A question for those with 'good ears'.

ICBM

Again this will be my first and last post in this thread since I really don't want to get involved in a long round of trying to prove something to you that your own sources have already shown to be true, but the answer is very simple... 

That's the entire point of having more than one pickup on an electric guitar - different harmonic content. I can't imagine there is anyone, even with no musical knowledge at all, who couldn't hear the difference between a bridge pickup and a neck pickup.

Assuming you aren't running it through a fuzz pedal with the guitar tone rolled off, anyway .

UnclePsychosis

I spent four years of my life studying the physics of trombones.

Four fucking years. 

I'm exactly the type of saddo who loves the minutiae of what makes instruments sound the way they do. But I'm buggered if I'm spending even four minutes feeding the troll. 

Three-ColourSunburst

ICBM said:

That's the entire point of having more than one pickup on an electric guitar - different harmonic content. I can't imagine there is anyone, even with no musical knowledge at all, who couldn't hear the difference between a bridge pickup and a neck pickup.

True, but the harmonics sensed by any single pickup will also vary from note to note. Which is why I asked if anyone could perceive these differences.

Bridgehouse

Three-ColourSunburst said:

ThorpyFX said:

Don't try and patronise me you arrogant arse. FFS your pseudoscience is what is annoying the crap out of people in this thread.

Calm down, Major, I'm not some private forgetting to salute you.

If you think all the papers I have cited are 'pseudoscience' why not write to the authors telling them why they are wrong? Even better why not get some papers published yourself showing how 'tone wood' is real? I look forward to reading them. 

Sorry, what's the name of your award winning, highly respected and ground breaking guitar-related manufacturing company? I must have missed that.

Bridgehouse

Sassafras said:

Bridgehouse said:

Sassafras said:

I'm more pissed off by his use of smiley faces after every one of his patronising, insulting and mocking posts. Is it supposed to be endearing?
If so, it's not working.
  

Calm down dear, it's just a guitar forum

Fuck off!

No.

ICBM

Three-ColourSunburst said:

True, but the harmonics sensed by any single pickup will also vary from note to note. Which is why I asked if anyone could perceive these differences. 

I'm going to break my own rule just once here, but *the answer is in the question*, if you only take a second to think about it.

Moving the pickup relative to the fretted note is the same as moving the fretted note relative to the pickup in terms of changing the harmonic content. So you have already answered it for yourself.

Bridgehouse

@ICBM - you're getting sucked in....

octatonic

Bridgehouse said:

octatonic said:

Bridgehouse said:

- Do people with perfect pitch notice the harmonics in an instruments tone more acutely?

Yes, it is one of the fundamentals (no pun intended) of perfect pitch.

Well in that case, I suspect someone with perfect pitch could state whether they think there is a difference in the harmonics associated with different body woods or not then..

We already know that there're differences between different woods- you can tell that with acoustic guitars.
With electric guitars the issue is not whether two electric guitars made with different woods sound different- again we know they do.
There are, as I see it, three main questions.

1. Do specific woods have predictable qualities- as in do all rosewoods sound X or all maples sound Y?
My position has been that a particular species of wood exhibits a range of qualities so whilst you can say that often a particular species sounds like 'insert quality' you will find exceptions to this.
I currently have several rosewood bodied acoustics that I am building- tap tuning reveals quite different qualities to them.

2. When you start combining different pieces of wood can you predict what the overall acoustical tone will be for a primarily electric guitar. Again my position is 'sort of'. But also you can mitigate those differences in the build process. With acoustic guitars you can heavily mitigate them with decisions regarding wood thickness, bracing pattern and other structural choices.

3. Then once you plug the guitar into an amp, some effects, a guitar speaker, then stick a mic in front of it and have it go through a mixing console, to tape or Pro Tools, add some subtractive or additive EQ, some compression with all the other instruments how much of the difference between two guitars of the same construction but with different woods will be evident.
My position on this is 'close to fuck all'.

Now question 3 might not matter to many people here but they do to me- because recording guitars is the main reason I play guitar.
I've done enough recording of guitars over the last 30 years to know that fairly minor changes to mic positioning, mic choice, EQ and compression can completely change the way in which the instrument is perceived, let along more fundamental choices such as amp choice, effects, speaker.

There is nothing above that I haven't said more than once on the forum before though so I don't really know why I've bothered.

ThorpyFX

Three-ColourSunburst said:

ThorpyFX said:

Don't try and patronise me you arrogant arse. FFS your pseudoscience is what is annoying the crap out of people in this thread.

Calm down, Major, I'm not some private forgetting to salute you.

If you think all the papers I have cited are 'pseudoscience' why not write to the authors telling them why they are wrong? Even better why not get some papers published yourself showing how 'tone wood' is real? I look forward to reading them. 

You didn't answer me, please give us your background so that we can understand if you even understood the papers you cite.

And please call me Major, that is not my name. . If you understood how the military works  you'd know when you use my rank the name goes with it. Secondly if you refer to a Private, use a capital letter.

anyway, my friends call me Adrian, you can just use my forum name. 

Bridgehouse

@octatonic - no harm in trying to say it again tho.

dindude

@Three-ColourSunburst have you not got family or friends you should be spending time with this weekend rather than baiting people on the internet. Anyhow you are my first ever person going on ignore, even Drew couldn't manage that achievement. 

Bridgehouse

dindude said:

@Three-ColourSunburst have you not got family or friends you should be spending time with this weekend rather than baiting people on the internet. Anyhow you are my first ever person going on ignore, even Drew couldn't manage that achievement. 

Woah, I'm not on your ignore list?

What gives? Must try harder.

guitars4you

I think I might go and order a copy of War and Peace - less to read in that, then this, or indeed other such blogs and I'm sure there are more similar blogs in the pipeline 

ie does gold plated hardware have any impact on the tone, compared to nickel or chrome, or indeed brushed nickel ?
ivory, bone or brass top nuts - which dampens the string vibration into the neck by the least amount ?
steel, monkey metal or brass trem block on a Strat
What impact on the tone does a lightweight aluminium tailpiece have ? and will it further amplify the 4th harmonic that only a few exceptional talented readers hear and understand ?

Sassafras

At least he's not fixating on wolf notes. He seemed to be obsessed by them early on in his pogrom against guitarists.

dindude

Bridgehouse said:

dindude said:

@Three-ColourSunburst have you not got family or friends you should be spending time with this weekend rather than baiting people on the internet. Anyhow you are my first ever person going on ignore, even Drew couldn't manage that achievement. 

Woah, I'm not on your ignore list?

What gives? Must try harder.

If I put you on ignore then it would reduce the forum traffic by half and besides, you seem alright (for a bassist).

Bridgehouse

dindude said:

Bridgehouse said:

dindude said:

@Three-ColourSunburst have you not got family or friends you should be spending time with this weekend rather than baiting people on the internet. Anyhow you are my first ever person going on ignore, even Drew couldn't manage that achievement. 

Woah, I'm not on your ignore list?

What gives? Must try harder.

If I put you on ignore then it would reduce the forum traffic by half and besides, you seem alright (for a bassist).

Look at it from my point of view - there's hardly any new posts on here for me to read - they are all mine. 

TTony

dindude said:

@Three-ColourSunburst have you not got family or friends you should be spending time with this weekend rather than baiting people on the internet. Anyhow you are my first ever person going on ignore, even Drew couldn't manage that achievement. 

Thread closed.