Tone Wood Tester: One guitar to test them all

Here's the more scientific follow up to my study. Check out the follow up videos here:

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be good,
Tim

[slimjim]

what a sweet kid im glad that you not only made him feel included but that you kept his input in the video, i hope to be a father like you someday

[theharvardyard]

Message heard loud and clear. Every time I play onstage I will make sure I am resting my guitar against the stage wall for maximum tone.

[timsway]

To save you some reading here's the consensus of comments: Some people hear a difference, some don't. Difference hearers agree they are small and a lot of you want me to make a strumming machine and record spectral analysis (pedants! lol) Here's the conclusion I hope you reach with me: Don't get suckered in to paying more for or thinking a guitar is inferior if it isn't made of specific wood. PLEASE think twice about where the wood comes from, who had to cut it down, how fairly they were paid, the environmental impact etc. Remember, elephant ivory used to be cool to use, too... Be on the right side of history.

[Tea-Rex]

8:29 Baseline
8:53 Mahogany
9:16 Poplar
9:37 Swamp Ash
10:05 Canarywood
10:25 Reclaimed Doug Fir

[DDWyss]

If you wanted to get super extra nerdy, you could build a cradle to hold each guitar, with a spring-loaded plectrum arm that could strum the strings in the identical way, with identical force every single time. That might help the internal validity of your sustain and resonance data. Great video, thanks so much!

[garrettodonnell]

If there's one thing I'm sure about after watching this video, it's that tonewood won't save you when the guitar is out of tune. :P

[PerryCrafty]

I love that you had your son come on and explain his perspective and theory. I applaud your parenting and craft. I aspire to be a luthier myself.

[potatoheadhaoy]

I think the people complaining about strumming position and velocity/force kind of justify the point that you shouldn't care that much about tonewood. If you're a human being playing the guitar and human error makes such an impact on the results, it kind of negates whatever difference there is in tonewood to begin with.
I'm not saying there isn't a difference, I'm just saying if there is a justifiable difference between two types of wood, it's got to be obvious enough that the human element is being outweighed by it. Otherwise, all you have to do is correct for the difference with technique.

[theburkett]

This video gets a like for the interaction with your son alone. I love that you invited him in and didn't shew him away! Good job in the Dad department!

[TonecrafteLuthiery]

Dude you gotta patent the neck and body blank shapes because this is genius. You could sell necks with all the critical components and body blanks for tone separately so buyers can pick their preferred tone wood. Honestly it really is genius and it's got commercial potential.

[FrankAndTinaOfficial]

Thanks for this! You just proved what I've been thinking for 30 years. I've been playing daily since 76 and I can't tell a difference from wood alone on electric guitars. Acoustic is totally different! The wood makes a huge difference!

[N-VAMusic]

Currently 3d printing a guitar and watching this video made me way more confident in actually wanting to complete the project. Nice work!

[kiltymacbagpipe]

Great, now the tone wall debate begins.

[ryangalloway]

Just built a new computer. Decided to make the case out of maple so my Spotify playlists would sound snappier.

[natesam]

Your son stole the show. Man I applaud your parenting. That's the way my dad taught me. Looking back after 40 years I am so thankful he took the time to explain and capture my interest.

[ArtoPeltomaa]

That system is a sure winner. I remind us all that this is electric guitar. Acoustic is a different beast what comes to properties of any wood.

[alinutzalin]

08:29 Baseline
8:53 Mahogany
9:16 Poplar
9:37 Swamp Ash
10:05 Canarywood
10:25 Reclaimed Doug Fir
10:46 Solid Core door
12:26 MDF

[spkay]

Best part of the video is seeing how you interact and talk to your son. He seems like a great kid and you are a good dad including him in your work and inviting his opinion. As for the results I am not all that surprised that the differences between woods are extremely subtle. Of course real guitar construction is not always that simple and straightforward, most of my nicer guitars have combinations like mahogany body base + figured/carved maple tops, but I think the conclusion of the wood choice only making subtle differences in output, sustain and tone with all else being equal is probably fairly accurate. One suggestion though to have made the baseline test a little bit more interesting and accurate though would to have recorded 3 or 4 chords like Open E, A barre (5th fret), C barre (8 fret) and E barre (12 fret) so you could get at least a little data on the wood response at different frequencies. But you did a good job with the testing based on a single chord for comparison.

[chrisjbernier]

I'd say get in touch with Adam Savage to build a robot that can strum precisely at different velocities to get an exact reading on how each performs at different volumes. I'd love to hear each of them recorded acoustically with a nice condenser mic, and a contact mic on the body as well. Awesome work with a very creative solution!

[JedrekVRoscoe]

The info I’ve gathered from several different tests like this is the following: there is a difference in frequencies and sustain, BUT it is so infinitesimally-small that the player’s strumming, or a simple nudge of a tone/EQ knob can accomplish or obviate with minimal effort.

In other words, it doesn’t matter! Great job on the guitars!