What! Why do do you think two electric guitars can sound different the each other unpluged? The wood qualities and differences effect the timbre of the strings. The things that are making the sounds that you hear when pluged in. You ever strumed a a string and tapped the neck, and what happens? Your causing a vibration in the strings just a wood qualities themselfs will vibrate differently and be read by the pickups.
Electri and Acoustic guitars have the same acoustic characteristics its just how the sounds of the strings are being read and the differing mode in which its being done. Different pickups, sound holes, body size, magnet ect,

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

I wonder how the variance in volume came about. As you can see the thing was recorded in realtime the same type of pickups are the same height, strings running onto the same type of bridge. Action, neck relief and pitch all the same down to the 64th.

If anything this has me flustered, im very analy retentive about the way my guitars are set up. I spend literaly days over them, particularly when it comes to neck adjustments.

Slapchop on further thought i think your right i need to swap necks as i did originaly. The only problem i have is that the 2 maple necks that fit the rosewood are 21fret. The one is MIM and the other on my hotrod which i dont like to dismantle.

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But what good is an electric guitar unplugged?

The tone of an electric guitar is affected most by the way you play it, the type of pickups and the amplifier. This accounts for almost ALL the tonal variation you hear from one performer to the next.

Also audible, but far less important, are the resonance of the body and the neck, the components that anchor the string (the the trem block in a Strat), and the strings themselves.

Subtle niceties like fingerboard material, nut composition and fret material are so far down the list as to be meaningless.

I think it was Paul Reed SMith who once said something like: ""Take a thin, 1/4" strip of wood, and now cut 22 transverse slots in it, and jam metal bars in those slots. How much of the wood's original resonance do you really think is left?"

Unless you strike each string the exact same the first harmonic wavelength and speed of its following frequencies is going to be different. As well as the amount that the guitar itself is going to allow vibration along its length is going to differ.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

See now thats where i differ in opinion. Playing style does retain top slot in governing tone. I'd argue that wood, construction and materials used offers way more to tone than pickups do, although they contribute. Slap the best pickups you can find on a £20 woolworths guitar and you've still got a crap sounding guitar. Slap some woolworths £20 guitar pickups on a good guitar, your going to get a good sound partialy hampered by pickup quality. I prefer to believe that guitar construction is much like any other form of construction and relies on solid foundation.

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Then why does a Thinline sound so different when pluged as to a solid body pluged? It must be coming form the body no?

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Jay a lot of what Mr Slapchop says i find to be worthwhile. Theres little any of us can do to validate claims of knowledge and whilst i may not always agree with everything everyone posts i consider it true until proved wrong. Either by rational discourse or simply posting a vid or soundfile.
Honesty is where this forum thrives. Ok its open to abuse but we police it pretty well ourselves with very little involvement needed by moderators and such.

Slapchops claim that bodywood does alter sound is a valid one. His reasoning that a fingerboard is a minor part of that sound too is also valid. His theory that electronics alter tone more than anything else is also sound.

I dont agree 100% with the emphasis and order he puts such things but remain open minded till proved right or wrong. Exactly the same way i choose to consider anyone's point of view.

Cvilleira's claims about wood are supported by literature and his extensive experience.
Do i choose to believe it 100% outright with no investigation? Never in life, though i know his advice to be about the best around regarding such things.

I'd offer the opinion that both are essentialy correct. Maybe coming to the same conclusion eventualy from different angles.
My opinion that its the way the whole guitar works together that defines its sound remains my steadfast belief.

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Well, my credentials don't mean anything...we all have our opinions. but I will say that i have been professional musician for over 35 years, I have owned and played (stage and studio) dozens of guitars from all makers and eras, I assembled my own main Fender style guitars from Warmoth parts, and I still make my living composing, producing and writing about music. So my opinions, while scarcely absolute, are based on a lot of observation.

And it doesn't look like we're disagreeing much. While we may have our own feelings about what order of importance in which the player, the amp, the pickups and the body wood should be placed, I think we can all agree that when it comes to getting a guitar to do what you want it to do, fingerboard wood and finish material are so far down the list that worrying about them is pretty pointless.

And while body wood obviously affects tone, I do always - and will continue to - disagree with the widely-held belief that one can predict the sound of a guitar based on its materials. You can't say that all ash bodies are "bright and focused" (whatever that means) and all mahogany bodies are "dark and warm." The response of a guitar body is a function of resonance, and that resonance varies from piece to piece, not from species to species.

How do you "tone wood" supporters explain the difference you hear from your amp when you switch from Neck to Middle to Bridge pickups?

If the pickups weren't the most important guitar part, why would we ever need more than 1?

Which of the three sounds I hear from my amp that of the "tone wood" ???

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My other guitar is a Strat.

Now to prove the mahogany maple cap bodied type of guitar isnt always dark and warm i have just the thing. which in some ways reinforces my belief on hardware not being able to make a bad guitar sound good. This things brighter than my telecaster.
Although hours of neck/fret work make this one play like a dream.

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Cool video!! I already have got used to the rosewood fretboard sound I love it so much I can recognize it by hearing it