Tonefiend Forum

I didn't think anyone held that blanket assumption anymore given the fairly large improvements in construction techniques in the last 50 years.

But, from a research standpoint, the study is far from conclusive due to many confounding factors inherent in a single comparison. Setting that aside for the moment, in any discussion of guitar factors you really have to look at the interaction of multiple elements because comparative gains from one element can be lost in other elements etc. So, aside from the joint style, you have to consider the quality of the joint, the contact and tension applied, the harmonic/resonant similarities between the neck and body woods, etc. A good luthier can give you great sustain from either approach through appropriate selection and construction.

That being said, I don't think that too many people today feel that one method is universally superior to the other. Rather, most players choose based on a variety of factors, budget and style/tradition being chief among them. At the end of the day, it comes down to how well matched and constructed the guitar was. We've all played 'live' and 'dead' guitars of all types. So to extend this reply to your tone wood post too, the impact of each factor is only a small component of the final output, but each construction style, component, wood type, and specific wood piece does make a difference and it pays to selectively consider each and the interactions to achieve whatever desired tone you want. For example, if you want high end shred sustain, you will build the guitar different then if you want a warm and defined low end resonance. If you just want all out balls sustain, then a cheap set of chinese pups on a 2x4 into a dimed marshall will get you there just fine. But for most of us, it takes a while to find the combo or randomly unique instrument that matches our approach and ideal. If that weren't the case, then the market would be a fraction of what it is and we'd all be happy with the first guitar we came across and whatever output pups we prefer. And that clearly isn't the case.

The quality of the joint has far reaching implications in music production.

Cool, just give him your card and tell him to hire you as a consultant on audio/music/gear tests.

I haven't watched in a few years, but one of the bits that I remember bugging me was the brown note test. They selectively tested a couple of the low frequencies without doing a sweep (I think they did a sweep of a higher range though). It's not that I'm defending the reality of the brown note (although I hope it exists), but seriously, how could you not run a full sweep and test more than one subject? If the phenomena exists, it certainly isn't universal to the population and is dependent on mass/body resonance/pressure/'poop-readiness'/etc. I always enjoyed the explosions on the show, but when they drifted into other topics, the tests weren't always as robust as their pronouncements.

I have 4 Switch guitars which were all one piece molded from a polyurethane foam. Sustain for days even Nigel Tufnel would be wowed. They are actually sort of tricky to use an Ebow on even if you roll the volume and tone way back.

Quote from Oinkus on December 5, 2012, 06:24
Oooooh Vibracell ! Some of those have a Roland pup too I am guessing? Very neat stuff never played one, tried to buy one when they were selling out on MF cheap but no luck.

Yes they did have a model with a Roland PUP but I put GK3's o 2 of mine, synth triggering was improved by the Vibracell they worked very well with my old Roland GR-30 better than any other guitar I have (but with my new GR-55 the triggering is great with all my GK equipped guitars). I have 3 Oscars (Les Paul variants) 2 are black and the 3rd has an odd bridge and string thru it is a garish yellow/orange paint job. The 4th guitar is sort of tele shaped with a molded string harp style string anchor at the bottom of the guitar it's has a very garish yellow red and purple paint job. The 2 that have the garish paint job came from a guy that bought out a lot of remaining stock and sold it on Ebay. I always wanted one of the fretless basses and one of the 3-P90 models. I would buy another anytime I find a good deal but they seem to go for more bucks these days. I dig get one guitar in shipping that had the neck snapped off right below the headstock but even still it was almost in tune when I unpacked it. I returned it it was the wrong model a strat clone with a trem (uck I have little use for trems since I play slide).