Quality with "Unplugged", "Resonant"?

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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higgsblossom
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Re: Quality with "Unplugged", "Resonant"?

Post by higgsblossom » Sun Dec 03, 2017 3:02 am

http://guitarworks.thestrandbergs.com/2 ... ic-guitar/

Very good article about the influence of wood on sound.
"500€? That's the price of a J Mascis Jazzmaster!"

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Despot
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Re: Quality with "Unplugged", "Resonant"?

Post by Despot » Mon Dec 04, 2017 4:41 am

So I'm one of the prime offenders when it comes to linking light/resonant wood with being 'better' in some way. I've played so many heavy/dead guitars that there's a sort of confirmation bias going on at this stage I think.

However...

My other half has taken up an interest in learning to play guitar. She's inherited my old '80s Strat Plus in lovely eye scorching bahama green. I learned to play on that guitar, so there's a sort of symbolism to giving it to her. Also, I don't need to worry about a vintage Gibson headstock coming undone from hitting a table, bookshelf or coffee table!

I haven't played the guitar in years and it badly needed a set up - Strats are too fiddly for me so I left it with my local store (who are great in terms of setups). Collected it this weekend - I forgot how damn heavy it is! It's Les Paul weight!!

However... it's also quite loud and resonant, even though it's a heavy piece of wood. I was playing it unplugged on Saturday evening - it's certainly not dead or lacking.

So I guess what I'm saying is your mileage may vary ... I remember that guitar as being a lively and fun guitar to play (when I was learning), and quite an improvement over the cheap copy guitars I'd been using until I was able to put a bit of after-school cash together to fund buying the Strat. It's only now looking back at it with my bias towards lighter guitars that I realise that, at least with that guitar, heavy doesn't always mean bad. Which reminds me - that '76 Jazzmaster that I had (now gone to Ryan Adams - and now who knows where given how often he flips guitars) was heavy as hell too ... but resonant and loud unplugged regardless.

I spotted another thread on here about the Edge sig model Strat. I remember checking out a Youtube video on it out of curiosity when they first came out and couldn't understand why he was specifically looking for his sig model to be a certain weight (i.e. ... heavy).

Like all things I guess it's down to personal preference. I know that more often than not when I plug in a light guitar good things come out of the amp.

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Despot
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Re: Quality with "Unplugged", "Resonant"?

Post by Despot » Mon Dec 04, 2017 4:49 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Wed Nov 29, 2017 8:51 am
For one, it's just much more inspiring to hold and play a vibrating and lively guitar.
I think this is a lot to do with it for me Larry - the desire to play the guitar comes first. I usually play on the couch in the evenings later on ... so I value having a guitar that's loud unplugged. But even when I play earlier when I can still use the amp it's usually after playing unplugged for a few minutes and the guitar putting enough of a smile on my face that I'll go to the extra effort of plugging in the amp. A resonant/vibrating and lively guitar tends to motivate me to get off my rear and plug it in.

It's a sort of confirmation bias as I've said above, for sure ... but it's a pretty solid preference for me in picking a guitar. The guitars I've loved have mostly been great unplugged as well as plugged in - the guitars that have disappointed me have usually been bought sight unseen and have been heavier/dead guitars to play.

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