Does wood affect the sound or tone of an electric guitar? the physics behind the answer.

This is the original tonewood video I had posted back in the day before the tonewood wars began. This is the video that changed the direction of the war on the internet and KZbin. This video sucked me into the war full force when I originally never had any intention of getting involved in it.
This video is guitar and KZbin history. It caused many people to change their opinion on the subject. The video is only in 240p but it is the only copy I still have.
I reposted this by request. I no longer debate or engage in the tonewood topic.
This covers the physics of guitars. It talks about standing wave patterns, mediums, pulse, frequencies, etc. This video was shown in physics classes worldwide in various high schools and universities. So it is very educational and accurate.
#willgelvin #williamgelvin #gelvinguitars #gelvin #guitar #tonewood

[@hixta7889]

Yay! The vid that won the great tone wood wars 2016-2019.

[@keyboardwarrior6296]

This is a certified hood classic.

[@Elienguitar]

Thank you for bringing back this classic.

[@juliAnarchist]

absolute banger from the golden days

[@artamussumatra6286]

I completely agree. I learned the truth when I got a Korean made Fender P Bass, which I always thought sounded particularly great both plugged in and unplugged. I decided to change the pickguard on it, and I found out the body was made of plywood! That experience cured me of whatever tonewood snobbery I may have had….

[@Stellafella3214]

@@artamussumatra6286 same happed to me with a 90s japan squier 🎸👍

[@drewinman7171]

The video that opened my eyes. Thank you for this!

[@chaoznofx]

THIS IS YT GOLD ! ! ! listen to this guy and no one else.. YT is full of people that are full of bs.

[@peterstephen1562]

Density in fact has a much smaller influence on sustain than stiffness . It is just that higher stiffness is usually associated with more dense woods.

[@JoeThornhill]

That was really weird how the pixels moved at 23:31.

[@ToniRubinic]

Damn, i do not get why you removed this in first place, i always thought you will have millions of subs when i started watching your channel. Good luck with your health man.

[@nicholasaragon4126]

In my Grammy acceptance speech Imma be like: "I'd like to thank my alder for giving me sound and inspiration and support I needed. Other things in my life: my experiences, my band mates, my studio engineer and producer were all a small part, sure, but I gotta give all the glory to that alder man!"

[@tylerk1013]

The best guitar wood video of the last 10 years makes a triumphant return

[@williambaker1136]

I made an electric guitar out of bone and used a Brazilian Rosewood for the nut. It sounds better, more backbone in the tone....... Nope, I did not. Love this white board talk!!

[@Jeremya74]

Don't give KZbinrs any ideas..they will do ANYTHING for clicks

[@peterstephen1562]

The description of compression waves on a string here is incorrect. A compression wave on a string is the very high pitched squeak that occurs when the string is rubbed along it's length.

[@AnnoyingCritic-is7rp]

I should also add that Will's model assumes that the edges of the string are fixed. When researchers model tonewood, they have a model that includes parameters for frequency dampening, depending on the resonance frequencies and elasticity of the materials did they hope to ascribe to the tonewood of the guitar. These models are extremely complicated. However, they generally find no effect - although some papers do.

[@christostefan]

The more you love an instrument the better it sounds. Because science.

[@yonitznkc]

So, isn’t a Node from a top-load ‘Tele’ bridge more tense than a Node from a wrap-around ‘SG’ bridge?

[@northernthrifter8817]

Oh dear this is really going to upset Rhett Schull and Mark Agnesi.

[@Jeremya74]

No it will not..they will still come up with another reason why he is wrong

[@northernthrifter8817]

@@Jeremya74 the whole guitar snob scene is based on a lie.

[@Jeremya74]

@@northernthrifter8817 it's quit surprising the amount of professional guitarist/musician that swear that wood makes a difference

[@AnnoyingCritic-is7rp]

What's funny is that since this video has come out it has spawned industries of KZbin videos testing all kinds of gear and finding out none of it makes any difference. Spectersound studios and many others now say that pickups don't make any difference. He's made a great video of a clean sound with different pickups showing it doesn't really sound that different. It's even got into acoustic guitars where people do blind tests of exotic woods and can't find any difference. People can't find any difference in Stradivarius violins. And there are some exceptions - like Chappers at Anderton's. But he's the exception that proves the rule. You have to see him work overtime and sweat it out and have everyone wonder why it is he could play or feel like a guitar and see why it is different than another. And no one else can.

[@WillsEasyGuitar]

pickups make a difference. This is provable. Like everything else nowadays, I will not feed into the nonsensical debates. people can believe what they want.

[@florisvanlingen]

​@@WillsEasyGuitar Spectresound studio's makes claims based on the context of recording guitars for metal music. He says the pickups don't make a difference because once you hit them with a shit ton of gain the compression will nullify most of the character of the pickup. For any other tonal difference you can compensate by using an equaliser. And he's correct because in his blind tests most people get it wrong. However listening to a processed guitar sound is always different than sitting with an amp in the room without the compression of any microphones used.

[@peterstephen1562]

To be able to play very well requires hearing very well. There are few very good players. There are few people that hear tonal differences well.

[@AnnoyingCritic-is7rp]

@@florisvanlingen He also does it with a clean sound. I just think that for most people and most of the music they play probably doesn't make much of a difference.

[@AnnoyingCritic-is7rp]

@@peterstephen1562 Like I say, Chappers at Anderton TV can always find these things in these blind tests - But it takes him a lot of work and I think he cheats a little bit now and then. For example he feels where the tone knobs are and smells the guitar to see if it's a Les Paul, etc... But I think for most of us, none of this really makes any difference. And if there is a difference, that's why you have a EQs everywhere in your amps nowadays. But you go to Oluv's channel and it's like he asks does it Chug? And it almost always does and sometimes he says it needs more bass. Or go to Guitar Max's channel and nearly every thing he plays sounds almost the same. I originally brought at this point to say how different the landscape is now then when Will started and people were debating about tonewood. Now we're debating about everything and wondering if any of it really makes a difference.

[@gilbertocruz1683]

I am sorry...I still need to deny physics in order to justify all the money I put on these super expensive brand guitars that I have here 🤡

[@SoloPlaticando-ts4xx]

Does the string tension stay constant when you pluck it?

[@WillsEasyGuitar]

at first it increases but over time it finds its most relaxed state. you can see this happen when you are tuning it. The string will go sharp before it finds its resonant frequency. then it slowly dies off.

[@SoloPlaticando-ts4xx]

@@WillsEasyGuitar that makes sense, another question I have is what is the amplitude at the nut and bridge, all formulas assume zero, but if that were true underbridge pickups would not work, am I missing something?

[@WillsEasyGuitar]

the pickups under your bridge saddle are piezo pickups. They generate current based on pressure. when the strings pulse hits the bridge it pushes it slightly then releases. It does this at the frequency of the pulse. That current is amplified and that is what you hear. the amplitude at nodes and anti nodes are relative, so i cant answer that with a specific amount. some of the energy from the pulse is absorbed and sent through the body and back again, how much is dependent on what the material is made out of and it's mass.

[@SoloPlaticando-ts4xx]

@@WillsEasyGuitar Thanks for your reply, I've lost a lot of my top end hearing so I can barely tell a banjo from a strat but I find the math interesting.

[@peterstephen1562]

To begin by ring fencing solid body guitars as in some way hermetically different than acoustic or semi acoustic instruments is an immediate flag that the arguement presented here will be flawed. Now I have watched the video it is easy to see why the presenter proposes the flawed hypothesis . Without any ego I have to say that the presenter's conceptions are simplistic. To understand the subject requires more than making a salad of related words. Yes the motivation behind building solid body instruments is to isolate the strings from the instrument structure and environment but is that isolation hermetic ? NO ! What are you hearing when you put your ear to the solid body? How is it that a player can achieve feedback ? These two questions fataly destroy the simple mistaken ideas preernted here. I

[@vrrc7686]

A simpleyes or no would work for me.

[@peterstephen1562]

Tone is timbre which is the distribution of harmonics on the wave over time. If as the presenter admitted energy passès into the body at various frequencies and amounts according to the bodies properties THEN those losses will not be present in the pickup output and the tone will be different. End of story. The only difference between solid body andacoustic guitar is one of degree. Your arguement in this video is naively flawed.

[@vw9659]

@peterstephen1562 your argument does not consider the measured magnitude of bridge admittance in real solid-body electric guitars, and the measured proportions of string vibrations remaining in the strings, amongst other factors weighing against the sonic significance of solid body "tonewood". See the independent published measurements of real guitars by Fleischer, Zollner and Pate. The presenter failed to consider those findings, as do you. As such, your case is similarly flawed.

[@Nizodizo]

All my guitars sound different. Some are made of Mahogany, some are made of Alder and some are made of Poplar. Most are Fender made Stratcaster guitars. I am convinced the wood they are made of is the reason. Tell Gibson and Fender that I am wrong and they will laugh you out of the room.

[@vw9659]

Why would you be "convinced" that the solid body wood they are made from is the reason ? Given all the things we know can be sonically influential in real guitars - even sonic variations in the same part (eg see Zollner's "Physics of the Electric Guitar") - where is the logic in attributing their sonic differences to one thing ? If the solid body wood is so sonically important, why does Gibson say that no one can tell the difference in blinded listening tests between solid body LPs and chambered/weight relieved LPs (where a signficant proportion of the body wood has been removed) ? And while Fender's marketing dept may tout the supposed distinctive sounds of alder and ash, google Fender guitarattack mythbusters to see what they really believe inside the company.

[@notanotherguitarchannel]

This was the high point of the new atheist movement on KZbin.

[@ElectricBoogaloo007]

Let's hope wokeness doesn't ruin tone wood skepticism like it did the new atheist movement.

[@chaoznofx]

54:25 🤔😶😔

[@peterstephen1562]

Baloney science word salad.

[@tylerk1013]

Paul Reed Smith HATES this video

[@CalaVdarivdavd]

If what you're saying is true, then why would highly respected people like Paul Reed Smith say the opposite?

[@florisvanlingen]

It's more beneficial for him to believe in tonewood because he's got an argument for charging insane amounts of money for pretty guitars built with exotic woods. Whilst in all honestly his SE's with an electronics upgrade an a good setup can sound the same. The only thing the SE's won't do is look and feel as good.

[@WillsEasyGuitar]

he has skin in the game. also, thanks for letting me know i am not highly respected.

[@nicholasaragon4126]

Marketing. Ronald McDonald might tell you that the burgers are 100% ground beef. They are not. A bunch of hair conditioners claim to be made of natural ingredients that will add volume and repair your damaged hair. It will not. Paul Reed Smith will stand on a podium, tap on wood, compare it to an acoustic instrument (the way a snake oil salesman may "demonstrate" their product) and make his claims. Remember, the dude is trying to sell you something and will use the same sales tactic as any other salesman. Now, as a consumer, I appreciate some selectivity in materials because I'd like a quality material and attention to detail over a builder that does not. I own a couple of PRSs, they are my favorite guitars in my collection, but not because of whatever unverifiable species that came from unverifiable environments with unverifiable treatment and handling. If anyone ever tries to sell you something, it doesn't matter if it's Paul Reed Smith, Ronald McDonald, or Billy Mays (RIP)... Assume that there are exaggerations at play. Doesn't mean it's a bad product though.

[@vw9659]

If PRS had objective evidence that the solid body woods commonly used to make guitars are significantly sonically influential, don't you think he would have better arguments than "violins" ? Maybe he believes in solid body tonewood, maybe he doesn't. Maybe he's not sure. But his (correct) statements that solid-body electric guitars are "subtractive" are largely at odds with his notions that solid body wood has a *positive* sonic influence in guitars. He hasn't explained away that contradiction. In any case, imagine the consequences for his company if he were to come out and say body wood doesn't matter sonically. Or even that he has no direct evidence that it matters (everything he says suggests he has no such evidence). The reality is that you do not need to fully understanding guitar physics to make great guitars. No US guitar manufacturer makes the known complex measurements necessary to derive that understanding.

[@РоманСтаврогин]

Because they need to sell their shit