Does the back grain pattern have any affect on resonance, sustain, sound quality, etc?

[christopherJ]

You just did.....

Sorta. I didn't try to make my case by saying I am a scientist so you should listen to me. But I did slip it in...

 

[mudface]

Sorta. I didn't try to make my case by saying I am a scientist so you should listen to me. But I did slip it in...

To be fair neither did ARandall..... he simply declared his experience and knowledge that was asked for by another poster.... he didn’t force anyone to listen to him because of it.

Just that his opinion had some background on the subject.

 

[christopherJ]

This is silly arguing over. Grain pattern alone (or one piece vs multi) is not a reason to reject or accept an electric guitar-other than esthetics. Any differences in those two variables would be slight at best regards sound/tone (and would be imperceptible to the human ear).

There are many, many more factors that go into a particular instrument's sound.

 

[sonar1]

I can make an otherwise beautiful instrument sound bad.
In fact I have decades of practice at it so I’m sorta an authority.
My technique wouldn’t suffer were my fingers webbed.
I like to look at pretty guitars and decide which song I shall murder on it.

 

[Lester]

There are many, many more factors that go into a particular instrument's sound.

Exactly. Like the thickness of the finish, nitro or poly, and the type of knobs on the controls.

 

[christopherJ]

Exactly. Like the thickness of the finish, nitro or poly, and the type of knobs on the controls.

Truss rod condom.

 

[skydog]

Awesome!

 

[sonar1]

Exactly. Like the thickness of the finish, nitro or poly, and the type of knobs on the controls.

Back in the sixties we swore a leather shift knob added 5hp to an import car.

 

[theycallmegio]

Amount of back grain is equally proportional to mojo, tone, and ‘it’ factor.

 

[christopherJ]

Back in the sixties we swore a leather shift knob added 5hp to an import car.

LOL! I was just looking at a $300 Hurst pistol grip shifter for my Mustang GT with auto trans. Pretty sure I could squeeze out another pony or two with it and the right $150 tune.

 

[Bend'n'Slide]

I guess this isn’t so different to some of the other replies...

My initial response to the original question was “#*@$, NO...! It’ll make absolutely no difference whatsoever!”

My reflective and considered response is that absolutely *everything* on a guitar will contribute to its tone in some way or another but the key question is how *much* will any given feature contribute — and below a certain threshold would you ever be able to tell...?!

For sure, species, cut, and grain of various woods, body shape and pattern of bracing as well as string composition and gauge, nut and bridge will ALL be significant for acoustic guitars. All play a part in transmitting the vibrations that become sound waves, creating the range of harmonic overtones that contribute to the overall “tone” of any given instrument.

For electric guitars string gauge and alloys, as well as nut and bridge, will still come into it but the *relative* significance of woods is now so much less in terms of transmission of signal compared to pickups (s/c vs. h/b, magnets, wire gauge, insulator, wind...), pots, caps, and so on. That’s not to say that there won’t be something to it but, in the overall hierarchy of things that affect tone, if the difference between basic wood types is much less significant then to take that to the next level and consider the variation between this and that figure of maple, or this and that grain of mahogany then I suspect we’re getting into hair-splitting territory.

If we were to take a ‘57 Strat and a ‘57 Les Paul, directly swap all their electronics, play them through the *same* rig pre- and post-swap, and then do a four-way *blind* listen test for the two guitars in both their original and hybrid states would we be accurately able to pick out which was which...? Well, yes, quite possibly given that things like scale length and different bridge hardware also come into the equation.

A Lester with a full set of Strat electronics certainly won’t sound like a Lester but it won’t sound wholly like a Strat either; same for a Strat with HH pups and two volumes and two tones — although in a blind test I would fully expect any similarities of tone will primarily be down to the electronics; the original Strat and the SSS Lester will sound more alike, as will the original Lester and the HH Strat.

If we were to repeat that but expand it to include, say, an alder body Strat vs. an ash body Strat, maybe plain quartersawn and birdseye maple necks, or Lesters with very plain vs. highly figured maple tops or plain vs. complex grained mahogany backs (or even one-piece vs. two- or multi-piece backs), how much of that would we really be able to discern? Would we really be able to pick all that apart in a pre-swap blind comparison, let alone after swapping all the electronics of a full HH setup for an SSS setup? Could you really pick out an ash body Strat from an alder body Strat once both were kitted with Lester pups and pots...?

And that’s before we do something simple like change the type and gauge of strings or, even more significantly, the amp and/or speaker (or even just the amp settings...!), let alone any other effects in the signal chain.

I won’t even start to go into just how much our hearing changes with age (presbycusis) and just how much person-to-person individual variation there is anyway...!

So, my final considered answer is that it’s not an unreasonable question but, ultimately, “#*@$, NO...! It’ll make absolutely no discernible difference whatsoever!”

If you like it, if it plays well and sounds good then get it. Will the grain of the wood on the back, in and of itself, really make a massive (or any?!) difference to tone in the grand scheme of things? I very, very much doubt it...

 

[sonar1]

^^^^^^^^^^
What he said

 

[christopherJ]

[QUOTE="Bend'n'Slide, post: 9717749, member: 108470"

If you like it, if it plays well and sounds good then get it. Will the grain of the wood on the back, in and of itself, really make a massive (or any?!) difference to tone in the grand scheme of things? I very, very much doubt it...


[/QUOTE]
^This

 

[mudface]

A bit off subject.

How much sustain does anyone need?

If you need to hold a note for over 30 seconds, I’m already bored.

 

[endial]

A bit off subject.

How much sustain does anyone need?

If you need to hold a note for over 30 seconds, I’m already bored.

You um...


dropped this-

 

[danzego]

A bit off subject.

How much sustain does anyone need?

If you need to hold a note for over 30 seconds, I’m already bored.

I really like Les Pauls that have killer sustain. For a lot of what I play, being able to hold slow bends- even clean- and having strong note sustain in chords is really nice to have.

Regarding whether my playing would bore someone else, well, I play for me. I don’t care what other people would find interesting. If someone else enjoys what I do, that’s great. If not, they’re very welcome to listen to something else. I’m perfectly happy playing away at home and, hopefully some day again, doing the garage jam band whatever the heck we feel like playing thing (or “dad rock” as my friend calls it).

Great sustain is one of the things I like in a guitar.

Edit: didn’t mean that as shooting back at ya or anything, mudface. Just where I am on what I play and that I don’t think about what other people might like when I’m doing my own thing. If I was trying to write hits, that would be different.

 

[cowsgomoo]

I don't believe it makes any difference

 

[danzego]

I'll find out how it is in regards to this particular guitar today. The replacement just arrived at my house a few hours ago. It was actually the perfect day to receive it. Gibson shipped it 2nd Day Air and it got off the plane yesterday afternoon, then delivered today. The weather has been moderate 60 degrees up until it was delivered, then it got rainy and colder. Meaning it had at least 24 hours off the plane in a decent temp so I don't have to do a 24 hour warm up period at home before opening the case.

Me, I'm sitting at work right now like

 

[rfrizz]

A bit off subject.

How much sustain does anyone need?

If you need to hold a note for over 30 seconds, I’m already bored.

If you need a note to voice clearly for, say, 3-4 seconds, overall sustain matters.

 

[rfrizz]

LOL! I was just looking at a $300 Hurst pistol grip shifter for my Mustang GT with auto trans. Pretty sure I could squeeze out another pony or two with it and the right $150 tune.

The biggest should-know-better sucker market is high-end audio. These suckers will pay $150 to replace all of their plastic knobs with wooden knobs because they make the tone project more.

They'll fork out $25 for a $4 power cord, so long as you walk them down the bullshit path.