How Guitar Resonance Affects Sound Quality

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RESONANCE IN ELECTRIC GUITARS
Does resonance in electric guitars really matter? In this video, we tried to answer this common question while conducting a set of experiments, both on electric bass and guitar.
We took the exact same set of pickups, tried it with one guitar, and then with another identical guitar with the same strings. We also made sure the pickup height and distance from the strings was matching between every set of guitars.
After that, we've examined everything using a spectrum meter. The results were interesting and educating, let us know what you think in the comments!
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🏠 About us:
We offer extensive knowledge and expertise gained during many years of experience in the music industry. Handling electric and bass guitar, components crafting, sound engineering, and music-making.
We provide customizations, repairs, and manufacturing at the highest level of craftsmanship with unparalleled attention to detail. We use top-quality materials and a whole lot of soul. This is a passion.
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🎥 Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
1:31 - Explanations
3:00 - 2011 Fender Jazz Bass
4:17 - 2008 Fender Jazz Bass
5:09 - Analysis
7:15 - 2004 Gibson SG
8:36 - 2016 Gibson SG
9:25 - Analysis
10:24 - Blocking the resonance (Stratocaster)
10:56 - Analysis
12:04 - Blocking the resonance (Precision)
12:32 - Analysis
13:54 - Conclusion!
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#coilsboutique #resonance #guitar

[@rockandrollmd541]

I heard mild differences in the sound. I was listening on my computer with Sennheiser headphones. The frequency graphs were good proof. I think the bridge plays a more important role regarding resonance and sustain. A floating tremolo bridge makes a guitar more resonant compared to a guitar with a hard tail bridge. The trade off is less sustain. If you put a piece of foam in a Stratocaster tremolo cavity in the back, it dampens the vibrations and makes the guitar feel and sound more stiff like a hard tail. Even the string break angle changes the feel and sound. When you raise a tune-o-matic tailpiece, the strings feel looser when tuned to the same pitch. A lot of players use fret-wraps behind the nut to dampen the strings. I put foam under my low E string behind the nut to dampen the string and make it feel tighter. You can put some foam under the strings and test out the difference yourself - the poor man's fret wrap 😃

[@lazvt8469]

Got lots of Teles from HB to CS...and the lightest is an LSL TBone and it's resonant is most felt...and it sounds absolutely amazing/best. I bought the same LSL pups last week and dropped them into a HB TE62 and while it too sound great...NOT like the same pups in the light/resonant LSL.

[@kubricksghost6058]

Very underrated video! Thank you

[@Rad_Pug]

Cool video. Every guitar is different for a myriad of reasons. The combination of all those elements are what make each instrument unique. Similar but different. Wood is crazy. Take care!

[@guidodiman]

I just discovered your site the other day and I must say the information you share is as thorough as any I've experienced and much better than most. I'll be checking out all you have to offer for sure. I have played bass for 35+ years and started building them about 10 years ago so I highly appreciate the information you so generously share. I have a build question that possibly you will find important enough to create a video. When installing a neck on a bolt on bass or guitar what is the process to determine the depth in relation to the body and the placement of the bridge. There is a lot to consider in this process and I feel it is an extremely important step in the build process to achieve a beautifully playable instrument. Thanks again, Doc.

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Thank you so much. It's a very good idea and we will try to shoot a video as you suggested. We are currently working on one of our student's project and hopefully within a few weeks we'll be able to do it. If you have any questions you can also email us: [e-mail]

[@joniroko]

A brave man indeed

[@carlton1390]

I agree totally that wood varies and resonance matters! Roger Sadowsky is another firm believer in this. You both have more experience than most. I think many people just THINK that it’s illogical and therefore don’t pick it up.

[@LockStoppageSandwich]

I have seen vids here on You Tube. Showing guitar bodies made from concrete, glass, resin (either Tele or Strat style and dimensions). They sound virtually the same as their hardwood equivalents. Have also seen a comparison on different necks on the same guitar body, with the same strings and pick ups. The general conclusion is that the wood from which the neck is made. Does make a difference. But with the bodies. There is no real significant difference.

[@dawoud8013]

the real first point that affect the sound when you have the same electronik, is the bridge and the nut.

[@dawoud8013]

Super demo ! the waveform is just the volume so not interesting in the test; but the frequencies spectrum is essential in this test, and we see that there is no clear difference in the tone. Better resonance can give a slight better "reverb" sensation, but not affect the tone (frequency response) in the case of your 2 bass. maybe interesting to compare 2 completely different kind of wood ? (warning : important to keep the same nut and the same bridge. Those 2 points have a real affect).

[@paulklement4511]

So my experience...... by using the string through option on my Bass the sustain is increasing by approximately 12559,76 % - simply by using the formula: sustain = hope x reality x swag - good video bro; you nailed it

[@vw9659]

I appreciate your efforts. But there are some common fundamental oversights that solid body electric guitar tonewood believers often make. Firstly you failed to define your terms clearly. You talk about "resonance", a phenomenon that is a characteristic of MANY different structures in the guitar, both wood and other materials. But there is an apparent assumption in your video that it's mainly wood resonance that is isolated in your experiments. It's not. You also characterized the two groups in your intro that way - one, obviously including you, who believes in the major importance of wood resonance, and the other who doesn't. If you're implying that those in the second group believe a guitar's sound is entirely in the pickups, well I don't actually know anyone who believes that. But if that's how you perceive that group, it's easy to think all you have to do is swap pickups between guitars. It's not that simple. You conflated the neck and the body. As if what the neck does sonically somehow validates wood as being important everywhere in the guitar, including the solid body. The neck and body are different structures. You can't talk about resonance as if its sonic significance applies equally to all elements of the guitar's structure. The long, thin, flexible, composite neck has been shown to vibrate much more than the body, and for that to be sonically important - via the losses associated with its resonant modal frequencies (Fleischer, Pate). There is little evidence for the sonic significance of the body. ALL your guitars had different necks. Clamping the headstock (as you did) or neck has already been shown to change particular neck frequency losses (Zollner, Wasson). I could suggest any number of other potential sonic influencers you did not appear to control well. For example, if the two SG's had different neck angles, then the strings had different break angles over the bridge and different bridge heights. And different micro-interactions/damping between strings and frets. All those have been shown to create varying frequency losses (Zollner). You did not mention how you controlled string age. The two basses appeared to use the same strings; the two SG's appeared to use different strings. Strings change sonically early in their mounted life. It was not clear if you had the same tune-o-matic bridge on each SG. Individual tune-o-matics have been shown to produce different frequency losses, both structurally but also in how they are set up (Zollner). The basses appeared to use different same-model bridges - two such bridges can only be known to have the same vibration losses if those losses have been directly measured. It was not clear how well picking strength or position were controlled, particularly for the notes that you compared in the DAW. So the guitars sounded different and showed some frequency differences in your DAW. But there is almost nothing in your experiments that tells us where those differences originated, with the exception of the headstock clamping. When you play same-model guitars in a guitar shop as you suggest, they can sound different or similar, because a large number of factors can cause sonic differences. But those factors are not always present to the same extent. It's not that "everything matters" as some people say, but there are more possible factors than you controlled. You certainly can't conclude it must be the wood, just because the pickups on shop guitars are supposedly similar and you can't see anything else. That's your logic here - basically that you can't see anything else that could explain the differences you heard and measured, so it must be the wood (neck and body). That's obviously not good logic. You're just showing that you're unaware of the scientific work showing the many things that can explain sonic differences - those that point to the neck, and those that don't. You're obviously a skilled luthier. It's too easy as a builder (or player) to hear similar guitars that sound different and conclude that it's either the wood or the pickups. Of course it is often the pickups. As a builder you know that pieces of wood you use do seem to vary in your hands, so it's easy to conclude that wood might be sonically important. It's not that simple. There's a way to go to understand the physics of guitars as well as you understand how to build them. The same can probably be said for almost all major guitar manufacturers.

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Hi, thanks for your comment because it's an important one! This conversation is exactly what I wanted to achieve in order to find and learn more everybody. As for the things writen above - All strings in the video are completely new, Smith Burners 0.045 and Ernie Ball Classic 0.010. I've been using them for almost two decades because of their consistency. Sorry if I didn't mention that in the video... The setups in all the guitars were done by me, in a very consistant way with the same actions and bridge adjustments. Guess I should've mentioned that also in the video, my apologies. I really tried to play as accurately and as consistent as possible - being a bass player for over 20 years, I think I'm quite ok in that aspect. Nothing was different between the two guitars except for maybe the truss rod's tention, which of course has some influence on the way thing vibrate. English is not my native language and I understand that some terms I fail to verbally say and explain. I agree and I'm aware that different guitars in the shop have different setups, different string etc. but what can we do except trying to choose the one which feels right? I usually do not plug the guitars in the shop to an amp in order to listen to them vibrating, but it's hard to show the differences in a youtube video. As for the neck damping - the idea was to show nothing in regards to the wood itself, but that different vibrations matter to the overall result. I'm aware that there are many factors other than the wood, like the bridges, but metal hardware is usually more consistent than wood with much less variation. I don't have any intentions of claiming that wood is the most and only important thing in the chain, just that it has some affect, just like any other part in the chain. As said in the video - every player should decide for himself how important are the differences. You gave me a lot to think about with your comment, and I do take it seriously. Hope I didn't miss anything regarding to what you wrote. Thank you, please keep this debate on running and hope that more people join in.

[@OferHolan]

Love your scientific approach to it! There is no doubt in my mind that wood is one of the main factors in the instruments tone, just as you've mentioned, even when you play two similar guitars made out of the same woods with the same electronics there will always be variations in the tone. Keep these videos coming Alon!

[@FiveseveNp90]

A scientific approach implies control of variables. A human cannot pick two notes that sound (and whose waveforms look) exactly the same, so what exactly is he comparing here?

[@eladvaizgan6240]

😽