if you can consistently make beautiful sounding guitars ie like the best guitars from the 50s, maniniwala ako"
But ^that is precisely the sort of thing that gets him so 'animated', lol.
You're missing the point, if your 'proof' is his ability to make guitars "like the best guitars from the 50s".
He's not claiming to be a guitar builder.
He's not claiming to have uncovered some secret to building "the best guitars" (from any era).
He's saying that the secret, if there is one, ISN'T in the selection of tonewood.1. Keep in mind he's talking about solidbody electrics, and that he isn't claiming that the body/neck
has ZERO influence on string behavior. He's just saying that the influence isn't going to be in terms of
shaping what has come to be called "tone".
2. Also keep in mind, he seems to be operating from a standpoint that clinically-assumes everything
is in working order: the pickups are properly wax-potted (eliminating microphonic properties), and
the bridge+saddle(s) are properly anchored and have significant mass advantage over the strings.
One of three things I dislike about his presentation is the merely-partial treatment of feedback, which
in turn touches on limitation #1 above. He acknowledges that the amplified output --a compression
waveform-- can and will cause a resonant transverse wave vibration in a guitar string. Fine. That'd be
pretty obvious to those who've SUFFERED amp feedback: dampen the strings with your fingers and
the feedback stops. Now..... if the output out of a cranked-up amp can make your balls vibrate, it will
also transfer energy to the guitar body/neck... as can be more significant than vibrations transferred
purely from the guitar strings. Even if we limit discussion of body/neck vibrations to RESONANCE, wood
isn't homogenous: there isn't only one single frequency it might resonate to. Transferrence of wood
vibrations back to the strings may not alter the "tone" as defined by most, but it sure as heck can
affect decay (look up discussions of fretboard deadspots) and quite a few folks literally confuse and
combine tone with sustain. He leaves no room for such an understandable layman's confusion, which
is bad from an educational POV.
The second thing I have trouble with is related, and also deals with body/neck vibrations, but within a
context of partially-microphonic pickups: the body/neck vibrations going direct to pickup, instead of
just back up the bridge and into the strings and THEN to pickup. Again, if the amp is loud enough to
make your nads tremble, it is definitely transferring energy to the body/neck. Since the tonewood isn't
homogenous, it can alter the compression wave slightly, which the pickup will translate into a signal.
In this case, in-phase or out-of-phase interference with string vibration doesn't matter, because it's
the PICKUP's LOOSE WIRES that are quivering. This is of course nitpicky, in a discussion of a simplified
model, but if he's going to mention degraded/microphonic pickups AND we are also considering non-
homogeneity of a wooden body/neck, then I feel it deserves more consideration.
The third thing I dislike relates to #2, and dwells again on non-homogeneity of the guitar body/neck
material. From a clinical standpoint, assuming as-new pickups is fine, but it'd have saved a crapload
of YT-channel angst if he'd left a lot more room for degraded potting to account for microphonics. He
brought it up anyway! He starts wandering off the reservation in video#2 when he says that
even if the body's minor vibrations are picked up by a slightly-microphonic pickup, it'll have no effect on tone.
Kaso nga, wood isn't homogenous. It is composed of fibers of different densities and resonances:
you can't wiggle a toe without slightly moving the ones beside it. That means a compressive wave
sent through the wood isn't always going to translate unchanged before reaching a microphonic
pickup; not the same way it would through a HOMOGENOUS body/neck material. Now, this is a non-
issue IF the only way the body/neck vibrates is from influence from the strings, through the bridge
and into the wood... but again, compressive wave energy from the amp's speakers, striking the body
and neck, is another way, and should be considered.
Bottom line is, he's basically right, for three reasons, and probably more:He's not talking about vintage (IOW damaged/degraded) electrics.
With everything in as-designed mechanical/electrical working order, influence of
tonewood selection
on tone would be insignificant, most especially since he's also talking ONLY about solid-bodies. The
significant factors on signal out of the pickup will be the strings, nut, bridge, fingering and the pickup
itself. The mechanical properties of the wood do matter: compressive/tensile strength and bending
modulus can affect how wave energy is lost from the vibrating strings, but that's a matter of sustain
or decay, not of tone, and ultimately a consideration of structural lumber, not just tonewoods.. and
THAT is why "tonewood selection" isn't terribly relevant for a solid-body electric.
There really ARE a lot of non-knowledgeable f*cks on the internet, who didn't pay attention to basic
physics in HS, college or on their own time*. They just don't know. They can still learn better, if they
are inclined to learn.
There really ARE a lot of ignorant f*cks on the internet, who didn't WANT to pay attention to basic
physics in HS, college or on their own time**. They don't WANT to know. They just pick a belief-set
and cite whatever seems to support said belief-set, while ignoring (hence, 'ignorant') everything
that doesn't support their pet belief. When you corner these ass-hats with facts, they will invariably
retreat to something non-verifiable, like "my ears can hear it; yours aren't sensitive enough, pleb",
which statement isn't objectionable on its own (some ears really ARE more sensitive), but are cancer
in any discussion with demands for verifiable 'proof'.
Jm2 and then some, lol.
* The discussion is just classical wave, ffsakes... No one is trotting out Planck, nor needs to.
** Again, no quantum: it is literally stuff that everyone out of High School should know.
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