from Hacker News

Tested: Where Does the Tone Come from in an Electric Guitar?

by wunderlust on 5/28/23, 6:49 PM with 8 comments

• by mfragin on 5/28/23, 8:19 PM

  Wow, this is worth watching if you're a guitar player. There are so many variables in the sound of an electric, and he certainly provides a strong argument as to which ones matter the most (his "air" guitar at the end is great).

  I have played classical, acoustic and electric guitars for most of my life. Over time my collection grew and finally settled to just a handful of guitars. The most expensive was the acoustic. Next was the classical. The electric I have now was easily the cheapest of the lot (I paid 18x it's cost for the acoustic, fwiw).

  It always seemed like with electric there were just too many things that could change the sound--like information overload. Yes, you have the guitar and the string choices, but also amps and effects. With acoustic I hardly ever use an amp and I never do with classical. To me, the difference in sound from those guitars is much more inherent in the guitar itself.

  Seems like even cheap electrics, if you set the intonation and action correctly (and pickup height, etc) are a better deal than similarly cheap acoustics. Just test out the pickups first, as they vary greatly in quality.

• by karmakaze on 5/28/23, 10:21 PM

  Here's a newer video from the same guy: "The One Thing Every Influential Guitar Tone Has In Common"[0].

  [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8GiF-GVLgg

• by lapcat on 5/29/23, 12:10 AM

  This is amazing. Essentially, the conclusion seems to be that the body and neck don't matter for electric guitar tone.

  How many guitarists have broken their back with a heavy Les Paul LOL?

• by jtode on 5/28/23, 10:30 PM

  Mostly your fingers.