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Post subject: Just a hunk of wood.
Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 9:55 pm
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I remember playing a borrowed CBS lefty Strat back in the day.
It was horrible, no tone whatsoever, the strings were 009's and would cut into my fingertips.
I had a fellow player who had a nameless guitar that had a sound that was better than my name-brand Strat.

I would eventually realize that brands and things like quality and manufacturing techniques would not account for the tone for a given guitar.
You can see this when you sample guitars at your local music store, there will typically be one within a dozen that will sound good.

All in all it ultimately amounts to whether or not its a good-sounding hunk of wood.


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Post subject: Re: Just a hunk of wood.
Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 10:30 pm
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A penchant for stating the obvious... ?? :?

cheers!

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Post subject: Re: Just a hunk of wood.
Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 10:51 pm
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"Hunk Of Wood" fails to include other hardware which is also a big factor in sound. I think " Hunk of Instrument" may be closer, but I'm not sure :|

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Post subject: Re: Just a hunk of wood.
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 4:48 am
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It's the sum of all the parts.


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Post subject: Re: Just a hunk of wood.
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 5:19 am
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I agree that a guitar's sound and tone is a sum of its parts. It's the wood, parts, pickups, strings and the setup.

Thicker strings - warmer tone.
Heavier - Body, generally more sustain.
bigger frets - more sustain.
good pick ups - better tone.
quality parts - better sustain.
Thinner Paint - Better tone and better sustain

Strats can be hit or miss. I've played '70s Strats that sound pretty good and some that sound like crapped.

From my own experience with '70s Strats you were playing one which had bad: pickups, thin strings and bad parts.

My '79 Strat sounds wonderful. The biggest changes: No paint, bigger frets and Van Zandt pickups. It sounds great.

It's the sum of the parts.


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Post subject: Re: Just a hunk of wood.
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 6:20 am
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Along the all the parts it's also the person playing it. There's people that can make a piece of crap sound great and those who can make a fine instrument sound horrible.


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Post subject: Re: Just a hunk of wood.
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 8:54 am
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tbazzone wrote:
Along the all the parts it's also the person playing it. There's people that can make a piece of crap sound great and those who can make a fine instrument sound horrible.


+1!

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Just a hunk of wood.
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 10:00 pm
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The guitars are indeed just hunks of wood ... until the magic elves swing by the factories in the dead of night and imbue them with the spirit of tone.

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My other guitar is a Strat.

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Post subject: Re: Just a hunk of wood.
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 11:17 pm
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The amp is also important :wink:

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