Robbmonster said:
But it does make me wonder why people are so concerned with things like pickups, amps, and body woods... 😛
Robmonster, I'm with ya. We hear that a musician's touch is everything...then we hear debates about what species of wood produces a certain tone.
As a relative newcomer to electric guitar, I've wondered how experienced musicians can hear the differences between different wooden bodies & necks (much less between between Nitro and Poly finish). Especially when there are so many additional variables that affect the sound. I'm learning tons about pickups and pots, bridges and nuts, strings...amps, solid state or tube, amps' controls, speakers, cables...you get the picture.
The September 2010 issue of "Vintage Guitar Magazine" has an article comparing the tones produced by eleven different 12AX7 tubes... 😲
In the same issue, another article caught my attention. Master Luthier Richard E. Brune, (p. 82) discusses tone and wood. He explains that the wood of each tree within a species is different based on the exact location of growth, weather during its growth period, girth, the way it is cut, its age, shipping & storage conditions.
Referring to acoustic guitar players, Brune does say that the way a musician touches the instrument is the biggest part of the tonal quality, but I doubt he would say this with confidence about electric guitar players. He goes on to say that the size and shape of each instrument, the quality of construction, then strings and the other variables contribute so much to tone that the species of wood has a minimal influence ☹ .
