Painting with Spray cans

[Gavin1393]

Hmmmmmm.....ok!

I am an acoustic guitar builder as well as an electric guitar builder. Lets talk first about acoustic and their tone.

The key to getting great tone depends on getting the strings to resonate optimally with the material used in constructing the guitar.

If the resonance of the material the instrument is made of interferes with the resonance of the strings, then it is probable that some harmonics may be muted or added and this may lead to a loss of sustain, "wolf notes", "dead notes", etc.

If the resonance of the wood does not interfere with the resonance of the strings we will get utopia! Pure golden tone!

If the resonance peak of the instrument is too far from that of the strings, then we will have a material (wood) which does not meaningfully contribute to the overall instrument's tone.

It is thus traditional and a given that you have to choose wood for the body and the neck of the guitar which will resonate at a level synchronous to the strings vibrations. Maple necks, mahogany necks, rosewood or ebony fretboards, Sitka, adirondack or redwood soundboards, etc.

Our first goal is to achieve the most perfect string resonance and then to build a great tone around it.

Talking about the material, the principle which rules how it will influence the instrument's tone is as follows: the higher the mass, the less the material will absorb the string's vibration which will be almost entirely returned to the strings. This is why very light, less dense woods (they vibrate and resonate better) are used in acoustic soundboards, but the bridge will always be a denser wood like ebony or rosewood to match the fretboard.

When we are sure that the strings vibrate freely, then it's time to build up our tone taking advantage of the different woods tonal characteristics.

THE TONE

The physical properties of the wood we are more interested in and upon which we must focus are:
1) Stiffness (elasticity coefficient along the grain). This is more important for acoustic guitar soundboard construction,
2) Wood density (i.e. coefficient of propagation of sound inside wood),
3) Internal friction (attitude of a material to dampen the energy which we apply to wood here).

Commonly softer and less dense woods will produce more volume, less attack and less sustain while heavier and denser woods will produce more sustain and a sharper attack with lower volume.

Can we agree then that the material(wood) under the strings is extremely important in how the strings will ultimately vibrate?

Now, on to the next point...and here I will include the electric guitar scenario.
What pickups actually do is transform into sound the energy they receive from the strings. This is why the wood (and the finish) can make all the difference between an ordinary instrument and a superb one.

...and this brings us back to the point that DB was making, namely that "When you apply nitro and poly finishes to timber they bond the wood fibres together and lock them, thus they cease to have the ability to resonate to their full extent and this dampening effect simply has to come out in the tone.

[rhay]

No argument here. I don't think my blah contradicts this detail, but please let me know if you think it does?

Gav's remarks certainly line up with my fairly rudimentary knowledge around transfer of energy and lines-of-force basics as they relate to acoustics. I vaguely remember consonance and dissonance coming into all this somewhere too, but the memory is a hazy one.....

The last paragraph is the clincher, all the science aside. To me it means; if you want (or can accept) a dampened sound use a solid finish. However if you want to hear the timbers full potential go the Wudtone style treatment.

I'm certainly happy with the result on my latest Tele, which has a light stain and the very minimum of clear.

[Vintagefan64]

it is logical to prevent swinging the audio on the chemical products.
but we go back years. Leo Fender built the first board guitars. He took ash, not because it is a Great wood is so, but because it was time to buy cheap. It was not suitable for the construction of furniture. / Black hollows).
He took the varnish was then sprayed on cars. As a primer, everything was cheap. Today we talk about the great tone wood ash.
Much is told without specialist knowledge further. Although it is logically yes, a curable resist the softness of the wood. But Gibson and Fender guitars covering all painted earlier. At least with clear coat after the stain.
Today, people pay a lot of money for these guitars.
Much more important is the question: we hear people this difference? The guitar is set incorrectly it sounds different.
I could list a lot of things that change the sound of a guitar fundamentally
How should the consumer of music listening, whether the CD was recorded with a painted or unpainted guitar? What he hears because I can not change the studio. Heat? Brilliance? Attempts at a university in Germany have shown that to be taken from the ceiling with a guitar 90 percent of the sound

Best used Wudtone or stain the ceiling. Side and back can be painted

[Gavin1393]

Quote from Vintagefan64 on June 1, 2013, 22:23
How should the consumer of music listening, whether the CD was recorded with a painted or unpainted guitar? What he hears because I can not change the studio. Heat? Brilliance? Attempts at a university in Germany have shown that to be taken from the ceiling with a guitar 90 percent of the sound

Best used Wudtone or stain the ceiling. Side and back can be painted

Hi Vintagefan64,

When you say ceiling, us Aussies will think you are talking about the roof of your house! I think you are referring to the soundboard of an acoustic guitar or the 'face' of an electric. Is this right?

[Vintagefan64]

fac e of electrik is right. or the TOP