That woody, hollow sound on the G string on Murphys and many Historics - have you noticed?

[Guitar Magic]

I'm sure many of you noticed that you get this pleasing unique hollow sound on almost exclusively on the G string all the way throughout the neck (can be heard better when you strum the guitar acoustically). This was apparent on a nice Murphy Lab I've played recently but I can hear it on 2000s Historics as well. Not all of them have it, but there are a few examples. Never heard it in a regular Standard or a Classic (nor in any other solid body electric guitar for that matter).

I really like this quality in a Les Paul. As I said it's most apparent on the G string for some strange reason and I think it contributes to that tone that we like to call 'woody', 'hollow' and 'old'. I noticed that if I replace the stock alu tailpiece with a heavy zinc one, I lose most of it - on the other hand it must be an inherent quality of the wood or construction on these guitars because I can't make it happen on production line models by changing hardware.

I really hope at least some of you are familiar with what I'm rambling about. Do you know if this is an attribute of the original 50s examples as well?

 

[DrewB]

I know what you're talking about. It seems most Historics have that, at least from the ones I've played. Both of mine have it.

 

[goldtop0]

I notice that on my 335s especially

 

[Nifty]

There is just something about the G. When I got mine regular old Les Paul, the luthier I took it to for a complete set up flipped the G string saddle around. He said he had ended up doing it so frequently in the past to address intonation problems it was just habit, and he'd put it back if I really wanted him to.

 

[shines2225]

I once knew a stripper named Gina and when I plucked her G string I got kinda woody.

 

[garywright]

no, nooooohhh you didn’t .

 

[renderit]

Damn, if nobody had gone there I was gettin' ready to.

The comment, not Gina.

But...

 

[Any Name You Wish]

Gibson archtop DNA, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

I knew a girl in high school who's name was Gina.

 

[jchabalk]

I have this with my 2008 R9. In general is acoustically pretty loud and responsive much like a good acoustic. It has a callaham abr-1 on it (since probably 2009) but it otherwise stock.

 

[GimmeGibson]

I don’t know about woody and hollow but my 2019 50’s Standard has a dull sounding G string. It doesn’t ring out as rich and long as the other strings. Is that what you are talking about?
My 2021 R8 doesn’t do than, nor does my brand new ES 335.

The saddle is flipped on the R8 and not on the 50’s Standard, so I don’t know what that says. Maybe I will flip that one to see if it fixes it.

 

[jchabalk]

I wouldn't describe mine like that. It resonates really nicely - but not in a *significantly* different way from other strings / notes. I have a newish Martin 00-15 acoustic (all mahogany construction) and i get a similar sound from that guitar, albeit more pronounced.

For whatever reason it's more noticable when playing a G with my Les Paul, I'm guessing the body or some major part of it is in tune with a G

For me the overall acoustic sound of my LP is a big positive. I've got to work on the plugged in sound as it's a bit muddy plugged in, acoustically it sounds great.