What guitar companies don't want you to know...

[dave robinson]

I have a Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster with a pine body, it sounds OK.

[Uncle Fiesta]

My brother once built a guitar from Pirana Pine. Unfortunately I can't tell you what it sounded like as he never completed it. I suspect if I had a good look around in his garage, I might find it. Would be fun trying to find the other bits to complete it though.

By the way I haven't changed my tack in the slightest. My original point was that as the contribution made by the body to the overall sound is minimal, the effect of changing the type of wood it's made from, or even abandoning wood entirely, would be so small as to be unnoticeable. After all the only purpose of an electric guitar body is to hold all the other parts in the positions they're designed to be, rigidly enough that they can't move.

[George Lewis]

Hi All,
I don't think this thread is a waste of time and find it very entertaining. Perhaps a symptom of content retirement !
Mind you we are no where near having the auditory skill of some dedicated Hi Fi Audiophiles. They can hear the difference that "Oxygen free" copper speaker cables make and some can even hear differences from using special cryogenically treated hand crafted POWER leads !

By way of contribution, for a plugged in solid body Strat, body wood type is high on my list of things not to worry about tonewise.
This includes "boat" versus close cavity routing, 1 or 3 ply pickguards, cloth covered "vintage" hookup wire, "special" capacitor type, brand and country of assembly and body colour. Of course all these may be significant for other reasons ... I suppose.

Colour included because, especially with Shad's fans, it can have a significant influence on how a guitar sound is perceived. Possibly related to the placebo effect which is scientifically well documented .. in fact with medical trials sometimes the placebo is more effective than the drug candidates. Also anyone who plays regularly knows that one's sound can vary on different days even though nothing equipment or location wise has changed.

More generally, I'm amazed that a guitarist who plugs his solid body guitar into 10 effects pedals, compresses and EQ's the signal to blazes, puts it into spaceship overdrive then through one or more high powered amps etc etc can hear or is concerned with any difference the body wood makes.
Cheers
George

[ecca]

George this is so true..... I regularly laugh at this.......

"More generally, I'm amazed that a guitarist who plugs his solid body guitar into 10 effects pedals, compresses and EQ's the signal to blazes, puts it into spaceship overdrive then through one or more high powered amps etc etc can hear or is concerned with any difference the body wood makes.
Cheers
George"

[stephen]

George this is so true..... I regularly laugh at this.......

"More generally, I'm amazed that a guitarist who plugs his solid body guitar into 10 effects pedals, compresses and EQ's the signal to blazes, puts it into spaceship overdrive then through one or more high powered amps etc etc can hear or is concerned with any difference the body wood makes.
Cheers
George"

A good point, Ecca. One that is often overlooked as well.
Stephen.

[Billyboygretsch]

Most of the major guitar companies seem to have a top range and an economy range. Bodies / Necks are manufactured on the same type and make of computer cutting / routing equipment. Pick ups and other hardware will have similar costs unless it is something very special. I would guess the difference in COST may be about 20%. The mark up from top to economy is normally 3-400%.
I believe that buyers are checking things much closer and finding the difference in quality does not justify the difference in price.
Most modern guitars are built to much better quality than ones from the 60s/70s. The made in America is a thing of the past Chinese quality is in many circumstances equal or better. My Indonesian G&L is as good as the U.S. one I recently bought.
I still desire old guitars but not new ones. There is a big price to pay for desire

[dave robinson]

I remember once taking my MDF bodied Strat to a club meeting. It had my Brason birds eye maple neck fitted at the time and some Ironstone Vintage pickups and after market gold parts. The sum of the parts in cash was around £260 and people thought it was a special Fender Stratocaster by the Custom Shop that cost £2500. It did sound and look amazing, which again gives the original subject of this thread some credence. People were amazed when I told them that I had put it together from spare parts hanging around my studio.
That said, there are instances that the wood type can make a difference - I got lucky with that build.

[Billyboygretsch]

Strange how so many guitars are now made from basswood and now swamp ash and sugar pine. Where were these woods when Leo was starting off. How do these woods stack up against the more traditional woods. My Indonesian G&L is made from swamp ash looks and sounds good

[Gary Allen]

With strats,the wood thing is very subjective,its just like pickups and hardware,only the player can notice the difference,and in the end..everyone goes back to the egg.The gear you start out with sort of sounded better. A Placebo thing...I think

[Uncle Fiesta]

George this is so true..... I regularly laugh at this.......

"More generally, I'm amazed that a guitarist who plugs his solid body guitar into 10 effects pedals, compresses and EQ's the signal to blazes, puts it into spaceship overdrive then through one or more high powered amps etc etc can hear or is concerned with any difference the body wood makes.
Cheers
George"

A good point, Ecca. One that is often overlooked as well.
Stephen.

True, it really amuses me when someone on YouTube goes "listen to this fantastic guitar" then proceeds to play it with so much distortion that it wouldn't make any difference whether he was playing a top-of-the-range Custom Shop jobbie or a battered old Futurama!