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https://insights.spotify.com/us/2015/05/06/most-popular-keys-on-spotify/
I enjoyed this example, where someone measured a cheap set of Belcat humbuckers and declared them to be comparable to high-end replacements and original classic pickups. Then a few weeks later they installed said pickups in a guitar and found them to be unusable due to excess microphony, a property which their measurements did not cover. Somehow this did not lead them to reflect on whether the graph really did tell us all there was to know. http://www.tdpri.com/threads/belcat-alnico-v-humbucker-pickup-set-test.746000/
Well the issue here I think is that theres two big things going on.. And I believe in both of them.
I do think the wood has an effect.. I can hear it, not all guitars sound the same.... Now this is due to my own experience and taste.. What I have listened too over the years and what I expect to hear and from building guitars that I have expected to sound a certain way and don't always (and its not always obvious)... And that's the thing none of these tests can effect or predict, the individuals hearing and personal experience which I think to an individual is what counts...
I do absolutely agree that the a players style and how they play is THE most important factor here.. How a person attacks the strings and the position of where they play and their technique... But I also know that the type of wood absolutely makes a difference too.. The thing with it is these differences are fairly small and that's why we have controls on our guitars and amps and pedals.... To compensate for those differences and change the sound to what ever you want.
So while I do think there is a difference, I don't think it actually makes much difference I the real world... if you see what I mean. Its only us guitar nerd who even care.. The average person (probably 98% of the rest of the world) couldn't give two shits about all of this.
And this is why I say its all good.. Play what ever makes you happy and inspires you to play more, I think that's all that really matters...
Or again we could be like Homer... Just give up and play Bass
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YOU DO IT ALL THE FUCKING TIME.
What about a properly made, microphonic electromagnetic pickup? Y'know, like pretty much all of the most revered vintage pickup designs.
Probably the biggest single determinant of the tone of an electric guitar is how and where the string is picked, with even small variations in position altering which higher harmonics that will sound. (This is why picking near the bridge gives a totally different sound to picking near the neck.) The angle of the pick, the force used and so on also determine just what harmonics will sound.
In this video there is absolutely zero control over the picking, so any variations in sound are likely to be due to this, especially when someone expects to hear a certain sound and so can - perhaps unconsciously - subtly alter their playing in order to get that sound.
The two guitars are also two entirely different instruments, with different pots, pickups up and so on, so differences in the wood used are just one factor. Given the natural manufacturing variances in pot resistance and so on, and the significant impact such differences can have on the resultant tone, again any differences that might be heard cannot be reliably attributed to the wood used.
Anyone who puts that video forward as 'proof' that 'tone wood' has en effect is either trolling or grasping at straws. Anyone holding that video to be more valid than a rigorous scientific study where even the moisture content of the wood was controlled, is being about as rational as a creationist, climate change denier or flat-Earther!
Even with vintage pickups, becoming microphonic is a sign that they breaking down. Guitar pickups are expressly designed to not be microphonic!
These discussions are about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
Does any of this help anyone make music?
I am still collecting research on this topic in the hope that I can give some more definitive answers to the points raised, including what you posted.
Cheers!
Yup that's about 'the long and the short' of it. Each guitar might have a different 'feel' and maybe even sound differently acoustically, their sustain could also differ (as I pointed out in an earlier post). However, when it comes to the timbre of the sound coming through the pickups, it is the pickups and electronics that matter.
For one thing, electric guitars work on very different principles to those of an acoustic instrument, and what might be true in relation to the production of sound on an acoustic guitar is likely to have little or no relevance when it comes to the construction of a solid body electric. Also, as the research points out -
http://physicae.ifi.unicamp.br/index.php/physicae/article/view/physicae.9.5/116 ;
When it comes to vintage guitars, the belief that they are somehow 'special' for more than their history and /or association with renowned players is just another example of the irrational, essentially magical thinking that surrounds guitars as a fetish object. The popular term for such magic is 'mojo'.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen_Fernandez/publication/227630822_Making_Magic_Fetishes_in_Contemporary_Consumption/links/0fcfd50ef5c10be654000000/Making-Magic-Fetishes-in-Contemporary-Consumption.pdf