Official Luthiers Forum!

I read the quoted statements on a forum and would like to know what you think about them.
It's in reference to acoustic guitars but wanted to post it here, sorry if that is wrong.

"I think all the wood talk is way overated with guitar bodies. Necks may be a different story.The sound is up to the fingers"

Sure the wood has an effect,but how much?
What percentage?

IMO The scale length and type of pickups, as well as the type of bridge, have the most impact on the overall tone.

A strat made out of mahogany still sounds like a strat, a les paul made out of alder and maple still sounds like a les paul.

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!

Thank you but it was statements made in reference to acoustic guitars.

Well, you've quoted it on the electric forum. I build both electric and acoustic guitars and that is a strongly argued topic in both genres. The argument for electrics is that weight, density, etc do have an effect on tone - mostly sustain - but 99 percent of the sound comes from the pups. If you go back thru the recent topics on this forum you will see some discussion about what people think of wood for electric guitars.

With acoustics, I think that body size and shape, bracing and other construction items are the most important, but wood has a huge effect. Particularly top wood as long as you are talking identical bodies, but back and side color the sound. You can prove it to yourself - find two acoustic guitars from the same manufacture that are identical in every way except woods and listen to them - a D-18 vs a D-28 for example (you can find very good clips at Maury's website). I just built an all mahogany 00 and it is very different sounding from a similar spruce over rosewood one.

I'd suggest you ask your question at the acoustic subforum if you really want to know what people think.

Moderator is welcomed to delete this or move it.

As far as acoustics go, guitars are a system.

I find that I can get similar responses from different instruments no matter the back and side set.

Some woods are more transparent than others though. For instance, the soundboard radiates in all directions, not just the front. If a piece of wood is more acoustically transparent than another, then the sound will PASS THROUGH the wood and be heard! this to me is why mahogany guitars are louder in playing position to the player than rosewood guitars, for instance, as sound passes more easily through mahogany than rosewood, form what I can tell.

Since I've started adding side ports to my guitars, the response has homogenized quite a bit guitar to guitar, wood to wood.

Even so, the scale length still has a significant effect on the instruments voice.

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!

Aren't there also some significant differences in the construction of those two guitars besides the wood, in both bracing and top grade?

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!