It's refreshing to see a video from an electric guitar maker who is willing to say that the tone from one is a result of the electronics. Once people really think about how an acoustic guitar works (sound waves bouncing around and then escaping through the sound hole) vs what pickups do, then they'll finally be closer to realizing that body and neck wood (never mind finish!) are insignificant when it comes to electric guitar tone. Thanks for the video!
as always, an honest, frank and objective video on a conversation that many of us go over and over. I wish players (particularly) would focus on playing rather than the details of the guitar.
I talk with one acoustic guitar collector. His collection consists of tens of thousand dollar guitar with waiting list from 4 to 11 years. He tells me about double top vs solid top, traditional vs lattice bracing, resonance frequency, wolf note, etc. I find it so fascinating because acoustic guitar has so many nuance that I never think about before. Electric guitar while complex also seem simpler in term of guitar building.
You seem like one of the most reasonable guys on youtube when it comes to these "divisive" issues. If only people would just play guitar instead of arguing about it all the time...
I think wood choice can have an influence on tone (using that word loosely)....along with hardware, but I think that is due to sustain and not actually "tone". Wood and bridge choices can definitely effect how long the string continues to vibrate. I do not believe that some woods sound "warmer", "brighter", or "snappier" (whatever that means) than others on an electric guitar.
I would have to agree with you regarding solid body electrics. However a semi hollow body although not a full blown acoustic is a bit of a grey area regarding wood and finish choice. Just my opinion.
You are the best on TH-cam and your honest views and experience you share with all of us is very mush appreciated... I always believe pickups affect tone more than wood ever will...
In the mid 70s, when I was a kid, I had an old (even then) gold foil Teisco. It was red/black burst. The finish was checked so badly, it was chipping off, in little rectangular pieces. I decided to use a razor blade to scrape the old lacquer finish off. To my surprise, it not only came off really easily, it had stained the wood. The outer black ring was much darker than the inner red. I liked the “new” look. I sealed it with some very old (older then I was, at the time lol) shellac, I found, in my grandfather’s tool shed. It literally took months, for it to be not tacky to the touch. I don’t know if it was because I liked the finished result, or what, but it sounded a *lot* better. It had a much richer tone. It was as if you could actually feel the tone, through the body.
Yeah i agree. Pickups are 90% of the sound (excluding everything that comes after amp etc) but the wood and the finish are important too. My own experience is taking my £30 80s korean squire. Replaced the pickups and electronics with a £350 set, and it obviously transformed the tone. Then after a year the heavy smmoth finished plywood body cracked at the neck. I replaced it with some quarter sawn elm i had at the workshop. The acoustic resonance was much greater, the vibration through the neck was much greater, and most importantly the sustain and resonance through the amp improved enormously. So much so that it now out sustains my £1000 and £3000 geetars. Of course, most of that is likely coming from the elm (although many dont think the wood makes a difference), but i also did not use polyfiller at all and just used a thin coat of shellac.
It's simply not possible for finish to have anything more than a negligible (at best) affect on the output of an electric guitar. Granted, you may find some acoustic differences when you are the one playing it. But no one is going to hear that at a live show or on a recording. The pickups generate a current from the ferrous metal in the strings moving through the magnetic field of the pickup and generating a current in the coil of the pickup.
Really great discussion - I have built two Stratocasters in my life and both have exactly the same everything except the body - one is Alder and one is Ash and they sound very similar but the Ash one to me sounds a little more lets say jangly or springy - not sure why but they both do sound and play great! I don't have much experience building the same guitars but this is the way I see and hear the ones I built.
@@HighlineGuitars I never knew what any guitar I made(and I made 5) would actually sound like until I plugged them into an amp. It was always a great moment of anticipation
I agree with your point of view on finish. I'm surprised finish has any influence on tone at all, but choosing to trust your experience. A side question. If we agree electrics are different from acoustic guitars, why would tradition of putting bridge in the centre of the body so strong? Isn't it a homage to the acoustic design. However if in acoustic guitars the placement of the bridge at the middle of the body is functional to increase vibration, in electric it just adds useless space and increases weight. See the bridge placement on bases and on most headless guitars - it is a the very edge of the body. The sheer waste of material and unnecessarily increased weight bothers me a little too much )
It's all about scale length and asthetics. A bass guitar has the bridge at the back edge of the body because its scale length is around 10 inches longer than an electric guitar. With most headless guitars, the bridge is in the same place as a regular electric guitar, but it has a big chunk of the body cut out right behind it.
Really good points !!! Some companies use the fact that they use finishes like nitro as a marketing ploy. There was a movie scene about cigarettes that comes to mind , where one of the marketing team used the word "its toasted" as a marketing term even though all the other companies that made tobacco is also toasted... So dont give into marketing. Another point id add is that a violin and an electric guitar have different protection needs - an electric guitar that is used for gigs , is subject to much more "trauma" than a violin that is used in an orchestral setting , so finishes like 2k automotive paints start making a lot of sense as they can take lots of abuse
I've never built a guitar, let alone lots! so would struggle to argue with your experience... I do own a reasonable number, including some custom built and I don't buy into the "Tone Wood" concept per se, I've been fortunate to play (acoustically for reference) a few from the same run and even sequential serial numbered solid bodies and they have sounded a bit different from each other, some brighter, some deeper/ dead and some clearer note definition and nice sustain. I find the note definition and sustain does also crossover in the the amplified sound (compared to the more muddy/ dead ones). My guess/ opinion is that it's the sum of it's parts in the way the different resonances can work in harmony through to canceling each other out (maybe someone smarter than me could work out that a XX Hz neck works well with a XX Hz body) Maybe with a bolt on neck design you could "tune" a guitar? have you ever swapped out necks and noticed anything? If the wood makes bugger all difference and it is the pickups mostly responsible, then would an acoustic guitar with a pickup make the luthier's craft also somewhat irrelevant?
Warmoth did a test and they have a different mileage. Andertons in the UK compared pau ferro vs rosewood, with just one guitar from each camp. They had a different mileage as well! I am starting to wonder if "tone" is actually in the listeners' EARS?
I hope someday you do a build series on an acoustic guitar. I learn so much from your videos, and one of these days I want to build an acoustic. If you did a build series on that it would make that process so much easier on me. Sorry I’m selfish 😝
Nothing change the tone of an electric guitar except the pickups and even then, the pickups really change the tone based on placement and if they're single coil or humbuckers.
After pickups/electronics/amp/speaker, pick material/thickness and strings have more impact on tone than any hunk of wood or finish involved. But there's no reasoning with zealots, whether it's electric guitars or other topics.
I sure purely sonically speaking, wood choice doesn't make much difference in actual sound output. I do however believe that the woods you use drastically change how it feels in your hands. So even though the output signal may not be different, a guitar made from softer woods will vibrate differently in your hands than more dense woods, and change the feel. And for me, guitars all have a different feel. I'm not so concerned about specific species and I am the actual density and weight of the wood. I've had very heavy dense Walnut, and I've had Walnut that was very light and likely unworthy of becoming a neck. Just my thoughts
I built some electric guitars and I enjoy playing them they sound quite decent. But I would never even try to build an acoustic guitar because I absolutely don’t have the skill to do that to a point where I would be satisfied with the outcome. For me that’s a completely different ballgame.
Hi Chris, i fully agree, though I'm just a hobby builder. I wonder sometimes though what a Les paul type guitar with a strat scalelength and strat pu s n electronics would sound like. I am not yet at a skillevel to build that, but how do u think such a guitar would sound like? Stratty or les paulie? Cheers V
@@veguitars I think it depends on the type of pickups you would stick in it. Single coils (Strat-style or P90s) will sound Stratty, while humbuckers will sound Les Paulie despite the difference in scale length.
Another great video, Sensei! Maybe this is a different way to look at it, but...? How LIBERATING is it that builders of electric instruments are really under no compulsion to worry about the effects of wood choice, finish, etc., on tone??? The electric instrument maker can do amazing things with a MUCH WIDER range of materials and finishing options than builders of acoustic instruments. It's really kind of cool, isn't it???
Another great video! I am going to say outright that finish on a solid body electric makes very little difference, if any. If you disagree, then show me scientific proof of that. I will keep an open mind. Will you? I would love to try polymerized linseed oil for a finish.
I am a fan of chambered body tones vs a slab that I tested with same loaded pickguard. That and with the obvious advantage of a lighter weight that is balanced better than a std weight, I think it is subjective though. I have a pine body one hour build with a sd p90 no pots straight to jack that has better tone than any p90 equiped LP I have played
Thank you Chris and it was not me that said tung oil can ruin the tone on an electric guitar or acoustic guitar but I think I may have responded to someone that said that. Like I said my brother In law is a master luthier who was from Japan and, studied in germany in the 1970s as for my view concerning both acoustics and electrics is the final finish Does not effect tone that much but how you prep the wood and letting it season and get conditioned can effect tone. Also I think we need to remember the original electrics were hollow body guitars. Which were built like acoustics but then pickups were added. Good example some of the early guitars Pete townsend used. Let's see a lot of the electrics Steve howe likes and still uses. Like his es 335 Gibsons or the hollow body electric Steve howe likes to use on the yes song roundabout. But let's say this concerning finish on a guitar body or neck that can impact feel or player comfort. And type of wood like you said can impact wieght. Which can also effect comfort. Thats why for electrics I do not like swamp ash or northern ash. At all. And defenetally not cedarwood. Also Chris yes electronics are more important but at the end of the day the woods you select even on a solid body still effect tone. Because it still impacts the pickups. So here is a good example okay let's say you want to build a guitar and want to use high gain pickups like emgs or dimarzio super distortions or Seymour Duncan jb humbuckers. Ask yourself this is a solid body electric guitar made of plywood or pine or douglas fir from Lowes going to work well or cedarwood and sound good with those high gain pickups I mentioned absolutely not. But you know what we know that basswood works well with high gain pickups. We know mahagony is going to work well and Popler with some high gain pickups and yes even swamp ash and we know swamp ash sounds great on genuine fender stratocaster guitars with single coils. Ohh wait I forgot alder wood too can work well as well My point is maybe some guys can say ohh dumb things like I like my ply wood guitar I built in 1965 with humbuckers but here is the thing high gain pickups did not exist and did not have consistancy and were noisy as hell just ask Tony iommi of black sabbath that when describing playing his early sgs with p 90 pickups through a range master treble booster. And that's my point too Chris same thing with brian mays home brewed red special made from oak wood but here is the thing oak wood can have simalar ties to mahogany but grain wize is a pain like ash wood. And that's my point. And finally I will say this too all the brand name snobs and ceos of places like guitar center first of all real players want guitars that they can play that sounds good feels good. And holds up. And not pay ridiculuos prices for them. Now if you want to spend ridiculuos amounts of money for something to hang on your wall like a snobby art colecter and moan about your 4 thousand dollar all original Gibson les Paul fine. But that's not how most payers I know think ad I know because I have this conversations with my best friends too.
No one knows the tone of an electric guitar until it's finished. By that time, you're stuck with the wood you made it with. The only way to fix the tone if you don't like it is to alter the pickups or swap them for different ones. That's my point.
@@HighlineGuitars I know I am just sick of some of the other comments I have seen Chris. With plywood stuff and yes I know you don't know until you actaully plug everything in and play it. My point is use some common sense know what you like and stick with it.
@@gabrielstern4992 The problem is, common sense with respect to electric guitars is unreliable. Build enough guitars and you will encounter situations where Mahogany sounds like Maple or Swamp Ash sounds like Mahogany. That's the nature of wood. Tone isn't species dependant, it's dependant on the individual board.
@@HighlineGuitars I am figuring that out too. I just get mad with the comments like I have been seeing with screw picking proper material I will just use plywood that's ridiculuos too anyway I am gettong to the point where before I start painting testing the components and electronics in the body first and keeping probably a bunch of diferent pickups lying around. As for my Indian cedarwood I stand by that comment concerning emg active pickups they don't resonate well at all with cederwood, I have also seen the comments about leo fender and his spruce wood or pine wood plan for strats so I will say this it's good he never did that because tone wize it may have worked with single coils but would it have worked . With high gain pickups also would the wood hold up with all that weight and paint. And that I am not so sure of.
I swapped out the pkywood body of my squire for some quater sawn elm i had at tye workshop. The sustain improved dramatically. I agree that its logical such things only matter with low gain vinatage pickups. Once you get to high gain stuff may as well make it out of plywood
Also, people making electric guitars should stop obsess over insignificant details like 20 micro coats of nitro to preserve "the tone" and focus on the playability of their instrument.
Everybody should know now, that the wood and finish does not change the electric sound of a solidbody, but some influence on its acoustic sound and feel in the hands
Wrong. The wood and finish does have an influence on the tone, however it is very small, and it's much easier to shape the tone by the choice of pickups.
I have a mahogany washburn that is loud playing unplugged and a basswood harley benton that is almost silent and played unplugged. No real difference plugged in amp turned up. Learning to build guitars I've noticed I find a lot of the same attitudes that car people, skaters, and gamers all have it's some weird dominance game to so many. Just look at the argument between gas and electric vehicles or computer controlled vs. carbureted. It's just close-minded behavior in my book. Learn from everything if you don't agree with it. Just a piece of that info can open other doors and thoughts.
Oil finishes don't endure unless maintained.... I can't tell you how many stingray bass necks I see that look sad and sticky and horrible. It's possible to put way too much finish on anything and dull the instrument, solid or hollow.
If we cared that much about the finish affecting tone, just think of how boring the shape of modern electric guitars would be. If it provides a protective and/or aesthetic look go for it.
Is the electric guitar a *_toy?_* Well, it's *_fun_* to *_play,_* but I wouldn't consider it a *_toy._* It's a *_tool_* used to attempt to express oneself musically/artistically. It's also _literally_ a _precision instrument._ So, no, it's not a toy. Unless *_every_* musical instrument is also a toy.
@@HighlineGuitars I didn't mean to call YOU the devil. But that instrument is all backwards and upside down. Like it was made by the devil. Backwards record spinning has to be a part of this whole situation.
Don't believe the fool, who tells fairy tales about violins and cellos. The old masters (too well known for everyone, to mention their names) used drying oils, because they had no other choice. Good luck in your work, Chris. 👍👍
It's refreshing to see a video from an electric guitar maker who is willing to say that the tone from one is a result of the electronics. Once people really think about how an acoustic guitar works (sound waves bouncing around and then escaping through the sound hole) vs what pickups do, then they'll finally be closer to realizing that body and neck wood (never mind finish!) are insignificant when it comes to electric guitar tone. Thanks for the video!
as always, an honest, frank and objective video on a conversation that many of us go over and over. I wish players (particularly) would focus on playing rather than the details of the guitar.
I talk with one acoustic guitar collector. His collection consists of tens of thousand dollar guitar with waiting list from 4 to 11 years. He tells me about double top vs solid top, traditional vs lattice bracing, resonance frequency, wolf note, etc. I find it so fascinating because acoustic guitar has so many nuance that I never think about before. Electric guitar while complex also seem simpler in term of guitar building.
The complexity in electric guitars can be found in the mystical world of pickup design.
You seem like one of the most reasonable guys on youtube when it comes to these "divisive" issues. If only people would just play guitar instead of arguing about it all the time...
I think wood choice can have an influence on tone (using that word loosely)....along with hardware, but I think that is due to sustain and not actually "tone". Wood and bridge choices can definitely effect how long the string continues to vibrate. I do not believe that some woods sound "warmer", "brighter", or "snappier" (whatever that means) than others on an electric guitar.
I tried your suggestion using boiled linseed oil on the neck, what a beautiful finish and feel
Great video Chris, I'm hoping that one day we can stop talking about this stuff but I fear that is naive on my part
We can dream, but then we would run out of stuff to talk about in our videos!
I would have to agree with you regarding solid body electrics. However a semi hollow body although not a full blown acoustic is a bit of a grey area regarding wood and finish choice. Just my opinion.
You are the best on TH-cam and your honest views and experience you share with all of us is very mush appreciated... I always believe pickups affect tone more than wood ever will...
Very nice and honest video!!!
In the mid 70s, when I was a kid, I had an old (even then) gold foil Teisco. It was red/black burst. The finish was checked so badly, it was chipping off, in little rectangular pieces.
I decided to use a razor blade to scrape the old lacquer finish off. To my surprise, it not only came off really easily, it had stained the wood. The outer black ring was much darker than the inner red. I liked the “new” look.
I sealed it with some very old (older then I was, at the time lol) shellac, I found, in my grandfather’s tool shed. It literally took months, for it to be not tacky to the touch.
I don’t know if it was because I liked the finished result, or what, but it sounded a *lot* better. It had a much richer tone. It was as if you could actually feel the tone, through the body.
Yeah i agree. Pickups are 90% of the sound (excluding everything that comes after amp etc) but the wood and the finish are important too.
My own experience is taking my £30 80s korean squire. Replaced the pickups and electronics with a £350 set, and it obviously transformed the tone. Then after a year the heavy smmoth finished plywood body cracked at the neck. I replaced it with some quarter sawn elm i had at the workshop. The acoustic resonance was much greater, the vibration through the neck was much greater, and most importantly the sustain and resonance through the amp improved enormously.
So much so that it now out sustains my £1000 and £3000 geetars.
Of course, most of that is likely coming from the elm (although many dont think the wood makes a difference), but i also did not use polyfiller at all and just used a thin coat of shellac.
It's simply not possible for finish to have anything more than a negligible (at best) affect on the output of an electric guitar. Granted, you may find some acoustic differences when you are the one playing it. But no one is going to hear that at a live show or on a recording. The pickups generate a current from the ferrous metal in the strings moving through the magnetic field of the pickup and generating a current in the coil of the pickup.
Really great discussion - I have built two Stratocasters in my life and both have exactly the same everything except the body - one is Alder and one is Ash and they sound very similar but the Ash one to me sounds a little more lets say jangly or springy - not sure why but they both do sound and play great! I don't have much experience building the same guitars but this is the way I see and hear the ones I built.
Out of curiosity, before you made those guitars, did you know how they would sound? Or did you discover the difference after you finished them?
@@HighlineGuitars I never knew what any guitar I made(and I made 5) would actually sound like until I plugged them into an amp. It was always a great moment of anticipation
Great video. Totally agree on the comments made.
I concur Chris, Keep up the great work and videos.
I agree with your point of view on finish. I'm surprised finish has any influence on tone at all, but choosing to trust your experience. A side question. If we agree electrics are different from acoustic guitars, why would tradition of putting bridge in the centre of the body so strong? Isn't it a homage to the acoustic design. However if in acoustic guitars the placement of the bridge at the middle of the body is functional to increase vibration, in electric it just adds useless space and increases weight. See the bridge placement on bases and on most headless guitars - it is a the very edge of the body. The sheer waste of material and unnecessarily increased weight bothers me a little too much )
It's all about scale length and asthetics. A bass guitar has the bridge at the back edge of the body because its scale length is around 10 inches longer than an electric guitar. With most headless guitars, the bridge is in the same place as a regular electric guitar, but it has a big chunk of the body cut out right behind it.
These are really good points, they need to be known, that way no mistake are made like you said.
Really good points !!!
Some companies use the fact that they use finishes like nitro as a marketing ploy. There was a movie scene about cigarettes that comes to mind , where one of the marketing team used the word "its toasted" as a marketing term even though all the other companies that made tobacco is also toasted... So dont give into marketing.
Another point id add is that a violin and an electric guitar have different protection needs - an electric guitar that is used for gigs , is subject to much more "trauma" than a violin that is used in an orchestral setting , so finishes like 2k automotive paints start making a lot of sense as they can take lots of abuse
I've never built a guitar, let alone lots! so would struggle to argue with your experience...
I do own a reasonable number, including some custom built and I don't buy into the "Tone Wood" concept per se, I've been fortunate to play (acoustically for reference) a few from the same run and even sequential serial numbered solid bodies and they have sounded a bit different from each other, some brighter, some deeper/ dead and some clearer note definition and nice sustain. I find the note definition and sustain does also crossover in the the amplified sound (compared to the more muddy/ dead ones).
My guess/ opinion is that it's the sum of it's parts in the way the different resonances can work in harmony through to canceling each other out (maybe someone smarter than me could work out that a XX Hz neck works well with a XX Hz body) Maybe with a bolt on neck design you could "tune" a guitar? have you ever swapped out necks and noticed anything?
If the wood makes bugger all difference and it is the pickups mostly responsible, then would an acoustic guitar with a pickup make the luthier's craft also somewhat irrelevant?
What you say makes perfect sense. 👍
Warmoth did a test and they have a different mileage.
Andertons in the UK compared pau ferro vs rosewood, with just one guitar from each camp. They had a different mileage as well!
I am starting to wonder if "tone" is actually in the listeners' EARS?
Pickups and speakers have the biggest effect on electric guitar tone 👍
I hope someday you do a build series on an acoustic guitar. I learn so much from your videos, and one of these days I want to build an acoustic. If you did a build series on that it would make that process so much easier on me. Sorry I’m selfish 😝
That would be cool!
Nothing change the tone of an electric guitar except the pickups and even then, the pickups really change the tone based on placement and if they're single coil or humbuckers.
After pickups/electronics/amp/speaker, pick material/thickness and strings have more impact on tone than any hunk of wood or finish involved. But there's no reasoning with zealots, whether it's electric guitars or other topics.
I sure purely sonically speaking, wood choice doesn't make much difference in actual sound output. I do however believe that the woods you use drastically change how it feels in your hands. So even though the output signal may not be different, a guitar made from softer woods will vibrate differently in your hands than more dense woods, and change the feel. And for me, guitars all have a different feel. I'm not so concerned about specific species and I am the actual density and weight of the wood. I've had very heavy dense Walnut, and I've had Walnut that was very light and likely unworthy of becoming a neck. Just my thoughts
The best sounding most pure tone of any of my guitars is an oil finished early 70's Alembic 6 string. But it's also an early 70's Alembic 6 string.
Yep. That's what I surmised
I built some electric guitars and I enjoy playing them they sound quite decent. But I would never even try to build an acoustic guitar because I absolutely don’t have the skill to do that to a point where I would be satisfied with the outcome. For me that’s a completely different ballgame.
You should try built square box body acoustic guitar.
Hi Chris, i fully agree, though I'm just a hobby builder. I wonder sometimes though what a Les paul type guitar with a strat scalelength and strat pu s n electronics would sound like. I am not yet at a skillevel to build that, but how do u think such a guitar would sound like? Stratty or les paulie? Cheers V
@@veguitars I think it depends on the type of pickups you would stick in it. Single coils (Strat-style or P90s) will sound Stratty, while humbuckers will sound Les Paulie despite the difference in scale length.
Another great video, Sensei!
Maybe this is a different way to look at it, but...? How LIBERATING is it that builders of electric instruments are really under no compulsion to worry about the effects of wood choice, finish, etc., on tone???
The electric instrument maker can do amazing things with a MUCH WIDER range of materials and finishing options than builders of acoustic instruments.
It's really kind of cool, isn't it???
Well put and I couldn’t agree more.
Another great video! I am going to say outright that finish on a solid body electric makes very little difference, if any. If you disagree, then show me scientific proof of that. I will keep an open mind. Will you? I would love to try polymerized linseed oil for a finish.
At the very least it makes a difference to your time spent. A think coat of shellac is cheap easy and quick. Job done
I am a fan of chambered body tones vs a slab that I tested with same loaded pickguard. That and with the obvious advantage of a lighter weight that is balanced better than a std weight, I think it is subjective though. I have a pine body one hour build with a sd p90 no pots straight to jack that has better tone than any p90 equiped LP I have played
Thank you Chris and it was not me that said tung oil can ruin the tone on an electric guitar or acoustic guitar but I think I may have responded to someone that said that. Like I said my brother In law is a master luthier who was from Japan and, studied in germany in the 1970s as for my view concerning both acoustics and electrics is the final finish Does not effect tone that much but how you prep the wood and letting it season and get conditioned can effect tone.
Also I think we need to remember the original electrics were hollow body guitars. Which were built like acoustics but then pickups were added.
Good example some of the early guitars Pete townsend used.
Let's see a lot of the electrics Steve howe likes and still uses.
Like his es 335 Gibsons or the hollow body electric Steve howe likes to use on the yes song roundabout.
But let's say this concerning finish on a guitar body or neck that can impact feel or player comfort. And type of wood like you said can impact wieght.
Which can also effect comfort.
Thats why for electrics I do not like swamp ash or northern ash. At all.
And defenetally not cedarwood.
Also Chris yes electronics are more important but at the end of the day the woods you select even on a solid body still effect tone. Because it still impacts the pickups. So here is a good example okay let's say you want to build a guitar and want to use high gain pickups like emgs or dimarzio super distortions or Seymour Duncan jb humbuckers.
Ask yourself this is a solid body electric guitar made of plywood or pine or douglas fir from Lowes going to work well or cedarwood and sound good with those high gain pickups I mentioned absolutely not.
But you know what we know that basswood works well with high gain pickups. We know mahagony is going to work well and Popler with some high gain pickups and yes even swamp ash and we know swamp ash sounds great on genuine fender stratocaster guitars with single coils. Ohh wait I forgot alder wood too can work well as well
My point is maybe some guys can say ohh dumb things like I like my ply wood guitar I built in 1965 with humbuckers but here is the thing high gain pickups did not exist and did not have consistancy and were noisy as hell just ask Tony iommi of black sabbath that when describing playing his early sgs with p 90 pickups through a range master treble booster. And that's my point too Chris same thing with brian mays home brewed red special made from oak wood but here is the thing oak wood can have simalar ties to mahogany but grain wize is a pain like ash wood.
And that's my point.
And finally I will say this too all the brand name snobs and ceos of places like guitar center first of all real players want guitars that they can play that sounds good feels good.
And holds up.
And not pay ridiculuos prices for them.
Now if you want to spend ridiculuos amounts of money for something to hang on your wall like a snobby art colecter and moan about your 4 thousand dollar all original Gibson les Paul fine.
But that's not how most payers I know think ad I know because I have this conversations with my best friends too.
No one knows the tone of an electric guitar until it's finished. By that time, you're stuck with the wood you made it with. The only way to fix the tone if you don't like it is to alter the pickups or swap them for different ones. That's my point.
@@HighlineGuitars I know I am just sick of some of the other comments I have seen Chris.
With plywood stuff and yes I know you don't know until you actaully plug everything in and play it.
My point is use some common sense know what you like and stick with it.
@@gabrielstern4992 The problem is, common sense with respect to electric guitars is unreliable. Build enough guitars and you will encounter situations where Mahogany sounds like Maple or Swamp Ash sounds like Mahogany. That's the nature of wood. Tone isn't species dependant, it's dependant on the individual board.
@@HighlineGuitars I am figuring that out too. I just get mad with the comments like I have been seeing with screw picking proper material I will just use plywood that's ridiculuos too anyway I am gettong to the point where before I start painting testing the components and electronics in the body first and keeping probably a bunch of diferent pickups lying around.
As for my Indian cedarwood I stand by that comment concerning emg active pickups they don't resonate well at all with cederwood, I have also seen the comments about leo fender and his spruce wood or pine wood plan for strats so I will say this it's good he never did that because tone wize it may have worked with single coils but would it have worked .
With high gain pickups also would the wood hold up with all that weight and paint. And that I am not so sure of.
I swapped out the pkywood body of my squire for some quater sawn elm i had at tye workshop. The sustain improved dramatically.
I agree that its logical such things only matter with low gain vinatage pickups.
Once you get to high gain stuff may as well make it out of plywood
Anything sounds better than poly IMO. I've heard a comparison test and it's very clear difference to me, played without gain at least.
Also, people making electric guitars should stop obsess over insignificant details like 20 micro coats of nitro to preserve "the tone" and focus on the playability of their instrument.
Everybody should know now, that the wood and finish does not change the electric sound of a solidbody, but some influence on its acoustic sound and feel in the hands
I was going to say, just about every few sentences here "citation needed"
Wrong. The wood and finish does have an influence on the tone, however it is very small, and it's much easier to shape the tone by the choice of pickups.
@@DC9V citation needed
@@DC9V Kind of semantics at that point though.
I have a mahogany washburn that is loud playing unplugged and a basswood harley benton that is almost silent and played unplugged. No real difference plugged in amp turned up. Learning to build guitars I've noticed I find a lot of the same attitudes that car people, skaters, and gamers all have it's some weird dominance game to so many. Just look at the argument between gas and electric vehicles or computer controlled vs. carbureted. It's just close-minded behavior in my book. Learn from everything if you don't agree with it. Just a piece of that info can open other doors and thoughts.
Oil finishes don't endure unless maintained.... I can't tell you how many stingray bass necks I see that look sad and sticky and horrible.
It's possible to put way too much finish on anything and dull the instrument, solid or hollow.
According to Billy Corgan, yes Blue guitar sounds better.
If we cared that much about the finish affecting tone, just think of how boring the shape of modern electric guitars would be. If it provides a protective and/or aesthetic look go for it.
Has anyone sent this to Paul Reed Smith? 😂😅
Joking aside, you echoed everything i have been saying for years. (Usually to dismissive ridicule).
Is the electric guitar a *_toy?_* Well, it's *_fun_* to *_play,_* but I wouldn't consider it a *_toy._* It's a *_tool_* used to attempt to express oneself musically/artistically. It's also _literally_ a _precision instrument._ So, no, it's not a toy. Unless *_every_* musical instrument is also a toy.
no.... next
That acoustic guitar is an instrument of the Devil !!!!
This is the first time anyone has called me the Devil!
@@HighlineGuitars I didn't mean to call YOU the devil. But that instrument is all backwards and upside down. Like it was made by the devil. Backwards record spinning has to be a part of this whole situation.
Don't believe the fool, who tells fairy tales about violins and cellos. The old masters (too well known for everyone, to mention their names) used drying oils, because they had no other choice.
Good luck in your work, Chris. 👍👍
Tonlacquer🤣