"That's when I learned people listen with their eyes!"" - Les Paul, 1940.

@abarbee81

4 жыл бұрын

How is this not more upvoted?

@isaacwilliams9919

4 жыл бұрын

it’s the most upvoted

@ZaneDalton

4 жыл бұрын

Isaac Williams no it’s not there’s one with 400 and one with 1.4K, and that just looking at the first five.

@Magnulus76

4 жыл бұрын

Exactly. Most of the discussion about "tonewoods" with electric guitars is snake oil.

@sirspongadoodle

Жыл бұрын

Tone wood and pickups are the 2 biggest wastes of time.

Hey Darrell, why not glue it back together and bust the myth that multi-piece bodies aren't as good for tone?

@DarrellBraunGuitar

5 жыл бұрын

Good idea! I'll add it to my list :)

@HellcatCustoms

5 жыл бұрын

The original guitar was many pieces to begin with. It makes zero difference in either tone or sustain.

@MeatisMagic256

5 жыл бұрын

Actually, glue isn't resonant. It does affect the instrument.

@HellcatCustoms

5 жыл бұрын

Titebond and hide glue both cure to a glass like structure, bonding two pieces of wood into one. It's not like strips of rubber. The only difference between a 1 piece and 4 piece body is aesthetics.

@HellcatCustoms

5 жыл бұрын

My Gibson Firebird V is an 11 piece sandwich of wood and it sustains like you wouldn't believe. Yea it's neck through, which helps, but the neck/center itself is 9 pieces glued together.

Err Darrell, ..when I said you could borrow my guitar....

@DarrellBraunGuitar

5 жыл бұрын

😂😂😂👍

@theresaflowers1191

5 жыл бұрын

@@onesource9527 Doh!!

@RobertAllenroballen2

5 жыл бұрын

Hahateeheeteehee...gafawww

@BWhatEverTV

5 жыл бұрын

😆😜

@jazzram_

3 жыл бұрын

LMAO

May we take a moment and appreciate what this guy does? He cuts guitars, he buys lots of guitars, amps, pedals, pickups, different strings etc...just to give us the knowledge and facts for free, meanwhile costing him big bucks. Cheers up, mate! As a thank you i like on all videos and watch em until the end as a way to return the favor. Keep up the good work and we will keep supporting you. All the best from Bulgaria!

@randomdude93-93

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely man! I was actually hoping to do some work to shape my left handed Jackson . Now I know I can afford to cut some off.

@opidonorman8833

Жыл бұрын

Cheers indeed

@metalfatigue

Жыл бұрын

If you were constantly buying guitars and losing money, he wouldn't be smiling all the time. Either he can afford to buy stuff to try, or he makes enough from KZread and t-shirts to cover the cost.

@FrankCosbyNo-Relation

Жыл бұрын

He makes more money from the video

That’s the most extreme relic job I’ve seen someone do. It must be worth a lot of money now.

@StefanoRod

4 жыл бұрын

HAHAAH

@kokindenom

3 жыл бұрын

:)

How many guitars do you have? Darrell: 40.125

@TheGhostGuitars

5 жыл бұрын

Actually I'd think it's 40,124.30 now, lol! Edit: oops excuse me, thought that was a comma (,) not a period (.). Never read posts while riding a bus that's rattling and banging along on a bumpy road. All ye see are a blur as the phone (and ye) gets rattled up/down.

@frownonline

5 жыл бұрын

Always one short of enough.

@rajdeepganguli2274

5 жыл бұрын

@Florian Späth 40 + 0.125 Because he just trimmed this guitar into pieces

@normanmastrian

5 жыл бұрын

4

@cuauhtemocmorisco3493

5 жыл бұрын

Lol

I think it's because it's red. Red guitars have the best tone.

@leonpolev

5 жыл бұрын

DA RED SONDZ CULA

@carnivaltym

4 жыл бұрын

Joe. Walsh always said that.

@Phoenix_cataclysm_in_2040

4 жыл бұрын

Never give up with artificial reasons.

@francispascual6404

4 жыл бұрын

Yep

@339Jackscarify

4 жыл бұрын

OI DIZ HUMIE HAZ A BIG NOB! RED GOEZ FASTAH N HAZ KILLA TONZ

Alternate title: How To Make A Travelcaster.

@jazzram_

3 жыл бұрын

Lol

I've seen some pretty heavy relic jobs, but this is a whole new level.

*to show you the power of flex tape I sawed this guitar in half*

@jahardo

5 жыл бұрын

That's a lot of damage

@JohnSmith-ns4ip

5 жыл бұрын

But does the flex tape add more sustain? Hmm......

@peterdeven9493

5 жыл бұрын

@@JohnSmith-ns4ip thinking emoji

@scottkendall5655

5 жыл бұрын

HA! Good one.

@ikarus1111a

5 жыл бұрын

NOW THATS A LOT OF DAMAGE!

When I was running a music store my opinion was always “If it sounds better to you, then it sounds better.”

@R.Stridstrom

5 жыл бұрын

That is probably the best way to look at it. And, if you got one you are happy with, don't compare, ever - don't go looking for "greener grass" - because it's an neverending endeavour :)

I did it on my acoustic guitar and there is a huge difference!;) Studio one❤️

@sheldon6864

5 жыл бұрын

@@KeithBlade lol....😮

@anthonystark5412

4 жыл бұрын

@@KeithBlade I'm not sure that I believe your assertion. Please cite your references.

@anthonystark5412

4 жыл бұрын

@@KeithBlade We're kidding, dude. It's obvious that cutting away parts of an acoustic guitar will deprive it of its resonance. I get the impression that you're genuinely trying to help, so no hard feelings, okay?

@bentlyist

4 жыл бұрын

@@KeithBlade I think you may have missed that he was being a bit funny 😉

@mcbiker77

4 жыл бұрын

This can off course only be done on acoustic guitar if an acoustic saw is used...

do heavier gutarists sustain longer?

@danterosales6985

5 жыл бұрын

Yes. Havent you seen jared dines video on a phat bass tone??

@kimthompson5871

5 жыл бұрын

td tom lol or just eat more ?

@RandyRelish99

5 жыл бұрын

I’m pretty big and I can only last a few seconds

@tdtom1376

5 жыл бұрын

alas, it is too late to ask B B King or Leslie West... or even cousin IZ.

@stankfanger1366

5 жыл бұрын

I have an '84 Les Paul and I know the back pain sustains longer. I think the tree they cut it from was petrified.

How to convert your strat to a steinberger

@MartinMichiels

5 жыл бұрын

Squierberger !

@5roundsrapid263

5 жыл бұрын

I was going to say this!

@anhu7393

5 жыл бұрын

Bite your tongue. That's like chipping away at a rotting tree stump until you have an exquisite marble statue.

@thetincan_man

4 жыл бұрын

Nice

@RahulDas-zy6ut

3 жыл бұрын

thinking the same

I've been saying this for years. The bridge affects 95% of the sustain along with the density of it's metal composition. Fixed bridges sustain longer than floating since the springs absorb string oscillation. The density of the wood the bridge rests on will give or take a negligible amount(denser wood=longer) since soft wood resonates and absorbs string oscillation (energy). It's simple physics.

@DestructX

5 жыл бұрын

So there is no other way than sustain pedal to have longer sustain on floating bridge?

@JD-mn7sv

5 жыл бұрын

That depends on what your goals are and the metal composition. Cheaper Floyd Rose bridges have softer metal whereas the Original FR has hardened metal and critical contact points. You can also buy thicker blocks for these tremolos which also help sustain since more metal makes oscillation absorption from this bridge more difficult, hence increased sustain.

@DestructX

5 жыл бұрын

@@JD-mn7sv I have original FR. When I bend a string and do a vibrato after my tone dies too soon, so I have to hit the string multiple times in 1 vibrato that it lasts and it's annoying.

@JD-mn7sv

5 жыл бұрын

It's normal to lose sustain after a string bend regardless of bridge, especially after returning to the original note. Keep in mind when you bend a string you are increasing the pitch which means string oscillation is faster. That stored energy while bending up, now dissipates once the string returns to it's original pitch. Add to that the sustain of that string has now opened back up further decreasing sustain. This is why bending up sounds more even in volume, but releasing a bend tends to warrant an extra pluck depending on note duration.

@DanzoSrife

5 жыл бұрын

@@JD-mn7sv How do u get those long ass sustained Nothing Else Mattere bends at the end of the song? :D

That looks totally sick! Can you test on a 1959 gold top Les Paul? I'm thinking of doing this mod.

@andrewkim3679

5 жыл бұрын

Currency Lad oh no

@adamskold6395

3 жыл бұрын

@@drakey27 Refin of a Burst, so it's basically worthless anyway

@heehee7373

2 жыл бұрын

This is what expensive experiment means

@dildonicplague

Жыл бұрын

Do it with a 59 gold top Les Paul vs 68 strat with that KZread money!

I guess we can say that you've made CAstratocaster

@CJVideoProductions

5 жыл бұрын

This needs to be pinned! Amazing comment!

@dytakeda

5 жыл бұрын

Winner.

@boseefusmacmurphy1156

5 жыл бұрын

Marat not enough people got your joke

@valvenator

5 жыл бұрын

Best comment ever, period!!!

You should use wood glue and put it back together to look like Frankenstein stitches

@TheGhostGuitars

5 жыл бұрын

That's do-able with biscuit joints. ;)

@guitarscarsetc.etc.7215

5 жыл бұрын

That would be cool

@gregszy8575

5 жыл бұрын

To have real franken-guitar it should be nailed or stapled together

Back before this debate was a “thing”, I thought it was a no brainer. Once I dove into it and watched all these tests, I eventually came to this conclusion. The parts of the guitar most responsible for your sound are the nut, saddle, pickups and most importantly, your technique. The reason you buy an expensive guitar is because the attention to detail means it’ll be more stable....tuning and intonation will stay put and your setups will last. Fret ends won’t poke out as much and often times it’ll feel better to play which will, in turn, make you play better. Not always but often. Not only that but you buy into a company’s legacy when you buy one of their best instruments. My American made fenders and martins (this is a different story...wood matters more here) are very inspiring to play because I’m strumming an instrument which has a storied lineage with roots tracing back not only to some of the most significant events in popular music but our country’s history as well. Don’t buy a high end solid body electric because you think the mahogany is going to sound better. Buy it because you want one...because it feels good to play...and because, in some weird way, it connects you to some of the greatest musical minds who’ve ever lived. And you know what? If you don’t wanna shell out the cash or somehow feel that these companies are “ripping you off” by charging what they do, buy something cheaper. There are so many great offerings under $500 nowadays, it’s almost mind-boggling.

@edwindude9893

4 жыл бұрын

manifestgtr gibberish. I make nuts out of 12 different materials. It’s the fit that makes the only difference.

@JC-11111

4 жыл бұрын

What's crazy about this is my cheapest guitar is actually built better than the one I paid 6x the price for. It's heavier, body is thicker, notes sustain longer, it's got a 1 piece maple neck with figuring and some striping. It stays in tune better and has more overall playability. The bridge is made better and returns to pitch or whatever its called. The thing is amazing. E Especially for the $24 I paid for it in that auction! 😁

@moonwrusse5649

3 жыл бұрын

@@JC-11111 he said the fit... so u assume your cheap plastic nut had a good fit? And make this conclusion after a single test?

@peteanddrake4242

3 жыл бұрын

I play lots of instruments from piano to guitar and drums. As a musician, I have never played a more expensive instrument because of it's "lineage"--forgive me but I can't think of anything better to say than "that is stupid". I play an instrument that responds to my playing style and delivered the tone I need. Sometimes (where wood is involved), that means playing an older instrument because it has resonated and cured and "played in" over time. Buying and playing something for it's "storied lineage" has nothing to do with music and everything to do with ego and hubris.

@peteanddrake4242

3 жыл бұрын

@@JC-11111 lol:) we all own that guitar and resent the little bastard for being so good:)

I love how this demonstration destroyed the sustain myth ! That was so informative !

@Augrills

9 ай бұрын

How did it destroy the myth? The heaviest guitar sustained the most. I don’t know how he comes to the conclusion when the data shows it did have a consistent effect on sustain

Sounded like the low end thinned out a bit as the body got smaller.

@gropifiasco

5 жыл бұрын

attack yes, but it resolve at the the same level

@jayz6008

5 жыл бұрын

I had always said this and I even posted about it on a forum and most people called me crazy.

@EvilSean62

5 жыл бұрын

@@jayz6008 yup me too ive been telling ppl for a while now ... also for tone ... wood isnt magnetic so unless your pups are truly microphonic , forget it

@sideoutside

5 жыл бұрын

He picked the one note different. Nothing changed..

@michaelhulsey201

5 жыл бұрын

I heard it completely differently. For me, the low end boosted as the body got smaller. Maybe it did go more into the low-mid bands and my ears pick that up better?

You really need a warning on this. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight, for fear of having dreams about a smiling guy with a chainsaw coming after my guitars. Oh, jeez, it's gonna be a long night...

@DarrellBraunGuitar

5 жыл бұрын

😂 Keep your guitars close to you tonight! 😄😄😄

@ru14jazz

5 жыл бұрын

I thought to myself, "surely he's not going to REALLY cut that guitar up" and then ZZZZZZZZZ he does. I had to push my eyes back into my head and pick my jaw up off of the floor. Oh, the PAIN. lol

@TheGhostGuitars

5 жыл бұрын

Hey at least he didn't do that with a $5k+ American Fender...or did he...?! (Frantically scrolls back video, no sign of the headstock, oh no!, checks the description, YES!) A Squier Affinity Strat. Ok, couldn't get much lower than that except perhaps a Starcaster. You can rest easy. ...Altho my 2 modded Starcasters may have nightmares tonight. LOL

@artiefischel2579

5 жыл бұрын

@@DarrellBraunGuitar I fully expect a video where you put that back together in some artistic fashion, so get those bits out of the trash. Frankenfretless ?

@alanwalker1698

5 жыл бұрын

@@TheGhostGuitars Actually a Starcaster is more of a guitar then an Affinity. It's full size , unlike the thinner Affinity.

After the sawing part ,i involuntarily blow at the screen.😂😂

Not sure if anyone picked up on this, but what seems to make the difference is the distribution of the mass of the body in terms of how even it is around the pickups. Thus, what you saw in the data and heard in the tone is a curvilinear U-Shaped effect. Greater sustain (and tone) the more even the bodyweight around the pickups, less sustain/tone the more uneven the mass around the pickups. The visual and audio data support it in this case.

Les Paul already demonstrated this with a paper mache guitar, playing with real musicians, no one knew the difference. There seemed to be some skepticism regarding the concept of a solid body guitar verses a hollow body such as the old f hole guitars. This was when electric guitars were first being experimented with.

you now own the heaviest relic Stratocaster in the world courtesy of curiosity science and a black and decker jigsaw 😂😂😂

@j_freed

5 жыл бұрын

And also the lightest.

@TheGhostGuitars

5 жыл бұрын

VERY worn down, lol!

@anthonyc1883

5 жыл бұрын

mmmoris1360 Yeah, and wait til the Fender Custom Shop sees this. I can see a Masterbuilt version pushing 10 grand.

As a musician, I really appreciate this video.

Interesting comparison Darrell. Thanks. It's really illuminating and really silences the BS discussions and claims about "tone woods". Your point about the feeling and resonance against your body is more meaningful when choosing a guitar. Thanks much mate!

He's the coolest, chillest guitar dude on here dude that's why I like him man i don't need cheesy bros tryin get some laughs, i need my guy DB he's the man chill gets to the point cool accent and just a likeable guy, keep rockin Darrell!

@squareeyedgit

4 жыл бұрын

Agreed!

@jzen1455

4 жыл бұрын

That one wackyJim Carrey-esque bespectacled Canadian guitar dude on You Tube is very knowledgeable about guitar equipment and has some great reviews, but his guitar expertise is often marred by his hyper facial gesticulations and sudden jolting body movements, which I find overbearing at times. I understand the appeal, but it's just not my cuppa tea.

Kudos to Darrell. Man, talk about going the extra mile. What a fantastic video!

All this reminds me of an old avant-garde classical organist/pianist in Sweden, Karl-Erik Welin who once "played" a grand piano in a televised concert with a chainsaw. He sawed it too scraps during a 10-15 minutes piece (ha!), and actually accidentally cut himself in the leg, so the blood flowed quite visibly. Directly after it he got interviewed and was asked "Oh dear, that didn't wen't very well, you hurt yourself", in which he replied "No, I played a wrong note..." .

I’m guessing the strap was why the sustain went up for the last cut. Mass helps with sustain a little bit, but only because it makes it harder for your body to dampen the vibrations. The strap isolates the guitar from your body, so it meets less resistance.

@sirspongadoodle

Жыл бұрын

It makes such a small difference that its not worth worrying about.. you cant tell me how heavy a guitar is just from hearing it.

The test that every guitarist wished to see but no guitarist in the world dared to do!!

Do you think it is a fair comparison using a Strat??? The Tremolo keeps the strings suspended and the bridge not in the wood like a non Trem guitar!! Might be an interesting second examination.

@khargrar

5 жыл бұрын

Plus the pickups are screwed on a floating plastic plate.

@Dystxnn

5 жыл бұрын

Yess! Thank you, sir! I'd love to see this brilliant idea come to life.

@transtremm

5 жыл бұрын

A wax potted pickup also changes sustain qualities

I will say I heard a noticeable difference in the bass. The full body seemed to sustain the bass a lot more than the cut down version. If that is real and not an internet artifact it would make some sense. If the body was going to affect something it would be more in the bass because they are lower frequencies. What would be really interesting is a way to test/ tune the body to have harmonics that alter the sound. The body / neck etc. will have harmonic frequencies that are inherent in the mass/ geometry. So the right cuts should reinforce some frequencies. It would not be a denser is better but a "certain geometry/ mass" is better for some frequencies. So it would not be a general rule but a guitar maker could tune a body/neck to make a given guitar "friendlier" to certain tonalities. Of course to go crazy with that the "ideal" would be a guitar with six sections that each resonated with it's corresponding string to sweeten the tone in a specific way. At this point even guitar freaks will think I am crazy!

I was always skeptical about weight and tone woods ever since i was a teenager in the mid 90's. You just confirmed my suspicions with this experiment. Thank you so much.

Well, after this at least you know those strap-locks and locking tuners you added aren't gonna change your tone! :p The guitar did become slightly more "mid/upper-mid" focused as I mentioned in the video, but the EQ charts show that it still had a nice usable balance across all frequencies :)

@landonbailey

5 жыл бұрын

white guitars sound better. ask Billy Corgan 😄

@joacovidal

5 жыл бұрын

Small changes like those (even big changes like cutting chunks of wood) are pretty safe for the tone. The big differences are between wood species and maybe in the bridge

@tdtom1376

5 жыл бұрын

what is the white stuff in the video?

@landonbailey

5 жыл бұрын

@@tdtom1376 Canada

@tdtom1376

5 жыл бұрын

@@landonbailey Oh! Sorry, it's summer here in New Zealand. glad someone caught my being cheeky.

I think the neck has more impact to sustain. I have a headless guitar and there is a noticeable difference. Great video.

Sustain is all about keeping the energy in the string and not radiating it away. For this you want the bridge to be as high impedance as possible, so the pulse traveling down the string is more completely reflected. Trem block mass will matter. The saddles may matter. Also, a "loud" unplugged guitar is losing sustain. The energy to produce the sound comes directly from the strings. One way I was able to massively improve sustain was to block the tremolo bridge very solidly (I used D&D dice, haha). It was pretty much a 50% increase in sustain, although this effect will be less with a better bridge and/or a heavier trem block. Of course I could no longer use the tremolo system that way, but I was sampling the guitar rather than playing it in the conventional manner, so that was fine.

Now you have a Strandberg!!

You're not auditioning for Discovery Channel, are you? 😁

Great video. This initiatives help a lot to put an end to many unscientific conceptions regarding guitars and their construction. May I suggest you another topic? Tele bridge stringing: through bridge vs through body

I'm thinking that possibly the increased sustain that players believe exists in a heavier instrument, is not a function of the total mass at all but rather a function of the density of the wood itself. I would love to see this demonstration, swapping the neck and electronics between a very heavy strat body and very light strat body. Obviously the woods would be different and this may the source of increased sustain that may (or may not) be real..Cheers and Thanks

If more weight made guitars sound better, we'd be gluing blocks of lead to the body. If higher density made guitars sound better, we'd better make the body out of cast iron or steel. Plywood can get surprisingly heavy too, especially if it's made out of very thin aircraft grade sheets. If lower weight made the guitar sound better, we'd be better off dumping wood. Funny that some people don't like the sound of a metallic nut, but most everyone seems happy with metallic frets! Where are my bone frets?! I am left wanting a stainburger style guitar.

@Lantertronics

2 жыл бұрын

Indeed, a lot of the discourse is contradictory. I hear people say things like "this guitar is made of a super dense wood and is really heavy, it must have great sustain" but they'll also say "this guitar is so light and resonant, it must have great sustain"

That poor Fender Elite Stratocaster! Well now you have a travel guitar 😁

@PrivilegedWhiteMan

5 жыл бұрын

its a squier...

@MBoss3005

5 жыл бұрын

That's exactly what I thought!

@landonbailey

5 жыл бұрын

@@PrivilegedWhiteMan i know 😊

@DarrellBraunGuitar

5 жыл бұрын

Close! It's a Custom Shop 60s Heavy Relic Strat 😉

@Szten

5 жыл бұрын

@@DarrellBraunGuitar Well you won't get any heavier relic, will you?

Drill some holes across the body thru the sustaining blocks and see if that changes things? Maybe Les Paul was right building the first guitar on a plank of a 2x4? Electric guitars just need a foundation to bolt down the mechanical parts. The wood is just window dressing then and a way to boost up the cost? Might save the rainforest by using a cheap composite material.

I imagine the difference is due to the effecting wood being mostly contained around the contact points, i.e. bridge and nut. Much farther away from those areas the effects would be dampened out of the picture. A better test would be to repeat it all with a heavy dense strat body with the same hardware transfered over, then compare both sets if grafts

Darrel, --- [1] you have provided a masterpiece of a vid. Finally, after 65 years of rock-n-roll, guitar size & weight does make a difference. --- [2] Thus, for many years, with my Steinberger-style, small-body, headless guitars, I have been correct. My most lovely, light, small, & beautiful headless [a] two Steinberger Spirit GT-Pro Deluxes (HSH; one white & one black) & [b] one Hohner G3T (HSS) with replacement Seymour Duncan pickups are genius strokes on my part. My back appreciates these three wonders of practicality ... & now tone & sustain. --- [3] I almost feel like a genius. :) :) :) Richard

"Weight" or "size" in my experience only comes up (intentionally or not) in regards sustain as a surrogate for density - e.g., a 10 lb Les Paul vs. a 8 lb Les Paul - same size but very different density, and some argue different sustain. Further, the resonance that might matter is probably most centered on the bulk of material between the headstock and the bridge, including the density of the neck, with the rest of the guitar contributing less to sustain. The question would be: would a very dense-wood bodied guitar have more or less sustain than a very light-wood bodied guitar - of the same size.

@bobboitt3126

5 жыл бұрын

Im going to guess NO. I had a pine telecaster that sustained just as long as my Mahogany/maple top Les Paul. Pine is no where near as dense.

@StratMatt777

5 жыл бұрын

@@bobboitt3126 I think it is likely important to also consider the bridge type in head-to-head comparisons, like string-thru tele vs Les paul style ("Tone Pro" is probably not the right word since that is a brand name). I think that Paul Reed Smith is correct when he says that guitars are subtractive... if that is correct, I suspect that LPs are probably warmer because the highest treble frequencies are lost due to the softer density of the mahogany. Since you are the LP owner here, what do you think?

@isodoublet

5 жыл бұрын

The overall acoustic impedance of the body is effectively a function of mass, actually. The density comes out integrated over the volume.

@StratMatt777

5 жыл бұрын

@@isodoublet Also we are giving no consideration to the direction of the wood's grain with regard to whether or not it is parallel with the strings (of course it is the neck covers most of the distance between the nut and bridge). Important to note: I am not a physicist and I don't have a clue what I am talking about!

@RWulff007

5 жыл бұрын

Grasping onto straws 🤣🤣 (Just kidding)

“ Oh by the way.....this video was sponsored by Steinberger...”

@m7alan7johnson7

5 жыл бұрын

Love my Steinbergers!!!

A Stratocaster is probably not the best guitar to test this concept on, since the springs in the vibrato bridge tend to dampen the sustain already. A hard tail guitar like Telecaster or a Les Paul would be a much better test.

@XIIImmoralist

5 жыл бұрын

This doesn't make sense. Dampened sustain doesn't matter so long as the tests remain on the same equipment. Here's a vague analogy to help you understand: 200% of 100 is 200. 200% of 10 is 20. Guess what? The ratio is still 2/1 despite using a smaller number in the second calculation (Purposefully did this to help draw the connection of sustain that isn't dampened vs sustain that is dampened). no matter what the initial number we multiply is, its still getting multiplied by 2. This is what we call a *control* (the type of guitar would be the control here since this video only uses one guitar) and is why we are able to make accurate measurements while having a *variable* (a variable is something that can change, root of the word bring vary which basically means different), in this case the independent variable (the variable we chAnge i.e. watering grass with different liquids) being how much weight is cut off, which determines the outcome of the dependent variable (the variable that changes based on the conditions we apply i.e. how well the grass grows based on what liquid was used to water it) which in this case is the sustain time.

@SchielMusic

5 жыл бұрын

@@XIIImmoralist Sorry but I disagree. The springs in the bridge of a stratocaster decouple the strings from the mass of the body.

@XIIImmoralist

5 жыл бұрын

@@SchielMusic what does it matter? This video is determining how weight impacts sustain. Decoupled or dampened or whatever it may be there was still a correlation between dropping mass and losing sustain. The % of sustain lost based on the % of weight cut will be the same.

@SchielMusic

5 жыл бұрын

@@XIIImmoralist It matters because if we're testing the effect of increased mass on sustain, it's better to eliminate the additional variable of the springs in the bridge. If mass really does increase the sustain, it should be MUCH more noticeable on a hard tail guitar.

@XIIImmoralist

5 жыл бұрын

@@SchielMusic but that's the point of using the guitar as the control, which leads back to my original statement to where it doesn't matter as long as he continues to do this test *on this guitar and this guitar only* which he does. Edit: the percentages stay the same and are accurate so long as this control is kept

Interesting!!! Having this mythbuster issue solved can you try a lighter weight guitar with Temperament Fret vs. a normal weight that is to test what really causes sustain to improve significantly

I was wondering if my new Soloist had more sustain because it's body is bigger and 3 more pounds on average than my Strats. I never noticed a difference, but I thought it was my playing...thanks for the experiment Darrell!

Awesome video and you have just upset so many people who will swear the heavier the guitar the "better". LOL

@David-ob2gn

5 жыл бұрын

You can hear in the video that the more of the guitar is removed, the less bass there is and the sound becomes thinner and more thock-y. You can see it if you look at the EQs from 8:40 onward: The more the guitar is removed, the faster and more the bass fades after playing a note.

Darrell, Here’s a great experiment; Compare 2 bodies using identical hardware. First body, a block of steel. Second body, the strongest foam you can find or cardboard. That would really interesting.

@jzen1455

4 жыл бұрын

I just wrote a similar comment except asking to compare a glass body with acrylic or some other comparison beyond comparing wood tones.

Tone is inherent in the wood structure. A part of this is its weight, but cutting off pieces isn't going to change the inherent tonal qualities.

Love these myth buster videos.

I’ll be damned... i was totally expecting a different result,.. huh, wow ok then awesome. Thanks for sacrificing your guitar!

@backlom

5 жыл бұрын

Dan Greving I agree. Thank you for taking one for the team

Steinberger proved your point on a mass produced scale almost 40 years ago, yet I’m glad you did this experiment to illustrate the relatively minor changes to body shape and mass and did so in an unambiguous manner. Thank you for making the effort.

Listen to the fat E on these clips at 8:40 and just concentrate on that E resonating while he picks the other strings and you will hear the depth of that note resonates less and less with each cut

@lordlemmingman

3 жыл бұрын

That's exactly what I felt as well

@crazywisdom2

3 жыл бұрын

So then, i.e. lighter guitars are necessarily better guitars. It s a tradeoff?

I have noticed that my sg is more affected by the band when playing on stage my les paul. Sounds more the same if I am playing alone or with the band but what a great experiment. Playing for about 60 years. I got a lot of over priced wood. Get a guitar that is comfortable and some great pickups. I like wagers. Thanks for the great video

Great video concept. I have a Strandberg that weighs 4.5lbs and it sustains with the rest of my guitars. Guess you proved it! :)

@CarcPazu

5 жыл бұрын

That's because a Strandberg guitar is made with tonewood made out of old viking boats that had a lot of epic and glorious adventures.

the main factor affecting sustain is how much vibrational energy is lost or absorbed. using harder materials for saddles, bridges, and nuts ensures that most of the vibrational energy stays in the string. checking out the PRS rules of tone is a good start to understanding this

Love it! Fretless as well? Whenever I get the tone wood guy in my ear, I have my 2 words ready: Holdsworth, Steinberger

Kudos for actually doing this out on the snow.

If you can't hear a tone difference between full and 30% you need new ears. The low E is the most obvious sign.

@scottgun

5 жыл бұрын

Yep. I think all of us, including Darrell hears a difference. The point is not as big a difference as one would be inclined to think.

@danielkelleyhoward

5 жыл бұрын

Scottgun not with flatwounds and squier pickups

@javiercortes9093

5 жыл бұрын

Yes, men. I noticed that difference

@tzvitombak5671

5 жыл бұрын

It's miniscule dude

@indoshakermaker

5 жыл бұрын

If you played live before you'd know that the audience wouldn't know the difference.

Ah, the Edmonton snow is lovely and warm. Sawdust helps prevent slippery steps, good job.

Due to issues with my spine, guitar weight as well as physical size is really important to me. I now have both Tele and a Strat style guitars made with paulownia wood bodies by Gordon Smith here in the U.K. Both come in under 6lbs and both are absolutely stunning both in playability and in tone. They look amazing and, for the quality level you’re getting, they’re great value for money too. I love ‘em!

Its funny you did this video. I had seen John Mayall and the bluesbreakers. And John Mayall plays a strat configuration guitar with a basically chopped up body and is really small. Hearing it being played it diddnt seemed it didnt loose any sustain and still sounded great

I can hear differences in the tone, the 30% body was way thinner than the full body, but of course it was not HUGE

@Szten

5 жыл бұрын

Wondering if you could have heard it in a blind test.

@OtherTheDave

5 жыл бұрын

Szten I think I could *probably* reliably tell the difference, but not which one was the “heavier” guitar. They just sounded different, kinda like maybe the same kind of difference you’d get between two strats that came off the factory on different days or something. Detectable, but nothing to worry about.

@jimcarter6669

5 жыл бұрын

Absolutely I could hear less lower end when he took off the 30%!

@jimcarter6669

5 жыл бұрын

@@Szten I did it in a blind test. Less lower end at 30% less. No question.

@Szten

5 жыл бұрын

@@jimcarter6669 You did it on blind test? How?

Perhaps someone has already commented on this, but I think what matters for sustain is what is in contact with the end of the strings. On a Strat the strings pass over the steel saddles and are anchored in the Synchronised Tremolo bridge block. Various Fender history sources say that Leo Fender tried building that bridge without the 10oz steel inertia block and that version of the bridge had poor sustain and tone. Fender had to add the block to get the guitar to sound any good. Many people have said that replacing the lightweight die cast zinc block in the older Mexican Strats with a full size machined steel block makes a big difference, and that has certainly been my experience. I don't know if you had that bridge blocked or screwed down, but even then I suspect the inertia block would dominate performance. A Telecaster might have made a better test subject where the coupling between the strings and the body is more direct. Even then the materials and construction of the bridge may dominate. I also suspect that the body of an electric guitar plays a bigger role when the guitar is played at high volumes and there is acoustic coupling between the sound from the loudspeaker and the body.

wonderful video on sustain...truly eye-opening experiment. very well done. excellent experiment technique..thank you sir, very informative not to mention very brave! Musta been fun cutting it up though...

Did the owner of that guitar slug you in the right eye after he simply asked for a neck adjustment?

@mikewhitfield2994

5 жыл бұрын

TonePilot Can you relic my guitar for me? Um . . . Yes. Yes I can.

You should have left it plugged in a recorded it while cutting!

@wolfelliza7850

4 жыл бұрын

Need tabs

@user-fw1xu7ve2n

3 жыл бұрын

@@wolfelliza7850 also need a cover to follow correct timing

@wolfelliza7850

3 жыл бұрын

@@user-fw1xu7ve2n 21/32 time signature

@user-fw1xu7ve2n

3 жыл бұрын

@@wolfelliza7850 what was this comment about, i forgot lmaoo

@wolfelliza7850

3 жыл бұрын

@@user-fw1xu7ve2n That's a mystery!

I would love to see a comparison of tone on the same guitar with the only difference being scale length. Maybe see how the sound difference in scale length compares to using different gauge strings, and not just the tone, but is there a noticeable difference in feel between the lighter gauge strings vs a shorter scale length. I haven’t seen any good videos on that topic that really show off the exact same guitar for both comparisons. Iv been fiddling with the idea of going custom on my next guitar and this has been a real big point I’d like to know about before diving in.

I'm so sorry to be 'that person' to bring up Spongebob in a totally unrelated situation but cutting away parts of that guitar bit by bit reminded me of that Halloween episode of Spongebob where he gets pieces and corners of him lopped off to achieve a certain look for his costume

I heard that the larger CBS head stocks have more sustain than the pre-CBS head stocks on Strats. Darrell, are you ready to cut into the head stock?

Dude, awesome shirt!

Anybody noticed the difference when strumming - not amplified?? That rocked my chair!In essence this has to do with the resonance of the Body: so certain frequencies will be "in tune" with the Body - therefore the Body will/does amplify certain frequencies - and others will get "deleted out" : so what you hear amplified is much louder - no longer noticing the unamplified differences so much: but the underlying difference will be still there.Surprisingly to me: the cut of the upper part made the biggest difference: cutting the rest got it rather back into "resonance as it used to be before cutting"Sustain: clear it mainly depends on what is between neck and Bridge (sturdy or not)Great Test, I got a lot of confirmationso my take away: Guitar Body may make Little differences in Sound: wheter you notice them after amplifying is questionable

Great video. Really insightful test results (although I am not too surprised). I also think you did an excellent job putting the results into perspective, especially for a topic that can bring out strong emotions on both sides of the argument.

Very cool experiment!!!! Great! It seems to me that lesser wood is more sustain if you look at the waveforms! You could take snips between 3rd and 4th second of the recordings and analyze them for RMS levels! It seems there is more energy in that region on the last takes... If you send me the wavs of your recording or share them on the net I could test that! Please share the raw data so us crazy guitar fools can analyze further!! Maybe I could do a test where we put a guitar body in a vice to make the body weightier... Myths are busted right here!!!!

@Cr8Tron

5 жыл бұрын

I was wondering if it was just me visually noticing this about the audio clips... Thanks for confirming that it's not! 😂

Hot take: vary "weight" not by cutting off the body, but by comparing solid body vs hollow body for a more comprehensive sustain test. e.g. solid Les Paul vs chambered Les Paul, or a full hollow archtop vs an archtop with a solid block down the middle. The cavities in the body should affect how the guitar resonates (particularly down the centre of the body/through the neck) which may lead to a more significant sustain difference!

@danielkelleyhoward

5 жыл бұрын

Adrian Yong solid body and thinline telecasters definitely have different tone and sustain also

I would glue it back together :D Thank you so much for the great experiment Darrell!!!

My uncle used to work at a guitar center. One slow day he and his coworkers decided to find out which guitar had the most sustain. To do this they timed how long a clamp on headstock attached tuner would pick up the note when the two E strings were plucked, so they did it twice, one for each string. The guitar that lasted the longest was a Les Paul. My uncle wondered if it was the body mass or the fact the so much of the neck and body are connected on a Les Paul being a single cut. But the Les Paul did indeed beat every other guitar they tried including high end PRS.

I don’t think this is what papa roach meant when he said “cut my life into pieces”

@ruzxh11rock29

4 жыл бұрын

🤣😂

Nigel Tufnel would disagree as a '59 Les Paul would maintain it's sustain even while you go down to the pub.

Note that this test was done on a strat with a trem bridge, bolt-on neck, and a huge cavity inside the body. My experience is different on a les paul type guitar. Just compare a semi hollow and solid body guitar with the same electronics, for example an epiphone les paul and an epiphone es-335, they have distinctly different sustain and tone, because of the completely different body shape and the missing wood material inside the semi-hollow body.

THANK YOU. I have been having this argument with sales staff for years - the guitar body does NOT affect the tone of an electric guitar. It’s all about the strings and pickups.

@standswithfist806

5 жыл бұрын

It depends; for most folks that use a normal guage strings and normal pick attack and tone. But lets say you are a jazz/blues guy and you have a set of 13-56 on your tele and you play super clean but aggresively through a Polytone amp(clean!!!) Now take a poplar body tele and a swamp ash tele, same pickups etc. There will be a lot of difference. Where as the same guitars with 10-46 and a little tube warmth, there will be very little difference. Not everybody plays with a overdriven tone. Not everybody plays with a light picking style.

Thanks for the video! So good to see someone doing tests instead of just spewing opinion. So the body weight isn't so important, how about the headstock? Does the fender fatfinger really work or are they pure placebo?

I don't think the weight of the whole instrument matters, but the density of the wood. A more dense kind of wood is probably heavier also. Like plywood compared to mahogany for example. Maybe you should compare bodys made from different kinds of wood.

@xxXthekevXxx

5 жыл бұрын

I will not be happy until I hear a concrete guitar

@m7alan7johnson7

5 жыл бұрын

I'm asking out of ignorance...Doesn't more dense suggest heavier? Thanx for replying.

@ChrisTian-rm7zm

5 жыл бұрын

Yes, that's what I meant. :-)

After seeing guitars made from cigar boxes....oil cans....shovels....2x4 lumber....etc etc....and they all sounded pretty good...I decided that as far as electric guitars are concerned....the wood really doesn't make much difference. Mahogany, Alder, Ash.....it really doesn't matter that much. Another myth that I believed for years is that heavy string gauges give you better tone....they really don't. Now, before anybody goes on a rant that I'm wrong and don't know what I'm talking about....don't waste your time. It's been proven.

Great info. For weightloss I drilled holes in the back of my China Tele, added a new back-board and finished off with thick coat of glossy paint. Result: you wouldn´t know and the guitar even sounds the same - Only, now I can prove it too!

Well, you're just removing mass, without regard to density or resonance, and a waveform view tells little about either sustain or tone; you can measure amplitude against time, but unless you use a calibrated machine to do the picking, you can't even be sure your pickstrokes are matched. Next, tone and sustain are complex phenomena, because we're studying a system with a feedback loop; we have a vibrating string attached to a neck at one end and a body at the other; pluck the string and it produces a fundamental and a series of harmonic partials. (google Karplus-Strong for details) These overtones and the fundamental all sustain for different lengths of time and density (or rigidity) and resonance of the body and neck affect both to varying degrees at all the different frequencies, absorbing here and reinforcing there, resulting in what we refer to as tone.The tool for measuring that is a waterfall plot, but you'd need very fine calibration, because the differences are very small on an electric guitar, though very much measurable. The key is that you hear the most difference in the E string, which is not coincidentally the largest, heaviest string, thus driving the neck and body with the most kinetic energy, which feeds back to the string through the nut and bridge. Generally, greater rigidity/less resonance equals more sustain, but the devil's in the details. HTH

@peteanddrake4242

3 жыл бұрын

lol....good writing---but nope. nope to all that BS:)

@sgriggl

3 жыл бұрын

yeah you beat me to it. w/o knowing the resonate frequencies, we don't have a great basis for comparison... that said, i don't think it was a total waste, or the worst "experiment" i've seen on YT. he produced interesting results, within a limited format.

@lessthanpinochet

3 жыл бұрын

Check this out: only old people fall for the tonewood myth on electric guitars. It's all about the pickups, amp and speakers. And in recording, even Mic placement matters far more than woods.

Maybe would've been worth weighing it as you cut it off. Cool video though.

@picksalot1

5 жыл бұрын

Yes. Darrell should put all the pieces in a pile and provide the weights.

thank you for running this test. There are so many myths surrounding sound because it is such an extremely subjective subject that people don't really understand well. Plus the companies that make and sell guitars make a lot more money talking up the quality of the tone-wood. I'm all about having an instrument that looks good, but the playability and electronics have way more to do with the sound of your instrument over the type or shape of tree carcass it is made of. Acoustic guitars are different though... the shape does actually make a big difference there.

This is what I've been saying for years. It does not affect sustain, the construction does. Only the pitch of the tone is different due to amounts of wood but the difference is very small. So if you want deeper/darker sounding guitar go with bigger body.

diy x-mas gift: a stratocaster puzzle...

The resonance changed as you cut the guitar

@CesarCordova

5 жыл бұрын

What's the difference between resonance and sustain?

@modestoney1577

5 жыл бұрын

@@CesarCordova sustain is the length of the sound. resonance is the composition over overtones.

@wiseguy9202

5 жыл бұрын

Barely

@modestoney1577

5 жыл бұрын

@@wiseguy9202 Still. Barely an effect is still an effect. So the thesis, that the body has no effect at all is falsified. And who`s to say that it may not be more noticeable with better pickups for example, or when pickups are mounted directly to the body?

@wiseguy9202

5 жыл бұрын

Barely regarding resonance which mass does play an effect. Tone, not so much.

Sustain is based on resonance . Some are set necked with the right woods and others are bolt-on. String thru and combination of woods.

Most important thing for sustain on a guitar : the bridge. In particular its composition. For the most sustain, use a solid brass bridge, the bigger the better. My mexican Fender Strat came out of the factory with a small alloy bridge block on its trem. It sounded very bland. I fitted a large solid brass bridge block and the sound was *transformed*. The guitar started resonating and singing. I have an Ibanez AR2619 that comes out of the factory with a huge brass bridge block. It sounds more like an organ when you play chords on it, it sustains so much. In fact, I have to adjust my playing style on it to compensate - I end up playing fewer notes as each note rings out so loud and for so long.