https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 10:39:07 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/paged/2/#post-366743 Sat, 21 May 2011 17:44:13 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Blue Jay https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/paged/2/#post-366743 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/paged/2/#post-366703 Thu, 19 May 2011 15:49:50 +0000
Looks like you know what you are doing there, thanks for the pictures.

Notes]]> Guitar Players Discussion notes_norton https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/paged/2/#post-366703 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/paged/2/#post-366694 Thu, 19 May 2011 05:39:17 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Blue Jay https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/paged/2/#post-366694 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366693 Thu, 19 May 2011 05:29:43 +0000
Nice pics, love the white with red pickguard in the second pic.]]> Guitar Players Discussion JKHC https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366693 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366692 Thu, 19 May 2011 05:18:53 +0000






]]> Guitar Players Discussion Blue Jay https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366692 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366691 Thu, 19 May 2011 04:48:08 +0000
Well, the way I see it the acoustic properties of the guitar (Fingers, woods, hardwares, strings) work together to produce the note/sound. The pickup is the electronic translator of that sound. And we hear this interpretation thru the amp speaker.

I mean.... You can hear a guitar without pups/amp, right?
Which means that the strings interact with everything else that is the guitar, minus the Electric Pups, right?
That is the sound of the guitar. And the pups just translate that acoustic sound into an electric sound :wink:

Ken]]> Guitar Players Discussion CitiZenNoir https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366691 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366664 Wed, 18 May 2011 16:44:47 +0000
Why?

According to guitarnuts who explain it better than I did:
Any time a ferous material is placed within a magnetic field, it will "warp" the magnetic flux lines. Therefore, when our steel guitar strings vibrate within the field of the fixed pickup magnet, they cause the magnetic field to "vibrate" as well. This creates motion of the flux lines relative to the coil of copper wire and generates an electrical signal.

Notice they didn't say anything about a microphone. I can mute the strings in my solid body guitar (Parker Dragonfly "Super Strat") and nothing comes out of the speakers. Because a magnetic pickup is not a microphone. Sound waves in themselves do not warp the magnetic flux lines. If I could sing into my pickups and use them like a microphone, I would consider the pickup defective in some way.

Now I do realize that the vibrating body of a solid guitar will move the pickups in relation to the strings but that movement would be less than 1% of the movement of the strings and therefore for all practical purposes zero.

The resistors and capacitors in your guitar are most likely rated at 10%, which will make the cap 10X more influential than the wood.

Add the 10% components in your pedals, amp, speakers, etc, and you can see that the 1% (at best) vibration of the guitar isn't going to make a negligible difference in tone.

The wood does contribute to the sustaining properties of the guitar, but that's another issue entirely.

If the wood makes a significant difference why does my Epiphone with Duncan pickups sound better than my Gibson which sounds better acoustically?

I admit that I could be wrong about this, but until someone explains just exactly how the wood affects the electro-magnetic properties of a magnetic guitar pickup, I cannot believe that the wood makes a significant difference in the sound.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫]]> Guitar Players Discussion notes_norton https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366664 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366648 Wed, 18 May 2011 09:09:21 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Anonymous https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366648 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366641 Wed, 18 May 2011 02:38:56 +0000
I don't think I could tell any difference, tonally, between two otherwise identical guitars - be they Strats, Teles, Lps or SGs - with different fretboards, one maple, one rosewood or mahogany. Maple is more pleasing to the eye for me, and, more importantly, feels a little easier on the fingers - a little slicker, a little less rough. But that's just me.....I know I prefer my MIM Telecaster (cost £330) with a maple fretboard to my friend's MIA Strat (Cost around £550) with mahogany (or rosewood? I know it's a dark wood.) fretboard. He likes to swap guitars when we're jamming - I do NOT!

I do like cnev's white Strat with the maple fretboard, though - that looks like a really nice guitar, even though I'd rather have a Tele!

:D :D :D

Vic]]> Guitar Players Discussion Vic Lewis VL https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366641 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366630 Tue, 17 May 2011 20:24:50 +0000
Well, while I totally *agree with Notes/Chris on the pup adjustments.... I have to say that on a Strat at least, the woods are pretty important as far as tonality is concerned.
(*I fiddle with my pup adjustments all the time.... Especially if you change amps. Though I consider amps and pups to be part of the ELECTRIC sound of the instrument. Which is entirely different than the acoustic sound where the woods make all the difference. Strings come somewhere between electric and acoustic sound.)

If you play a Strat clean, then it has a very wood impacted sound.
Even on the less expensive models (MIM's), the paint job will make a difference in sound. And that's not really cos of the paint itself as part of the tone chain, but rather because they are forced to use much better wood on see-thru finishes (Blondes/Bursts/Naturals). Solid painted guitars will usually always use inferior wood for the bodies. Sometime (in the less expensive models, I've noticed), it seems that they may not even use the SAME wood. I've played the same two guitars - one with a see-thru Walnut finish and one with a solid black finish where the black guitar felt like a toy compared to the walnut one. Sounded like a toy comparatively as well, with a super lightweight body on it.

And now I venture into the dreaded fretboard controversy :twisted:
As far as I'm concerned, if you want that classic STRAT sound, you really need to have a Maple board.
IMO, it DOES make a tonal impression.
Maple is used on higher end hollow body electrics quite a bit.... and the more Maple that's used in the body, the DRIER the tone. Check out something by T-Bone Walker to hear that dry Maple hollow body tone. On his guitar, the Top/Back/and Sides are all Maple. VERY DRY Tone.

Strats are the solid body version of that hollow body WOODY tone. So, adding the Maple board to a Strat gives it a drier, woodier tone. These are the guitars that have that signature Strat QUACK. The maple boards lend a heavy pick-attack to the sound. The fret hand can be heard a lot more as it moves around, too. It's almost 'Plucky' sounding.

Where-as the Rosewood board smooths a lot of that sound out: Smoother feel on the fretting, less of a pick-attack noise, drastic reduction if not elimination of the QUACK. Not nearly as woody, Rosewood board Strats are a lot slicker sounding.
Which isn't a bad thing. Many people want to tame the Quacky nature of the Strat.

Ken]]> Guitar Players Discussion CitiZenNoir https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/why-do-strats-sound-different/#post-366630