Tone: An Exploration of the Debate About Guitar Tonewoods – Are they real?
Tonewoods in the guitar world are often debated by musicians to avid audiophiles and everyone in between. Opinions about what sounds or feels the best and what woods have what effect are abundant and strong. Some people speak from their experience playing or listening, while others repeat only the science that they have heard or read without stopping to observe or participate, and some just recite what they have overheard other musicians or luthiers say, or what they have been taught by idols and music teachers. A perspective is a powerful tool and it is often forgotten in these examples. “Tonewood” is the term that refers to the various species of wood specifically used in the art of guitar making, named for their perceived ability to produce tones of different desired qualities, such as Mahogany’s even-tempered tone with scooped mids, Maple’s bright response, or Spruce’s abundant volume. Different tonewoods often have commonly attributed characteristics, such as basswood being known for its even-tempered tone. These characteristic attributes are ascribed to tonewoods in part to aid musicians and luthiers in understanding, developing, and honing their craft: a luthier building guitars might choose one wood over another because it is often described as ‘bright’ or ‘warm’. A musician trying out instruments in a shop may choose to purchase one guitar over another because it sounds ‘punchy’ and ‘aggressive’ rather than ‘bright’ or ‘mellow’. These descriptive qualities used to differentiate tonewoods are amassed over time and repeated by musicians, luthiers, and music-listeners alike, arising from personal anecdotes and, in some cases, scientific study. What is the validity behind these descriptions and commonly held perceptions, though? To illustrate the variation of tonewoods and how they are perceived, we can look at this example featuring different types of footwear: Someone who walks more often will be more familiar with the amount of cushion in a particular brand of shoe, but someone who does not walk often will not have developed the same discernment, and an argument over the comfortability of the footwear could arise. What is forgotten is that these two people have different feet and different levels of experience. This is a simple and relatable example of how tonewoods can be a divisive and derivative topic. Just as one person may prefer the type of cushion and support in a specific brand of shoe, another person might prefer more or less of the same, or a different type of footwear altogether; a difference in perceived comfort does not invalidate the existence of the shoe. However, that will not stop people from arguing about whether or not this shoe is comfortable. In the same way, tonewoods may create different sounds for different people whether you, yourself, are able to discern the difference or not. Someone who does not play guitar often may not have acquired the discernment of tone that comes from time and experience. Although even (and perhaps especially) among seasoned players and accomplished luthiers, there are differences of opinion about whether or not certain tonewoods make a difference in the sound of a guitar. I argue that musicians and audiophiles become synesthetes. Not diagnosed synesthetes but implied ones. Synesthesia is a condition defined as; ‘A concomitant sensation, especially: a subjective sensation or image of a sense (as of color) other than the one (as of sound) being stimulated’ by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Many of the above-mentioned musicians and audiophiles will describe a tone as muddy, bright, or fuzzy. Clearly one cannot hear a tactile or visual experience, but we still describe things in this way. How one person can relate to another’s experience in these examples is akin to describing sound to the deaf or color to the blind. Very many factors go into applying the description of a tonewood to the breed of a tree. A tree is a living, growing, changing, and reacting thing and so no two parts or pairs are the same. Even if two guitars are made from the same tree, one should consider which part of the tree each piece comes from. For example,
All these questions come from just one tree, but what if two trees are growing next to each other in the same forest and we do the same type of comparisons,
Even more questions come up when we talk simply about a world-wide location of the tree,
So many questions and so little time. What happens when we start talking about different breeds of a tree next? What people are arguing over is the fact of whether or not a characteristic exists: Is this Spruce inherently louder than Cedar, or does belief make it so? What makes Myrtle appear to sound less pronounced than Bubinga? We are human, so we like to put things into categories. A piece of Mahogany can sound brighter than a piece of Maple; an unusual characteristic but one I have experienced before. I think that tonewoods are genuine. Tonewoods and their ‘descriptions’ are not a list of facts but instead a list of common expectations with popular woods. I can also say that I don't like certain woods because of something like their weight, even though I could appreciate their tone. Basswood, for example, is very light in weight and has a very well-balanced tonality, but I do not enjoy that it is so weightless even though I can enjoy its even projection. What is being left out of these debates is something I have heard many, many times in my musical career, for electric guitars at least, that “90% of your tone is in your pickups and the last 10% is split between 100 other things." I have also heard, and believe, that tone comes from your touch, like how you press down on the strings, how hard you pick or strum, where you strum, close to the bridge or farther away, etc. Tonewoods are opinions, ultimately. What is my favorite may not be yours, what I hear could be different than what you hear, and what I feel when I touch a guitar is definitely a different and subjective experience than yours. Another illustration of subjectivity is food: some people like mac and cheese while some people prefer spaghetti, and some don't like pasta at all, but in the end, none of that means that pasta is not real. What you experience in your life is real, your own reality, and if others do, too, then it becomes bigger than yourself. This does not mean that these shared experiences are facts but rather something we can talk about and share in our own humanity together. In the end, beauty is subjective. Whether it is something you can see or hear, taste or touch, feel or experience, it is all a personal point of view. -JAFO
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