She joined the forum for research and posted this thread back in August... https://www.strat-talk.com/threads/...-comments-for-an-article.550481/#post-4026527 I chatted with her via Skype for about 40 minutes. Recently, she told me most of (all) my comments had been nixed for some clown named Ritchie Kotzen. Who ever heard of him? Just because he has a signature guitar? Really? Hahaha. I am kidding of course. Anway, her article is out today. She was kind enough to forward me a link, so I'll share it with you. https://www.scientificamerican.com/...nd-roll-as-prized-guitar-wood-shortage-looms/
Scientific American. Isn’t that kind of an oxymoron? I kid! I kid! Seriously, that was a good, albeit depressing, read. Thanks for posting.
Interesting article, although with a somewhat lop-sided view of Fender's most notable players and, indeed, guitars. I must admit, I hadn't appreciated the environmental factors behind the swamp ash shortage. Thank you for sharing.
I wish you were kidding! I live in a part of the country where I am surrounded by deliberate, willful, even prideful ignorance. Americans used to celebrate know-how, now they disparage experience. Well, some Americans anyway. There was a popular thread on here a while back, let's call it "Seething Red Lava". I didn't know whether to be more dismayed by all the posters completely unable to discern clear objective reality, or the many respondents who couldn't even be bothered to try! Ignorance isn't a solution, it's a problem! We'll never keep the planet habitable with those attitudes. If the oceans start to go eutrophic, these will be the good old days, when all we worried about was a shortage of guitar wood.
There's nothing new about an anti-intellectual streak in the United States. Remember Spiro Agnew and the "Pointy-headed intellectuals" in 1970? This concept that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge" runs strong in many parts of the country...
Cant read it...enough depressing stuff going on. However, I do have my popcorn ready cause I can see where this is going....
Seems like Scientific American believes ash is an important tonal factor for electric guitars...talk about fake news. She didn't get the answer she wanted from us and ended her participation in the thread pretty quickly, kind of tells me there was an agenda. They wanted someone to say that one day the classic ash tones might be gone forever due to climate change. If you told her that on your skype call, you might have been quoted in the article.
Man, when a guy from Fender Research is talking about the sharp clap of ash compared to the "rounder" clap of alder, you know the rabbit hole has become a black hole. I can't figure out if they really believe that, or if they just say it to sound cool to players.
yep, does seem like the common sense answers she got here, were mostly disregarded in favor of tone wood bullhockey
My older son once worked as an assistant to a research scientist, with a promise of having his name on the paper when it was published. The scientist was trying to prove the efficacy of Ginko Biloba, and Aiden crunched endless numbers of dozens of rolled-up adding machine tapes. His conclusions were not what the scientist or his grantors wanted to hear, so Aiden's work went in the bin. It kind of soured him on a career in science.
And thereby convince some believers to pay a lot more for the coveted, and now becoming rare, electric tonewood called ash.
There is 'some' difference, but I'm very wary of general descriptions like 'rounder'. Back in the days when my hearing was really full frequency, I could also hear the difference between rosewood and maple, but it was so slight I really don't feel it should be a factor in which a player chooses. And maple necks certainly don't sound 'brighter', despite Fender consistently claiming they do! Swamp ash tends to deliver slightly more of the initial transient from the string, compared to alder, which is what our man from Fender Research was trying to convey.
This is a timely thread, as I can not find any information on what type of wood the ultra tele I bought in 2019 is made of. Any ideas?
seems like most of the people promoting tone wood as a significant factor for an electric guitar's overall tone are people selling guitars or guitar parts. At least @Ronkirn is an honest man and doesn't use that tactic to convince people to "upgrade" their builds. He states it like it is, could be some difference, but not a major factor and not very noticeable once it's plugged into an amp. Thanks for keeping it real Ron.
