Would you choose solid rosewood or roasted maple for a neck?

[Lewguitar]

meh, unplugged sound is meaningless on an electric guitar.

if my plugged in sound was 10% darker, yeah, i would've been pretty crestfallen, but it ended up being the same. i'm not gonna sit here (well stand here at work) and tell u no wood is gonna make your guitar sound different, but the degree of it is overstated. i get woods I like the look and feel of and pickups i like the sound of. i hate that that sentence had two clauses ending in a preposition but that is just how goes sometimes and I don't feel like rewriting it. OK gotta go, one of my coworkers (Trenton) just got back from a camping trip and i've been waiting to call him Tent Reznor since before the weekend ttyl

Meaningless? My best sounding electric guitars plugged in, are those that also sound great unplugged.

When I bought my PRS Silver Sky I tried out every Silver Sky in the store unplugged.

I bought the one that rang the longest, and had the fullest, deepest, most resonant tone.

Wound up with a GREAT sounding guitar.

Sounds great plugged in or unplugged.

You ought to try that sometime...or not.

But that is a great way to separate the wheat from the chaff.

A nice test of whether you're buying a guitar or a boat anchor.

But to each his own. If you don't hear it, you don't hear it.

 

[DuckBaloo]

I pick neck woods based on ...

1. Feel
2. Looks
3. ...
4. ...
5. ...
6. ...
7. ...
8. ...
9. ...
10. Perceived tone

It's not that I believe there is no difference, but I believe 90% of tonewood bias is the placebo effect. Hearing is not objective, but is all sensory perception, and I don't believe any difference is as big as people convince themselves it is. But never underestimate the power of the placebo effect over confidence.

To answer the original question, there is not wrong choice between solid rosewood and roasted maple, I would use either.

 

[teleme01]

I pick by looks on the internets and feel in-store , same with boots your looking at pictures on the internets and some time your boots don't fit. This is a fact, even with warmoth

 

[BroccoliRob]

Meaningless? My best sounding electric guitars plugged in, are those that also sound great unplugged.

When I bought my PRS Silver Sky I tried out every Silver Sky in the store unplugged.

I bought the one that rang the longest, and had the fullest, deepest, most resonant tone.

Wound up with a GREAT sounding guitar.

Sounds great plugged in or unplugged.

You ought to try that sometime...or not.

But that is a great way to separate the wheat from the chaff.

A nice test of whether you're buying a guitar or a boat anchor.

But to each his own. If you don't hear it, you don't hear it.

my friend, its real great that your guitars that sound good acoustically also sound good plugged in--i'm just saying that it doesn't matter. im not putting a mic infront of any of my electrics (unless its for a goof) so it literally means nothing if a guitar doesn't sound good when unplugged.

only three (3) things matter: it plays good, it sounds good plugged in, and i can vibe with its aesthetic and erogonomicals.

sounding good unplugged is just a bonus.

like, who cares if a dorito tastes good without the #zesty cool ranch layer. as long as it makes my mouth water and my dopamine fire straight outta the bag, thats all that matters: the end result. u only eat doritos with the flavor science applied the same way people only ever hear your recorded or live guitar amplified (irl or digitally). how do they get that goodness on the chip anyway? i like to imagine 3 or 4 dudes with Ghostbusters proton packs full of cool ranch in a clean room wearing hazmat suits, blasting mountain high stacks of plain dorito, but that probably isn't accurate. or maybe its a process like power coating guitar pedals or anodizing aluminum.

 

[bonesofwrath]

I'm not as worried about how it sounds unplugged but I do look for guitars that feel alive in your hands.

 

[Lewguitar]

I'm not as worried about how it sounds unplugged but I do look for guitars that feel alive in your hands.

There ya go. That's what I'm talking about. Thanks!

 

[Spud]

I can readily discern by listening whether a guitarist has taken the time to rub a specific guitar on their face or not.

 

[BroccoliRob]

I'm not as worried about how it sounds unplugged but I do look for guitars that feel alive in your hands.

There ya go. That's what I'm talking about. Thanks!

glad we're all finally on the same page re: unplugged sound not being important

As for "feels alive" that's a tricky thing to define. mebbe its different for everyone the same way "sounds good" is not objectively quantifiable. and that's fine, we shouldn't need to get Dr Al Franken-Stein to bring them to so-called life. that's what pickups are for. however we do call them frankencasters sometimes, which really makes u think.

Guitar tones is really more like milk. the last 2% is the hardest to get. that's why they leave it in the Milk while we obsess about the everything to the smallest detail. no audience member is gonna hear that last 2% of tone we squeeze out by using a different wood or whatever, but it still matters to us. if the powerful Milk Lobby wouldn't keep stopping my research I am sure I could've figured out how to convert 2% milkfat into an aerosol product u spray on ur guitar to enhance the tone. I have the prototype but I know there would be a target on my back the instant I test it outside my Lab (kitchen)

 

[teleme01]

I prefer hole milk

 

[Lewguitar]

I can readily discern by listening whether a guitarist has taken the time to rub a specific guitar on their face or not.

Take it a little further. None are so deaf as those who rub their skid marked underwear all over their face. But I guess you must like the smell. Must make up for not being able to hear.

 

[bonesofwrath]

Spud and Lew, we can disagree without making fun of others. Its one of the things that makes this place nicer than other guitar forums.

 

[Rick]

In defense of spud, he always says that about how to enhance tone. I can see how it could be taken the wrong way. I know he was making a joke, because if you think about it, it is ridiculous. On internet forums you just gotta let it go like water off a ducks back. Don't get in the mud. In person you can have a fist fight, but not here. Now shake hands and build a guitar.

 

[Spud]

Spud and Lew, we can disagree without making fun of others. Its one of the things that makes this place nicer than other guitar forums.

Oh geez, I wasn't making fun of anyone. I just wanted to share a little known tone secret. That is all.

 

[bonesofwrath]

Rubbing against your face? Ok.

 

[Spud]

Rubbing against your face? Ok.

You bet! You ever seen footage of JIMI or SRV supposedly "playing with their teeth" the fact is they are only doing that so they can rub the guitar on face for better tone.

 

[stratamania]

You bet! You ever seen footage of JIMI or SRV supposedly "playing with their teeth" the fact is they are only doing that so they can rub the guitar on face for better tone.

Au contraire, ma pomme de terre.

It is the magnetic allure of the effect on them that draws the players to this. Nothing to do with tone but magnetised performance.

 

[NedRyerson]

It's beginning to look a lot like TGP in here....

 

[stratamania]

It's beginning to look a lot like TGP in here....

At least no one has mentioned haunting mids yet or transparent overdrives

 

[Rick]

Hendrix getting the tone of his guitar just right.

 

[bagman67]

I find that I get a better bite with dental implants.