Thread: solidbody shapes

it deffinately has an effect in the sense that if you dont have enough wood then the guitar will sound emptyin a sense. im sure it does effect it but how much i dont know. the vibrations have to carry easily. it cant be that bad otherwise alot of the bd rich guitars would probably sound pretty horrid, but i think active pickups would make the wood and shape less important.

OK, but all other things the same (weight, density etc) I'm wondering is there any demonstrable effect on sound between a strat and a tele and a gibson sg and a flying V??

In the acoustic instrument world, body shape DOES change the tone and presence of the sound.

But does an electric guitar luthier say "I want to make something with a strat sound so it'll have to be strat shaped" or can he/she say "I want to make something with a strat sound but I'll make it a les paul shape ... and use strat pickups to get the sound"??

Sounds like a good question Matthew. I'm tossing a few designs around at the moment for an electric which started out as a Tele thinline.
So far, it's morphed into a double cutaway Tele shape and it's slowly morphing into a Les Paul semi-hollow body with Tele pickups and steam bent sides. I started to wonder pretty much the same question you've asked, but there's only one way to find out!
Body shape didn't seem to be much of a concern to Bo Diddley when it came to guitar design/sound

Why do you ask? Thinking of a solid-body creation now?

I'm asking because I've been looking at a zillion cheap ebay electric basses, as I have to get my daughter one to go on with until I can get time to make nice one for her. She's been using a genuine Gibson SG1 and the owner would like it back. Its worth a bit too much for a teenager to take on a gig ...

No, shaping your body like a strat or a tele will not affect the sound of the body. Just make sure you've got the wood type and pickups you wish to have for the final sound and proper building technique (bolt-on, glued-on ect..)

In the acoustic instrument world, body shape DOES change the tone and presence of the sound.

Thats because acoustic instruments have soundboxes that can be shaped differently and thus make a different sound. (As you obviously know) no such thing on electrics.

EDIT: If for example you want the sound of an SG but want to shape it like a strat then make sure you use mahogany for the body and neck, rosewood for the fingerboard and a glued-on neck joint along with two PAF type humbuckers. That should give you the proper result. You could probably get away with it too with a bolt-on connection if using the same woods.

I'd say shape would have little to do with it...

the difference in sound would be more so weight, wood type, whether its bolt-on/glued on/neck-thru, pickup configuration, scale length, finish used, string gauge.

My thoughts...shape has less influence on sound of a electric guitar than wood type/density and electrics. IMO the most important non electric control on sound is wood density and where it is on the guitar. Eg on bases a dense neck wood can improve sustain. Ditto for an instrument where neck continues through the body.

[quote=contrebasse;469582]I have to get my daughter one to go on with until I can get time to make nice one for her. quote]

nice one = acoustic bass of course

Pickups and bridge provide the main colour in a guitar. The wood has a hearable effect ie mahogany, with mahogany / rosewood neck will sound thicker than with a a mahogany/ebony neck and agin a maple /r/wood will be brighter again as will a solid maople neck be the brightest. Light timber will make a nice bright liveley guitar and heavy will give more sustain. Scale length also has a lot to do with it. the tele with a 25.5" scale has more attack and twang than the shorter scale gibson 24.75" ? Another determinant is string through the body. The shape i reckon would also colour the sound. like a tele even with foreign pickups still has a typical tele bite and snarl. The bridge has a lot to do with sound as well. When it all boils down to it you can pretty much get the sound of any vintage guitar by usin the same timbers, scale lenght bridge and pickups. A les paul with tele pickups dont sound like a tele and you can never make a tele sound like a strat or a LP..

Its all pretty subjective and at the end of the day, a certain type of geetar has its own vibe and what does it is a combo of all the varialbles.

I've played lots of teles and they all sound like teles but side by side they sound to my ears a bit different but not as different as say a LP or strat. You can't measure it but you can hear it and thers no science or voodoo about it. If you want the best tele sound use swamp ash, 3 saddle brass bridge, maple neck and a decent set of vintage pickups. it works every time. Change anything and the starts to move somewhere away from that orignal sound

Ami makin any sense?? its late and I'm just ramblin

best way to learn about electrics is to copy the classics and play em so you get what they are all about. I think you gotta have electric geetar in ur blood to make em good.
Try makin a les paul junior with 25.5" scale, string through and single coils. [blueshawk] it anit no tele its a whole other thing. even try usin a tele bridge and it will be closer to tele but still not tele. It will sound great still...

oh and I reckon bolt on / set neck is a bit of a furphy it dont make much difference. but if you bust a neck you be wishin it was bolt on any old day

Ive done testing on guitars, that proved to me that tone and sound qualities are effected by the AMOUNT of timber in a guitar (build a guitar, record and test, cut, record and test, cut, record and test, etc), but i didn't go as far as trying specific shapes and their effect on tone. It is something i have always wondered though, especially instruments that are longer, like a flying v. The longer sections would most definitely react differently to wider section (of the same volume, but different grain direction and makeup), but i don't know which would be more benefitual.

It's an interesting question but in all probablility, not worth worrying about.

About 10 years ago I was looking to buy a Tele Plus and having been friends with a (major) store owner, they let me take two Plus's home to play around with. What was immediately apparent was that each had it's own sound, even when in a stand, unplugged we could hear a difference, this could only be attributed to the characteristics of the individual pieces of timber as everything else about the guitars was identical. This has been further confirmed as my son and I have collected Les Pauls.....each one has it's own character in the timber.

Re (cheap) basses, (and I'll refrain from commenting on Gibson basses )........you seriously can't go past Yamaha's RBX series for "bang 4 buck". Japanese Fenders are also worth consideration, we have a (Jap) Fender P Bass Lyte in the studio and having had quite a range of other Fenders here at times (defacto son #2 is a bassist and endorsed by Fender), the Jap is damned close to any of the US models. If possible, let your daughter try different instruments out until she knows what she is comfortable with, there's no point in buying something (cheap) and then having it sit in a corner.

Originally Posted by HiString

About 10 years ago I was looking to buy a Tele Plus and having been friends with a (major) store owner, they let me take two Plus's home to play around with. What was immediately apparent was that each had it's own sound, even when in a stand, unplugged we could hear a difference, this could only be attributed to the characteristics of the individual pieces of timber as everything else about the guitars was identical. This has been further confirmed as my son and I have collected Les Pauls.....each one has it's own character in the timber.

Now, all you have to do, is build and experiment enough, that you are able to predict the fine tonal qualities, BEFORE you start building. There is a reason only a few out of every ten or so 'quality, mass produced' guitars really sing.

[quote=kiwigeo;469642]

Originally Posted by contrebasse

I have to get my daughter one to go on with until I can get time to make nice one for her. quote]

nice one = acoustic bass of course

no. electric. She already plays double bass (and can read music, unlike me) in a great stage band. But she practices in bed with her electric and dreams of becoming a rock star ...

Originally Posted by rhoads56

Now, all you have to do, is build and experiment enough, that you are able to predict the fine tonal qualities, BEFORE you start building. There is a reason only a few out of every ten or so 'quality, mass produced' guitars really sing.

Unless you are able to do (microscopic) analysis of the timber structure for a complete body blank you are never going to have a 100% guarantee.......the variables of nature will see to that, and that's one of the beauties of working with timber. God, how boring would it be if every guitar sounded just like the next............and the next............and the next.........