I changed my settings so that you can now post a comment without creating an account. Just select "anonymous" from the drop-down box. Of course, you can still sign up for an account or just simply sign your name at the bottom of the comment if you want. I figure it is a pain to have to go through an account creation process sometimes just to type in a quick comment or question. Hopefully, this change persuades more of you to comment more regularly. And about comments...I have access to some smart people, so if you have woodworking questions I can ask Ed, or guitar questions, I can ask Nathan...I'm just saying even if my posts come across as "simple" or "uneducated" I have access to some good peeps. As my Indo-Canadian friend, Raj used to say, "Don't shy!" (Make sure to say it with the retroflexes rather than alveolars...)
Also, if you want to follow my blog, but are tired of pressing F5 all the time in your browser, please sign up for my email alerts on the top right where it says "Want email alerts of my new posts?" It's a quick process and will send you an email alert only when I write a new post. There is no spam and I promise I won't email you anything else. It is also quick and easy to unsubscribe, so no excuses...
Lastly, please feel free to advertise my blog around. Make a quick Facebook comment on your wall or whatever. It would be great to get a number of people reading about my ideas. I already have some views from Canada, USA, Australia, Ireland, Malaysia, and Switzerland. Megalomania is my middle name...Muhaha! Muhaha! The power, oh the power!
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| Muhaha! Muhaha! |
Don't know too much about guitars (learning more every day!) but you are funny...in a weird way (muhaha! muhaha!) Maybe you can blog other subjects as well...and become a WRITER! LOL BTW why don't both ends of the guitar have the same design, or is that too matchy matchy? Does the design of the guitar and the type of wood you use change the sound?
ReplyDeleteLol! Muhaha is my evil laugh...
ReplyDelete"Funny...in a weird way" is good, right?
A funny, weird writer...hmmm...I'll have to think about that.
What do you mean with both ends having the same design? Do you mean making a smaller version of my body shape as my headstock? Or, do you mean finishing (painting) the headstock and the body the same? If you mean the first one, I have never seen that before - it's a very interesting idea. I would have to draw it out and see if I like the look of it. As for the second option, I plan on finishing the headstock and body pretty much the same. More on the finish on some later post.
The type of wood definitely makes a different to the sound. The harder/denser the wood, the more the notes sustain. In other words, they play for a longer time. If the wood is too hard, the notes sustain so long that they ring into each other and have the effect of too much reverb in a recording. It makes the sound too muddy. It is generally considered an undesirable sound, I think. That is why you don't see too many ironwood guitars or ebony bodies (not to mention how much they would cost!). Likewise, if the wood is too soft, the guitar doesn't ring enough. That is why you don't see many softwood guitars like pine or cedar (they wouldn't be strong enough to hold the tension of the strings anyway). It's the Goldilocks guitar wood - just right! You can get away with using different kinds of wood together to help with the different tonal qualities (like I am doing with medium density marine plywood and hard maple). I think Nathan is going to make a mahogany, spalted maple (full of holes from disease and/or bugs - VERY spongy and soft) body at some point.
As for the shape of the guitar affecting the sound - there are dissertations on this subject. Every solid object has natural resonant frequencies because of its shape. You can easily calculate these frequencies for basic shapes like cylinders and cubes, but it is much, much harder to calculate resonance on complex shapes like guitar bodies. There are people who have done it with complex computer software and microphones, but I never have and never plan to. Keep in mind that even if you could create a guitar shape that resonates, say, 440 Hz - you would only be resonating that "A" note (and notes acoustically related, like the octave). That resonance would do very little for other notes and chords. Therefore, in my opinion, I feel the shape of the body on an electric guitar is (mostly) for aesthetic value. Shape has more acoustic value on an acoustic guitar because ALL the sound comes from the shape rather than also from the electronics like on an electric guitar.
Thanks for the questions!