Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7236
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I think a good example of "the sum of the parts" is the UltraGP. It's an LP clone of sorts with good pickups and hardware. It should have sounded like every other LP clone out there. But, they sounded a LOT better than they should have. Everything from the gallon of finish coat that was used to whatever tree they used for the neck and body played into the result. During the resurgence a few years ago, enough people put the right pickups in LP clones and someone even came out with a tribute model that is supposed to be close.... but "close" is the best anyone has done.
Like many aspects of music and I surmise other things... you can't narrow the sound of an electric to "the most important" feature. Even the player is a factor, and the most dramatic demonstration of that I have seen is Eddie Van Halen. He was playing an acoustic on some talk show awhile back, and the tone was unmistakably his. He later picked up an electric that was in the studio, via whatever amp was provided, and again, it was unmistakeably EVH, not just the music, but the "sound". All those people who hot-rodded their guitars and a Marshall Combo to get his "sound" were missing the most important ingredient of that combination.... EVH himself. So much so that there was controversy from people who did all the mods down to the nth degree, who were accomplished players, and still couldn't get the sound and figured he was using some "secret box."
It all matters. Maybe that's why Waters has played, modified and re-modified the same guitar for so long and May still uses the same one too. Part of it I'm sure is their "signature" but at this point, anything those guys play would be their "signature." |
Do the shape of a solid body really matter?
