What makes guitars sound different?

[Clyde Mattocks]

Brooks, MSA built a steel out of 1/2" or 3/4" Plexiglass. It has been shown on this Forum before.

[Brooks Montgomery]

I remember reading that. But what about metal— An all aluminum or metal cabinet? What would that do to the tone, the sustain?

[Donny Hinson]

Though I never saw one, I heard that the short-lived ETS guitar had an all aluminum body. Many people commented on how good they sounded, but with an all aluminum body, I'd be concerned about temperature changes affecting the tuning.

[b0b]

Though I never saw one, I heard that the short-lived ETS guitar had an all aluminum body. Many people commented on how good they sounded, but with an all aluminum body, I'd be concerned about temperature changes affecting the tuning.

I had one. It sounded fine. It's true that the all aluminum body affected the tuning more than a wood body, same as the aluminum Sierras.

[Robert B Murphy]

Pedal steels do have resonant bodies, they're just not very resonant compared to an acoustic guitar. There's about a million variables: rigidity of the frame, resonances of each piece of the body, pickup variables, where you are picking the string, weight of the bar... Wasn't it Les Paul who strung up a railway rail to try to get a baseline so he could at least have a clue about which change caused which effect? You know how they built telecasters with ash, poplar, even mahogany and rosewood bodies? Everything affects the tone to some degree. The trick to a good guitar, or any instrument is not to favor one note over another and to be really efficient about pushing air, or in the case of an electric, not waste too much string energy and have the pickup in the right place to get a nice balance of overtones. Sorry, I do go on...

[Fred Treece]

You know how they built telecasters with ash, poplar, even mahogany and rosewood bodies?

And alder.

Ash is said to produce the “brightest” twang, while mahogany is the “warmest”. I would like to see a side-by-side demonstration of that. Or better yet, do one myself.

I suppose there are practical considerations when going about mass producing a guitar. Cost, mainly. Poplar and alder are going to be much easier on your machine tools than mahogany or rosewood, which reduces production time and maintenance, without sacrificing quality. And it’s definitely cheaper and more widely available lumber.

[Robert B Murphy]

Try this: divide the string length by 2, 12th fret, and play the harmonic. Divide it by 3, 7th fret and play the harmonic. Keep doing that by 4, 5, 6... Those overtone notes are all present when you pick the string. Playing the harmonic just dampens the longer wavelengths and allows you to hear the higher frequencies without being overwhelmed by longer frequencies that are moving a lot more distance and moving the guitar top more or are cutting the pickup's field more. All those overtones are present in a string vibration but the amplitude of each frequency varies as a result of the body not being perfectly rigid and absorbing some more than others. That's tone. All guitars are a little or a lot different from each other depending on design, constuction, and materials. I brought an osage orange log to a luthier friend and that seems to have a lot of promise. The resawn pieces ring pretty good. Maybe the long-bow makers are going to get some competition for it. Oh, and Fred? I think the emerald ash borer is going to make ash guitars and baseball bats into coveted collector's items.

[Fred Treece]

I think the emerald ash borer is going to make ash guitars and baseball bats into coveted collector's items.

Sad, and probably true.

[John Drury]

Many years ago I remember Steve Hinson playing an all metal pedal steel, if my memeory serves me correctly, and it doesn't always, it was an Ernie Ball?

Steve sounds good on most anything, and that was a long time ago, maybe if he sees this he can comment on his experience with it.