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Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In An Electric Guitar?

Jim Lill4 HN recommenders · 2022–2026
2.9M views · explainer · evergreen · Uploaded 2022-01-24

Guitarist Jim Lill methodically tests what in an electric guitar affects its tone, swapping parts on a partscaster and even trying a 2x4 body. He finds that wood and construction matter far less than people assume.

Cited as a fun, experimental debunking of tonewood claims that shows electronics dominate electric guitar sound.

Music theory, synthesis & productionScientific method & science communication

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7 comments from Hacker News

@cma2022 · in “Down the mechanical keyboard rabbit hole”

Neck wood seems to have almost no impact: [VIDEO] Most tone there was found to be in pickup height adjustment.

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@fenomas2022 · in “The Legend of the Music Tree”

An adjacent topic, since TFA is about acoustic guitars and this is about electric, but I recently came across an excellent video where a guitarist tries to determine exactly which parts of an electric guitar affect its tone. He did it by methodically swapping parts around on a cheap kit guitar and comparing the sound to a quality model, and he winds up finding the body shape/material appear to have no effect at all. He even gets closely matching sounds out of a "guitar" with no body at all, by keeping certain other elements (strings, pickups, electronics) the same as the real model. Really surprising results! Source: [VIDEO]

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@CharlesW2022 · in “Simple And Terrible Machines”

If you're interested in how simple they can get, "Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In An Electric Guitar?" is a fun and technically-interesting video: [VIDEO]

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@dktoao2022 · in “Japanese have been producing wood for 700 years without cutting down trees”

Electric instruments in general derive their sound mostly through the electronics. There are quite a few high end electric guitar companies (like PRS) that would like you to believe otherwise. If you are in the market for an electric instrument please don't have it made from rare, questionably sourced hardwoods! [VIDEO]

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@dmbche2023 · in “Amateurs obsess over tools, pros over mastery”

[VIDEO] If you're interested, this is pretty fascinating - he shows experimentaly that the guitar itself has little to do with tone. Other than that better made instruments could (no promises!) hold their tuning a little better, but you can cheaply buy locks or spend some money having that re-done. More than this and I have a hard explaining what a "pro" guitar could do to help an amateur. You get the same tones out of it, pedals and amps have much more impact on sound anyway. And seriously, unless you have musical training, you'll never hear the difference between epiphone and gibson, or squier and fender.

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@mrob2024 · in “Everything we can't describe in music”

>Different wood types will produce different tonal characteristics. True for acoustic guitars, but for electric guitars this is thoroughly debunked: [VIDEO] Previous HN discussion: [LINK]

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@gadtfly2026 · in “Comparison shows audiophiles waste a lot of money”

If this is appealing to you, check out this guy who ran a much more systematic set of experiments on even more sacred and sensitive targets: Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In An Electric Guitar? [VIDEO] Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In A Guitar Amplifier? [LINK]

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