Electric Guitar Wood Myth Busted?

After two months of testing, a La Trobe University researcher finds that electric guitar sound is unaffected by the body of the instrument.

Matthew Angove, a La Trobe University Bachelor of Science honours student, conducted the research by trying out electrics of various shapes and builds.

Being in the field of musical acoustics, Matthew found it unsatisfactory that very little research is done in the field of electric guitar. Compared to classical guitar musicians who tend to tinker with their instruments, it seems that most of the electric guitar research is done by manufacturers.

Guitarists are familiar with the various tonewoods and shapes that are used on electric guitars. Manufacturers and guitar players suggest that using a particular shape, or a specific wood material – be it alder, poplar, ash, basswood etc – will produce significant and specific tone variations.

Matthew was quoted saying: “I’m a player myself and I grew up believing the hype around different sounds and tones that can be created by using different woods such as mahogany or maple. I’m now testing that assumption.”

According to Matthew, the idea behind the research is that the “common” knowledge being spread by companies that market guitars go against the physics of how the electric guitar works. He wanted to find out why manufacturers and sellers are charging more for guitars made of “rare” woods. He wants to determine if material used and body shape affects the electric guitar’s amplified tone and he wants to find out why and how it affects it.

The test was straightforward, Angove placed identical strings and pickups in guitars of varying shapes and sizes and he then compared the resulting audio signals. A local music shop called J’s Music City lent him several guitars and a number of pickups. He recorded every note individually on each guitar with the pickups carefully placed in exactly the same spot with the same distance beneath the strings. Matthew then listened to the recordings and looked at the harmonic content of each note, comparing each guitar shape and material against each other.

Quoting Mr. Angove’s verdict: “I’ve only been looking at the results for two weeks and it really looks like all of them are pretty much identical. I was surprised at just how identical they were because the guitars were very different in shape. As I was listening to them, I showed other guitar players and they were surprised as well, they were convinced they all came from the same guitar … I’m beginning to think we should be making guitars out of something more rigid than wood, such as carbon fibre.”

This research validates the opinion that the string setup, pickup type and pickup placement is what causes the various tonal differences that we hear between electric guitar models and brands. This reminds me of a video by Scott Grove (not related to researcher Matthew Angove) that claims the same thing: the pickups, string vibrations and your guitar’s bridge and saddles are the parts that really matter.

Check out Scott Grove’s video: “Electric Guitar Tone Wood…Once Upon A Time”, right here:

The research is still not complete, but the data, according to Mr. Angove, is pointing to the idea that there is simply no significant difference. The research is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and more data will be available by then.

Related News:

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MIDI Guitar Pickup Guide

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The best Electric Guitars under $500

BlackBird Carbon Fiber Nylon String Guitar

76 thoughts on “Electric Guitar Wood Myth Busted?”

  1. tone wood
    Anonymous

    I disagree with anyone who says types of wood in instruments do not matter.
    Of course they matter, ebony and maple fretboards, being very hard wood, no doubt do add high end and sustain to guitars because of the density.
    The same with mahogany with a maple cap. There is a general overall sound that comes from this combination.

    BUT does it really matter? With electric guitars I think not. The type of wood does indeed effect the tone and sustain, but only makes vague and general differences, and being different is simply being different, different doesn’t mean worse or better, it just means different.

    My point being, different woods do matter some, but aren’t definitive in a guitars sound, and different isn’t a bad thing, it is just different.
    If a guitar sucks chances are it is not because of the wood. There are too many other reasons for a guitars tone to suck that have greater impact.

  2. wooden electric guitar bodies
    Anonymous

    Does the type of TIMBER (not RE) and the shape of the guitar make a difference to the sound of the instrument?

    YES

    Here is why.

    I am not a good guitar player, in fact I am ‘pants’ but I am a MASTER Carpenter and I know how wood works, stresses strains, density etc.

    1st

    Trees are a natural living things, as we are, and as we are all different so are trees. Even trees of the same species are drastically different.
    Have a look at conifer plantation.

    The wild forest would be cut down. These trees would have grown naturally for hundreds of years spacing themselves at a certain distance apart to grow big and strong.

    They would grow slowly as they have the space around them to spread their canopy out in the forest thus when cut down the annular rings will be very close together and the wood will be dense and heavy.

    Once the forest floor has been cleared then the foresters will replant with the same species a lot closer together. This will give them more wood per acre.

    The trees will then have very little space to grow sideways so they must fight to get the most light to grow strong and in doing so will shoot up at a fast rate. This will mean that the annular rings will be wider apart and the timber will be a lot lighter than its wild cousin.

    Same timber, different weight.

    Any timber that has knots or faults in it alter the strength and density of it. live knots or dead knots make a big difference.

    2.
    lets try a trearetical experement.

    Get a piece a balsa wood, 1sq foot and a piece of rosewood same size

    get two 3″nails and a drill the same diameter as the nails.
    get two guitar strings.

    Drill one hole in the rosewood 3/8″ deep and one hole in the balsawood 3/8″ deep.

    now place the nail in the hole, this might need some force.

    connect a wire to the top of one nail on the rosewood and the other end to a set of scales ( the type found in fishing shops)

    pull the scales to a certain tention e.g. 3lbs
    Does the nail move in the wood?

    NO

    Then connect the wire to the other nail and pull the wire to the same tention.
    Does the nail move in the Balsawood?

    YES

    Can you see now that if you had a guitar body made of balsa and tuned to the same note as a rosewood guitar then the action would be more sloppy than that of the rosewood guitar. This would give you less sustain but allow you to bend the notes better. The soft material will also absorb more sound waves (electro magnetic radiation) than the harder material which will reflect the sound waves, which the pick up will react to, thus making a different sound.

    3
    Guitar shape

    everyone is a different shape and size and will hold the guitar differently.
    Take for example Sid Vicous of the Sex Pistols and Bill Wyman of the Rolling stones.
    Though they had different guitars they both held them in a different way and would get a different sound from them as they are striking the instrument at a different angle and from a different position.

    Remember that these differences could be so slight that you might not notice it. I wouldn’t, I have tinitus.
    Have fun
    David

    One last thing.

    If you don’t get on with your mother-in-law then wire your guitar strings up to the mains, show her Hendrix at Woodstock and bet her she can’t play it with her teeth.

  3. The Emperor's New Clothes
    Eddy Currents

    I have been building guitars for over 40 years and just like my friend Robert Benedetto the world famous archtop guitar builder I know for a fact wood makes a very insignificant difference in the sound of a guitar. As far as acoustic guitars I know it is construction method that creates great tone and with electric guitars that is true compounded by the quality of the electronics. Case and point is the Gittler guitar ( http://gittlerinstruments.com/gittler-guitar ) I had the opportunity to play at Summer NAMM a couple of years ago has an incredible tone/sound and has literally no wood.

    In our business we always give the customer what they want but I always have a little chuckle when a customer request a certain wood because of tone. The days of me trying to educate the guitar world are over, but its kind of like the old fable of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Let people believe what makes them happy ,,, I just build what they want.

  4. I much preferred an experiment done in Europe by guitaer marker’s son. He used identically sized slabs of different wood species with a simple, transferrable single string, HW & PU as the sound source. He not only captured the results in an FFT but recorded them. The difference was audible to the human easrs and the FFT as well to anyone who can read one. See Stranberg workshop for the info.

  5. Tone Wood
    Don Hays

    I’ve been hearing the ‘whole what your guitar is made of shapes your tone’ thing for a long time. I know it’s not true. It’s the ‘Nut’, the ‘Fret’s, the ‘Saddles’ and your pickups that create the sound and tone of your guitar. People will sit and argue with me and I just tell them…believe what you want…I hope that someday you find the truth.

    But here is a question… On semi-hollow guitars, does the pickups matter? What I mean is…if you have a non-potted pickup like a Seth Lover, does it pickup a little of the cavity of the body? I know that they have a board that goes down the middle…just wondering. Let’s say it’s a thin bodied guitar that completely hollow…like the Casino? The non-potted pickups act a little like a microphone…so, I’m just wondering. I would think it does. I welcome a correction if not.

    Thanks

  6. The fact that you pointed me
    Anonymous

    The fact that you pointed me to a Scott Grove video really puts me off. The man has threatened to kill people who don’t agree with him.

    1. I'm not saying he is nice...
      Alexander

      But he does have a point (to some extent), which coincidentally agrees with the research. His character is not the one being discussed in the article.

  7. If the wood is part of the
    Anonymous

    If the wood is part of the structure, how can it not affect the tone? You can feel the vibration of the strings in the guitar body, therefore, wouldn’t the wood affect the vibration? If the foundation material affects vibrations in every other structure, why doesn’t if affect the guitar?

    1. I agree completely. The type
      Kimbee

      I agree completely. The type of wood used would affect the sound/tone of the electric guitar. The more precise question to ask oneself or test is how noticeable/audible would the sounds differ? You also have to keep in mind the electric guitar sound/tone can be altered by so many factors such as brand, type and placement of pickups, strings, tone pots, peddles, cords, amps…on and on…
      I firmly believe different woods can elicit different sounds. It’s just to what degree of difference is detected by each individual human ear? Some humans can distinguish the slightest differences in sounds, as others cannot.You be the judge! After all we are all different!

  8. Hi I disagree with Matthew.
    Zig

    Hi

    I disagree with Matthew. I have three identical strats here and they have the same hardware, pickups, strings and electronics. I built them. They all sound distinctly different. Yes, the sound is similar depending on pickup placement. But the tone, frequency response, sustain and overall character of individual vary. For example, on my green strat, I get a brighter and cleaner response than I get from my sunburst strat. The low E string is flabby and has less character than the higher strings – despite being equipped with the same hardware, strings and pickups.

    I don’t know whether the shape would make a huge difference, but wood density and other factors does effect the sound. How? I don’t know. I guess it’s how air bubbles trapped in the wood direct the vibrations. But I don’t really care why as long as I find guitars where I like the sound. I also have Ibanez and custom made guitars made from mahogany. They have all had the same DiMarzio pickups in them and, again, they all sounded different. Even my RG550BK and RG550WH sounded different. The one that weighed more had less treble and whopping bass compared the the lighter one that had a more even sound. I did’t imagine this. If you can’t hear the differences, perhaps you are tone deaf and should give up music (no offence).

  9. I can still hear a
    Anonymous

    I can still hear a difference between tonal woods, to me the wood in a electric guitar isn’t as big as a deal in a acoustic guitar, most the tone and sound comes from the wood in a acoustic, and many people forget, the guitar amp is part of the instrument of the electric guitar- it doesn’t just make the guitar louder, most of the tone is actually from the amp and the pickups, but i bet if you really tried with recording the electric guitar with NO amp at all basically straight into an audio interface, you probably could hear a difference between different woods, i can still tell a difference between a sweet les paul made of mahogany and shredding a Ibanez made of basswood by ear and both have the same EMG pickups, and you cannot get the same results from a microphone as the human ear or even tell the difference in guitar tone by looking at the wavelengths, it doesn’t work, just take a big survey with experienced guitarist would be my way of doing it. there is not much of a scientific way of saying that guitar tones are the same just by looking at little wavelengths on a screen, sound is much more complex then that. here’s a quick experiment, get a new 2014 Gibson les paul and put EMGs in it, and get a guitar off ebay for $40 and Put the same EMGs in it, plug it straight into a PA speaker or audio interface, even use the same guitar pick, and actually listen to the guitar and see which sounds better, simple?

  10. Electric Guitar Tonewoods
    Anonymous

    I have been vastly entertained by several of Scott Grove’s videos. Certainly enough for me to determine that he knows a LOT less than he thinks he does. I’ve been playing, repairing and making guitars for about twice as he has been alive, and have played music with clean tones for over 50 years, while he appears to play totally distorted music, which makes it difficult to compare tonal difference, as the music he plays is not primarily from the wood but rather from heavily saturated tube distortion along with several electronic stomp boxes, almost always with solid body guitars. He said in one of his videos “How stupid that they make archtop guitars” obviously having no knowledge of any other genre besides Rock!
    A very simple way to understand something like the tone wood question is to exaggerate it. If we were to make a solid body guitar out of Balsa wood, and another out of hard Rock Maple, we can easily see without trying them that the maple guitar would have an enormous amount more sustain and tonal color, while the Balsa guitar would basically produce a very muffled and short duration monotone sound. So, although the differences of most tonewoods are not as intense as the Balsa/Maple comparison, the different woods DEFINITELY have influence on the sound of a solid body (and much more on an acoustic) guitar. Kind of difficult to argue when it’s presented in this fashion?
    Another thing is that I can hear almost any guitar and easily tell whether it’s got Nitro/Lacquer or a thick Urethane finish found on cheaper guitars.

  11. This test isn't specific enough.
    Anonymous

    One… I’m not hearing it, seeing it, or believing it. Besides most of the time it’s not about the body. It’s about the neck. The body helps with the weight, comfort, feels and durability. The neck is what is pulling the strings and making them ring. It might not effect the acoustics but it effects the length of a note and the depth of the vibration. It’s about frequencies. I love vintage Strats because they feel amazing. Something about a vintage Strat makes me happy. The body has something to do with that. the way it wears down, the way it absorbs heat and the smell (it might sound weird), it just puts me in a zone/zen. I can’t be sad when holding an old ’67 Strat. However Yamahas silent guitar and Gibsons heavy lacquered guitars and all of these guitars, they lack somewhere. The wood matters. It makes the feel of a guitar.

  12. try it without plugging it in
    John

    I have played thousands of guitars, and the first thing I do when trying out an electric is check out the unamplified sound. I take the condition of the strings into account, and then just run my fingernail over them.
    Where is the sound coming from? Touch the body while the strings are ringing. Repeat. Repeat and pick the guitar off the rack. How does it change? Sit down with it and play (if you can, take it into the acoustic room – they love that).
    Is it deep, zingy? Dead? Sustain?
    Of course, if you’re just going to jam active pickups under the strings and wire up an 18 volt circuit, it’s going to sound compressed, slightly overdriven, and fairly flat, with plenty of sustain.
    Let the guitar tell you what it should sound like (it has sustain, plenty of bass, but could be a touch brighter, etc), and try the same model if another is available. The cooler-looking one could be a dog. And don’t let price sway you – I’ve played $100 el cheapo guitars that had magic, and $5000 boutique pieces that were thoroughly unremarkable tone-wise. If you don’t trust your own ears, bring a pro (or as close to one as you can bribe with a 6-pack).
    Most players are vain, so they jump at the opportunity to show off.
    Listen to how it sounds when they play – do they start getting into it? You?
    Literally hundreds of factors shape the guitar’s tone – including finish type and thickness (the finest tonewoods can be choked by a polyester shell) and how much of your arm is on the body at any given time.
    You owe it to yourself to experiment, but don’t ignore inspiration. If you really like playing it, you will probably sound good on it (at least as good as you can).

  13. Time to put the
    Hawkeye Pierce

    Time to put the wood-makes-all-the-difference theory to rest. Sure, a bit of tone will be represented by the wood of the guitar, but in all seriousness an electric guitar’s sound results from electronics and the strings. My point here is that if you compare the sound of a poplar strat to one made of ash you are not going to notice much difference.

    Why?

    Electronics. An SG made of Mahogany sounds basically the same as one made from Ash. The only real difference one might hear in which wood effects tone is in brightness. A Maple topped LP does sound much brighter than a solid mahogany LP. Maple is, by far, the most effective tone wood in an electric guitar. My example is a Rickenbacker. Most are made from all maple and rics are the brightest sounding electrics out there.

    So, yea, there is a bit of difference, but pickups, wiring, pots, etc have much more to do with an electric’s tone. Slap a humbucker in a strat or singlecoils on an LP and that will radically alter the tone much more than wood.

    Think about the alternatives to wood on an electric. (think Graphite or Arium) http://www.aristidesinstruments.com/ these amazing axes are made from a compound called arium which is highly resonate and exceptionally lightweight, yet they sound distinctly like an LP or a Strat based on design and electronics only.

    The notion that wood effects the tone of an electric is as outdated as Imperialist dogma.

  14. Wood you lie to me baby?
    Luke

    OK simple experiment can call bull shit on this, for me anyway. Go to your practice room mute the strings with your left turn your amp all the way up and shout at your pickups, or knock the body. Simple fact is even the best made pickups are slightly microphonic, they pickup sounds going on around them it may not be much but its enough to color tone so yeah moving pickups from one axe to the next will keep the majority of the sounds the core sounds so to speak but the overtones? That’s the pickups listening to the vibrations of the body. Construction quality, neck join type and wood choice also effect sustain. A softer wood more easily absorbs energy pumped in so lower energy notes i.e high frequencies played on the thinner strings are mellowed giving a warmer sound. There’s a lot of people claiming to disprove tone woods using basic wave physics out there but they are assuming a closed system ie pickups only pickup direct noise from the vibration of the strings. That just isn’t true, there are variables and the devil as always is in the details. 99% isn’t an exact match its near as damn it and only a few people can tel the difference in the high mids and harmonic overtones but they are there I think the problem with this argument lies in the fact that most guitar players listen to a lot of music normally quite loud it eats away at your high frequency perception so those subtle changes get lost.

  15. I woke up with Tonewood
    Brett Husebye

    Seriously.
    The pickup, reads movement of the strings. The note is fretted on a FRET, there is a nut, Tuners, bridge, finger, string plectrum or slide. I see people mentioning sustain. I’ve thought about this off and on for several years. I’m going to tell you the one place wood matters, and it is only one. It is how solidly the neck connects to the body. There is no magic earthquake coming up from under your fretboard which you shouldn’t be touching with the string in the first place. Every angle that the string touches nut and bridge matters, type of string matters, type of pickup matters, your pick matters and or your slide, the thickness and type of fret and angle of the frets matter. Wood type doesn’t matter unless it can’t hold the bridge, nut, tuners frets, and neck still. And by the way secondary waveforms don’t bounce off wood and get readded to the movement of the strings the pickups are picking up. Unless they are crappy microphonic pickups.

  16. question to all
    Anonymous

    Ever you experienced a solid body electric guitar with crappy unplugged sound but superb sound through an amp. Never experienced? Now come to the point! Tone wood does matter.

  17. Newton's third law.
    Anonymous

    Seems like a lot of scientific people here are forgetting one of the most simple laws of physics. Newton’s third law of motion. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you play an electric guitar, its pretty evident that the motion and force of the strings is having an effect on the body, because you can feel it vibrating. Just like if you were to lightly tap the body, It will make the strings vibrate. It should be obvious that any frequencies in a guitar that are more active than others will be more easily excited by the strings and show up on a harmonic series sample (provided that the harmonic is the same or in a series with that frequency and vise versa). There may even be a way to measure these particular frequencies by taking an unstrung guitar and tapping it all over the place and taking samples of the harmonic series’ themselves from different locations around the body. The body will affect the strings just as much as the strings affect the body. The footprint of the body will exist within the motion of those strings to be interpreted by the pickups and the succeeding electronics. I have a tendency to believe that the design of the body itself has a bit more to do with the spacing of the frequencies, and the material has to do more with how much all of the frequencies are “transposed” on the scale. How much of a difference does it actually make? I don’t know, but it will be there, no matter how small. Its a law of physics. You can’t escape it.

  18. First, sorry for bad
    Nevajda

    First, sorry for bad english, im Serbian. When i was a kid, i had some russian copy of fender jaguar, heavy as a train, active pups that worked also normal without battery.. well, i played with it like with toy, dismantle it, wire it diferent ways… and used her pups on acoustic guitar. I learned that when i put pup anywere on acoustic guitar body,sides, back, front.. it produces some sound, weak, but nice, and diferent, depending on place where i put pup.even with a nylon strings guitar.. That means somethin, ok? For me, wood is not question.

  19. REALLY???
    Elliott Randall

    Sorry, but with very little empirical evidence, the author is totally unconvincing. My own 50+ years of experience with the electric guitar (as player, consultant, teacher etc) lead me to believe that this fellow has wasted time and money pursuing a flawed argument.

    How many guitars tested? Which pickups used? How were the results recorded? Was this DI or amped? Was spectral analysis used? What was the control group?

    So many questions. So few answers.

  20. A lot of it depends on the
    sarah

    A lot of it depends on the pickups used. Super high gain pickups will sound pretty much the same in any wood, but vintage and medium gain allow the wood tone through. The shape won’t make a lot of difference, but the mass and resonance will.

    Many renowned guitarists claim to be able to hear the difference in different woods

  21. Hey Chris BC You cannot hear
    Anonymous

    Hey Chris BC

    You cannot hear what kind of Wood a guitar is made of. Put your money where your mouth is. I Will bet $1000 against your Ear. I Will play 5 different guitars, i Will choose the pickups, and settings on the amplifier. If you get Them, I Will pay u. If u dont, I’ll pay me. If Any of you woodbelivers Will take this bet, im in. If not- i guess tonewood doesnt matter.

  22. Scientific proof would be a marketer's dream
    Kevin Griffin

    If a simple double blind test could show that the material used for a solid body guitar made a significant difference in its sound, the marketing departments of guitar manufacturers would be sure to use that result as a selling point. I have seen no such evidence presented in any advertising. Since a double blind test would be fairly easy to do, its likely the expected results will be disappointing for marketing and thus there is no interest for manufacturers to finance such tests.

    The way I found myself to this website is because I recently purchased a used Squier Standard Telecaster and found that it was about two pounds heavier than my basswood body Squier 51. I also found that I didn’t have to put toothpicks in the standard’s body’s screw-holes when re-attaching the pickguard – which I always have to do with the 51. The wood the standard’s body is made out of is much heavier and harder than the 51’s body. I googled “Squier Standard Telecaster wood” and found that it’s made of agathis and, according to many if not most online forums, a cheap, poor sounding, light, and soft wood. I expect the wood a Squier is made out of to be inexpensive. I guess poor sounding is debatable but in 40 years of playing solid body guitars I haven’t developed the ability to determine by the guitars sound what kind of wood it is made from (I can do pretty well discerning between round-wound and flat-wound string sound or between single coil and humbucker pickup sound though). I had to laugh at the claims that agathis is light and soft. I looked up the characteristics of agathis and found that its considered as an alternative to mahogany and has similar weight and hardness to mahogany. So, there’s apparently a lot of misinformation (disinformation?) being circulated about solid body guitar body wood. Thank you for attempting to establish some scientific information on this subject.

    Regarding Jimmy Page: He played a Danelectro whose body is not even made out of wood. Before I saw him playing one I always thought of Danelectros as cheap junk.

  23. It's not quite science...
    anonymous

    Is electric guitar wood over-hyped? No doubt. Do body materials affect the sound? In my experience –I’ve owned dozens of electrics and played thousands — yes, they do. I owned (and sold) a poplar-bodied Washburn Steve Stephens because it was designed to play high gain with tight definition; changes of pickups did nothing to alter the basic sound. Mahogany-bodied guitars sound more resonant to me on the low frequencies. Maybe this is my imagination, sure. Maybe the differences are very, very subtle. But I do notice them. Wood is hardly the only factor. But in my experience it is a factor.

  24. Research different hardware materials (bridge, stopbar etc) and what wood is best sturdy for anchoring them down, plus nut material, (bone, brass, shitty plasic) then research picups and decide on what sort of sound (and tone) you are after (though different amps will make a massive difference) also tone pots, volume knobs, wire marerials, tone caps etc. then you will see the light.

  25. Agree
    Steven Stanley Bayes

    I have not done any Fourier analysis on guitars but I have been saying similar things based on theory. I have published many controversial articles in Ultimate Guitar which you all are very welcome to read.

    There is a feedback of the resonated tone back on the string, hopefully, in resonance which may improve or not the tone, mainly how long the tone sounds but this is not supposed to be significant.

    However, I think, an improved test environment would be to use a pick actuator ( a device which will always engage the string with the same tension and pattern ), the best, with programmable tension application and method of string engagement. This way the tone would not depend on the player and not only the frequency spectrum would be available but also the amplitude of the produced tones and, most importantly, would be human independent.

    High quality frequency analyser and a high quality setup in an environment without any electro magnetic noise nor mains noise in the equipment / setup and without any switching noise resulting into the audio spectrum would be nice.

    I have been incredibly happy someone did something scientific and engineering in this field. I have been calling for such for years. ( NOTE : I JUST SAY SO TO REPLY BETTER AND NOT TO TAKE CREDIT OR BECOME FAMOUS. )

    Steven Stanley Bayes

  26. I just like my electrics to
    Anonymous

    I just like my electrics to sound and feel good acoustically… makes it more fun for me. My 73 fender mustang sounds fantastic unplugged, and plugged in, it’s loads of fun to play. My 98 fender stratocaster sounds dead as a door nail unplugged and plugged in, even though the strat sounds better, I always find myself reaching for another guitar after only a few minutes.

  27. Tonewoods and metal parts
    Rod

    Tonewoods is crucial for acoustic instruments. But for an electric guitar, tone is a result of electro- magnetic field created by string vibration that is captured by the pickup. So there is little (or none) influence from the wood. Wood vibration can´t be directly captured by pickups. One may argue that wood vibration can reverberate back to the strings. But if that really affetcs tone in a significant way, there seems to be no evidence.
    Other subject is bridges and stop tail. From my experience they can really influence the tone since they play some efective role in string vibration. I one of my Gibson Les Pauls, a very dark sounding 1981 Custom (from the Norlin period), I swapped the stock stop tail for an locking alloy one and the results was a far live and brighter tone and some extra sustain – I was even rather disapointed because it sounded very much like my 58 VOS. Taking this example one may assume the if guitars may sound diferently (considering that same pu´s are installed) these parts do play an critical role. I also wonder if the wood mass stability in a solid body which is different from a semi solid archtop´s may influence the stability of those metal parts in a guitar, thus influencing tone. Everything influences everything but some in a more critical way – or like Orwell once wrote they “all equal but some are more equal than others” .
    Rod

  28. Science as a religion...
    BigB

    Funny how some peoples don’t understand science and have religious faith in whatever is labelled as “scientific”.

    Let’s be serious : all we have so far is a student posting about a unfinished study and stating that he failed to measure any difference depending on the guitar’s material. Please re-read carefully : “failed to measure any difference” doesn’t mean that there’s no difference, just that, if they do exist, the guy failed to measure them, which is the only point that has really been proved so far.

    On the other hand we have the empirical evidence: thousands of guitar players that moved a guitar pickup from one guitar to another and found out that it didn’t sound the same. For quite a few of those we can attribute (at least part of) the difference to other factors like strings, scale length, hardware etc, but we really have cases where the guitars were close enough (same scale length, same hardware, even in some cases the very same wiring harness getting transplanted with the pickups).

    Sorry but when my fridge is obviously freezing cold and the thermometer says it’s not, I trust what I see and do not take what the thermometer says as “scientific evidence” – I only take it as a strong indication that my thermometer might be broken.

    Oh and BTW it’s almost one year later and we’re still waiting for the finished “research” to be published – if it is then please people post the link so we can comment on more than a short one-year-old news article.

    NB : Yes of course, there’s _also_ a lot of marketing bullshit, and being AAAAAAA flamed doesn’t by itself make a maple top sound any better (or worse) than a plain one – it only costs more. As far as I’m concerned I don’t own any “squillions dollar” guitar because you don’t need to spend big bucks to find a good sounding / good playing guitar, and once you have it swapping hardware, electronic and of course pickups will make most of the difference (as well as strings and a correct setup obviously). This still doesn’t mean the guitar’s material doesn’t make any difference.

    And until we have the published “study” paper, this will be my last comment here, please dear “science” zealots keep on putting your own religious faith wherever you want.

  29. Electric guitar marketing is
    Anonymous

    Electric guitar marketing is a religion. Just like religion, it is based on faith. Like religion, it hates science. Those who’ve wasted squillions of dollars on the hype are eaten alive with cognitive dissonance to the point of hating anyone who should challenge their views. Like a church, the companies that sell this theology want to reinforce it in the young and gullible, before they reach and age to utilize logic. Like religion, it reinforces insecurity in beginners by constantly berating them with ideas that their ears aren’t good enough yet to accept the difference. Like religion, it protects itself because a lot of money stands to be lost if it’s parishioners were to wake up to the truth.

  30. Sounds like fact vs opinion here
    Davey

    They guy has results based evidence and some of the opinion in the replies is pure speculation and somewhat defensive…

    Where is the proof that woods makes any difference to an electric guitar?

    1. You see, the believers don't
      BR

      You see, the believers don’t have to have evidence — they’re allowed to rest on thousands of other believers who are, themselves, standing on more believers…and how dare you bring up stuff like “science” and “facts”?!?! In other threads I saw people voicing personal attacks on the guy who did the research, questioning the quality of the university — and none of them had even fully read the article SUMMARIZING the PRELIMINARY COMMENTS about the research (which hadn’t been finished or published yet). I found a company showcasing two different wood versions of one of their production models, including nearly note-for-note identical audio samples — great reference. With desktop tools I was able to overlay the two pretty easily and demonstrate visually what I could tell aurally — imperceptible differences, and none that you could trace to qualities in the wood the way believers like to believe. But then *I* started getting the personal attacks on my intelligence, knowledge of guitars, ability, etc. Like you, I dared to ask for proof…

    2. """ They guy has results
      bigb

      “””
      They guy has results based evidence
      “””

      With the “right” setup I can easily provide “results based evidence” that red and orange are the same color. You have to know what you are measuring and how to interpret the result to come with any meaningfull “result based evidence”.

      “””
      and some of the opinion in the replies is pure speculation and somewhat defensive…

      Where is the proof that woods makes any difference to an electric guitar?
      “””

      Unless you are color-blind you don’t ask where are the proofs that red and orange are “different colors” (are they, really ? According to which metric ?).

      1. Ok, deal -- please produce
        BR

        Ok, deal — please produce your results based evidence that red and orange are the same color. Unlike guitar tone, the color spectrum IS part of established science, but if you want to refute it with your “right” setup, we’re all ready to watch/listen. Since you said it would be easy, I’m really excited to see — to see you refute hundreds of years of established science, to see you take on Newton…go!

          1. Did you take a science class in high school or college?
            SteveC

            If you measure to a low enough number of sig fig’s they could be shown to be the same wavelength based on “evidence”.. much of what passes for research is extremely subjective. Scientists are people too.

            1. Have you taken a logic class yet?
              BR

              I guess if you watered down the concepts of “results” and “evidence” enough you could do that…but we are trying to argue about something substantive here…

  31. Well, this is my experience:
    Jimi

    Well, this is my experience: I had two Gibson les paul BFGs at one stage (I recently sold one) I had no idea what wood meant to tone. One was a mahogany body, maple top, maple neck, ebony fingerboard. The other was mahogany body, maple top, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard. They both had identical pickups, hardware, setup and tunings for consistency. The one with the maple neck and ebony board was ALWAYS brighter sounding to where it was annoying. I looked online to try and find out why and found it was due to maple and ebony having brighter tone…

  32. Although i can't tell if the
    Anonymous

    Although i can’t tell if the finds are right or wrong i have been wondering how the player reacts to wood itself. Basically i think that at some level if the player knows that he is playing a full mahogany body neck combo his playing would reflect the expected qualities (mids,gnarl,etc.). I dont think that this information lies in some sonic spectrum analysis.

  33. Teuffel Birdfish.
    Roger G Lewis

    Tone wood A/B
    Scientific analysis of Alder and Maple tone bars on Teufell Birdfish.

    This experiment can be replicated yourself at home using the following free trial software.

    http://www.faberacoustical.com/products/signalscope_pro/

    Sound files from Teufell.

    http://www.teuffel.com/english/sales/soundcheck.htm

    Summary.

    A/B of Teufell Birdfish.
    Birdfish-Alder-HB3_Bridge-01
    From Warmouth.
    Alder (Alnus rubra):

    Alder is used extensively for bodies because of its lighter weight (about four pounds for a Strat® body) and its full sound. Its closed grain makes this wood easy to finish. Alder’s natural color is a light tan with little or no distinct grain lines. It looks good with a sunburst or a solid color finish. Because of its fine characteristics and lower price, Alder is our most popular wood and it grows all around us here in Washington State. The tone is reputed to be most balanced with equal doses of lows, mids and highs. Alder has been the mainstay for Fender bodies for many years and its characteristic tone has been a part of some of the most enduring pieces of modern day contemporary music.

    Birdfish-Maple-HB3-Bridge
    From Warmouth
    Maple
    (Acer saccharum-Hard Maple):

    We offer two types of Maple: Eastern Hard Maple (hard rock maple) and Western Soft Maple (big leaf maple).

    Hard Maple is a very hard, heavy and dense wood. This is the same wood that we use on our necks. The grain is closed and very easy to finish. The tone is very bright with long sustain and a lot of bite. This wood cannot be dyed. It looks great with clear or transparent color finishes.
    Soft Maple
    (Acer macrophyllum):

    Western Maple grows all around us here in Washington state. It is usually much lighter weight than Hard Maple but it features the same white color. It has bright tone with good bite and attack, but is not brittle like the harder woods can be. Our flame (fiddle-back) and quilted bodies are Western Maple. This type of maple works great with dye finishes.
    http://www.warmoth.com/bass/Options/WoodDescriptions.aspx

    YOU TUBE VIDEO

    See full Blog here.
    http://letthemconfectsweeterlies.blogspot.se/2012/11/tone-woods-and-solid-guitars-debate.htm

  34. Scott Grove
    Johnny C.

    Scott is a wacko.
    If you disagree on any of his thoughts and say so, even in a pleasant way, he will delete you from his YT channel and have nothing to do with you.
    A guy who seems to be a cool “Guitar Dog” is a closed-minded person.
    Does wood make a difference in an Electric Guitar? Yes…it affects the Tone and Feel.

    1. Scott Grove
      Scott Grove

      Scott Grove here. Actually, I’m pretty much Einstein brilliant on this subject. People such as Bethoven, Van Gogh etc. were all considered mad until they were finially found brilliant. The same will happen with me. The OP is 100% on the correct track. Those posting comments are simply rejects from useless guitar forums who are regurgitating misinformation handed to them by Guitar Center employees. Yes, I block people who waste my time or question my truths. I have no time for such nonsense. I’m here to educate, not to be scrutinized by 12 year old gamers and skaters. I have much to contribute to the world and it will all be recognized in good time.
      Carry on.

      1. wood
        Stephen McBride

        Well said Scott. Im sick to the back teeth of ‘perfect pitchers’ and folk with’ super hero’ hearing. If like me one likes to sit in ones room and tinker away on a well set up electric through a quality amp on a Clean chanel, i find all my electrics from the £60 tele built from parts to the Gibson SG standard that plays like a dream, in fact they both do. But pub gigs, or stadium gigs through moderate to huge riggs using all sorts of distortion and crowd noise to factor in, is that SG going to sound different to one built of Sycamore? Doubt it. I repair instruments for a living so have played hundreds. My amp is quality, so all guitars well set up sound pretty good. But folk come to me wanting pickups changed, spend hundreds and go home and stick it through theirr 20w moddeling practice amp??
        I want to commision someone to make me an exact copy of my 2017 SG which has a wide solo neck and a compound radius neck, in a cheap non endangered wood like sycamore or hawthorn or any old stuff and kit it out with 57 classics which to my inferior ears sound the ‘Dogs Bollocks’. (I had previous an SG with burstbuckers, sounded totally different as I kept both and tried swapping over all the time over the period of a month till I was sure which I prefered)I can repair them but not skilled or have the tools to make a quality copy. It all kings new clothes crap we are being sold, why folk cant see that Ill never know.

      2. Paul is right somehow
        Thales

        Dear Scott, I am very curious about your research results and much inclined to agree with your position. I am a pragmatic person who always seeks proof on lots of BS being told by some luthiers, and on chat and forums. Since data about how woods affects tone on SOLID body guitars are very rare, I really would like to see the procedures and results of your testing, hoping that you achieve a concrete final conclusion. Until then, I am still “accepting” that wood would have some influence on sustain and tone (less on this one), but it should affect so little in the whole instrument that it is indistinctable by human ears.
        However, I must agree with Paul here. Just as an advice, take care about your attittude because it can mine your thoughts and logic thinking, making it harder to have solid conclusions.
        Good luck.

      3. Hello Scott, Although you make a point that people will mess with you just to get a rise. But to shut people down and not create a thoughtful discussion on a topic that you bring up is not genius. It exhibits a closed minded approach to things. When someone thinks that they are right and there can be no other options, there is no genius in that. it’s similar to a teacher saying “because I said so” and gives no rational behind their thought process. You give some great insight on purchasing guitars and can be humorous at times, but (imho)your arrogance and thinking that your opinion (opinion is key word here) is paramount just turns people off. I used to watch your videos years ago, but no longer do because you don’t share in a discussion that could end up enlightening your viewers as well as (maybe) yourself. Peace, Paul

  35. This is pretty much BS.
    Anonymous

    This is pretty much BS. Simply try this, get two different guitars with different shapes play something on both UNPLUGGED. And what do you hear? They sound different. Your ears can tell. Then plug your guitars in. Assuming they have the same pickups, they will still sound different. The pickups are essentially capturing the vibrations of the strings and turning them into signals sent to the amplifier. If the guitars sound different unplugged, what makes you think they’d sound the same when they’re plugged?

    I can’t believe this university is letting their student do such a pointless research. They probably gave him a budget too, what a waste of money. People hear differences, you don’t need a signal analyzer to compare the notes that you play on a guitar. Your ears can tell and they sound different.

    1. No, it is not BS. Because
      Anonymous

      No, it is not BS. Because two guitars sound different unplugged, it does not mean it will sound different when plugged in. If you read the paper, you will see a big difference in spectrum of sound coming from mic (accoustic sound) and almost no (error margin) difference in electric sound.
      This is because how pickups work. Pickups don’t pic guitar’s resonance, only string movement. If you record a guitar a few times switch body to a different material as that student did, record it again few times with the same electronics, hardware, tuning, string height etc. and then you shuffle the recordings, you won’t be able to tell which body was used to which recording.

    2. "UNPLUGGED" Um, we're
      Anonymous

      “UNPLUGGED”
      Um, we’re talking about electric guitars here. IF you want to step on stage with one UNPLUGGED, go right ahead. I on the other hand will plug mine in and that sir is where the issue exists. On an amplified guitar, the wood make no difference. Strings, bridges, nuts and pickups. That’s what it comes down to.
      Nothing more, nothing less.

    3. I'm with you. One hundred
      Anonymous

      I’m with you. One hundred and ninety pounds of pudding proof blubber mass is not supposed to resonate. Just the differences in semi-hollow guitars and solid body guitars in enough to say that mass does make a difference. Leo Fender is rolling in his grave.

  36. Physics
    Anonymous

    It comes down to how the Physics of an electric guitar is heard. The pick up is how the signal is transferred which are electromagnets. Its effectively a bar magnet wound with copper wire. The magnet slightly magnetizes a part of the conducting string (guitar string) and as the string vibrates it creates a magnetic field that opposes the established equilibrium. “Mother nature” tries to counter this and produces an electric current in the copper wire to create a magnetic field to counter the magnetic field created by the vibrating string. This current is sent to your amplifier and converted back into sound. All of the sound is effectively created by the electronics. How would the casing of these electronics affect the sound?

    1. As Paul Smith likes to say,
      Anonymous

      As Paul Smith likes to say, “Every affects everything!” Scale length, design, wood density, hardware, pickups, and build quality all factor into the equation. While it is true that the sound produced by an electric guitar is the result of ferromagnetic strings passing through a magnetic field, the signal that is produced in the magnetic field is a collection of frequency components that mirror string vibrations (fundamental and harmonic components); therefore, anything that affects string vibration affects the tone of an electric guitar.

      Our friend in the video conveniently forgot to discuss the transfer function-related aspects of an electric guitar (i.e., it’s response curve). Different guitar designs have different response curves. While it is true that a large part of the response curve of any given electric is bounded by the frequency response and operational characteristics of its pickups (a.k.a. magnetic transducers), a Strat with a rosewood fingerboard does in fact have a different response curve than a Strat with a maple board. The difference can be felt and heard. The difference is due to the fact that a maple fingerboard attenuates high frequencies less than a rosewood board. As the alternating current signal that is produced by a guitar is a reflection of the frequencies at which the strings are vibrating and their associated amplitudes, anything that affects the amplitude of a frequency component affects the tone of an instrument when plugged into an amplification device.

      Q.E.D.

      1. response curves
        Rico

        So do you have any response curves for a guitar with a maple fret board and the same guitar with a rosewood fretboard. Show us the data or least name your source for this information.

    2. The strings are attached to
      Anonymous

      The strings are attached to the structure, which absorbs part of the energy of the string… so yes, the material affects the sound. Different materials absorb energy at diferent rates.

  37. Two almost identical guitars
    Fionn

    I have two guitars which are the same company and model type. They are virtually identical – shape, pickups, neck, etc. – yet they sound different. One is made of ash and has a deeper, thicker sound. One is basswood, and the sound is brighter. Explain?

    1. Because you want them to.
      br

      Because you want them to. Funny that your explanation of their tonal qualities is the opposite of how luthiers describe the woods’ tones…

      1. You're forgetting that wood
        Anonymous

        You’re forgetting that wood is not altogether consistent and can sometimes produce tonal properties that are associated with it. Sometimes Mahogany can end up sounding bright instead of warm for example. His comment about the Ash and Basswood could be valid based on that.

  38. ...and how good are your ears?
    Matt

    First off, rare woods cost more, because they are rare, but granted, they don’t necessarily sound better.
    Secondly, yes the electronics do contribute a significant part of the tone, because that’s how the tone is produced – by the magnetic reaction between the string and the pickup, which then passes to the electronics in the amp, and not the wood directly acting on the air like an acoustic. So of course the wood has only a minor effect after the signal has passed through valves, coils, pickups, transformers and what not.
    Thirdly, “looking” at the harmonic content is pointless, it tells you nothing. Your ears are the only credible judge, and at low gains electric guitars have very little harmonic content which is why they sound a bit “dead” next to an acoustic guitar’s complex signature, and probably why many of them sound the same to start with.
    However, having said that, when you crank the gain up on say a 5150, there’s a hell of a lot of harmonic content generated and even minor differences like the tonal quality of the wood does start to come through, and if you can’t hear the difference, then fine, buy a cheap guitar if you must, but it’s not the wood that makes guitars expensive – it’s the craftmanship.
    A machine can make a guitar far more accurately than a man can, but it can’t spot, or cope with imperfections, so the love and passion a quality craftsman puts into an instrument is tangible, but man hours cost much, much more than machine hours, and that’s what you actually pay for.
    Thing is, given a couple of minutes to think about it, most experienced guitarists would already come to these conclusions, so this experiment seems to have been commissioned by the Ministry of the Bleedin’ Obvious…

  39. Amen. Fancy wood looks pretty, but tone?
    Winston

    Eddie Van Halen was notorious for picking up cheap guitars and upgrading the pickups, electronics and other stuff. No way is my ear better than Eddie’s. I’ve built a nice hollow body telecaster clone from parts I picked up on eBay. The key to getting it to sound the way I wanted it to sound was a good pair of matched pickups. I have a friend who makes some great sounding cigar box guitars. I can understand the asthetics of a quality guitar, and there is a lot to be said for precision manufacturing to aid in playablity. The reason I forked out a lot of money on my main axe is it feels right in my hands. It uses high quality parts. The exotic wood look pretty, but the wood probably contributes to the wieght more than the tone.

    I do wonder about how wood contributes to sustain. I would think a lighter weight wood would be more flexable, which I’d think would tend to reduce sustain. I could be wrong. Carbon fiber might achieve the sustain without the expense of a dense hard wood. Harvesting slow growth trees is not sustainable, but I wonder about the environmental cost of manufacturing carbon fiber.

    1. It's funny that you mention
      Anonymous

      It’s funny that you mention Eddie Van Halen, he modified a Ibanez Destroyer back in the eighties by cutting a chunk of wood off it (google EVH shark) and he was displeased with the tone afterwards. He posed with the guitar but never played it again.

  40. Not Enough Variables to Test Properly
    Adam Smale

    Yes, a tend to agree that the body wood(s) probably don’t add that much to the tone, but more for sustain; the same thing goes for the shape. However, his testing only swapped out the pickups. There are so many variables to change to really do a proper test. There is the neck, the nut (for open strings), bridge materials (plus, size, shape, and style), even string gauges for that matter. On top of pickups tested, there is electronic components used, cable, amp, speakers, etc.. We ALL have to consider that stuff. Then not too mention personal taste. How do you quantify that?

    I think some people are getting confused with acoustic vs. electric guitars in the previous comments. Far as I know electric guitars have not been around for 200 yrs. I think you have somewhat less control on tone with an acoustic guitar. When you build an acoustic, you follow certain principals, what has been done before, but half of it is a guessing game. You never know how it’s going to turn out until you string it up and hear it. Both electric & acoustic guitars, we’ve all tried out 10 exact models, then there is this one that stands out to you. The one that sounds “better” to your ears. I believe with electric guitars you have way more ability to “tweak” tones from them.

    Maybe the guy is right. But for me there needs to be and all-inclusive testing of all the different variables before the a conclusion can me made. The thing is, it’s very extensive and very time consuming…Who’s going to do all that?

    1. Actually, the fewer
      =)

      Actually, the fewer variables, the more conclusive the result. If we’re testing the effects of wood on tone, ideally, there should be only 1 independent variable (wood type) and 1 dependent variable (tone/timbre, possibly from a spectrogram).

      The other variables should be controlled and made constant. For example, body shape and make, strings, pickups & their positions, etc. should all be identical for all samples. Since there’s a limit to how much we can control, we then do control experiments by testing guitars that are as identical as possible and measure the differences in tone. Later, when we compare guitars that are identical except for wood type, if the differences in tone are not significantly greater than in our control experiments, we know conclusively that wood type does not significantly affect tone, and vice versa.

      However, if you toss any guitar in the mix, control the strings, pickup placement and playing, and still get indistinguishable tones, that pretty much says that wood type along with all the other free variables (like body shape, body finish) does not affect the tone, as long as the electronics and strings are identical.

      Personally, I do believe the mechanical aspects do affect tone, but the effects diminish the further the part is away from the string’s contact points. So the bridge, pick and frets which are in direct contact with the strings have the greatest effect (other than the strings themselves) on tone, but more so the sustain. Any vibration that goes to the body has to pass through the bridge or fret first, anyways.

      The electronic side is already discussed by others.

  41. Well, what can we say?
    J. Haskins

    Except that there are many, many players and electric guitar lovers out there who will probably have a difficult time grappling with this current and perhaps ultimate hypothesis of these experiments, for the reason that many have invested thousands upon thousands of $’s or any other respected currency for guitars they believed to be of exceptional wood material quality. I’ve always believed that the real true sound of an electric guitar is the electronics ( i.e. pickups, control pots, selector switches ect…) coupled with decent tuning machines, and of course most importantly, the individual hands whom plays the guitar. The guitar plectrum (pick) also is a crucial factor, in my opinion, and the materials, shape, thickness, and even right down to the plectrum’s color, can make a world of difference to a guitar tone on electric and acoustic guitars. And don’t forget strings and string quality. But when speaking about guitar wood materials, why do players and collectors spend thousands more for old catalouge guitars that are made of plywood, and masonite (i.e. Silvertone, Danelectro, Kay, ect..) rather than shelling out thousands less for guitars made of AAA grade woods that one would find on premier models such as Gibson, Fender, and Paul Reed Smith? Because not only are those old catalouge guitars collector’s items themselves by name, but they were constructed with arguably exceptional and innovative electronics that produced sounds like none other.

  42. Electric Guitar Wood
    Chris B.C.

    Hello !
    The wood that guitars (including electric guitars) are made of is vital to the resulting sound. So does the shape, wood density and type of construction.
    Beside my classical training, I have been playing, studying, building and customizing guitars for more than 20 years, and I can easily tell the difference between guitars made from different kinds of wood. It’s a question of resonance, string elasticity (that defines the notes’ attack and vibration), sustain, harmonics, overall timbre and much more. The researchers’ idea of ‘turning around what 200 years of guitar building teached the world luthiers’ is either a little misinformed, because they probably measured quasi-invariable parameters (not the ones that are really different), or simply ego-busting in their behalf.
    Anyway, no professional luthier, and what’s more significant, no experienced musician and/or guitar player will agree with this, and for very solid reasons.
    If these researchers would consider spending their lives loving guitars, only then they’ll have a complete picture. No man-made device can equal the human hearing, and, I remind you, a musically trained ear is an absolute reference – a God given soundfork.
    Yours truly, Chris

  43. Guitar wood myth
    Joh Lang

    Hi From New Zealand
    We are using the oldest wood for sure! 35000 years old and designed our own low impedance pickups + overdrive a worlds first!
    After years of research Im happy to see you stand up for all the bull about wood!
    I must admit that a mahogany body gives a bit longer sustain than a bass wood that most Asian makers are using, including a $4000 Ibanez Jam and so on.
    What matters is pickups pickups and pickups!! and most are also the same and al the hype on Vintage and Wood stocks and Blues specials is also hype ! We just replaced today! in brand new Fender $1200 made in Japan the pickups and you see the same cheap pickups and switches as in the $200 Squire guitars.
    We can buy the complete pick guard for $15 in China.
    We can prove you right and thanks for pointing this out!!
    When we put our pickups on a $100 guitar or a $ 10.000 guitar the sound is the same
    See the Beer crate test! with 2 of our pickups.
    on: http://youtu.be/31x_xZI66RM
    and on : http://youtu.be/oH6ufnEDFUY

    See the pickups page http://www.langcaster.com/Pickups/ and the all a bout our pickups Anthology so you know we are serious , see http://www.langcaster.com/Pickups/about-pickups.htm
    Hope this helps and you may use any video and info on my webste if you like.
    Love to here from you
    Kind regards and thanks for your article
    Joh Lang.

    Ps maybe one day you do the same on pickups as that is also hype in s a big way! some stand out like Kinman and EMG but most pickups made in china and Korea cost you $10 for a set of humbuckers .

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