Why DO guitars sound so different?

James Harrison · From: New Brockton, Alabama, USA

To Jeremy Steele:
I recently bought an Emmons Student guitar like yours. It has that million dollar sound, and they say it is worth around $500.00 or less. That shows that some people don't know what value is. Why pay $3000.00 if you can buy the same sound for $500.00 and add more knee levers for around $300.00. I am guilty of doing just what I said to not do.
James
WB4ALX

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

I use 3 different amps my the Steel sounds totally different with each one, all good to me ears but all different.

Session 400, Nashville 400 and Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12 which is what I use on the very few sessions I do.

Before I sold my 86 D10 Emmons Legrande I did a few tracks at home comparing against my current Steel. Given the exact same input settings and preamp settings, the Emmons sounded pretty much exactly the same as the D10 Carter with the Wallace Truetone.

My personal opinion is that many of us don't pay enough attention to the MID range knobs and blame the PUPS or the Steels. And/Or, are trying to get that million dollar sound with 12 month old strings .

tp

Jeremy Steele · From: Princeton, NJ USA

Hi James,

Hold on to that Student Model Emmons...they have some sort of mojo about 'em. I have subsequently picked up a pro model S-10 Emmons, but I still use the Student Model to gig with, not only because I think it sounds better, but also because it's substantially lighter.

Tommy Boswell · From: Virginia, USA

My Tele has 2 pickups, a Strat has 3, and the distance from the bridge to the pickup has something to do with the tone. Correct?

Dumb beginner question: Do any pedal steels have more than 1 pickup? And if no, why not?

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Then there are some of us whackos that either play different styles, are former guitar players, or both - who add a second pickup, volume and tone controls, etc. Many of us Fender players have added second pickups, and I'm working on adding a volume/tone circuit to my GFI Ultra. To me I don't see how anyone can play without that stuff (I feel crippled without at least a tone control) but I'm looking at it from a different perspective than the traditional country steeler.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

I am baffled by the resistance to even a tone control in the steel guitar world--especially since those steels that have had tone controls have usually had a bypass switch to cut the tone control out of the circuit when you don't want it.

More than one pickup is something I personally feel I must have on a standard guitar. Using different tones is an important aspect of playing electric guitar expressively for me. Sometimes I even feel limited by the options available on a standard Telecaster. My customized Tele has three pickups, with a control configuration that allows all possible combinations.

On the other hand, it is interesting that this phenomenon of seeking variety of tones is so specific to electric guitar. Few other instruments have such options--obviously organ and, now, synthesizer come to mind. But musicians who play, say, saxophone don't expect the instrument to provide a varied palette of tones beyond what they can draw from it by varying playing technique. I suppose you could say that's just because it's an acoustic instrument, and if tone options were possible they'd want them, and that might be true to some extent. But there doesn't seem to be much interest in the saxophone world in electrifying the instrument to obtain tone variety-- when someone decides to take up saxophone they know going in that it is what it is. And I don't think that makes them a narrow-minded group of musicians.

So I can see that side too, though it doesn't change my view that more tone versatility should be at least a widely available option on steel guitars.

David Doggett · Posted 18 Mar 2008 9:05 am

Actually, sax players are tone nerds too. Check out tenor sax mouthpieces on eBay, or Woodwind & Brasswind, or the mouthpiece threads on several sax forums. Basically the sax tone spectrum runs from dark (Ben Webster ballads), which is equivalent to a neck pickup, to bright (Michael Brecker rock sax), equivalent to a bridge pickup. The tone is affected by the mouthpiece material, but mainly by the shape of the floor near the tip (low baffle for dark, high baffle for bright). Some players specialize in one tone or the other, and some have multiple mouthpieces for different situations. There are even removable baffle inserts to get multiple tones with one mouthpiece. And of course the unattainable holy grail is a mouthpiece that gives both types of tone. The shape, material, and even the plating of the rest of the horn also matter. And these days sax is usually miked and that provides an opportunity to shape the tone through the PA EQ.

I think Donny has explained the history in past threads. All steels use to have tone controls, and some had multiple pickups. It's not clear why the multiple pickups were dropped. But a few top players bad mouthed the effect on the signal of a tone control. Even though some tone controls had a true bypass, there was an overreaction of players aping the purist comments of these top players. And the manufacturers were happy to follow this overreaction and economize by eliminating the tone control. Also, most steelers sit close to their amp and can fairly easily reach over and tweak the amp EQ. It's not as convenient as a tone control on the instrument, but it has been a tolerable compromise that has stuck. Another development that made the lack of an onboard tone control tolerable was the introduction of effects units with switchable presets. I'm not saying any of this works as well as multiple pickups and onboard tone controls; but this is the kind of stuff that has been the work around for those who wanted multiple tones.

John Bechtel · From: Nashville, Tennessee, R.I.P.

Because they ARE all ‘different’! Simple question = Simple answer! At least it's the simplest/easiest answer I can come up with!
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My T-10 Remington Steelmaster

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