Guitar myths you probably believe
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
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00:00 Boiling strings saves them
01:43 More expensive is better
03:10 The Tone Course plug
04:08 Vintage is better
04:51 Tone wood matters
06:27 Pedals should be true bypass
07:31 Analog is better than digital
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“The wood matters because we swapped the necks and it sounded different” lol my man, that changes like a million things that come in contact with the string and the hands, that’s not definitive proof that wood is a factor.
It even changes how the neck contacts the body.
Y'all check out his video for it. It's pretty interesting
Grow up Glenn fan boy. The wood matters cos it's part of a guitar. It's like saying the guitar doesn't matter at all for the sound of that...guitar. Even Glenn admits several times that guitars with different woods sound different. They sound different in his tests. It just doesn't translate into a HEAVILY DISTORTED "IN THE MIX" SOUND...No shit...Using 10 compressors, a ton of a distortion and aiming for the same exact sound through different guitars to "fit the mix" and then suggesting the guitar doesn't make a difference....lol..No mate. YOUR FUCKIN' MIXING PREFERENCES don't make a difference. I have 20 guitars. They all sound different.They all record different. And I can make them sound exactly the same when recorded....or different. Period.
@@irmasil3 the point was much simpler than you make it out to be. When you changed the neck, you changed so many things, you don’t know if the wood was the thing that changed the sound. That’s a tricky thing to confirm because you can’t exclude all other causes.
Would be interesting to swap necks with the same wood and see if there’s any perceptible difference.
@@irmasil3 Screw the Canuck loudmouth. Jim Lill did it better and as scientifically as possible. Search "Where does the tone come from in an electric guitar"
Check out Jim Lill's "Where does tone come from in a guitar" and the following series. He truly does the mythbusting on what parts of the guitar affect the tone. Its really incredible.
When Rhett mentioned his neck swap video I was instantly reminded of Jim Lill doing the same. Which changed the string distance to the pickups, affecting the guitar's "tone" (which actually was the guitar's output)
@@plumbummusic2051 Did he not set the pickup height when changing necks? Did he measure to ensure scale length was the same?
Glenn Fricker has a great video as well. He goes out of his way to make sure all variable are account for
@@metalinyourhead3604I'm sure he's yelling the entire time too 😂🤣
true- pickups affect sound a lot! I had a very crappy old guitar and replaced the pickups and now sounds blazing! Cost me $50 for cheap pickups too.
Rhett “there is no correlation between cost and sound or playability” after buying a Fender Custom Shop and R8 from Gibson demoing a dozen models at various prices.
I think he overstated the case. There is some correlation. A $3000 guitar will, on average, be better than a $300 guitar. What he should have said is that there's not always a correlation.
@@rome8180 Yes. Yes, that was my point. Thank you for your contribution.
I thought that was a bit rich, making a blanket statement like that when he regularly gushes and enthuses over high end guitars. look at his own collection. I think statements like that are unhelpful for people shopping for guitars, it's hypocritical. In my opinion, the more expensive stuff is better, but it isn't linear and isn't a cast iron guarantee, especially when you start getting into custom shop and boutique level instruments.
Rhett rocks no cheap gear. At least Sammy G is an aficionado of the jellyfish pick
@@rome8180 The MAIN difference (see my rant about this) is the $300 guitar likely didn't go through as good of a setup.
another thing about vintage gear that I believe in is that a lot of the crap old gear just wasn't deemed good enough to be preserved, so most of the one that did survive were more likely to be really good in the first place
100% - a lot of older gear was buzzy, hissy crap. Just cause something has a tube doesn't make it sound great. Only the best survived.
Mind blown. That makes so much sense now that I think about it
Survivorship bias is real
2 points;
1. I own 3 Squier Telecasters, 2 of which were made in Indonesia, 1 in China. Having played their American and Mexican made counterparts, while some of them may have played marginally better, in no way to my experience and feel did they play 2-6 times (depending on the price) better than those Squiers! CNC manufacturing with guitars have closed the gap so much that it comes down to quality control at the factories(cheaper guitars will naturally have less QC checks, but American or Mexican factories having more QC checks still doesn't mean they catch everything as I can attest to several examples) and a good set up. Dismiss an inexpensive guitar based on price and/or name on the headstock at your own peril.
2. The argument against tonewood mattering, and I agree with, is that in a mix live or recording, other than to guitar snobs/nerds(not mocking as I am both to a certain degree!), it will make no difference. A 2 humbucker pickup guitar if made of mahogany or not, with 24.75" scale, or a 3 single coil pickup guitar with a 25 1/2" scale is gonna sound the same in a mix and no one is going to be able to tell if it was alder or ash! Rhett is right in that how it feels when you play it, does matter if that affects how you play, but getting hung up on it in a live or recording context if your preferred tonewood guitar isn't available, that no one in the audience will know or care about, is a fool's preoccupation.
another aspect of the tonewood issue, is the weight of the guitar... i've got a swamp ash les paul that weighs 2/3rds as much as a normal one and it is much more enjoyable to play, resonates extremely well also.
Exactly. I'd challenge Rhett to actually pick out different guitars by wood type in a mix. There's a point where something is so far down the totem pole of impact as to be basically irrelevant. It's not that it makes NO difference. It's just that it's so little difference compared to speakers, amp, pedals, EQ, pickups, strings, and player that it might as well be irrelevant.
Yes I agree with your tonewood breakdown. Every test they try, show that the wood dosent matter, or dosent matter enough so that the human ear can pick up on it. What I do think is happening, is people want it to be true, that it matters. And when playing, even trying to play the same way, their bias shine through. Feeling happy can change how you play. That dosent mean the wood technically did anything. When eliminating the human aspect, the wood does nothing. YOU did something different, because you love the difference. Its the same with the looks of a guitar. Some say looks dosent matter, I say it does. You play better, if you just love picking that beauty of a beast you got up. The looks dosent play better, but you do if you love or feel inspired by your instrument. Same thing with tonewood imo
@@mybrainmelted heavy Les Paul are nice furniture is what guitar master Yngwie Malmsteen once said
7:50 I actually prefer the analog Miku sound
Um... *brain melts*
Greatest pedal of all time
yup really want that pedal!
Squiers are amazing guitars, they just usually need a professional setup out of the box
with a good setup they pretty good , still not the same as the neck feel of a fender
The difference in playability and sound on lower mid-range guitars when properly set-up is crazy.
I have a $300 Epiphone Les Paul that I've played for years. Finally got it professionally set up 4 years ago and the difference blew me away. Best $100 I ever spent.
@@paf2212as long as it isn’t glossy it’s fine imo
the quality control is a huge issue... i bought an affinity strat made in china that came setup perfectly out of the box and plays amazing. next 2 squiers I bought had terrible issues, sent back a CV 50's tele that came with frets lifted off the board, and a sonic mustang that had horrible fret dressing and gouges all over the fretboard from it. both were made in indonesia.
@@mybrainmelted8:19
There are more and more players that have never played a tube amp… it’s going to take a while, but we can already see some guitar modelers departing from just trying to emulate physical amps and doing their own thing.
On the whole tone-wood thing, the impact is on what I call "the muse factor". Where you pick, how you pick, what you pick with, strings you use, amp settings, etc., all have WAY more impact on sound than the wood your PU are mounted on. But there is no denying that a guitar that looks and feels different can inspire you to play things differently and to play different things. Some of it is physical (like body shape, weight, balance) and some of it is psychological. That doesn't mean it isn't real - but its not the wood affecting the sound. Its you playing differently.
Yes. It probably does make an objective difference - specially if we are going to measure things in a "quantum" level. But the perceived difference is completely subjective. It happens more in the player than in the guitar. One can even feel and hear a difference and consider it doesn't matter - so, for that player, the difference doesn't make a difference.
I think it applies for all the topics in the video. Not only for wood. The myths relly in thinking matters of taste are objective.
@@doscheid Yep. I laugh at all the Reddit posts from people with questions like ("can you shred or a Tele" or "can you play Jazz on a Fying V" or whatever). You can play anything on anything pretty much. But for the muse.
Coaxial cables don't attenuate audio 'highs' unless they are literally miles long. Cable capacitance is somewhere between 50 and 100 picofarads per metre. Depending on the source impedance that's not going to adversely affect audio frequencies until the cable is 500/1000 metres long, and even then the effect is probably not audible. Cable resistance likewise is not a factor unless you have unfeasibly long cables. Pay attention to impedance matching, it has a much greater effect upon your sound.
Guitars are HIGH-impedance output, and ARE affected by cable capacitance, especially with the volume set at less than full. For bsst results use a buffer pedal(s) as Rhett said, or use active pickups where the guitar electronics has low output impedance.
I have a "higher end" squier strat. The 40th anniversary gold edition simply because the aesthetic of it. I have more expensive guitars that i play more regularly but i love looking at that $400 strat more than my les paul 😂 but it's not a bad guitar at all. Sounds like a strat. The neck feels great the pickups sound great. The look is just a huge bonus
Well, that's also because Les Pauls just kinda look like toy guitars. :P
I have the same model and of all other guitars I've tried, that Squier 40th Anniversary Strat's neck feels better than all but one (that of a JV Modified Tele). That Strat's aesthetic quality from its perfectly flush inlays just add to its functional quality.
The pickups were the biggest surprise. While not exactly Seymour Duncans, they are quite good - exceeding expectations and eliminating the presumed need to upgrade them.
I have the telecaster 40th anniversary and absolutely love it. It's my play-everything guitar now.
i have a 1999 MiM Fender tele and i have a newish Squire strat. As far as i'm concerned, the quality (physical and sound-wise) between the two guitars are relatively comparable... far closer than i would've thought. The recent Squires are solid guitars.
I believe tonewood really matters depending on the genre you play. if you're playing black metal with EMG's thru a Dual Rec, whether or not the fretboard is maple or rosewood will matter a lot less than if you're playing bebop through a clean Jazz Chorus
Good to see these two guys together.
Have to hop in here and say I can totally attest to the Mexican made Fender guitars vs Squier part. I sold my mexican made Mustang and ended up replacing it with a beautiful $500 Baritone Squier Telecaster that I've named Bessie (Bessie the Baritone). Everything about this guitar feels just as great if not better than the "real fender". Just looking at this guitar makes me excited to play and puts a smile on my face and I think that is far more important than the price tag!
I have several Squiers that out of the box were golden and several more with the soul played into them. Other than winning the lottery and having the Custom Shop super spec a few guitars (I have alot of aesthetic fantasies that I'd love to realize with great components and craft) I have no need for a Fender. I don't feel any less playing a Squier. My PBass is absolutely a lifer, too. I did get ONE dog, though, and it was a CME exclusive, no less (but the pick ups in it were shockingly great). But otherwise, 10 others that are total companions.
Oh Sammy, you may get a kick out of this. I was walking around downtown Ottawa last week, and I passed an older lady (which says a lot considering my username), and as she passed me, she said, "Awesome shirt, man." I was wearing your playing card Sammy G T-shirt.
I'd challenge Rhett to actually pick out different guitars by wood type in a mix. There's a point where something is so far down the totem pole of impact as to be basically irrelevant. It's not that it makes NO difference. It's just that it's so little difference compared to speakers, amp, pedals, EQ, pickups, strings, and player that it might as well be irrelevant.
Have you seen Bramdon Acker?
czcams.com/video/NsxJKv6BDwk/video.htmlsi=KveapFAAJOckL60i
You're right - in a mix, it would be basically irrelevant. His point seemed to have more to do with playing the guitar - how it feels and how it responds and how the player, in turn, responds to the instrument.
@@jonathanschubert9052 Brandon plays acoustic instruments, where the wood makes a lot of difference. It's what amplifies the sound afterall
Just the fact that there's an argument about whether the wood matters in electric instruments really just shows how insignificant the difference is in sound
If you think it's affecting the way you play, it does.
Dweezil Zappa posted a video today on instagram of him playing guitars made out of cardboard. They sounded like guitars.
Those cardboardcasters? The drum kit is pretty sick too.
Y'all need to check out Jim Lil. That guy has done some really good work doing tests to find out what makes something sound the way it does.
The classic vibe, not Affinity or other.
I had an affinity PJ bass and i loved it, super good sounding, they also make amazing mod projects imo
I had an affinity strat and I couldn’t believe how good it was. It just looked cheap, crappy plastic pick guard etc…felt great to play sounded as a strat should. Only sold it because I needed to make some cash fast.
Affinitys are fire these days.
@@fenixfyre OK, I've seen consistent good reviews of the 40th anniversary of the tele squire.
@@farber2 because they are made in Indonesia and not China.
I do have to take issue with one thing Rhett said about modellers though. He said they will never be as good as tube amps because they are always trying to copy tube amps.
While most models are trying to emulate tube amps because that’s what people want, certainly Line6 regularly keep coming out with their own original amp models that aren’t based on a tube amp and one thing they say with that is they are trying to do things in some of those models that you just couldn’t do in a tube amp. So it’s their attempt to try and actually go beyond the tube amp. As such, if this sort of thing is done more and more then that renders that comment very wrong, that modellers have the potential to be able to emulate the best things about tube amps while removing the limitations, or even creating something completely new.
Concerning the buffer. It keeps your signal at a high enough level to prevent it from falling into the noise floor. Then you are screwed. If there are a lot of pedals in your signal chain, this can be important. Regarding the cable length, it is the capacitance per foot of cable that is important. A longer cable will have more capacitance which will roll off your high ends. The more capacitance given a particular resistance, the lower the cutoff frequency of the low pass filtering effect and your highs will suffer. Go with a low capacitance cable to maintain your highs. A buffer will have minimal effect here.
I didn’t know guitar players boil their strings too. I always thought it was a bassist thing since our strings are so much more expensive
The pay more is definitely a myth.
My Squier Toronado has been my favorite guitar since I bought it for 400$ in January. Out of my other 7 electrics the next cheapest is worth twice that and the most expensive 10 times.
The only thing that the Toronado needed was a good setup and a fret polish. Along with my 99$ Notaklon which I got around the same time, nothing but joy.
Love this collab!
If “tone wood” is a thing that matters, explain Gittler Guitars. A titanium version of the Steinberger essentially. The neck looks like fish bones. No wood whatsoever. I’ll wait…
I don’t think they said that the guitar has to mandatory be made of wood, but they stressed the fact that the material has an influence (not major) on the tone. And in the vast majority, the material is wood (or derivate)
Forty years ago I used to boil electric strings it helped a bit. Man I'm old 😂
Liked the vid, would have liked to hear more of your opinions too. FWIW I agree cheaper guitars 'can' sound/play better than $$$ guitars. The entry level (under $200) market is so competitive those guitars often give ~$500 guitars a run for the money at less than half the cost
Tone wood is the biggest myths of them all. In short. The wood itself is secondary. More important is how dry or moist the wood is/was when the guitar was built and how much moisture it releases and accumulate during it's lifespan.
I feel like I'm only really qualified to talk about analog vs. digital, since I use both in my production. I have a true analog synth and I use virtual synths a lot. Virtual/modelers will get incredibly close, and most listeners won't notice, so who cares, right? What analog and physical things offer is the user experience and limitations. I love the feeling of being able to grab a knob or fader, it's so much easier to explore sounds and really be connected to the process. And having imposed limitations forces you to be a little more creative and do things you wouldn't normally do. By that same logic, I have a small tube amp that I record my guitar through because I love the simplicity of reaching down and grabbing a knob to change my sound, instead of opening a menu.
That's just my $0.02.
Rhett on the tonewood debate in electrical guitars, the resonance you described seeking has to do with the dryness of the wood i.e. material prep prior to construction rather than the rareness or value of the type of wood used.
I think that's the point he's making though - just that the physical properties of the wood affect its resonance, and that translates into some influence on the vibrations that produce the sound of the instrument. How much it even matters and what's the "best wood" is purely subjective, and people are always gonna get silly about that stuff
“That’s just, like, your opinion, man.”
~the dude
i own a squier affinity strat that's become one of my favorites for doing modifications and testing stuff. a while ago i decided to set it up with a floating bridge and was surprised that it somehow handles full-chord dives and brings it back up to pitch perfectly. actually does it 10x better than my old ampro strat that had a professional setup.
i think the feel of the guitar in the hands is the most important, and an instrument that feels comfortably priced for the player. the moment i have a cheap-ass squier in my hands, all kinds of crazy shit is happening. that mf is gonna get thrown around and put through the wringer. however if i have a $5000 strat in my hands, it's going directly in the case and i'd probably play it once or twice a month while i do wizard experiments to all of my squiers
I can't remember who I heard this from but it tracks with my experience: after $500 every guitar is a good guitar and the cost to quality ratio starts evening. At the entry level and budget end of the spectrum, spending $50 more makes a big difference in the quality of the instrument you're buying but an extra$500 at the high tier doesn't have the same effect. $500-$800 is my sweet spot and if it retails in that range and I find it listed on sale, used or a demo model it's hard not to make an impulse buy.
Smart and measured responses from two pros' pros. Good going guys!
If the entire guitar is resonating, it's pulling energy out of the strings and you'll end up with dead spots all over the fretboard. I almost never hear any talk about the neck shape, neck wood, and construction in relation to tone when it is the single biggest contributor to how the guitar responds. According to physics, the neck will vibrate like a string in a microscopic wave pattern. The body will do almost nothing because it's a thick flat plane indirectly connected to the strings. How the neck is built and how the energy passes from the strings to the neck is more important than the body.
Were the two necks 100% identical in shape and dimensions? (Measured with callipers.) Those differences would also make a difference.
Microphonic: that's not the pickups transmitting the vibration of the strings? You've tested this with no strings on?
guitar pickups that are microphonic will transmit any vibrations to the pickup, which includes vibrations of the strings that are transmitted to the pickups via the body, and also includes things like someone screaming into the pickups which cannot be heard on non-microphonic pickups. that said most modern pickups are designed to not be microphonic at all.
Now you have to break a Les Paul neck and see if it sounds better after it’s repaired
I love when youtubers say tonewood "absolutely matters" - it instantly lets you know they have no idea what they're talking about, they're just saying it confidently
Boiling strings for your guitar doesn’t make them last longer. It makes it so it holds tune faster because the metal is pre-expanded. You don’t have to give the guitar time for the strings to settle in tune like you normally would have to. Eddie Van Halen would boil his strings before he had his Floyd Rose tremolo for tuning stability
The Bullet Strat series is the best guitar ever. It has the best neck I’ve ever played; just replace the pickups and it sounds like an actual Strat at a fraction of the cost.
First time hearing a reasonable opinion about tone wood! Thanks guys!
so.. lets just pile more myths on top of existing ones then? i like it 🤣
Personally (for my taste) you can’t go past an Ibanez premium for price. Great performance and functionality in all regards.
I have had music man, Strandberg, knaggs, to Suhr, to Gibson and still come back to the Ibanez. Good old Rg
I enjoy both of your channels and it’s great to see you collaborating.
Here’s a challenge for Rhett, if he still has the Axe Fx. Stop comparing it to the real thing. Use it to create models of amps and pedals that never existed. The Axe Fx allows you to switch out or add components to models that were never available in real life and would be very hard to build. See if you can use it to create sounds that you’ve never quite been able to find in a real piece of equipment. It might make an interesting video. :-)
PS: And, I don’t mean over-processed craziness. Build a better clean, edge-of-breakup, or crunch tone. Oh, and get the pedal box. ‘Cause you’re right. The physical interface is terrible without a computer.
Regarding cost: there's another video on CZcams where they were testing out cheap acoustic guitars vs expensive guitars, ranging from $200 to $500,000. After being appropriately setup, they all sounded the same. Just get the one that feels best to play.
I was looking forward to watch this video, then I see this Rhett dude is featured. I'm gonna skip this one and wait for your next video.
2:08 Why is this a hot take? Expensive gear doesn't make you a better player.
Practice makes you a better player. I know it's a boring answer for a lot of people, but dropping an entire downpayment for a house on a guitar with fake relicing isn't going to make you play like Stevie Ray Vaughn. It's the wizard, not the wand.
“The only variable that changed was the neck”… & the way you played
The nut and tuners as well I'm guessing.
we could take an industrial robot and program it to play the guitar exactly the same way every time but then the air temperature and moisture would be the variable, so let's just leave it as it is and stop moving the goal post.
@@WeekendWarrior92 Or he could have at least tried to play the same, which he very much didn’t
I think the tone is all in the truss rod. But nobody tests this. I’m half serious here. Any given neck will by physics resonate differently with different amount of truss rod tension
I almost got through 40 seconds of Rhett talking. Thats a new record
Huh ?
Yeah, his videos are so boring and incoherent, that I have been conditioned to zone out during them
That was a hard one to watch
31 seconds here
@@robinr22nah it takes skimming through 2 Rhett Shull videos to realize theres never a point to the video beyond making content
The music school I work at has a bunch of squier bullet strats and on a lot of them the high frets are either lifting out of the fretboard or weren’t fully seated and the high e string gets stuck hooked between the fret and fretboard. Doesn’t happen with our mexi fenders.
number 1 myth is learning guitar will get you women, na they just liked cute boys who happened to play guitar.
Facts! All the girlies I got was from playing bass!
Plus when your crash finally comes to you and says play anything, you can't even play a cord right
Great, two of my fave youtubers together!!
I'm curious, what are people's thoughts re. solid state V tube amps? And do they compare differently at different price points, in your opinion?
There’s something about a really good tube amp that most (I said most, not all) solid state amps can’t get to. It was even more apparent 10-15 years ago when the technology just wasn’t there to emulate the warmth of a tube amp for certain guitar tones. But the more distortion you add to your signal, the more you lose tone because of the compression and clipping that happens with distortion. However, as far as playing live, outdoors, and in colder temperatures go, I’d much rather have a solid state than a tube amp, because you’re not going to deal with volume fluctuations due to temperature. There’s nothing more annoying than a tube amp going loud because it decided it was warm enough for it to push itself to 11. That being said, focus on speakers. That will really make the difference. Solid state technology for higher end amps is at a point where the only people who will notice whether your amp is tube or not, are the most cantankerous cork sniffers. And trust me, I use tube amps all the time. Solid state amps are definitely getting there.
IMO...BOSS has done outstanding work pioneering the use of analog solid state and digital with their Katana series and especially their Nextone Special.
Their use of an analog class ab power amp that affects the tone of the amp, adding harmonics, saturation and character to the tone makes a huge difference in tone and feel. Meaning turning up the master volume isn't simply a volume control turning up and down the kevel but an integrated part of the circuit signal chain. Good emough that I think it is better than some tube amps.
Full disclosure I do work for BOSS, but even if I didn't, as a player I'm still impressed with what they have done.
For a clean sound: yeah, wood matters. Add gain, and it's not a valuable factor. So if you're into heavy music - tone wood is not what should concern you... Actually I'd go for RUF guitars for heavy playing.
Hey, KISS fan here.... I got most of my "Smartassery" out in my first comment. I do wish to say that myth 2 about 6000 dollar vs 600 dollar guitars is very interesting. The market of affordable guitars has blown up. It used to be many many moons ago you get a cheap guitar and the frets cut your fingers, the dang nut was cut wrong, God forbid you touched the whammy bar and spend the next hour tuning again. IYV, Firefly, Vangoa. Companies like those and a few more have really put some pressure on the biggest guitar makers to UP the inspection process, put better pots, wiring and do some really fancy smancy things to make that 6000 dollar guitar stand out beyond brand recognition...... OK, next. 😅
Boiling instrument strings cleans them. It might prolong the life of gut strings. Probably not nylon or steel.
Boutique handmade pedals are only copying cheaply made handmade pedals. It used to be cheaper to build your own pedals from components, which used to be way easier to obtain (Radio Shack in the US, Tandy & Maplin in the UK, ...)
I will never pay money for a boutique pedal. It's the most precise definition of ripoff.
I'd absolutely pay top money for a handmade instrument.
Survivorship bias indicates vintage = moah bettah. I've played old Gibsons and Burns guitars that were an absolute joke.
Tone wood matters for playing electric guitars unplugged. But if you've got trem springs, you're already better off.
A passive guitar signal is a resonant circuit, all the way to the first active device. The switch to a true bypass loop should be mechanical, and shouldn't introduce any ‘soft switching’. But that creates a thump when you switch, with the end result that:
a) if you _really_ want true bypass, then evict as many effects from your signal path as you can, and let the amp do the work
b) if you need those effects, tough. No true bypass for you. May as well get a full digital pedalboard.
Analogue sounds better for every analogue effect just because they're doing L-C magic on a resonant circuit. You can't _reasonably_ do things like pitch shifting in analogue (it's possible but it'd cost several salaries). Digital effects can accomplish the same effects with a high degree of accuracy, and offer way more flexibility.
It all depends on what you want to do (see above).
For me playability and setup matter as well as how easy access to upper frets are for me on a guitar. I have played cheap guitars that had great setup and sound and play as well as the expensive guitars. That said once you get past 2-3k on a guitar price, the law of diminishing returns apply.
I think given the high quality of inexpensive guitars now days (Schecter, Ibanez, etc), the cutoff for diminishing returns is more like about $800, especially if you buy used.
After watching Andertons blindfolded videos about kempers, most of the time Rob and Lee prefer the sounds of the kemper versus the real thing. It’s all just placebo effect.
Tonewood only applies if you have a mic picking up the guitar sound. Once you plug it into an amp, whatever tonewood that was there before, is long gone.
I started guitar later in life, having the 'grownup funds' for gear instead of starting with avg. preteen or teenager finances; but I didn't throw money at instruments, thinking more expensive = better or that different gear would make me play better.
Of my preferred genre's 5 basic guitar types, Tele, Strat, LP, 335, & acoustic, I had 2 Squiers, 2 Epiphones, and 1 Fender (acoustic). Since then, the ONLY instance of a more expensive instrument being significantly better, enough to merit an upgrade, was in the case of the Telecaster. A JV Modified just blew away my Squier Affinity. That gem of a MiJ guitar now is mine, worth every penny, and I wouldn't change a thing about it.
Can more expensive equal appreciably better?
Yes; but not always; and in my experience, that's the case just 20% of the time.
I still have my old affinity Strat that I learned on. The neck always felt great so I swapped all the electronics out and put a full sized bridge block in It and now I wouldn't trade it for anything. It plays great and sounds just as good as any Mexican Strat
Oh snap! We get a Rhett too?! Nice!
"Microphonic" pickups. That sounds like a pickup that needs wax potted. Does it feed back relly bad when the gain starts getting high? I have fixed a couple "microphonic" pickups with a simple setup of a chocolate candy melter and parafin wax.
Wait the crossover that I never knew I needed
*intense yawning on this comment*
So cheap guitars yes but also tonewood yes? Not trying to be argumentative but don’t inexpensive guitars usually have lower quality woods, therefore negating the argument that boutique guitars aren’t necessarily worth it/are better than budget brands? I love budget guitars & I love modifying them to increase their quality simply by changing out simple electronics. Anyhoo still a couple of really rad dudes taking about rad stuff. Thanks.
@@saltymakerreed5983that’s not the point of what they’re saying. On the tonewood argument, I’ve seen convincing stuff in both sides. Personally, what they’re saying here (and what I believe) is that tonewoods do make a very small audible difference, but that 1-5% difference really doesn’t make it worth “upgrading” a wood on the guitar body for $500.
On the topic of cheap guitars, Sammy G specifically mentioned that you really start getting diminishing returns on expensive guitars. Simply put, budget guitars are better than they have ever been, the differences between a well QC’d $400 Squier and an $800 Mexican Strat are becoming so small, and both of them are 90% of the way to the quality of an American Fender. If that extra 10% is worth a $2k price tag, then more power to you, but with the state of Squier, Epiphone, Schecter, Ibanez, PRS SE series, etc, gone are the days of needing to spend a month’s salary on a proper stage ready guitar.
Because you didn't need it.
But they can and they do make new vintage guitars; Fender custom shop do everything from ‘New Old Stock’ that is an replica of a specific model to their relic versions which have been expertly ‘worn’ to give the vintage look and feel, all for a lot less than you will pay for a vintage guitar
So, does every guitar CZcamsr I follow know each other? Not being sarcastic, and I clicked on the video because of the thumbnail. No way these guys are doing a video together in the same room. Looks like I was wrong again... Super fun video, looking forward to more!
I tend to think that, with the exception of stuff that's expensive because of sentimental reasons etc, more expensive means more specialised, rather than 'better'. This is why I don't advise beginners to go out and buy a really expensive guitar first, because it will probably be good for a particular reason, and you don't know yet as a beginner what it is that will work best for you in a guitar. So you should really start with something basic, and then when you know what you really want in a guitar you can go out and spend money on that.
It's not true a modeller can never surpass an amp in tone quality, because with a lot of modellers you can even mimic a complete rig consisting of 2 or 3 amps, split and combined in whatever way you want ro process that. That's something you just can't ever easily do live. Also they can always deliver the same signal vs micing up a cab in a room. Bit I het what it is that you're saying.
Your point doesn't address his point. You're speaking about ease, not about a qualitative difference. I disagree with his opinion, because his argument is basically "they are emulating, so it can't be better". This is a logical fallacy. One thing does not imply the other.
On the 'expensive is better' point, I have a Squier Paranormal Baritone Tele that came with better fretwork than my $1400 Ibanez. I've also got an American Ultra Strat from the early 2000s, and a Mexican Tele from 2008, and the differences between them are definitely not indicative of a $1.4k price differential. Is the American Strat made better than the Squier? Yep. You can feel it right off the bat. Is it $1,400 better? Nope. Not even close. Diminishing returns are real.
On the tonewood debate, I'm far more concerned with how well built and resonant the guitar is than whether it's got a slight frequency bump I can add in or take out in five minutes max with an EQ pedal or in the mix. If a guitar is dead wood, no amount of other stuff will save it. Do I believe tonewood can make a difference? Sure. It's one of the many small things you can change about a guitar that will make a larger cumulative change. Is it going to make your guitar sound completely different? Nope. Besides, I want a well-made, resonant guitar whether it's made with ash, mahogany, or alder. That matters way more to me than which of those woods it's built with.
And yeah, vintage is just vintage. I spent enough time working on cars when I was younger to know that 'classic' isn't inherently better, and most often, it's not better - just classic.
Pardon my ignorance (I’d literally never touched an electric guitar until this year) but I’m surprised at the “a lot of pickups are microphonic” part. I know for acoustic guitars a lot of pickups could be described as microphonic, but for electrics? Can you give some examples of microphonic pickups for electrics that are in common use?
for me when it comes to electric especially pickups make most of the job and then shape and then wood
Rhett, have you ever tried D'addario nickel bronze acoustic strings? Mellower highs and overall tonality than 80/20 or phosphor bronze strings. I love them on my Martin D-16, 1993 with mahogany sides and back.
I have only heard of boiling your strings being for bass strings. Guitar strings are so cheap theres no reason to not just buy new ones.
It’s crap that either of these guys, or anyone, would pick a Squire over a Fender and or Gibson. Spend $1.00 on garbage you can never resale or $1200 on something that works and can be resold. It’s just the market.
I have Indonesian made Squier Strat that I have modified, had set up by a professional and it's AMAZING, my no. 1 guitar by far. The pickups were kinda shit, but since I put Seymour Duncans on it can go toe to toe with any Strat. I absolutely love the feel of that neck.
Indonesia is making fantastic guitars these days, both electric and acoustic. Check out a Pono acoustic for less than a grand, it will blow your socks off.
It's easy for Rhett to say that the tone of a cheap guitar is on par with one with more expensive pickups when he has his choice of gear to pair the cheap guitar with.
Doesn't that prove his point, though? It's the amp, and even more so the speaker, that's responsible for the biggest tonal difference in the signal chain much more so than the guitar, or even the pickups
Yep, Rhett spent that money so we don't need to.
@@wilhelmtheconquerer6214 It's almost like they didn't understand the point.
Amp and speaker are far more important than the instrument (assuming it is easily playable). I've literally played plywood guitars with no-name pickups that sound just as good as my Gibson V. 🤷♂
Cap. You can achieve excellent tone with a $20 amp
@vykk. Absolutely.
With a budget of say $2000 for and amp and a guitar I would say a $200 guitar with an $1800 amp would sound better than a $200 amp and an $1800 guitar.
The $200 would need a setup and would certainly benefit greatly by upgrading the tuners and pickups so maybe a $400 guitar and a $1600 amp.
Not to say that expensive guitars don't have some nice qualities because they certainly can.
So few people understand that cost does not determine whether a guitar is high-end. You can buy a guitar built in the same factory by the same employees as ESP (using Fender Japan CNCs) for $600 and it will blow any instrument out of the water including ones twice as expensive.
The stringy boily thing is a bass player speciality 😅
Our strings are expensive-r.
Topic #2, price vs quality. This one is easy with one example, the Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz, for $25 this pedal will absolute make your head explode with just how good it sounds!
Jim lill already de bunked tone woods on electric guitars bub… unless you have It mapped on a chart each frequency a guitar makes, you still cant tell the difference 😂
I think tonewood affects acoustic guitars far more than electric guitars. Simply because the pickups in an electric guitar are interacting far more with the strings than with anything else. Yes, Rhett is correct in that some pickups have a "microphonic" component -- if you can tap on the guitar and hear the taps through the amp, your pickups have that quality, and are affected by the tonewood. But the tonewood *is* the sound in an acoustic guitar. The strings vibrate, and the tonewood resonates -- it amplifies and colors the sound from the strings.
Not saying it doesn't also do that in an electric guitar -- it absolutely does. But the tonewood plays a far smaller role in an electric guitar than it does in an acoustic guitar.
I have a Squire Strat & it is VERY versatile...... I can make it sound like my Les Paul but the Les Paul cannot sound like a Fender- at all.
The lack of eye contact is unsettling
I own both Squires and Fenders. (I have a classic Vibes p-bass and tele) The tone on the Squires is arguably just as good as the Mexican counterparts, but they do tend to be lower output, and depending on who you ask they sound a little "shallow" (I don't think so, but you can do you). That's nothing a few pedals or a nicer amp could fix, and you have that money to spend. That's why I recommend going for a cheaper guitar and more expensive amp (NOTE: very importantly, get a CHEAPER guitar, but NOT a lower quality one. Get one from a trusted brand.)
edit: The vintage pickups might have something to do with the low output, but I've played non-vintage ones that sound similar.
I thought you were only supposed to boil bass strings. Also, I have a Mexican made Player Plus Tele. My son has a Squire Tele. Guess which one I like better. Hint, it’s not mine!
Also, I have a 3D printed guitar that I built out of plastic and it sounds fantastic 🤷🏻♂️ I also have a Parker Fly that’s covered in carbon fibre and weighs almost nothing and it also sounds awesome. 🤷🏻♂️ Keep your minds open kids :)
Hey, KISS fan here again.... I heard That when you wear your hair in a manbun it actually slows down you're finger speed. I personally cannot test this theory. As I am fifty one years old with very little hair left. Just thought I would offer That theory up for debate... Great video...
Ah boiling strings, use to do that when I was a kid and had no money. Now the debate between Squire, Mexican, American and Custom Shop guitar. Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to own Squires, Mexican made, American made and a Custom Shop guitars. The Squires are great value for money, very well put together I wish they had guitars like that when I was starting out, I started on a Satellite ST something which was just awful. The difference I noticed between each version is the quality of components and woods used. Can I feel the difference between a Squire and a Mexican made guitar, yes. What about Mexican to American, yes. I know a number of people who love their Classic vibes Squires but they have all changed the pickups, pots, bridges and nuts on these guitars because that’s where the savings are made to make things more affordable. Guitars and setups on guitars are such personal things. If you love the feel and sound of your Squire and don’t feel the need to buy a more expensive American made instrument well then that’s perfect then isn’t it. I often hear people say that their Mexican made Strat is so much better than an American made one, Mexican made guitars are tremendous, I’ve just purchased a Vintera Antigua reissue Strat, absolutely love it, but I do notice subtle differences in quality as you move up the scale and that is the way it should be especially given the fact that you’re forking out more money.
Boiling works better with bass strings I think.
I too don't like very bright acoustic sounds for my own playing, but some players like that and I think too bright acoustic sounds are just ok. That is why I don't use elixir strings. I like the sound of those boiled old strings.
I am talking about steel string acoustic guitars. I do like Flamenco tones on Flamenco guitars.
Nah true bypass always and forever. I’ll die on that hill. I also only run like 6 pedals.
At 06:05, what guitar is that? Feels like a bolt on Les Paul style with a weird pickup combination.
The THREE things that separate a GOOD guitar from a BAD one:
1. SETUP
2. SETUP
3. SETUP
Just got two Squire strats each under $200 at Music Go Round, a 2004 Standard (Indonesia) and a 2021 Affinity(China, looks the same, they dropped the Standard name, it's now called Affinity, and the super cheap ones are now Debut instead of Affinity. Yes, it's confusing). They both look new with just about no fret wear, the owners didn't play them because the setups are AWFUL. More expensive guitars play well because they go through a good setup at the factory (or the retail store, if they take the time to do it).
Stuff they need, in order:
Nut adjustment. the strings are too high at the nut. Cowboy chords feel like an acoustic.
Truss rod adjustment, the neck should be VERY slightly concave with strings to pitch.
String height adjusted at bridge
Temperament ("harmonics") so 2nd harmonic (play and touch string at 12th fret) and fretted note at 12th fret are within 2 cents, as close as you can get.
As long as there's no serious problem like the neck being warped, a cheaper guitar can be made to play well. I hear the newest cheap guitars are better about this, I would surely hope so. My "player" in recent years is a "Spectrum" (Target store brand!) and after learning what it needed and how to tweak it, it's hard to believe how well this "$99 special" plays.
Cool vid ❤
The main reason I bought a Made in Mexico Fender, over a Squier, is to help increase the quality of life for the people in Mexico (our neighbor to the south). ❤
I’ve had Squiers that were way better than any Fender, and I’m more open to modding a Squier over a Fender. Same with Epiphone over Gibson… most of the time (I’ve tied awful guitars from both of them.) PRS SE is good enough for everyone, maybe S2 if you really want to pay more for made in the US, but Cor-Tec does a great job (and PRS sells USA pickups if you REALLY want those.)
" Two-Two-Two Mints In One!"
has anyone tried one of those supersonic cleaner things on the strings?
Vintage tends to be better because of survivorship bias. The shit stuff they pumped out at the time doesn't last, the good stuff stays. it's not good because it's old, it's old because it's good.
With the amount of gain I use, tonewood doesn't matter anymore.
I know Rhett has a lot of knowledge, but … well, I’ll just say I’d have preferred to hear the great samurai speak more on these points. 🍻