

[bayswater]

I would expect that louder & more resonant means less sustain-- i.e., string energy dispersed into body into air.

Quite possible, but not noticeably so. These instruments are all acoustic and meant to be heard above the din, so sustain is not that important.

[stubbsonic]

I would expect that louder & more resonant means less sustain-- i.e., string energy dispersed into body into air.

Quite possible, but not noticeably so. These instruments are all acoustic and meant to be heard above the din, so sustain is not that important.

Sustain isn't important unless it is.

[bayswater]

I would expect that louder & more resonant means less sustain-- i.e., string energy dispersed into body into air.

Quite possible, but not noticeably so. These instruments are all acoustic and meant to be heard above the din, so sustain is not that important.

Sustain isn't important unless it is.

On an electric guitar, I'd want it, but for acoustics, it's never been an issue for me. I might post a recording. You might be surprised.

[monkey man]

My best buddy's a German "master craftsman" who had a business making awesome guitars for a while 'til he was ripped-off by his partner.

He once made an all-pine guitar as an experiment and it sounded "plasticy" to my ears, both acoustically and electrically.

He used all the same hardware he usually did so it was a fair comparison IMHO.

[Michael Canavan]

My best buddy's a German "master craftsman" who had a business making awesome guitars for a while 'til he was ripped-off by his partner.

He once made an all-pine guitar as an experiment and it sounded "plasticy" to my ears, both acoustically and electrically.

He used all the same hardware he usually did so it was a fair comparison IMHO.

Makes sense, pine is a softwood, probably doesn't resonate much, so a deader sound overall.

[bayswater]

My best buddy's a German "master craftsman" who had a business making awesome guitars for a while 'til he was ripped-off by his partner.

He once made an all-pine guitar as an experiment and it sounded "plasticy" to my ears, both acoustically and electrically.

He used all the same hardware he usually did so it was a fair comparison IMHO.

I haven’t found pine useful for tops most of the time, and wouldn’t even try it for sides. But pine there and pine here might be very different.

[monkey man]

My best buddy's a German "master craftsman" who had a business making awesome guitars for a while 'til he was ripped-off by his partner.

He once made an all-pine guitar as an experiment and it sounded "plasticy" to my ears, both acoustically and electrically.

He used all the same hardware he usually did so it was a fair comparison IMHO.

I haven’t found pine useful for tops most of the time, and wouldn’t even try it for sides. But pine there and pine here might be very different.

True dat.

It was a solid-pine body and neck. Finished in gloss black, including the fretboard so it looked pretty-awesome and nobody had a clue what it was made of.

[bayswater]

My best buddy's a German "master craftsman" who had a business making awesome guitars for a while 'til he was ripped-off by his partner.

He once made an all-pine guitar as an experiment and it sounded "plasticy" to my ears, both acoustically and electrically.

He used all the same hardware he usually did so it was a fair comparison IMHO.

I haven’t found pine useful for tops most of the time, and wouldn’t even try it for sides. But pine there and pine here might be very different.

True dat.

It was a solid-pine body and neck. Finished in gloss black, including the fretboard so it looked pretty-awesome and nobody had a clue what it was made of.

Ah. A solid body? Yes that would be odd. I’m only talking about regular hollow body instruments. Most of my solids have been alder. One Brazilian mahogany that cost a lot more and didn’t sound any different, and a rock maple that was just too heavy.

[monkey man]

Yup, solid pine body and bolt-on solid-pine neck.

I'm guessing that the finish, which was the same all-over, would've rendered the fretboard (part of the pine neck actually) rock-hard.

[monkey man]

Oh and get this:

It was packing pine that came in with a pallet of other stuff.