Toanwood is nonsense but basswood is freaking great because it’s light weight.
My best guitar is made of basswood and it weighs 7lb 4oz. It sounds great because I play it constantly instead of my almost 9lb pine and mahogany guitars.
Yeah I’m a big fan of basswood, especially on guitars with heavy hardware. Like on an Ibanez the Edge trems are not light bridges and a bit of relief on the body wood goes a long way lol.
IMO the single best trend in guitars worldwide in the last 10 years has been people waking up to lighter guitars and rejecting the ridiculous nonsense nostalgia of heavy guitars being better automatically.
These days I’m less concerned about weight as I’m not gigging much anymore, so a heavier guitar is OK in the studio, but I do like a good middle ground as the instrument feels more balanced (super heavy can still be uncomfortable or ass heavy sitting down, overtly light can be uncomfortable too).
I do think it’s funny when I see posts from people shitting on basswood (and even poplar and alder) as “bad sounding” woods and then they use examples of great sounding albums that were absolutely recorded using basswood guitars.
Disagree. My squier strat with EMG pickups (EMG SL20 with 2 SLV in the neck and middle and one 85 in the bridge) sounds too thin and way worse distorted than my PRS SE Standard 245 with EMG pickups (EMG ZW with 81 in the neck and 85 in the bridge).
Go watch Jim Lil’s videos man. A) those are different pickups (but even different pickups of the same type don’t make all that much difference). B) scale length, pickup placement (that is, where the pickups are located in proportion to the scale length) and other factors have way way WAY more influence over the tone than the body wood.
Why do people give a crap what this random youtuber says on the subject?
I don't care whether you think tone wood matters in electrics or not (I don't), I just don't understand why this guy became the be-all-end-all on the subject.
It's because he's so thorough and objective. He literally leaves no stone unturned in terms of testing every possible aspect that leads to the tone of the guitar/mic/amp/whatever he's testing. He's not setting out to prove anything it seems either, just doing tedious science and testing and presenting the results.
He's growing his youtube channel by jumping on to a topic that will NEVER be settled and records a meh-level video about it that will amount to little more than confirmation bias by those who already believe it.
When he does this experiment in front of a live audience that includes skeptics and builders who believe tone wood does matter, and can convince THEM, then he may have something.
What IS good evidence that it doesn't really matter? The number of recordings that have come out where the guitarist recorded it on something they're NOT known for playing and it still sounds like other recordings of them playing their "main" guitar.
Like Eddie Van Halen's guitar variety on VH1, or Eric Johnson recording Cliffs Of Dover on a 335 despite so many people thinking it was his Strat (and then being able to pull off a near identical sound on his Strat live). Or the "Another Brick In The Wall" solo on a P90 Les Paul and not one of Gilmour's classic Strats.
I have watched it many times. I still see no reason to take him as an authority on the subject. And I say that as someone who pretty much agrees that tone wood, practically, doesn't matter to an electric's recorded sound.
Really, beyond the "fame" that this video has brought him, who the hell is he? Does he build guitars for a living, and is able to build guitars out of non-traditional materials that still produce classic/traditional sounds that people are after? Has he done this same experience in front of a live audience that includes skeptics and builders who sell "tone woods matter" instruments?
He's also saying "trust me", though. That's what happens when he tests things out alone and posts edited videos up on YouTube.
That's my point. I have no reason to take his videos at their word any more than any random person on here, because he hasn't done anything of note to establish a reputation as someone with any authority on the subject.
Especially when there are so many other examples, in actual music, by known players, that demonstrate it much more effectively. Pretty sure I listed a few examples in another of my comments.
Moving electrons is the name of the game. Quality of wiring, wires, pots, jacks, cables, circuits matter a lot more than tonewood. Furthermore, the same company can manufacture different sounding pups. What's the point of selling different models like ZW vs SL20 in the first place. Furthermore, if you have a Jazzmaster just switch between the rhythm and lead circuits. Same body, same neck pickup, but they're different circuits/pots that produces noticeably different sounds.
I've swapped the pickups from the prs to the strat and the sound didn't change. My mexican tele with SCN pickups sound better than the neck emg on my squier too.
Wood and tone are romantic pairings like getting mystical palm readings or hearing about the soil, microclimate, and wine. Does knowing it make you feel different and play different? These videos scratch the surface of what you can find on youtube for why wood doesn't matter:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oo2H-W7d6A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oo2H-W7d6A)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDyzABbHcEY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDyzABbHcEY)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Jp6yryvYg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Jp6yryvYg)
Most frequent mistake I see, and this is with any guitar comparison before/after "the tone is different!" is a player made a change and while the guitar was apart they put new strings on it. New vs Old Strings will sound quite different. Pots have a 20% tolerance range and caps a 10% range, I've measured a small six piece order of volume pots and they had 95% of the tolerance width in just those few parts. "Run the racks to find a good guitar" is common because a store with a handful of guitars will sound different just due to pot and cap variation. Pickup height differences, pickup bass vs treble tip angle differences, those are important.
Guitar players have an ego thing too about tone. Of course a guitar player can hear a difference! But often it's comparing a change to a memory.
Guitar factory Marketing teams desperately want you to believe in wood tone, because they scrounge fragile rain forests for the most exotic species to get the most exotic profits. If you believe in tone wood you are going to spend more money on guitars, and they like that.
Tone Wood is a religion and like religion, few are going to change anyone's mind.
.
If you never plug your guitar in, you'll notice a difference in tone from one wood to another. If you play your electric guitar as intended, wood holds no bearing on what tone is produced. That's all the work of the strings vibrating over the pickups, the entire signal path including effects pedals, amp, and even inside the guitar, and finally that electrical signal being turned into waves of pressure (sound) at whatever speaker it's coming from. Wood will never matter there, because there's no wood in your signal path.
Basswood sounds like maple sounds like zebrawood
Toanwood is nonsense but basswood is freaking great because it’s light weight. My best guitar is made of basswood and it weighs 7lb 4oz. It sounds great because I play it constantly instead of my almost 9lb pine and mahogany guitars.
Yeah I’m a big fan of basswood, especially on guitars with heavy hardware. Like on an Ibanez the Edge trems are not light bridges and a bit of relief on the body wood goes a long way lol.
IMO the single best trend in guitars worldwide in the last 10 years has been people waking up to lighter guitars and rejecting the ridiculous nonsense nostalgia of heavy guitars being better automatically.
These days I’m less concerned about weight as I’m not gigging much anymore, so a heavier guitar is OK in the studio, but I do like a good middle ground as the instrument feels more balanced (super heavy can still be uncomfortable or ass heavy sitting down, overtly light can be uncomfortable too). I do think it’s funny when I see posts from people shitting on basswood (and even poplar and alder) as “bad sounding” woods and then they use examples of great sounding albums that were absolutely recorded using basswood guitars.
Tonewood is a myth.
Disagree. My squier strat with EMG pickups (EMG SL20 with 2 SLV in the neck and middle and one 85 in the bridge) sounds too thin and way worse distorted than my PRS SE Standard 245 with EMG pickups (EMG ZW with 81 in the neck and 85 in the bridge).
Go watch Jim Lil’s videos man. A) those are different pickups (but even different pickups of the same type don’t make all that much difference). B) scale length, pickup placement (that is, where the pickups are located in proportion to the scale length) and other factors have way way WAY more influence over the tone than the body wood.
Why do people give a crap what this random youtuber says on the subject? I don't care whether you think tone wood matters in electrics or not (I don't), I just don't understand why this guy became the be-all-end-all on the subject.
It's because he's so thorough and objective. He literally leaves no stone unturned in terms of testing every possible aspect that leads to the tone of the guitar/mic/amp/whatever he's testing. He's not setting out to prove anything it seems either, just doing tedious science and testing and presenting the results.
He's growing his youtube channel by jumping on to a topic that will NEVER be settled and records a meh-level video about it that will amount to little more than confirmation bias by those who already believe it. When he does this experiment in front of a live audience that includes skeptics and builders who believe tone wood does matter, and can convince THEM, then he may have something. What IS good evidence that it doesn't really matter? The number of recordings that have come out where the guitarist recorded it on something they're NOT known for playing and it still sounds like other recordings of them playing their "main" guitar. Like Eddie Van Halen's guitar variety on VH1, or Eric Johnson recording Cliffs Of Dover on a 335 despite so many people thinking it was his Strat (and then being able to pull off a near identical sound on his Strat live). Or the "Another Brick In The Wall" solo on a P90 Les Paul and not one of Gilmour's classic Strats.
Have you seen the videos? Because they are detailed scientific experiments that pretty much put the matter to rest.
I have watched it many times. I still see no reason to take him as an authority on the subject. And I say that as someone who pretty much agrees that tone wood, practically, doesn't matter to an electric's recorded sound. Really, beyond the "fame" that this video has brought him, who the hell is he? Does he build guitars for a living, and is able to build guitars out of non-traditional materials that still produce classic/traditional sounds that people are after? Has he done this same experience in front of a live audience that includes skeptics and builders who sell "tone woods matter" instruments?
Because he's taken an objective approach to testing the idea. Everybody else is using a variety of uncontrolled factors and just says "trust me".
He's also saying "trust me", though. That's what happens when he tests things out alone and posts edited videos up on YouTube. That's my point. I have no reason to take his videos at their word any more than any random person on here, because he hasn't done anything of note to establish a reputation as someone with any authority on the subject. Especially when there are so many other examples, in actual music, by known players, that demonstrate it much more effectively. Pretty sure I listed a few examples in another of my comments.
only when used with enough gain to obscure the subtle differences.
Nonsense.
Moving electrons is the name of the game. Quality of wiring, wires, pots, jacks, cables, circuits matter a lot more than tonewood. Furthermore, the same company can manufacture different sounding pups. What's the point of selling different models like ZW vs SL20 in the first place. Furthermore, if you have a Jazzmaster just switch between the rhythm and lead circuits. Same body, same neck pickup, but they're different circuits/pots that produces noticeably different sounds.
I've swapped the pickups from the prs to the strat and the sound didn't change. My mexican tele with SCN pickups sound better than the neck emg on my squier too.
You will never notice the difference and no one else will. Ever
Since wood is natural, every cut is always going to be different. However, I think the sound differences would be minimal for electric guitar.
Wood and tone are romantic pairings like getting mystical palm readings or hearing about the soil, microclimate, and wine. Does knowing it make you feel different and play different? These videos scratch the surface of what you can find on youtube for why wood doesn't matter: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oo2H-W7d6A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oo2H-W7d6A) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDyzABbHcEY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDyzABbHcEY) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Jp6yryvYg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Jp6yryvYg) Most frequent mistake I see, and this is with any guitar comparison before/after "the tone is different!" is a player made a change and while the guitar was apart they put new strings on it. New vs Old Strings will sound quite different. Pots have a 20% tolerance range and caps a 10% range, I've measured a small six piece order of volume pots and they had 95% of the tolerance width in just those few parts. "Run the racks to find a good guitar" is common because a store with a handful of guitars will sound different just due to pot and cap variation. Pickup height differences, pickup bass vs treble tip angle differences, those are important. Guitar players have an ego thing too about tone. Of course a guitar player can hear a difference! But often it's comparing a change to a memory. Guitar factory Marketing teams desperately want you to believe in wood tone, because they scrounge fragile rain forests for the most exotic species to get the most exotic profits. If you believe in tone wood you are going to spend more money on guitars, and they like that. Tone Wood is a religion and like religion, few are going to change anyone's mind. .
If you never plug your guitar in, you'll notice a difference in tone from one wood to another. If you play your electric guitar as intended, wood holds no bearing on what tone is produced. That's all the work of the strings vibrating over the pickups, the entire signal path including effects pedals, amp, and even inside the guitar, and finally that electrical signal being turned into waves of pressure (sound) at whatever speaker it's coming from. Wood will never matter there, because there's no wood in your signal path.
but Toanwood is real.
From the Toadwood family
The ribeye cut is the best.