The JAGPLANK - Does the body affect the tone?
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2022
- Hey guys! In this video I take everything off my Jaguar and put it on a plank of wood to see if it changes the tone. This has always been, and always will be a debated topic. From my own real world experience, the body on a solid body guitar absolutely affects the tone! How much of a difference? That's up for you to decide, but it's certainly there.
Here's some good reading on modal responses: courses.physics.illinois.edu/...
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_a...
Not a fair comparison man, the plank has a stripe. Jokes aside, great comparison! I've been excited for this one.
Also, the temperature was 2 degrees colder in my studio causing the strings to shrink on the plank recording. Totally not fair 🤣🤣🤣
@@AaronRash yo think u could do a drain you tone recreation? would be cool or burn the rain tone recreation???
The stripe would only make it play faster though?
You forgot that they have different colours aswell. :D And yes, that has been/is a debate amongst guitar nerds.
Difference, eh, break angle. The plank break angle sum is very low in comparison. This affects string tension, and so forth.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the mounting of the pickup is different between the two bodies, right? On the plank it's bolted straight to the body, whereas the actual guitar it's mounted to a plastic pickup ring, which is screwed onto the pickguard.
I think the basic difference in sound between guitar bodies would come from how the pickup is vibrated by the body it's attached to, but if it's only indirectly making contact with the wood, maybe it sounds significantly different?
That's an interesting point actually
Homie found the hole in his experiment!
The pickup is not what vibrates. The strings vibrate.
Direct mounting versus ring mounting should not create much noticeable difference.
You can still direct mount a pickup with a pickguard on. So, without Aaron saying directly how it was mounted, we don't really know because you can't tell from this vid.
As a matter of fact, Aaron actually direct mounted the pickup in one of his guitars but I forget which one it was. Maybe the Ferrington? I don't remember. I'll have to go look at Kurt's guitars and see if I can figure it out.
Edited: it was the blue/red Mustang with the Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge. Still, my point is proven that having a pickguard doesn't automatically mean it's mounted to it
@@mikewren7532the strings vibrate the body which would vibrate the pickup, not a lot but that could be contributing to the difference of sound
I remember I once said something similar to “guitar body doesn’t affect the tone, there is a guy on youtube who’s already proved it” and you replied like “I watched it but no it absolutely does”. I guess I wasn’t the only one who forced you to made the video, but hey, thank you so much, it’s really cool to have an actual proof! Btw it’s funny when you started playing HSB on the plank-jag I thought holly shit it sounds exactly like the real record so I guess the plank-jag is not that bad :) love your videos, keep it up!
You're videos reignited my passion for Nirvana and I just bought a re-issue Cobain Mustang. Most comfortable neck I've ever played and I plan on learning every Nirvana riff again. Thanks dude!
how much is the Cobain Re-issue ? I'd like to have one.
@@thomasdupont7186You can get the Squier version for $200 or the Fender for $1300. Personally, I would get the Squier and swap the pickups. They also make a leftie version unlike most Fender models since Kurt was left handed.
I bet it felt different to you but if those two recordings were next to each other and nobody told me I never would have noticed but because I produce music and I play guitar and other instruments, the plank sounded like it had a lighter body. I wonder though if that plank was super dense and heavy it probably wouldn't make a difference. I feel like the type of pickguard material use changes the tone more than the wood does
Thank you for what you do Aaron! Nice new haircut! By the way, what do you think about making a video where you tell how to build your own Mustang from scratch? I mean how to choose the right body, neck and other parts and how this will affect the sound. I think it would be very helpful!
Thanks for the idea! For sure.. I'm in the process of building a vintage mustang right now
Great content bro. I’m really enjoying these
Very interesting stuff. Thanks for this, Man!
great as always, such an underrated channel
Hi Aaron, in a previous video, you said that the polychorus (or echoflanger, it's the same) is all over In Utero. May be you can do a video about that? Is it used on a separate guitar track overdubbed all the time? on every songs? Only with the Mustang, the hi flier, all of them? Thanks a lot for your hard work on this channel!
he goes over this on the individual song videos, the filter matrix setting was used for a lot of the guitar tracks, with a combination of mic placement, the filter matrix effect and layering makes those unique sounds
@@johnpickk7526 I have watched all his videos twice or 3 times, I even did a sheet with the guitars used for every song! But this doesn t explain how to use the filter matrix. His advice on how to do it would be cool. I have the same equipment but I can't find a way to use the filter matrix. I think it s layering but a vidéo about it could be intersting in my opinion
@@ZX-6R he does mention the filter matrix and the settings he has used on each video
@@johnpickk7526 Yes he talks about the guitar, the amp, the cabinet speaker etc... but when he says that the polychorus has been used all over in utero, I would like to know more. How was it used? On overdubs for the solos, for the rythmn? on which songs, what are the settings etc..... thanks
So glad you made this one!
Actualy good comparison, nice job aaron
Good work dude. Interesting watch.
Thoroughly enjoyed this video! Really liked the DIY jagplank idea! Starting off I would like to say that the Jaguar definitely has a more full bodied tone and it sounds much more warmer than the jagplank, honestly speaking the jagplank sounds pretty much like the jaguar if the jaguar was eq'd where only the treble was left alone and everything else was removed although i would definitely say that I kinda dig the sound of it, It's sounds pretty unique. Oh and also you're probably right about your wood density theory, there never really isn't any guitar that sounds the same as it's equivalent counterpart, they always tend to differ in some way or the other.
In the midst of writing, I thought to myself If hypothetically, Kurt decided to craft himself a DIY jagplank and then went to use it in the studio, that piece of wood would probably cost more than a house.
I clearly despise the Cobain Tax alot, it's just plain stupidity.
Very interesting to see thanks for that!
Hey man, cool video! I’m still torn on the whole debate about if the body effects tone, I’ve seen multiple videos like this that both support and try to disprove it.
Anyway, really interesting and entertaining.
It comes down to the hardness and density of the piece of wood being used.
I loved this video! Some fundamental stuff here. I have had issues with guitars not sounding right and totally agree with you about how the body of the guitar can change tone. I totally hate new guitar strings too!! Thanks for sharing. Oh btw you need to start doing a mixing class on here too. Would love to see you do a mix!
Very cool work you definitely nailed it with that from what I’ve seen wood is wood some sound brighter some sound darker and some just plan suck. Another thing is the tone cap what ever value makes it sound better or worst or even the pickup can sound different. I feel like finding a good body neck combo is a good start than adding the pickups and etc will make it shine. After twenty years of playing I’m still working that.
i love you videos! they so high quality,,,,,, what camera you using?
Very interesting question; I wonder if this continues over to other instruments like bass ?
Good question man, I have no idea!
It's an interesting experiment, but I can't help but notice that your right hand position is different in both guitars and I found that that has a massive effect on the overall sound. In fact when you played heart shaped box, you had your right had in a much similar spot in both clips and it sounded way closer. So I would like to see the experiment done with that variable controlled as well. Cheers!
I noticed that on Come As You Are
I'm not saying you're wrong at all, in fact this is something really smart that I notice looking back too! But I think it kinda proves from an "anatomical" (to quote the comment in the video) perspective, that different guitar bodies change the tone because you will play each guitar differently!
The plank heart shaped box sounded closer to the studio version than the jag
Thank you very much Aaron! All you doing are beautiful in all terms! I have a bit silly question about SLTS pre chorus part with a distortion. The thing is, that the ds2 sounds very loud in this part after those clean 2 notes😬 but meanwhile, at the chorus part this loudness is totaly appropriate. I dont know how to manage this volume issue. Do you have any advices?
love your videos man
You do all the things we wonder but can't test by ourselves (btw love that "competition plank")
Appearently its also with the pickups, even tho the selector isnt on its pickup, the pickup is still getting the string vibration, so getting rid of 1 of the pickups change the whole thing. Another thing is when you're comparing 2 different guitars but same scale, we still need to remember the pickups might be slightly different, but the guitar would sound completely unique.
Hey man big fan of your content and I’m looking for a new amp and I don’t know what to get. I only have a small starter amp and I’m looking for something bigger, is there anything you’d recommend?
i gotta say there’s a minuscule difference in the sound, but when playing songs like nirvana’s when they’re distorted i’m sure body has little to nothing to do with the sound, it’d be pretty indistinguishable. most of it comes to pickup placement, pickups themselves, and the amp and speaker imo. cool test
Agreed! But there's certainly a difference, and that's my point, the body plays a role. I was surprised though with the results in this video. I've switched just only the bodies on some of my mustangs and there was a much bigger difference. Guitars are weird
haha, after a DS1 even a violin would sound the same ;)
@@ZX-6R This test is more important for me because I play a lot of clean tone's like the intro to heart shaped box for example. It's a really specific tone. That I still haven't been able to 100% match
Hey dude! Killer video and killer experiment! You said in this video that difference in bridge makes no difference in tone, but you already proved that it kind of does with your 1970 Mustang t-o-m vs original bridge video. What do you think of bridge difference now that you've had more experience?
Just started the video but wanted to throw in break angle has a huge affect on tone and the plank is extreme
Less wood seems to equal slightly brighter sound. Awesome idea and video buddy
awesome experiment aaron:) u think u could return to the nevermind tone series?? im trying to get down the different tones for every song!!
Lol, the music in the background made me chuckle when you were explaining the plank
The difference in tone in this one comes down to halfs, the body and your playing. The jag sits way more securely on your lap and your playing is further towards the bridge and a little harder. The plank is flimsy on your lap and so the playing is not as firm compared to the jag and your hand is closer towards the neck. But I also hear the difference in the body. Nice vid dude ✌🏻
He literally played lower down on the scale length on the Jaguar. This was very amusing.
I'm wondering if the difference might have to do with rigidity-- the plank you used was thinner than the guitar body, and in the other tests I've seen (Darrell Braun, Jim Lill) they didn't do anything that would've let the guitar body bend more than it otherwise would.
Picking position wasn't totally consistent between the tests, but... after testing similar picking positions with my guitar I think it wasn't enough to account for the difference between your jag and the plank.
I wish I had a recording of my face when it cuts to the jagplank LOL
Interesting stuff as always, thanks for all the good videos :)
This is so interesting!
honestly the plank-stang sounded pretty cool, i might have to build one
Thank you for the demo and the sharing of your experiences ! If i wasn't on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, i would ask you if you Can test my New squier CV compétition Mustang ! ,If she sounding good like yours (the 2 on the vidéo soins perfectly). Maybe be i need a 2nd one with hotrails 😊
Loved this
I just swapped my offset Tele body for a regular Tele body (both Warmoth), with the same neck. They sound and feel like two different guitars.
i saw a video of a guy testing this. he put a bridge on a desk attached to the wall and the tuners on a heavy metal table. the only thing that and the guitar he was using had in common was the pickup. they sounded exactly the same, so idk i’m confused
I think lots of people saw that video. And I think the guy who made it faked it. Kinda. I think he post-produced the compared sounds in a way to make them sound the same.
But since wood resonates and pickups are screwed into the wood, the pickups themselves vibrate a tiny little bit with that wood, so their magnetic field might be slightly in that motion too, so that the strings interacting with that field differently might sound different. I'm not a physician but that for me appears to be physical difference. Also have you ever cranked an amplifier all the way and then slightly knocked with the pick on the body of the guitar? You can hear that it sounds like knocking on wood. You can play the whole wood to make ghost sounds and dampen your strings while doing it. I know wood will not interact electrically, but the vibrations still go through the pickups causing them to move against the strings and maybe internally coil and magnet might also have some flexibility and might slightly vibrate against each other. Tbh I have no idea how that other UA-camr made it appear that there's no difference. I didn't believe him even before I saw Aaron's video.
you should do a guitar collection video! i would love that so much. And if you're going to the video do more than just guitars do like pedals and amps and everything!
Cool idea. I think it would be worthwhile to conduct this test this with consistent thickness/material of finish and thickness/type of wood across the two bodies to just purely test the shape. There’s definitely tonal characteristics attributed to finish and, less so in my opinion, wood type.
i love the fact that i enjoy more how plankstang sounds
First thing i noticed: you are playing the string about 1-2 inches closer to the neck on the plank guitar than on the jag. not that it would make the entire difference between them, but it's something. I can imagine the playability of the plank was much less than the jag, which contributes to "tone". If you play on a guitar that is uncomfortable, it will change your playing which in turn will change your tone. It certainly isn't as big of a difference than you would imagine though lol
I'm only a few minutes in and I wanna go ahead and say that I also believe it matters, as a scrub no skill guitarist I know this doesn't hold much weight but it's my 2 cents.
Slick vid, I like your content and hope you keep it up brotha!
I honestly enjoy these videos more than the nirvana tone recreation videos
This is a great compairison there are definitely tonal differences, BUT another factor that could be taken into effect would be how the hand is picking on the strings, with you arm sitting higher on the actual jag, you may be hitting the strings harder a bit naturally, and due to how your arm is sitting on the plank you are playing a bit lighter. The big change in sound with the change of guitar body could be how it makes you play the instrument.
is it the poly finish on new guitars that male it sound worse to you? i have new fenders and vintage univox and im obsessed with your videos on guitars tone and speakers
Out of curiosity I watched this for the first time with my eyes closed and only opened them to see the screen when I heard the tonality change and yes there seems to be a difference ( I don't know if the playing position was changed by the ergonomics or if your right hand position was exactly the same in relation to the strings, but certainly food for thought. )
Interesting video, from my perspective as a metal player a lot of the minutiea such as construction of the guitar body and how they affect tone isn't what really matters to me as even your own playing can vary differently from one instance to another, at the end of the day you're still going to be playing through the same rig and any differences between guitars can almost always be adjusted and made up for by using EQ, especially in a live setting.
Leo Fender stated categorically:
The circuitry affects the sound by 90%, however there are other factors that give the color to the final tone, such as wood and much better if it is wood that breathes. If people knew that a natural and exposed wood dries and breathes better, they would not ask me for any finish on the instruments because their instruments would sound even better. But if I did, I wouldn't sell any.
Also in the video titled on youtube "Tone Woods Part II - Bodies | Fender Custom Shop | Fender" from the custom shop they indicate the importance of the type of wood in the resonance and they do it through the same type of body but with the two different woods What do they use. Check it out.
Summarizing. Wood affects 10% more or less. The finish influences, natural, nitro or polyurethane. It affects the type of wood used "probably also its drying and conservation". The playability between a body and a wood, that should also affect "but this is my opinion. Another thing that can also affect is the hearing of each one. You cannot compare the hearing of someone who has trained him with that of an average trained, it would be like saying that a fan of running will do the same as an athlete, they will run the same distance but not at the same speed.
To finish, as JQ tells you, you are comparing a jaguar with a plank with its competition lines, with the extra that that gives it.
Good video, although whoever thinks one way will continue to do so, but maybe you'll find some convinced to the tonal side of the force.
you should make a tone for the demos or outtakes (like a studio tone)
Heart shaped box tone video please. Beside amp settings can you tell more about amp mic'ing please. Im struggling with my 68 silverface deluxe reverb, just cant get the tone, especially HSB and Rape me, i think its speaker, i have celestion v type inside. I've tried SM57 and rode nt1.
They say the same thing about an old Stradivarius. The wood has "resonated" so much longer than one made with newer wood. The wood is prolly dryer, and denser, so you can hear a brighter fuller tone.
You have to remember this is a debate about electric guitars and not acoustic guitars, acoustic instruments for sure the wood makes a great deal of difference.
@@travisjordan1528 Yes, that was the stupid argument by Paul Reed Smith whilst he flogs his albeit well made expensive guitars with "tone woods".
love this
Cool video. I would say you don’t seem to be playing both in the same way. That has a huge impact on the sound.
I get you with the difference and trying loads of combos of parts (I formerly only really owned vintage Jags, Mustangs and Duosonics and would always mess with parts swapping.
I still think you should make that Quad Reverb pedal you were talking about in an old video. I’ll be the first to buy one!
Jesus that 69 Mustang sounds so fucking good, especially compared to the other two - surely the pickups have a lot to do with that? (Edit - Nope just saw in another video they have the same pickups - maybe I missed that if it was mentioned)
That's crazy, I feel like the ground is opening up in front of me.... Just cause that is such a huge difference. And before seeing this, I would have thought it was mostly pickups, tbh. Pickups and amp/settings etc.
Regardless though, that is a beautiful sound out of that guitar. Such a stark difference to hear it side by side - I haven't owned as many guitars so this is very new to me.
im only putting it on this video because it the newest but have you thought at all about posting your own music because i would totally listen to it and i feel like most of the other people who follow you would as well
I knew they would sound different, I just wanted to know how much.
Now I gotta hear two guitars that are the same but made of different woods, such as Mahogany vs Alder vs Basswood
Josh Scott from JHS pedals says the gold paint sounds the best.
But I’m all seriousness, this is so cool. I always wondered if this mattered.
Check out a PRS SE Paul's guitar, wonder how they would sound through your rig.
I was definitely in the wood doesn't change the tone, but damn it does make a difference
Difference was remarkable.
Next time someone says to me wood does not make a difference. I refer them to this video.
And they will see him playing consistently in 2 different spots on the scale length between the 2 guitars.
There is also a great demonstration of this done between mahogany, alder, and swamp ash bodies from Warmoth's channel. Video - ua-cam.com/video/7k_A8GhN0L8/v-deo.html
That jag is beautiful
Now you need to try a couple different body types that are actually made of the same base wood. See how much they actually change the tone.
thickness of the body is really important :)
But do you think the shape difference between a strat body and a jag body would make a difference in tone?
Random thing but this has always bothered me, your right about this but, when talking about the tone of the univox hiflier having a phase 1 and saying the tone isn't in the humbucker but Is in the body, um, doesn't make sense, because Kurt used univox hiflier phase 3s which where made out of a different material and where thinner as well, anyways great video
there was something on youtube once, this one guy took a squier, kept doing sound samples as he sliced off chunks of the body. there was not a huge difference, from what i remember it was hard to tell, sonically.... but i hear much more difference in this test. cool . maybe the fact it was thin cheaper single coil pickups in the other video i saw, whereas this is a dimarzio humbucker here, more frequencies to decipher....
I don't know much about physics but, there is a significant difference in size, so the amount of wood vibrating is not the same, I wonder what would happen if you had used another similar jag body. I think everything affects the overall tone, but I still feel the neck of the guitar is the key to a great instrument.
There is definitely a big difference but is it -important-? if all nirvana songs were recorded using the plank originally, we would all love it and be inspired by it the same way.
You said that we would think this video isn’t fun, this is actually one of my favorite videos yet… i’ve been saying the same thing about body affects tone and I’ve had "pros" tell me otherwise… and personal experience definitely does matter if you hear a difference you’re hearing a difference there’s no arguing it, and this was a very well thought out experiment that made its point!!! Excellent job Cannot wait to see what else is In Store
I don't mean to nitpick but the trem string height was way higher on the plank and I feel that's what caused the major tone difference. you don't have to but if you ever get bored you could try putting a block under the trem to try and match that height. also add a sponge like material between the trem and bridge to factor out the overtone it gets.
I'm not trying to say you're wrong, but it shouldn't have been that huge of a difference. it was like night and day when it should have been morning and afternoon if you know what I mean lmao
Actually thought heart shaped box sounded closer on the plank 😂
Why are you using a different tailpiece, and also you're picking on a different spot at the strings. I don't blame you, the plank must be a pain to play, but it changes the sound pretty trastically where youre picking. Not too sure about the tailpiece, but in my experience the whole bridge system makes a significant difference as well, why not use the same?
Cool video and always interesting, but there are a few variables that are not the same between the comparison.
I get what you are saying with the guitar weight affecting the tone but the point that those who say the guitar wood doesn't matter are making is that the speaker and the pickup are the main contributors to guitar tone.
Have you swapped a “good” sounding pick up to mediocre sounding body? I suspect there is some interplay between body density and the microphonic nature of the pick up. Obviously, microphony is really subtle on good quality pickups and sometimes if they are bad people pot them, but that's really to cover up for inconsistent build quality (IMHO). The tension on the machine wound versus hand wound pickups is likely to be fairly different.
Getting the body density and the pick up consistency matched might just allow for the sound to be optimised rather than pseudo random as it is now.
So... new strings has a bigger effect on tone than the wood does? 🤣All jokes aside, I think the argument most people make is not that wood doesn't make a difference, but that the difference isn't big enough to justify "tonewood" being a thing for electric guitars. Pickups and the speaker of the cabinet make a much much bigger difference. You can make the same guitar sound like two different instruments by changing either or both of those two. You won't get the same dramatic difference by switching out woods. And if you're recording, the mic and room make a gigantic difference in tone too. Wood almost becomes irrelevant for electric guitars compared to the previous factors that I've mentioned. I'd even put time based effect like reverb or delay above the wood of the guitar.
Several others have shown the opposite to be true (e.g. by chipping away all parts of the body that aren't holding the bridge or the pickup and some have literally reduced the guitar's body to virtually nothing at all). The differences we're hearing are probably due to minute differences in the positioning of the pickup or other measurements; you probably didn't get them exactly matched. It may also be the case that the plank is lacking the necessary rigidity, for example. Is it the identical set of strings in both cases - or a different set of used strings?
In my experience, the pickup and its positioning makes the sound of the guitar. Of course, the guitar still matters. It needs to offer good playability first and foremost, and it needs to have good sustain. Flaws in the guitar's construction can negatively impact the sound, but only insofar as it affects the physical motion of the strings. Tone wood makes no difference to an electrical guitar where the sound is generated via induction.
ok cool. to me the body still makes a big difference.
same strings same everything. same same same. different sound
You are playing closer to the neck on the plank guitar. That has an impact on the tone
Nice video but you missed one particular and that is that you're picking in two different places. In the plank guitar you're way closer to the neck and that alone has a big effect in the output. In the Jag you're picking right where the bridge PU ends. That's a big variable in the output and I'm certain that's were the tonal difference comes from and not the body of the guitar which has no effect on electric guitars.
Its a much fuller, thicker sound on the body. A few comments saying your hand placement was slightly different, which it was like in the video at around 4:35. It's hard to control that. But if anything, that should have had the opposite effect that it did. You'd think it would have compensated for the thinner sound of the plank a little (?) but it still sounded kinda low-cut, less rich. More planky. More of an upside-the-head, offcut vibe... A plank-ton(e), if you will.
you should tune the 2nd guitar for the test
shoutout to your shirt
@7:40 this riff IS in a Nirvana track please ?
Plankstang sounded closer to album version of HSB to me 😳😂
Plank stang sounded better on Heart Shaped Box, consider using it for your future tone recreations
Unfair comparisson man, your guitarcable was in a different possition in front of the cab.
😂😂😂 damn
His hair too, this guy doesn't know anything about science nor experience protocols
Totally not man... I'm pretty stupid and know nothing
Good concept but one flaw. The string height from the wood is dramatically different. You're not getting the deflection in sound waves off the wood the same. So of course there's a difference
how about a review on a Harley Benton mustang, from what i’ve seen they’re decent.
Fender should sell the plankstang
Aaron Rash signature
"Ahh yes the jagplank" said by Aaron rash.
The reverberation through the bodies must be very different
You should watch a video by Jim Lill about guitar tone. Another one "does heavier guitar sustain longer" by Darrel Braun. If you watch carefully your videos, you'd see you strum in different relative spots on the strings. Just for an experement try playing come as you are close to the neck, and then closer to the bringe. You'll hear exactly the same sound difference
He did strum in different places, well not different when he played each guitar because he made sure to play higher down the scale length on the Jaguar & lower on the plank. A very lame attempt to try to convince ppl body shape & woods make a difference in tone.