Guitars' Inherent Sound vs. Expectations

thegummy

Something I've noticed when looking for comparisons between different types of guitars is that a lot of people seem to play certain ways on certain guitars based on what type of playing they associate that guitar with.

E.g. if someone was to play a Strat they'd play a bluesy Clapton style perhaps but when playing a Tele, they're more likely to actually play in a twangy country style (rather than just the Tele sounding more twangy itself).

Was trying to find some examples of how the Tele bridge pup sounds compared to the Strat bridge pup but I haven't been able to find a comparison where people play the same on both.

WezV

Chicken/egg

stimpsonslostson

As Wez says, it works both ways.

It's widely acknowledged that it's a sign of a good guitarist that they sound like themselves regardless of what guitar they're on- 
Keef sounds like Keef on a Jr, Tele or 335. 
Page is synonymous with the LP, but lots of his most famous stuff is him on a Tele

Sassafras

Whatever I played on my Telecaster I now play on my Strat. I've never bought into the idea of different guitars for different styles.

Funkfingers

It is fairly inevitable that players will gravitate to whatever a particular guitar does best through his or her pedals and amplification.

thegummy said:

Was trying to find some examples of how the Tele bridge pup sounds compared to the Strat bridge pup but I haven't been able to find a comparison where people play the same on both.

The old Seymour Duncan "Journey Is The Destination" audio clip CDs were made as a systematic job lot. The same session guitarist played - as far as is humanly possible - the same lick through the same amp and mics, with every pickup adjusted the same distance from the strings. 

Thus, it ought to be possible to make A/B comparisons of the Duncan Telecaster and Stratocaster sound clips. Inevitably, the physical and constructional aspects of each design will have some influence on how the session guitarist performs on the two instruments. 

The usefulness of such comparisons is questionable. Unless you play with a similar touch to the SD session guitarist, your results will not match the audio clips. I tended to use the CDs to determine which coil wind and magnet material best suited my requirements.

thegummy

Funkfingers said:

It is fairly inevitable that players will gravitate to whatever a particular guitar does best through his or her pedals and amplification.

thegummy said:

Was trying to find some examples of how the Tele bridge pup sounds compared to the Strat bridge pup but I haven't been able to find a comparison where people play the same on both.

The old Seymour Duncan "Journey Is The Destination" audio clip CDs were made as a systematic job lot. The same session guitarist played - as far as is humanly possible - the same lick through the same amp and mics, with every pickup adjusted the same distance from the strings. 

Thus, it ought to be possible to make A/B comparisons of the Duncan Telecaster and Stratocaster sound clips. Inevitably, the physical and constructional aspects of each design will have some influence on how the session guitarist performs on the two instruments. 

The usefulness of such comparisons is questionable. Unless you play with a similar touch to the SD session guitarist, your results will not match the audio clips. I tended to use the CDs to determine which coil wind and magnet material best suited my requirements.

Nice!

Have they used the same recordings for their online clips or is that different recordings?

Funkfingers

Hell, no. The JITD CD clips are copyright 1998.

Most of the clips currently in use on the SD website were recorded more recently. The performances tend to be tailored towards the likely customer demographic. i.e. Humbuckers targeted at Metal and down-tuning guitarists get genre-specific demonstrations. There is no corresponding performance of the same music content on, for example, an STL-3JD Telecaster pickup.

thegummy

That's a shame, I wonder how one would get access to that CD, it sounds interesting even though I understand your point about it not giving an idea of how anyone else would sound on those pickups.

thegummy

As well as a strat bridge vs tele bridge comparison, I was also looking for an SG vs LP comparison but the ones I found were all bridge pup when its the neck I wanted to compare 

p90fool

SG and Les Paul neck pickups sound quite distinct from one another, there's a kind of "fruitiness" for want of a better word on an SG because of where the pickup is placed. 

It's almost like a fat version of the Strat neck/middle tone, nothing like a Les Paul at all.

guitarfishbay

WezV said:

Chicken/egg

Totally.

But with common guitar broad brush comparisons you’ll get more out of it if you can go to a shop and try them yourself.

The player makes a difference too, I know my default style is going to get a different result to a softer player. If I hear a soft attack on the notes of a demo I know I’ll get a totally different result with the way I’d probably play (since by default I play a more aggressive way).

thegummy

p90fool said:

SG and Les Paul neck pickups sound quite distinct from one another, there's a kind of "fruitiness" for want of a better word on an SG because of where the pickup is placed. 

It's almost like a fat version of the Strat neck/middle tone, nothing like a Les Paul at all.

I have this weird OCD-like obsession since I found out that the neck pickup on my 24 fret guitar is placed too differently to an LP that it can't be in the same ballpark.

Feel as if I need to get a les Paul purely for completeness, don't even know if I'd prefer it,I could get one and end up preferring the position on the one I already have.

WezV

I expected at least one pendant to point out that eggs existed long before chickens.  Guess I am that guy

thegummy

WezV said:

I expected at least one pendant to point out that eggs existed long before chickens.  Guess I am that guy

WezV

stickyfiddle

I don't believe the SG/LP neck pickup thing is down to location as much as it due to each guitar's construction. An SG is naturally much more spanky and snappy - that comes out in the acoustic and bridge pickup tones as well as the neck. 

Either way, the SG neck pickup is one of my favourite sounds. It just *never* gets muddy.

There's a bit of all combinations here, and obviously no direct LP comparison, but it demonstrates the strengths of SGs perfectly for me.

p90fool

stickyfiddle said:

I don't believe the SG/LP neck pickup thing is down to location as much as it due to each guitar's construction. An SG is naturally much more spanky and snappy - that comes out in the acoustic and bridge pickup tones as well as the neck. 

Either way, the SG neck pickup is one of my favourite sounds. It just *never* gets muddy.

Yes, because of where it is.

I agree that SGs sound different to LPs even on the bridge pickup, but I'd go as far as to say that the neck pickups just cannot sound the same whatever you do. Location is far more important than a few extra turns on the winder or a magnet swap - where the string is sampled is fundamental. 

It's the same if you split a bridge humbucker on almost any guitar. If you use the coil nearest the bridge it's very bright, often too brittle, the other coil is edging towards a Strat bridge/middle tone, for a passable Sweet Home Alabama intro. 

The coils are less than an inch apart, but the tonal difference is huge.