Some ideas of where guitar tone comes from

Henry Matthews · From: Texarkana, Ark USA

I know this horse has been beat to death but probably still lots to say about where the guitar tone comes from and what makes it good, bad, bright, warm , muddy or what ever else it may sound like.

I've owned lots of guitars and even though I've really loved them all, I've noticed several things about how they were built that I believe effected tone. For instance, the way the Emmons pickups are attached to a guitar. The aluminum plate mounted with springs I think lets the pickup recieve a lot more of the viberations of the strings. Some guitars had rubber mounts or even velcro to attach the pickups and have noticed that the tone of these guitars was bassier sounding with less sustain than the ones with pickups mounted positive and touching frame with a hard contact. Also, the guitars that sounded brighter with more sustain to my ears are the ones with more metal under the guitar. I think the D-10's sound better that a S-10 of the same brand and etc because of more metal under guitar. Lots of things I don't really understand, for instance, to my ears, the worst guitar I ever played was a P/P Emmons but also the best I ever played was a P/P Emmons (both around same year). Just wandering what some of you thought about the pickup mount making a big difference in tonal qualities.--Henry
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Henry Matthews

D-10 Magnum, 8 &5, dark rose color
D-10 1974 Emmons cut tail, fat back,rosewood, 8&5
Nashville 112 amp, Fishman Loudbox Performer amp, Hilton pedal, Goodrich pedal,BJS bar, Kyser picks, Live steel Strings. No effects, doodads or stomp boxes.

Tony Williamson · From: North Carolina, USA

I think tone comes from a lot of places...plus some places we don't think of. Why do two martin guitars that are exactly the same sound different? I think it boils down to wood density and grain structure and direction. Another idea is we need to know how to pull tone out of our instruments..I promise this is a factor. Amps and metal and all that are factors...and some guitars will always be more than the sum of their parts because of the sound waves and vibrations happen to be in resonance. My 2 cents.

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

My favorite sounding Emmons has the pickup mounted directly to the cabinet top deck. That and the early lighter cabinet and the hollow necks they only used on Wraparounds and at least one Bolt-on is a great combination.
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Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.

Tony Glassman · From: The Great Northwest

Some ideas of where guitar tone comes from........

I always thought tone originated in northern Europe and from there migrated to Asia, southern Europe, Africa and ultimately the new world. Smile

Tony Williamson · From: North Carolina, USA

i was at IBMA one year, played 20 rich and taylor banjos. one and only one was absolutely magical. i asked and they were all made the same. i would have taken it home but it was a very ornate banjo. 12000 bucks or so. but internals and tone rings were all the same. my question, can you separate tonal differences caused by electronics, and those of the guitar, or wood? or are there just too many factors...

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Mindgame: if you bought a guitar because it sounded better than all the others, in fact it was the single, only guitar you've ever played where no matter what you did, it all came out sounding great:

Would you ever get any better?

AKA: When you're standing on the peak of the mountain, there's only one direction to head....

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I'm with Tony. There are dozens and dozens of factors that probably affect the basic sound of a guitar, and some are changeable or "tweakable", while others are not. If it were easily quantifiable, I think there'd be far less variation, both among different brands, and also among guitars of the same brand. In addition, it's good to remember that we, as players, notice things that non-players do not, so the question that arises is...would you rather please yourself, or your listeners? If you had a guitar whose sound you didn't like, but most everyone said it sounded fantastic, would you still play it? A "bedroom player" might think one way, and a pro might think another.

In the end, though, I think there's far too much emphasis put on the gear, and not enough on the player. "Tone" is very subjective. Personally, I'd rather hear a great player with an average tone than an average player with a great tone.

YMMV, of course! Oh Well

Ken Byng · From: Southampton, England

Leslie Ehrlich · From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Pickups.
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Sho-Bud Pro III + Marshall JMP 2204 half stack = good grind!

Ron Randall · From: Dallas, Texas, USA

Tone is in the ears of the beholder.

Since tone cannot be measured directly, it will remain subjective.

Factors are, IMHO only
amplifier settings
strings
pickup and position, how mounted
finger picks and thumb pick

There are many more.

Until it can be measured and expressed in numbers, I don't know any more about it.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Hell, the society of acoustic engineers (not capitalized because I can't remember the name) defines "timbre" (what we call tone) as "that part of sound that is neither pitch nor amplitude" (they might use envelope where I have amplitude)
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2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I see timbre as an element of tone. Not pitch per se, but as the collection of overtones that forms the perception of how we differentiate sounds. While timbre isn't fundamantal pitch or amplitude, the pitch (read: number) of the overtones and their amplitude are certainly important factors in the sound of an instrument. In short, the timbre (or overtone structure) is what makes an "A" note on clarinet sound different than the identical note played on a trumpet.

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

The sound from the instrument and sound system varies with where you are when you hear it in the "room/sonic environment"...so perceived "tone" is a variable.

The "sound" available from the instrument/pickup(sans amp etc) can be measured/quantized by using a Frequency Spectrum Analyzer directly applied across the pickup. The varying of the harmonics with time can be seen/measured also to get the dynamics of the sound = the harmonic content varies continually.

Decay/sustain can also be measured/quantized using the FSA method. These measurements were made on 32 PSGs at Jim Palenscar's shop in Dec 2006 and have been provided previously in photo form on the Forum.

What is generally referred to as "tone" on the Forum is the sound heard coming from the amp and speaker(s) etc. into the room. applying the FSA to this, and at different locations in the room will show variations in harmonic content and ratios of same.

This "tone" starts with the vibration of the strings and the instrument...changes according to how and where the strings are excited/picked...further changed by the pickup parameters and location, and pickup loading...further changed by the amp etc, the amp to speaker damping, and so on.

These factors can be and are measured with $100.00 software...but not in the world and terminology familiar to most "pickers".

Billy Carr · From: Seminary, Mississippi, USA (deceased)

I agree with Bobbe Seymour's statement on this subject.

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