Members flump Posted October 29, 2010 Members Share Posted October 29, 2010 Different materials make a difference too. Different materials of string? If so then yea I agree. Also flatwounds vs. roundwounds...either way I was just saying strings do make a huge difference. Completely overshadowing any kind of effect swapping body woods would do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted October 29, 2010 Members Share Posted October 29, 2010 Different materials of string? If so then yea I agree. Also flatwounds vs. roundwounds...either way I was just saying strings do make a huge difference. Completely overshadowing any kind of effect swapping body woods would do.Yup, that's what I was getting at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mossy Moss Posted October 29, 2010 Author Members Share Posted October 29, 2010 pickups - most important.strings - meaningless.electronics - important, but as long as they work, they're fine.bridge/tremolo combo (or just bridge sans tremolo) - Mostly meaningless as long as everything is working properly.body wood - almost meaningless.. Body wood, or more specifically the density of the body wood, has more to do with sustain than tone on a solidbody guitar.fretboard wood - purely visual and feel.nut - Very important, as long as you're playing open strings.. Once you fret it, the nut doesn't exist.headstock - A nice headstock sounds better than an ugly one.tuners - Long as they work, they mean nothing.neck/body joint - More of an ergonomic issue than anything. see to me strings have as dramatic effect on tone as pickups, if not more so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steadfastly Posted October 29, 2010 Members Share Posted October 29, 2010 1) Pickups2) Strings3) Likely the bridge And not a whole lot matters after this, in my opinion, although many will disagree with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mossy Moss Posted October 29, 2010 Author Members Share Posted October 29, 2010 Different materials of string? If so then yea I agree. Also flatwounds vs. roundwounds...either way I was just saying strings do make a huge difference. Completely overshadowing any kind of effect swapping body woods would do. absolutely. just string materials makes a huge difference. i have a semihollow jazz guitar, going from sd chrome flatwounds to thomastik flats was a huge dramatic change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flump Posted October 29, 2010 Members Share Posted October 29, 2010 absolutely. just string materials makes a huge difference. i have a semihollow jazz guitar, going from sd chrome flatwounds to thomastik flats was a huge dramatic change Yea, but you gotta admit switching to nylon strings wouldn't change the tone at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaveGrima Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 I disagree completely. By your way of thinking a lucite guitar should sound pretty much the same as say, a swamp ash bodied guitar if all else is the same. No way. There's considerable difference even between swamp ash and alder for example. Not really. There was a post on here a few weeks ago of a video of some guy testing the exact same Strat, one with an alder body, and one with a swamp ash body. Everything else was the same, pickups, eletronics, bridge, amp settings, etc. They pretty much sounded the same. Im not saying there is no difference at all, but I would not call it considerable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EADGBE Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 Everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor49 Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 the name on the headstock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 Amp then pickups the rest is up to the player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 I'd say the biggest factors are the pickups and the design of the guitar: bolt-on vs set neck vs string thru AND solid body vs semi-hollow vs full hollow.I have no doubt that body wood, neck wood, fretboard, bridge design etc etc all play some role in the sound of th guitar, but somehow I think that if you put CS54 pickups on a Les Paul, it would sound a lot more like a strat than like a Les Paul.On the other hand, I can't imagine going from a Tusq nut to a Graphtech nut is going to make a radical difference in terms of pure tone. And I can't imagine if you replace just the maple fretboard on a strat with a rosewood fretboard on the same guitar it's going to completely transform the tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 Wow... I'm really surprised at how many people feel the electronics makes a bigger difference than strings. If you go from GHS Boomers to DAddario Chrome Flatwounds... well... I can guarantee you that is a tremendous difference if you play through a Fender or a Vox amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members docjeffrey Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 Which parts of the guitar affect tone the most? All of them. Advaita Vedanta. Synergy. Quantum Theory. Rock on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wartoxin Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 Yeah, I think scale is #2 behind the pickups That's funny, I did some comparison between my 30" scale and my 25.5, it's a big size difference but the sound was the same. Strings were the same tension the way they were set up. In the poll my vote was body wood, but I don't know if it's that or the wood as a whole really, the total weight is a factor. A light body like my light ash guitar sound closer to a hollowbody to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DavidMgT Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 interesting that the poll did not include the player:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 That's funny, I did some comparison between my 30" scale and my 25.5, it's a big size difference but the sound was the same. Strings were the same tension the way they were set up. I agree. When I got my first 24 & 3/4" conversion I put it on I didn't hear a difference from the 25.5" it replaced. Both maple/rw.But this is only a 3/4" difference and that won't be noticeable. Just don't tell my girlfriend that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 re: my strings are meaningless comment.. I meant string brand. Like one brand of 9-42 nickel is going to be 99.9% the same as another brand of 9-42 nickel. Flatwounds, SS, Elixirs, bigger or smaller gauge yeah, they do sound different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members whyflipoverthefrog Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 Location where guitar was assembled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 re: my strings are meaningless comment.. I meant string brand. Like one brand of 9-42 nickel is going to be 99.9% the same as another brand of 9-42 nickel. Flatwounds, SS, Elixirs, bigger or smaller gauge yeah, they do sound different. In that case I agree. Unless there is something fundamentally different about the core or winding design , but that just affects the bottom three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Darkstorm Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 Pups and body wood plus construction (neck pocket especially) followed by strings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MONGOOZ Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 pickups are everything. you can bolt a strat neck to a toilet seat....and if you screw a really nice humbucker on there.....it'll sound good.....trust me....i've actually done this. but if you put a crappy pickup in a Jeff Beck Oxblood reissue....it'll sound like crap.....even if it DID cost $25,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Misha Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 I'd say the strings because without 'em... you're playing at Guitar Hero! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mdog114 Posted October 30, 2010 Members Share Posted October 30, 2010 That's funny, I did some comparison between my 30" scale and my 25.5, it's a big size difference but the sound was the same. Strings were the same tension the way they were set up. If you have a 30" scale and a 25.5" scale and they are both tuned to standard pitch, they will have different string tensions. Simple physics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J-E-M Posted October 31, 2010 Members Share Posted October 31, 2010 I vote for pickup rings and pickguard screws. I only use spent plutonium plugs for my screws. That adds extra weight - so more sustain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steadfastly Posted October 31, 2010 Members Share Posted October 31, 2010 I wouldn't have believed so many would pick the body wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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