This three hour read was a lot of verbiage with low reward. Way to read, G! On the other hand, I have a most serious question about wood. Any snickers? Immature bunch. After taking a vow to never spend a thousand dollars on any sound device, I bought a Les Paul Special which is a slab of mahogany. It has 490r, 498t pickups, the same as the $3,000 LP Supreme. What would be the sound difference in adding the maple cap to this guitar. Some say none. True? Why do they add them to the high dollar ones? Serious replies only please.

Seriously? because people like me are suckers for the beautiful wood grain-- commonly called esthetics.

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Xhefri's Guitars
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That is a true observation, but that is because after a certain intensity of sound is reached, the inner ear cells are so shocked that they are lucky to be alive, and many of them will die as a result, and permenant hearing loss will develop. Human hearing is not made to handle the intensity of sound that concerts etc usually are performed at.

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I remember when we were free!

.......not unlike Forum threads, guitar woods, and furniture woods. Which is why there's a wide range offerings and price points across the landscape. Different strokes for different folks. But beware of so-called bargains in neurosurgery, parachutes, and electric guitars.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Interesting observation from Mr. Ramone. Apparently he sees himself at the same level of talent and virtuosity as Alex Lifeson, for example, once volume has leveled the playing field.
There's no accounting for tastes, and I have no intention of trampling on anyone's parade when it comes to an appreciation for The Ramones, but I could never, for the life of me, understand how these guys came out of the same high school community, as yours truly, with the likes of Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, and Leslie West, rising to similar levels of success.Back in the day, when those aforementioned contemporaries of mine were rising stars, the likes of The Ramones would have been laughed off the stage as a comic act. They, fortunately, found themselves in the right place, at the right time, for their audience. That's what makes a horse race in this business.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I just got off the phone with a friend who is a vintage Strat collector and and we started talking "tone wood." He said that he heard that Eric Johnson made the comment that his ears could tell what type of battery is being used in a effects pedal! Ummmm, wonder if that is true and wonder if THAT is true???

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Ive built a couple strats now. both one piece bodies, I cut from a blank. One ash, one alder. with a tremolo set to float, there was a difference, but compared to how changing the tremolo/block material, its much less. Especially since, like Ive said in past posts; you have pickups floating by a piece of plastic attached to the body by the very edges of the pickguard.
Tele's, LP's, and guitars where you have a more stable coupling of the strings to the body, there is BIG difference. I have to say, I feel sorry for people who cant hear the difference, because either your ears arent good on certain frequencies, or you need a better amp.
I test guitars by playing them acoustic for an hour our so first, the louder tends to be better. I havent gone through all the posts, there are too many.

Have you thought maybe it's just you who cant hear it? I know if i turn around and put one of my strats with 2 other strats w/same pickups, neck material. I'll know my guitar.

I think a lot of the "tone woods dont make that much difference" comes from the same place as "MIM's are just as good as American made". Trying to feel better about not having a more expensive, and better made instrument.

That utterance is as well known in guitar circles as Superman's secret identity. This is why EJ is strictly a Duracell user to the best of my knowledge and belief.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I know I said I would not get into this again, but please refer to my signature line below. This is what it all comes down to for yours truly.
I also believe this is why there used to be one kind of Stratocaster, and now there are...what, 50 models? It is very good that nowadays a beginner can buy a $200.00 Strat ,which, for all intents and purposes, looks just like a $5000.00 Strat. It used to be that you could either buy the real thing, or a piece of shite made from plywood in Japan for $30.00, as was my first guitar in 1968. A Stratocaster or a Telecaster was $269.00 during Fender's "Summer Sale", and that was, oh, maybe three weeks' wages for a teenager then. Without case. MIM, MIJ, all these are far superior to a Norma or Tiesco from the '60's that looked like what it was...cheap.

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"There's an arse for every chair"

5 guitars
7 amps
4 dogs

I've heard that certain pedals, such as old fuzz faces and mxr dyna comps, perform differently/better with partially drained batteries, perhaps this is what EJ was refering to? :S

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That's why I was hoping to move things along with a new foodstuff. I have so much to say about The Joy of Marmite - but I think we must give other comestibles a chance too. We should always try to broaden our horizons.



So true.


Hi GTG. Serious answer: a slight brightening of the overall tone, no? Simple as that, I'd have thought.



Doc, I did a spot of medical tourism: I popped over to a former Soviet-bloc country and got myself a discount frontal labotomy and I must say I am very pleased with the results. I feel comfortably numb.

These people must have been doing excellent work for the KGB, back in the old days.



Hi Skilvas: Eric believes he can hear the difference between different brands of batteries. Could it be true? I want that man's ears, just to check.

Cheers - C

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No, No No!!

If this old man's memory isn't too fuzzy, I think I know where this comes from.

I remember long ago reading an interview with someone from Eric's entourage ( i think drummer, not tech,) and the claim was that Eric could tell the difference between wall power and battery and also between Alkaline, and Zinc-carbon batteries in certain pedals, such as his tube screamer. Not that he could tell specific brands apart, but nothing ever gets blown apart on the internet, i guess.

I think there might be something to this, given the massive difference in energy density, and the consistancy of voltage as they discharge. Personally I have never felt it worth the effort to test any of this out personally.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.