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Does the neck effect the tone?

sleepy Tee

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Can't argue with that logic . The guitar for me is such a journey filled with ups and downs and learning and still learning each day as I can never ever know enough . That simply is the challenge for me and keeps me inspired to continue to l
 

sleepy Tee

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It really is like climbing a mountain that you never get to the top of. The search for great tone becomes an obsession.
My tone quest started when I met John Grammatico of Grammatico Amplifiers in Austin. I knew a lot of musicians at the time from being at all the blues jams and making friends.
He was still just talking about starting an amp company and he couldn't play guitar so since we were friends I would play in the room he was renting and then he would monkey with the amp and keep dialing it in. All day, every day until the people living there came home. He was on a quest to make one great amp and reproduce it.

He makes custom amps for some of the best players in Texas now -- Billy Gibbons, Jimmy Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Gary Clark Jr (who I got to jam witth) Steve Miller, Eric Johnson and on.... http://grammaticoamps.com/clients/

Here's John's amps on stage at the Kennedy Center Honoring Buddy Guy, Led Zeppelin and David Letterman -- with Clark and Vaughan playing.

Here's Ted Nugent and Redd Volkaert playing Grammatico amps at the Continental Club in Austin. It seems like everyone in Texas either owns a Grammatico amp or a Kendrick. The stars are all sponsored by Fender but recording with real, custom, hand-made amps.

So then I learned how to build and repair amps at Kendrick Amplifiers in Texas. Gerald Weber (great guy, great teacher, who I got to hang with and jam at his studio full of vintage gear).
He didn't just teach me how to solder, I learned that even the tiniest change - like speaker cables or caps and tubes, circuitry, cabinet wood, etc -- made such a huge difference.
Gerald produces high-end guitars too

So I'm pretty amp-centric, I don't have any amps that aren't rebuilt vintage or I built myself. And I've heard some incredible guitarists with Squiers and Epiphones that sound awesome with the right rig. Never heard a great guitar sound good out of a shitty amp.

The neck matters a lot, as far as guitar tone, but it's obviously debatable if it's the most important thing. Guitar tone is half science/half alchemy. Because every guitar is unique in some way.

But for now, I'm just glad I have a custom shop Les Paul with custombucker pickups, arriving tomorrow!
 
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rockabilly69

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The neck is the single most important factor in primary tone. Thin necks are not brighter, they tend to be thinner. Hard to make geral assessment for size as stiffness is the important spec. Truss rod, fingerboard and neck joint have big effect as well as headstock. Variables in construction have big effect. Alltogether it makes for a structure that has a huge impact on a guitars primary tone.
Big Al, I had three Telecasters here in my house at one time. I would swap the necks from body to body, every time the tone followed the neck! To this day I swear the neck is the most important factor in primary tone! Small sample size, yes, but it convinced me! It was pretty dramatic.

And just two weeks ago I bought a Classic Vibe 60's Jaguar as a project guitar. The neck was maple with a Laurel Fingerboard, block inlays, and binding. I didn't like the block inlays, so I bought a new neck, maple fingerboard with dots, and a Pau Ferro figerboard. The guitar went from average at best, to KILLER!

pictures help...

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Big Al

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The neck is a major contributor to tone and it has been proven over and over. The thing about size is but one factor and one that makes a difference for sure. However it can be said that in general, and we can only speak to generalities or on averages as each neck speaks for itself, in general there are differences in tone between large necks and thin necks which otherwise share similar wood density, grain and stiffness as well as the same construction and build.

Same as if you made a wood board and tapped it to hear its tap tone and then shaved off wood to make that board thinner. The tap tone will have noticeably changed. The main thing is they are different but "better" is up to each individual to decide. I have always felt that profile and size are personal preference comfort choices. You have a profile that feels best and find a guitar with the right feel AND sound for your own bad selves. Big or small, you can find excellent examples of each.

This amp thing has gotten ridiculous and just silly. Most have it wrong, just not getting it at all.
 
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El Gringo

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The neck is a major contributor to tone and it has been proven over and over. The thing about size is but one factor and one that makes a difference for sure. However it cannot be said that in general, and we can only speak to generalities or on averages as each neck speaks for itself, in general there are differences in tone between large necks and thin necks which otherwise share similar wood density, grain and stiffness as well as the same construction and build.

Same as if you made a wood board and tapped it to hear its tap tone and then shaved off wood to make that board thinner. The tap tone will have noticeably changed. The main thing is they are different but "better" is up to each individual to decide. I have always felt that profile and size are personal preference comfort choices. You have a profile that feels best and find a guitar with the right feel AND sound for your own bad selves. Big or small, you can find excellent examples of each.

This amp thing has gotten ridiculous and just silly. Most have it wrong, just not getting it at all.
You Know I agree with you . I wanted to add to your remark about the amp . The amp is the delivery platform for the tone from the guitar . You have to have a good guitar to begin with to deliver the tone to the amp which then the tone travels thru the speakers . I am getting ahead of myself as it's still about the construction of the guitar made from wood .
 

AA00475Bassman

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Subjective

adjective
1.
based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions.
"his views are highly subjective"

Yes including my posts ,nothing posted is based on anything other than OPINION . I truly believe neck effects sound !
 

El Gringo

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Subjective

adjective
1.
based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions.
"his views are highly subjective"

Yes including my posts ,nothing posted is based on anything other than OPINION . I truly believe neck effects sound !
Best Post of The Day ! Let's include my posts as well .
 

AA00475Bassman

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You Know I agree with you . I wanted to add to your remark about the amp . The amp is the delivery platform for the tone from the guitar . You have to have a good guitar to begin with to deliver the tone to the amp which then the tone travels thru the speakers . I am getting ahead of myself as it's still about the construction of the guitar made from wood .
Yes I agree fully with your post pertaining to this thread !
 

Big Al

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You Know I agree with you . I wanted to add to your remark about the amp . The amp is the delivery platform for the tone from the guitar . You have to have a good guitar to begin with to deliver the tone to the amp which then the tone travels thru the speakers . I am getting ahead of myself as it's still about the construction of the guitar made from wood .
You know how I love my amps, over 60 now, but Joe's comment is out of context. Yes someone with a limited budget, or a beginning would be bandmate should get a good inexpensive guitar, (not shitty), and buy a good amplifier rather than buy an expensive guitar and crappy amp. But that isn't saying a great amp transforms a shit guitar into tonal bliss.

I can take my best guitar and get very good tone from inexpensive amps. Even better and often magical with a great amp. No amp can hide or transform a crappy guitar, just make it louder. Amps work with the tone they are given, nothing more.
 

Sol

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Primary tone was brilliantly described to me not by a musician but by a an audiophile friend many yrs ago. His audio system was vinyl.
His arm, turntable and amplifier were the finest made by Linn, and speakers by Mission. Thousands of pounds worth of kit the finest available. It sounded increadable.

He explained that the most important component of the entire system was the smallest, the cartridge/needle.
As he explained, any musical information lost at the needle cannot be recovered down the line, ts gone forever. The best amp and speakers cannot recover what has been lost at the primary source of musical information. The same principal applies here.
 

JoeC

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Primary tone was brilliantly described to me not by a musician but by a an audiophile friend many yrs ago. His audio system was vinyl.
His arm, turntable and amplifier were the finest made by Linn, and speakers by Mission. Thousands of pounds worth of kit the finest available. It sounded increadable.

He explained that the most important component of the entire system was the smallest, the cartridge/needle.
As he explained, any musical information lost at the needle cannot be recovered down the line, ts gone forever. The best amp and speakers cannot recover what has been lost at the primary source of musical information. The same principal applies here.
One Million time zero is still zero.
 
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sleepy Tee

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The neck is a major contributor to tone and it has been proven over and over. The thing about size is but one factor and one that makes a difference for sure. However it can be said that in general, and we can only speak to generalities or on averages as each neck speaks for itself, in general there are differences in tone between large necks and thin necks which otherwise share similar wood density, grain and stiffness as well as the same construction and build.

Same as if you made a wood board and tapped it to hear its tap tone and then shaved off wood to make that board thinner. The tap tone will have noticeably changed. The main thing is they are different but "better" is up to each individual to decide. I have always felt that profile and size are personal preference comfort choices. You have a profile that feels best and find a guitar with the right feel AND sound for your own bad selves. Big or small, you can find excellent examples of each.

This amp thing has gotten ridiculous and just silly. Most have it wrong, just not getting it at all.
Like I said, the neck isn't the "most important" factor in guitar tone. Sorry.

 

El Gringo

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Like I said, the neck isn't the "most important" factor in guitar tone. Sorry.

Humor me and tell me what is the "most important " factor in guitar tone ?
 

Sol

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The neck remains the weakest link imho. If the full fidelity of a Les Paul is to be realised the neck whether thick or thin must have sufficient stiffness to resist the energy of the strings in order to ring out convaying maximum resonance and sustain. Anything lost here cannot be remedied or recovered by boutique PAFs or the finest vintage/modern amplifiers.
 

Big Al

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The neck remains the weakest link imho. If the full fidelity of a Les Paul is to be realised the neck whether thick or thin must have sufficient stiffness to resist the energy of the strings in order to ring out convaying maximum resonance and sustain. Anything lost here cannot be remedied or recovered by boutique PAFs or the finest vintage/modern amplifiers.
Neck stiffness is key factor. Neck is the primary influence on string tone. The complicated interaction of resonance and tone filtering of changing phase relationships between string vibration and reflected neck vibration give the voice of the strings tone. It is all about the way the string vibrates.
 

Big Al

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Like I said, the neck isn't the "most important" factor in guitar tone. Sorry.

Oh please!! Explain what is then. Do you understand the concept of primary tone, or even tone?? I can't wait for you to drop some of your vast knowledge. Back up the bullshit.
 

El Gringo

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Oh please!! Explain what is then. Do you understand the concept of primary tone, or even tone?? I can't wait for you to drop some of your vast knowledge. Back up the bullshit.
I don't think he wants to humor us ?
 

Sol

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Neck stiffness is key factor. Neck is the primary influence on string tone. The complicated interaction of resonance and tone filtering of changing phase relationships between string vibration and reflected neck vibration give the voice of the strings tone. It is all about the way the string vibrates.
Thank you for expounding on and adding detail to the point I was making, much appreciated. 👍😊
 
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Wise Guy

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As I always will feel the tone is in the hands of the player. With that said how many feel that possibly the neck effects this as well? Example being a 58’ chunky against a 60s thin? And I’m not going down the pick up rabbit hole.
I'm skeptical about the hype of wood making your tone sound one way or another but know this, and this IS a fact, without the neck, the guitar won't have good tone. I promise.
 

Sol

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I'm skeptical about the hype of wood making your tone sound one way or another but know this, and this IS a fact, without the neck, the guitar won't have good tone. I promise.
Your skepticism is very welcome here. Perhaps a thread on your tone wood theory?

A guitar without a neck... Your Wise Guy name.... Is...er.. Wise.. 😎 :)
 
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