The effects of _______ on tone

[nathan a]

I was searching google for guys making wooden pickguards, since I thought a mahogany guard might look nice on my strat. I came across this site: http://www.mother-of-tone.com/lacquer.htm

He mentions the effect of nitro laquer on tone (I don't hear a difference, but I do believe a difference may be there to really discerning ears). To "prove" his point, he takes a $180 Squire, and removes all finish from the body and neck. Suddenly, it both plays and sounds amazing, he says.

I had a little laugh, until I read this:

I also replaced the soft plastic pickguard with a wood pickguard and removed the plastic caps from the pickups. Btw. those old fender pickguards were made of celluloid, and thus sound much better than modern plastic pickguards. However, a wooden pickguard sounds best.

Come on, guys.

 

[bpmorton777]

i think he's been drinking lacquer.

Brian

 

[jtroska]

I had a Gibson finished with a thin lacquer.  I had it refinished with some super heavy-duty stuff more like what they paint cars with by Wilkins Guitar Finishes (don't know what the paint is called).  Sounded absolutely no different.  Actually, it almost seemed to sound better but that's really just because it *looked* better so my brain was playing tricks on me.

On an acoustic guitar, there would probably be a difference because the wood is acting as a sound board.  But not on an electric.

But you can't argue with these guys because they can just claim they have better ears.  It's like Eric Johnson and his batteries and his placement of effects on stage making a difference.  He just makes that stuff up to talk like he knows more than other people.  Know why the position of stomp boxes on a stage changes your tone?  Because it changes you proximity to the amp, dumb ass. 

 

[sundin4prez]

i want to try that......buy a squier strat , strip it, cover it with nitro and istantky i will have a 57 strat!!!! :tard:

 

[-CB-]

As can be PROVEN time and time again, over on the LPForum, the following will always benefit your tone:

Aged lacquer - it must be actually aged, or artificially aged, but of course, artificial is not quite as good.
Faded cherry burst or gold tops sound best.  If the cherry is naturally faded, and the gold top turned green, its even better.
Checkered lacquer - or lacquer made to look checkered - is best for tone.
The taller actual 50's pickup rings and knobs sound better.
Tarnished nickel sounds better.
Rusted and pitted parts sound better yet.
Old growth wood is 2nd to none for sound.
Lightly ambered inlays are best for tone.
The ABR-1 is much better toned than a Nashville bridge.
The Nashville bridge is better toned than the ABR-1 bridge.
Straplocks kill tone.
Pickguards kill tone.
Creme colored plastic that is not quite the same color, kills tone.
Authentic 50's tone comes from bone nuts.
Pink lined cases sound better than black lined cases.
White lined cases sound the worst.
Wide white line truss rod covers sound best, are worth the $500-$2000 spent on an original.
Tone Pro's sound best
Tone Pro's suck tone
Anything made by Bareknuckles, EMG, Antiquity, or Fralin add tone
Anything except a PAF from early summer 1957 sucks tone
And the list goes on and on......

Ya want tone?  Learn to play fhe guitar.

 

[nathan a]

Ya want tone?  Learn to play fhe guitar.

ccasion14:

 

[sundin4prez]

CB your amazing :rock-on:

 

[guitlouie]

I had this guy in town called Papa Jack throw a Voodoo Hex on all my guitars, nobody can touch my tone now!  I suggest you all do the same.  Once you get the chicken blood off of there the sound is orgasmic.

 

[Shmoopie]

nice nice, i refinished my bass in holly water.

 

[willyk]

You don't know what real tone is till you cryogenically treat your picks. Finger stylists...ferrgeddaboutit :evil4:

 

[RLW]

The $19.95 solution, or an alternative to belt sanding your Squire.

http://www.augustinespiritualgoods.com/mojo_page.htm

 

[neilium]

He mentions the effect of nitro laquer on tone (I don't hear a difference, but I do believe a difference may be there to really discerning ears). To "prove" his point, he takes a $180 Squire, and removes all finish from the body and neck. Suddenly, it both plays and sounds amazing, he says.

I'm not surprised it sounded better. He took apart a cheap, imported guitar and then put it back together again. In the process, he probably set the insturment up way better than the factory did.

 

[jackthehack]

I had this guy in town called Papa Jack throw a Voodoo Hex on all my guitars, nobody can touch my tone now!  I suggest you all do the same.  Once you get the chicken blood off of there the sound is orgasmic.

Chicken blood? That's WEAK... For REAL guitar mojo you need to start out with a monkey foot and the blood from a freshly deflowered virgin...

 

[CD]

It's like Eric Johnson and his batteries and his placement of effects on stage making a difference.  He just makes that stuff up to talk like he knows more than other people.  Know why the position of stomp boxes on a stage changes your tone?  Because it changes you proximity to the amp, dumb ass. 

Hahaha! Man you had me laughing my ass off. Eric Johnson has great tone, but man I seriously think he is full of shit. Are his eyes brown? They should be.

 

[admin_4]

Everything in nature has it's own resonating frequency, so it is technically true that anything you put on or near a guitar will impact it's sound, including your belly. Folks who say they can hear the difference between plastic pick guards and wood should try playing one hour after eating a bowl of beans. Your blood pressure and sinus congestion produce way more audible change in your impression of tone than plastic pup covers. So does the carpet, humidity, your prescription (and non-prescription!) drugs.....

 

[nathan a]

Everything in nature has it's own resonating frequency, so it is technically true that anything you put on or near a guitar will impact it's sound, including your belly. Folks who say they can hear the difference between plastic pick guards and wood should try playing one hour after eating a bowl of beans. Your blood pressure and sinus congestion produce way more audible change in your impression of tone than plastic pup covers. So does the carpet, humidity, your prescription (and non-prescription!) drugs.....

Well, yeah. EVERYTHING effects tone. But honestly, most of these things are so incredibly miniscule. They don't matter. A guitarist is astronomically better off spending his time becoming a better player, than worrying about all this crap. IMHO.

 

[tfarny]

My own guess would be that anything which affects the signal path (string vibration -> amp speakers) will tend to have a greater effect on tone than minute details of the guitar's wooden construction and paint job. For instance, everyone here agrees that tiny adjustments to pickup height can have an effect on tone, volume, and sustain (killing sustain if they're too close). Is that any more far-out than the battery story? Similarly, changing the value of a cap clearly affects tone, no question. I'm more inclined to believe the battery story (or Neil Young's claim to hear differences in stadium voltage regulation) than I am inclined to believe that paint, truss rod cover binding, or pickguard colors have an effect. 
+1 on "learn to play in order to get better tone".

 

[Jwheeler]

This guy's sitehttp://www.liutaiomottola.com/ has a bunch of interesting stuff about the science of guitar building.  And most of it confirms what we have been saying, that most of it doesn't make very much difference in the sound of a guitar.  (Especially electric.)  +10 on Practice more and you'll sound better!