View Single Post
  #10  
Old 04-30-2012, 02:21 PM
Alan Carruth Alan Carruth is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 4,180
Default

statokatsu wrote:
"I've heard lots of Telecaster players say a maple fretboard has a more bright, popping sound than a rosewood fretboard, but I've never been able to hear it."

Let's get this one out of the way right off: on a solid body guitar the neck is the most flexible part; the thing that's most likely to be set into motion by string vibration. As such, it's probably the biggest 'acoustic' influence on the sound (as opposed to the 'electric' stuff, such as the pickups). Ebony, maple and rosewood all have different densities and stiffness, so swapping out one for another as a fingerboard material will probably effect the sound. Ditto for neck materials, such as maple and mahogany.

On an acoustic the neck is quite stiff compared with the top, or even the back (even if it's no stiffer than an electric neck: acoustics tend to have fatter and shorter necks so they're probably stiffer all else equal). For this reason alone you'd expect the neck and fingerboard to have less effect on the tone of an acoustic than it does on a solid body electric. Note I don't say 'no effect', it's just not nearly the big deal it is on a solid body (usually), and tends to get lost in other, more significant, changes.

The bottom line here is that you have to compare oranges with oranges: there are lessons that can be learned from comparing one instrument type with another, but you have to be careful.

This is, of course, also true when you compare the violin with the guitar. Specifically: the purfling on a violin is inlaid right over the inside edge of the liner, and is cut halfway through the thickness of the plate at that point. This leaves a thin web of wood, about 1/16" thick, at the edge of the top.

Guitars use wider liners than violins, and it's not usually the case that the purfling goes in as far as the inside edge of the liner on a guitar. It can happen, of course, especially with something like herringbone, or a wide shell inlay. Still, in most cases there's more wood around the edge of a guitar at the thinnest point than there is around the edge of a violin, so the binding/purfling on a guitar usually have less effect on the tone. Binding material is probably not very important either, so long as it's there. If somebody tells you the secret of good tone is snakewood binding, you can probably smile and nod, and change the subject.

IMO, the most important properties of the bridge as regards it's effect on the sound are it's weight and stiffness. All else equal, a walnut bridge of a given size and shape will weigh less then a rosewood one, which will, in turn, weigh less than ebony. They might all have about the same stiffness, although I'd usually expect the stiffness to somewhat track the density in this example (which will _not_ be true of all hardwoods, by any means).

If one may be permitted a broad generalization, a heavy bridge will tend to cut down on the sound output of the guitar, since it's harder to move. It will also tend to cut down on the treble more than the bass, which is why most people think of ebony bridges as 'enhancing the bass': the balance is shifted, and we're not as sensitive to changes in power as we are to changes in balance.

If you swapped out a stiffer bridge for one that's less stiff of the same weight on a given guitar, you probably also notice a difference in sound. I'd expect it to be in the opposite direction from the swap from lighter to heavier: a stiffer bridge would probably make the treble come out more. Again, the stiffness would cut down on sound across the board (probably), but change the balance.

In short, sure this stuff effects the sound: it's all part of the mix, and you have to think about it all. But, compared with the top, the B&S, and (most of all, IMO) the luthier, it's pretty minor. These are the sorts of details that can mess you up if you get them wrong, but seldom help a lot even when you get them just right.
Reply With Quote