15 Guitar Myths That Make Us All Look CRAZY!
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- Today I talk about some bizarre and unusual guitar myths that people believe! I also mix in some more commonly held myths with playing examples!
See if there are any you believe on this list!
If you enjoyed this video, be sure to like and subscribe!
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This video has that warm, vintage tone.
999manman must be the vintage pickups and the nitrocellulose.
@@timg7942 Hahahah! No doubt!!!
It's because it was probably filmed with an Android rather than an iPhone.
Must have used matched Groove Tubes
and now after three years it sounds even better, as the video has nicely aged, we can undoubtedly call it "vintage"
A lot of myths have one thing in common: Trying to separate you from your hard earned money.
Easy to separate me from my money...wasn't hard-earned at all!
Exactly
When I was a teen just starting to play electric guitar, someone told me that Eddie Van Halen boiled his guitar strings in hot water on the stove before stringing his guitar ( to allow them to stretch ). I did that, and when I removed the string from the boiling pot, they were nothing but pure rust! Lol, I'll never forget that, so don't believe that myth! R.I.P. Eddie.
Thats why you do that to old strings
its actually a cheap trick to make bass strings sound new and bright again, it removes all the natural oils, sweat and gunk that have been collecting on your strings, only problen. they dont last half as long as new strings does and sound even worse after they die.
I did that too! Such crap!
I heard recently that Eddie deliberately told mistruths about what he did to achieve his sound. The specific item cited was whether he used a variac to provide more or less supply voltage to the amp. Apparently he told interviewers both at different times.
To support that, apparently also Alex told Eddie early on to turn his back to he audience when he was using special playing techniques, so they wouldn't be learned by the other locals.
@@GrungeyMr I did it once and it did nothing more than waste electricity.
"Play jazz on an SG . . . play bluegrass on an Ibanez" . . .
Yep. Just PLAY!!!
Me trying to djent on my acoustic
@@cardprophecy97 Y? Same
Eddie said he loved his 335. Didn't look cool
To my ears the rosewood fretboard had a warmer vintage tone than the maple, but that just might have been the poly finish.
Lol.
No... it’s the spaghetti logo what really matters
you're correct, rosewood is a warmer tone and maple is a bright tone
To me the Maple sounds a lot better, fuller. I wish I was joking. Could I pick it out in a mix? No, but in a naked comparison like this, I highly prefer it.
What is more amazing is the tone was so similar coming from 2 completely different guitars .
The more important part of the guitar for tone ?
THE AMP
I'd go even futher and say the speaker cabinet. Makes a huge difference.
Scale length too. The "fender sound" is as much the increased string tension from its 25 1/2" scale length as it is the single-coil pups
The speakers!
@@brunnoteixeira9400
Agreed. Anything on the amp, (preamp, speaker, cab...) Is more important than anythig on the guitar. Important meAns AUDIBLE.
Most of the time, only the guitar player can hear a difference on a pickup change. Especially in a mix.
And 99,9 % of the audience don't give a F*** about the whole debate 🤣
"Warm vintage tone" probably has more to do with the recording gear of the time being all analog tube gear, than it does with the guitar pickups.
Yep, and not to mention the vintage amps they were using.
@@pyroman6000 technically, wouldn't the "vintage" amps back then be new?
And everything was recorded to tape!!
@@bgm9517 there still is a big market for analog gear, so they didn't even get old yet.
“Wood is unpredictable.”
Yes, I deal with that problem every morning! Lol
Get rock hard to play hard rock!
Outta control 😂
That's outstanding, sir.
Damn straight! Use it or lose it! Haha
You need to boil the guitar picks to get that vintage warm tone, then you freeze them and then deep fry, to get that crunch 😂😂
shokid Thank you so much dude! Only know I realized that I always mixed up the order. That‘s why it never worked...
If you stir fry the picks, too, they will sound warmer.
Don't forget the Sriracha if you want a hotter pickup.
Remember to always grease your fretboard for those fat neck tones!
I usually like to add a little honey to the fretboard just before playing a really fast song. I think it helps with the bending, too.
Damn near spit my coffee out when I seen that chopped up strat... Awesome!
looks fretless too
Yeah I love it too.
@@michaelmonopoli1004 bcs it is
Darrell proves that “made in Canada” can sound as good as anywhere. Love his comment about CNC machines hahahahaha - well said Darrell!
.. thank you, Darrell!
I do feel that you deserved some kind of award for all the work/effort that you've put into the making of your excellent videos and all the knowledge/info that you've shared through all the years!
I always start the day with a big bowl of guitar string soup
Soup is practical too because afterwards, you dont need a.. tooth-pick!!😂😂😂
You just changed my perspective in a huge way. I've been stuck in a lot of these myths for a very long time. So much that I have avoided buying a new guitar because I couldn't figure out which direction to go and what exactly I wanted to spend my money on. Your videos are awesome and greatly appreciated! Big thanks to you sir!
Thanks Rolland!
Glad to help :)
I boil my guitar for revived tone.
A warm tone it will be!
Another wonderful myth to add: The brand of your potentiometers and capacitors changes everything! You'll need CTS pots, Switchcraft switch and input jack, and an Orange Drop capacitor to sound good!
This was perfectly entertaining! I laughed as you poked each sacred cow - well done Darrell, I always enjoy your videos.
If you sneer and hop around on one foot like Angus Young, while grasping the guitars neck like you're attempting to strangle an ostrich one handed ,it'll give you that warm vintage sound.🤣
myth9: finally! i can play deathmetal on a hollowbody guitar!
I wanna hear that tbh
Checkout King Parrot. Grindcore on a hollowbody.
Somebody call Rob Chapman to do these hearing tests
Robs clean tone sounds like an angry bee though :(
Rob Chapman believes the tonewood myth, so i wouldnt really trust him on the matter, accomplished guitarist as he may be.
matthias umagat kind of scary how accurate he can be 😭
@@jacebeleren1703 cause he own a guitar company so that's obvious
This video should be a link in every guitar buyers guide. All of the concerns of someone who is about to buy an electric guitar for the first time are here!
The man said it all and he said it right!!!!
Nice video! Again..!!!
Ok can confirm was triggered multiple times in this video hahahahaha
Robert Baker You and me both.
Hahahaha
Myth #16
Long silky hair enhances guitar skills and brings out the rebel in you
Hahahahahahahahaha
If you enjoy these debates you don't have to think anyone's right.
People like Phillip McKnight have tons of gear experience and he says a good inexpensive set of pickups isn't necessarily inferior to some expensive custom set, because the same basic correct materials are widely used.
@@j_freed Regardless of whether he is correct on that particular point, I don't consider Phillip McKnight an authority on guitar tone regardless of how much gear he owns. He did a video on attenuators and didn't even realise that the model of RockCrusher he owns has no cabinet emulation.
no. flames. flames make it faster. just like cars.
You're forgetting one very important thing with the f-hole, that makes the Thinline the better guitar. It just looks cool. :D
It looks ugly
Also louder acousticly
I've watched this educational session and each time I come away with more info, it's gr8. Thanks Darrell!
0:28 Nitro finish vs Poly finish
1:34 Vintage pickups vs Modern pickups
2:32 Gauge & Tone
3:26 Thin lines vs Solid bodies
4:03 Maple fretboard vs Rosewood fretboard
6:06 Power supply pedals vs 9V batteries pedals
6:42 "Vintage tone"
7:18 Strat bridge vs Tele bridge
8:40 Guitar versatility
10:00 Small Strat headstock vs Big Strat headstock
10:54 Boiling your guitar strings
11:32 True bypass vs Buffered bypass
12:31 Noiseless pickups
13:12 Country of manufacture
14:06 Tonewood
That was really cool man 😁
José Palomino thank youuuuuuuuuuuu
Hero of the day
i like your shirt
i like your hummus
I like your memes
I like that you are everywhere
I like Ayourb content
A strat sings while a tele growls
I know it’s an older video but I just love this, especially the maple versus rosewood fretboard because no question the second one sounded more like the “conventional wisdom” rosewood but of course it was the maple. A plug for the beefiness of the Tele bridge pickup (at least vs. the Strat bridge) was much appreciated too. You’ve done a great service to the guitar playing community!
Was hoping the metallic flakes in my gold top were adding sustain and bite. Thinking of starting that rumor anyway
nah nah man, to try and make it more marketable, youve got to say that the gold flakes add to the magnetic pull of the pickups on your strings and kills your sustain!
Combine it with active pickups with 18volt mod and see the flakes turn while you turn the volume knob!
Metallic flakes affect pickup tone..🎸😎😳
duh they add crunch! :P
People from the 60's were already searching for that "Warm, vintage tone" 😂
Hell, my ears hear differently from day to day. A quality guitar, fresh enough strings and a good day playing and happiness abounds. Great vid, Darrell. You real players can make a shovel with strings sound good; us duffers, however.........
Man, you are an awesome honest respectful person who I really admire. I just found your channel like 2 or 3 days ago and since then I am watching all your other videos to try fixing the mess some other reviewers and forums did to me. Everything started to make sense now. Thank you.
Dude, I’m so glad you brought all those things to the table, I expect a lot of the tonewood freaks bitching but that only works for acoustic guitar, if anything. I am a physicist and I’m tired of explaining that a bad capacitor will affect the tone muuuuch more than a rosewood slab on the neck
Ryuu MV what we should really be talking about is how much the color fo the guitar affects the tone. As you know the biggest difference in the world exists between a light red and dark red finish.
@@eriklundstrum4656 Yeah white ones sound better, and red ones are faster.
He said the tone is affected, just not enough to go crazy about it.
Playability is #1 + decent pickups #2 should be the main focus. That plus a good amp. That's ALL we need to focus on..
@@BoltRM Let me put it this way: If you can hear the difference, you have an ear way better than the average human.
@@Ryuu87 I doubt it's about having better ears, I think it's more been playing loads with both types of fretboards, hence why it's easy to hear the difference at once when the guitar is all on it's own, still not enough to pick one over the other just for the little difference in sound.
Almost inclined to say no one will ever be able to point it out in a full mix, but there are probably some trained ears that can.
Practice...why does it ALWAYS come down to practice...can't I just PAY to sound like Hendrix???
:)
Of course you can, mime to a Hendrix recording!
Of course you can. If you want to sound like him for a single note length that is. But for a whole solo... You gotta do some Voodoo, Child.
I have a 7 string fanned fret thats awesome. therefore ..technically.. im better than Carlos .. who only plays a silly six string :D :D :D
I once played a C chord on a 12 string. Tommy Emmanuel said he's already busy with 6.
Tark, there's a LOT of us who also want that! Let us know if you're successful! Would be so much easier. Like trying to lose weight by watching the exercise videos.
Just love your videos Darrell. I can't get enough of your "contagious" enthusiasm. It is honestly a shot in the arm of true guitar wisdom. Wishing you all the best through this crazy time! Long may you run brother. (From Calgary, Alberta).
Right on Darrell! I'm 76 and have been playing for over 65 years. Couldn't agree more. I own a $95 Dollar Lag Dreadnought that Blows away Martins and Gibsons at Parlor Jams. I have also own Imports that I was totally happy with and they played Both Rock and Country wonderfully. Love your Videos!
"now the question: maple or rosewood?"
Me: looks at my Ibanez with ebony fretboard...
How about no wood at all?
@@shapeshifter7676 check out a gittler guitar ;)
LordOfTheStrings
Yeah those are crazy!
*me*:looks at my vintage Musima from plywood...
"This is what my life has devolved into." I feel that homie.
People in the firearms community are similar. Its almost like some of these people believe they could tell you if they were shot with a 9mm or .40 S&W.
@David Calloway yes, however, not the point I was trying to make.
@David Calloway so, you could tell if someone shot you with a 9mm? I am aware of what I am speaking on, are you?
There is no "meaningful" difference between being shot by a .40 or a 9mm. One could not notice the difference
@David Calloway 🤦🤦🤦🤦
@Sean M eye roll
The way you start your video's always put a smile on my face
Well you left out a couple of most important tonal factors the Color and Time of day Ahahahahaah!
The funniest thing about this discussion is: who does really hear subtle differences when all the audio you got is a youtube- compressed file made out of an mp3 😀
Myth8: strat and tele has sthing in common: both slightly out of tune 😅
Good videos you make, crisp voice, crisp narrative!
String gage: I think you're right that it matters not on electric guitars.
But on acoustics - which you probably weren't talking about in the first place - I find a fairly distinct improvement with thicker gage strings:
low strings seem to flap less and the high strings are definitely less harsh, especially on spruce tops.
CABLES CABLES CABLES! Do a comparison between cheap and expensive cables. I spend nearly a 1/4 century in the high end audio sales world, where crazy has been refined to a degree that makes the guitar world look completely and utterly rational. As a newly minted student of stringed things (Yay! Another obsession!)' Y'all aren't crazy. I'd like to see a cable comparison since $10,000 speaker cables exist, and sell, in high end audio.
Yikes!!
Welcome to the club! 😁
Without a doubt; the mythology of the guitar world is bush league when compared to the absurdities of the audiophile realm. Ever heard of Shakti Stones? Egad...
Don't forget to get ceramic supports under your $10,000 cable, so that the signal flows better.
An electric guitar signal needs a quality cable that is shielded to eliminate noise. It is called Hi-Z because there is a lot of resistance to the small signal your pickups make. Your guitar will sound better thru your amp if your signal chain is designed to eliminate noise and interference. It's just a fact. Learning this changed my guitar playing world. It allowed me to find my tone and made people take notice. Yes better (shielded cable) makes a difference in your tone.
Now try a matched triode tube (12ax7 with matched triodes) in the phase inverter socket of your amp. You will hear that loud speaker hiss go away and the feel of compression and attack and even order harmonics take it's place. Try it. For $20 its worth a shot. I know many players that live by it. I know I do.
I did notice a difference some years ago from upgrading my guitar leads and patch cables but that was a fair length of cable and it was going from super budget to decent cables. Once you get over a certain point you can spend all your money on oxygen free copper and gold plated connectors and it isn’t going to make a difference. I’d have said that it could be placebo but the big thing was less noise (shielding helps) and the fact that the good cables have lasted 10 years and the connectors have since broken on the cheap ones even with minimal use.
In a corner
Crying
My f holes aren't haunting or organic
effhole haha
Definitely organic…
@@malcolmwindust3888 Hopefully, at least
Is it just me or do Teles always sound better than strats
Teles sound so beautiful, honestly after watching his comparisons I've realised I'm not much of a strat fan. Teles will always be superior in my opinion :)
Ask Hendrix...
Well, it depends on your preference 😊
@@luigivonbootheven2854 Since when any legend player must be a reference for his tone ? Hendrix used mostly what he had available at the time. They hadn't have much options to choose from. I am pretty sure they aren't as picky as modern players are
A strat can't do tele but a tele can do strat so tele is always my go to
I thought most levels of hyper sensitive human audio perception had a direct relationship to wealth. The more you have, the more you have!
The wealthy must justify their Custom shop purchases with claims of “superior” this and that, that only they can hear.
Wolf H
Gotta say it. My $679 Epiphone sounds just as good to me as my $6,790 PRS and honestly looks as good too.
Rick Lewis
Anyone that can say that is judging quite honestly in my opinion. ;)
I like nice things, we all do, but the difference between a thousand dollar guitar and a $5000 guitar is not $4000 in quality upgrades, like some claim. However, the difference between a $200 guitar and a $1,500 guitar is quite dramatic.
After a certain price point (no idea what it is to be precise) we are paying for name brands which do nothing for the sound, elaborate decoration which does nothing for the sound, and also buying into the special little club of owners of such instruments.
My most expensive guitar (a 1966 mustang) isn’t my favourite guitar. I like LP and SG juniors the best. SGJr a bit more than the LPJr.
Wolf H
I can’t tell if you’re agreeing with me or disagreeing. My point was the inexpensive guitar looked and sounded as good as the expensive one. Perhaps Paul Reed Smith is a good Luther and a better marketer or ppl just expect a more expensive item to be better to somehow justify their lavish purchase. Good point you made about at some price point the difference drops off but Darrell demonstrated a $200 Indio that had really good sound. I’ve enjoyed every DBG video I’ve watched, they’re all interesting and educational.
Does the guitar that cost ten time as much look and sound ten times better, of course not. It isn’t even twice as nice. The difference is negligible yet ppl that can afford to prefer to buy the expensive stuff all the time. It’s an image they want to project. My Subaru is just as good as a car that cost twice as much, there’s plenty of examples of expensive stuff not being worth the extra cost ppl just think it’s better. However the flip side holds true too in some cases. A cheap pickup selector switch may fail or get scratchy while a good quality one can work properly for years. So, yeah, you get what you pay for is true ... sometimes but not always.
I want to say about the nitro vs poly finish, on top of that, the only reason they really went to a poly finish over a nitro back in the 60's was simply because guitars with nitro finishes that were shipped to stores often arrived with finish damage or marks. Poly made that problem disappear and far fewer guitars were shipped back to the factory.
@@BlazonStone because some manufactures tend to put so much on it makes the guitar feel like plastic.
Poly is also a lot easyer to work with, plus it's not as unhealthy as nitro since it doesn't take years to fully cure.
@@BlazonStone It feels hard and plasticky. I like Nitro because it clouds up, flakes off, cracks and crazes.
*gets drink* Let's do dis thang!
Robert Baker you 2 need to do something together on a video! Love to see that
@@paramediccpo Yes!
damn these are the videos that internet guitar forums needed since decades, love em darrel thank u so so much
The overarching takeaway message seems to be: stay away from 'forums'
I will take a tele bridge pickup over a strat any day. So much more balls
I agree man.
What's that other pickup even for?
Led Zeppelin I. Mic drop!
@@arnolddealiii4259 i used to think he used an lp on that record, when i found out it was a tele I was blown away, bought a tele the next day
I concur...I've personally changed my strat bridge 3times searching for perfection.
well said on all of it. And as somebody who builds their own pedals I can tell you this.. True bypass is EASIER to build than buffered bypass.
I'll tell you, you'll need some buffering.. maybe not all of the pedals but like you said at least one!
Good stuff Darrell - really, really good stuff - very refreshing! Thanks for that.
I was really hoping for the “fiesta red” strats sound better. It must be true 🤷♂️
Boiling strings is typically a bass thing, the one thing it does is helping stretch them and pulling dead skin cells out. One is for new strings one is for reusing
Yup. Especially when you play a 5 or 6 string. They're a little more than $7!
Or it helps them to rust!! Metal + water + heat + salt from sweaty hands = disaster.
If you really want them clean use isopropanol.
@@pica6sedg Nickel and stainless steel don't rust.
Every time I swap strings (4 string epi t-bird pro bass) I boil my oldies and dry them. If I break a string (has happened this year) and can’t afford new ones/store is closed I pick up an oldie and bam, solid temporary fix
The Fender head stock is the craziest one, it is all about the look.
I honestly never heard anyone say such nonsense in person.
I haven't even noticed.
Thanks, man. I love your videos. I’ve learned a lot from your channel.
Speaking for the bigger fender logo, it JUST LOOKS BETTER! I love it so much, I love it so much more than the small one
That “warm vintage tone” slogan always confused me as well...almost everything “vintage” was way brighter and trebly than anything today...I never knew what they were talking about with the “warm” aspect.
Maybe because now the magnets lost their charge (or whatever it's called I don't remember) and treble goes down with it. So they can make pickups matching the old ones, but with the sound they have now instead of 60 years ago
I think the 'woodiness' of the sound output too as most electric guitars of that era, were all hollow, and as early pick ups were not potted they were quite microphonic so picked UP body resonance along with the string resonance.
I think people associate old music with warm tones in part because of vinyl too. People hear that old music was more "warm" and apply that to the tones of the instruments when that wasnt necessarily the case.
Yes, that too is a good point. ALL prev recording media imparted their own colour to the sound, acetate, wire, & tape all had their own slant and natural compression to the sound it accepted and played back!
The reason digital recording sounds clearer but more harsh is it is completely NEUTRAL, and records and plays back EXACTLY what was put on to it! All the wave forms are turned into NUMBERS, the numbers play back exactly the same, on any player. Records and tapes being PHYSICAL media do not, as they have physical shapes of wave forms on them, and are physically played!
THAT is they key difference!
EQ is tricky. Sometimes, more treble registers as fuller to the ears or brain. It's not straightforward.
This is a video I've been wanting to make for a LONG time!
Make sure you stick around for Myth 15, because an old friend makes a glorious return!
Enjoy :)
Amazing return!!
You “rescued” that guitar like a serial killer picks up a hitchhiker - LMAO!
That guitar looks like a transformer lol
One of the best video of the year!!! All because of the Super Red Strat!!! :) Like they say: It's all in the wood!!!
hey Darrell, I was just looking at your Teespring page. I think you should market the guitar pick design that you have on the coffee cup. a 20 pack of picks? also, the system defaults to Aussie dollars when I'm looking at it... can't convince it that my currency is NZD.
Great video Darrell, please more new ones like this! New tag line for your channel: "cutting through guitar myth insanity since [when you started the channel]". Thanks, looking forward to more new vids as we're social distancing at home
I love your reviews Darrell. You've almost single handedly doubled my guitar colletion. I was looking for the "I Like Guitars" shirt in your shop and didn't see it. I would be interested in having one because, first, I really like guitars, and secondly, my wife will hate it HA! Seriously, let me know where I can get one. Thanks for the inspiration!
Let the music set you free.
James Hayes
I think there are a few things in this video people would disagree with. It has been my experience that the guitar sounds fatter with heavy gauge strings. I thought there was more output from the strings and sustain, though this could be due to the mass of the string.
The guitar pickup works by a string passing through a magnets lines of flux and inducing a voltage on a coil. Thus the string has a direct relationship with the output.
I agree people do sound good with thin gauge strings too, but there are other factors which come into play such as their amp and speakers.
I think the trick is.. it's the ear of the musician and how he adjusts his gear/electronics. Ive heard STRATS of all things playing metal with megacrunch. And teles. And ive seen some very twangy music played on lp's and rg's...
The funny thing is that your amp matters way way more than your guitar and no one talks about it
SPEAKERS matter most
#truth
@@ayylmao5121 I agree it's speakers, amp, pickups and lastly the guitar itself for the tone
Agreed this is often glossed over, however Darrell often mentions in his videos that a good amp is the great leveller. A good amp will make a reasonable guitar sound good. A crap amp will make a great guitar sound...well like crap 😉. His advice about more practice, less agonising over detailed mechanics/astaetics is great advice.
@@ayylmao5121 I'd say the cabinet is just as important as the speakers
You rule man ! Love your channel ! Super fresh of ideas ! You killed me with the "Franken-Darrell" hahaha But it did sound amazing !
I can't love this more. Thanks for busting these silly debates. Nitro lacquer for better tone! HAHAH
I think your comment that 90% of tone is pickups and the other 10% is split among a hundred things is spot-on. Love to see a string gauge test too.
And string material... 8)
Yup, assuming he has the time to test another variable.
and 9% is the person playing it.
40% amp and speakers 40% pickups 20% a hundred other things I would say !!!
Snoopdave2000 I think we were discussing just the guitar signal. But if we discuss the entire delivered tone, I would agree that the amp could easily be 40%, and considerably more if it’s a modeling amp. But then we’d also have to consider pedals, which can completely transform the guitar even more than amps.
I think it all comes down to the fingers though. I have a thousand dollar pedal board (just received a Headrush Eleven HD multieffects processor/pedalboard in my Premier Guitar Mystery Stocking), a top rated $250 modeling amp and several $400 - $500 guitars and there is zero chance of me producing any sound that anyone wants to hear. I can change them in a thousand combinations but none of them don’t suck. Yet someone like Darrell could take a $25 Salvation Army Hello Kitty guitar played through a $5 10W practice amp and make it sound great. It’s in the hands, heart and head, not the equipment.
about that boiling thing.
yes, it's definetelly smarter to just buy a new set of strings.
But I don't think getting out the mechanical defects in the strings was really the goal of the boiling,
but rather to get rid of dirt build up on the string.
Glenn Fricker from SMG actually just recently did a test
where he compared new strings vs old strings vs boiled old strings,
both in the context of a full mix and soloed.
The result: it makes no difference, even the new strings didn't sound too much different from the old ones.
Of course, it may be worth noting, that he was comparing the strings on a heavy rythm tone, so minor differences may not have been that audible
Try again on a clean tone
10:25 I know you've probably heard about this before, the Strat only had the small headstock for a decade (1954-65). Starting in December., 1965, Strat necks started being made with the bigger headstock. We think of it as 20 years because the big head is associated with the 70s, with Rainbow & Ritchie Blackmore. But Jimi's classic Strat that he bought in '68 and brought to Woodstock was a big-headstock model. Love the vid :)
Strat single coil bridge pups usually sound a bit thin. If so, I think a great substitution to achieve more of a Tele bridge tone is the Seymour Duncan Twang Banger, designed for Strats. That really sounds good from videos I have listened to, even better than some stock Teles. Most of my Strats are already compensated by a humbucker or hotter single coil, so I have not had to do the substitution yet. However, I could see that substitution with a 7 way pup switch (push pull pot or other switch in addition to the 5 way Strat pup selector) as a great way to turn a Strat into an all around tone machine giving you all the good Strat and Tele tones in one guitar.
I dig the way you put that Strat back together once it was cut up it kind of looks like an exploded technical diagram, cool👍
"The most beautiful instrument ever created..." AND the only instrument that gives so many possibilities to express your (inner) self!
I love playing the piano, but nothing beats any guitar, wether amplified or plain nylon.
Thanks Darrell, this was educational, as always of high quality video and sound and sometimes hilarious (9V batteries?).
Excellent assessment of some of the nonsense we all get fed as guitarists. The Fender book claims that the larger headstock was to address warping problems! Wouldn’t a larger headstock be more likely to warp? Another piece of nonsense.
Of course, if you want your Les Paul to sound true vintage it’s essential that the poker chip and the knobs are made of butyrate...!
I have 20 guitars and have owned many more over many years and everything you have said has been borne out by my own experience. I use 009 -046 strings because they’re easier to play, prefer Rosewood to maple because it’s less sticky under the fingers (especially with nitro finished necks) and have found no discernible difference between ash and alder other than weight (sometimes) and that ash looks better for clear finishes.
Great mythbusing piece. Well done....
the fretboard thing is hillarious because the only reason we even HAVE fretboards is that Leo fender didnt like the way his guitar necks started to look ugly and dirty once musicians had been playing them a lot..
Well done. Was waiting for this type of video to come out.
Guitarists swear they can hear a dog whistle being blown from the other side of the moon when they should be focused on practicing instead of these silly myths.
Sorry to say that on a good speaker,there is a bit of a difference in the maple vs rosewood. Maybe not enough to make much of a difference in tone, but it is there.
@@kalypso4133 I'll bet though you've never done a blind test. It would be interesting to try, but it's difficult unless you have what are basically two guitars the same but made from different woods. However, you might find it interesting to look up some of the blind guitar tests.
Where is RUclips's laugh button? hahahaha
@@aliennomad3532 I have done a huge amount of blind tests xDD maybe you are just deaf?
@@kalypso4133
Let's talk science. Electric guitars work by magnets in the pick ups detecting and then voicing the vibration of the string above it. The material of the neck or fretboard has absolutely zero influence on the way the strings vibrate.
Thanks for demythologizing the guitar marketing. This is a much-needed and gentle application of journalism and science to rampant folklore.
Also I was glad to see you on Robert Baker’s top 5 list.
Darrel this is one of the best videos of yours so far. Great job 👍
never in over a half century have I ever boiled guitar strings. Glad to know my instinct was correct.
Would definitely love a string-gauge test.
TL;DR Just play.
Somehow I knew that's what your tonewood experiment would end up looking like.
Love your videos! this one's amazing, killing those silly myths!
Just great! I can't even express how much I agree with all you said. One of your best video!
String gauge test.
String gauge test.
String gauge test.
String gauge test.
For real. And let’s be clear, you can get great tone on 8’s or 9’s, but you CAN NOT sound like SRV on them.
It’s not a matter of good tone. It’s more a matter of specific tone.
@@stevenpippin6079 i dunno man. Not with stevie's exact rig, but if you switched some stuff i'd bet you'd get 60% of his tone. The rest was the player himself.
Strong gauge makes a difference on acoustic BUT the acoustic guitar has a bunch of different factors.
Body wood does makes a difference too.
Spent a weekend switching through several string gauges - everything from 8s to 11s. Guess what, recorded on GarageBand, it still sounded like me playing, though I did have to work to control bends with 8s. No difference in tone at all. I stuck with 10s because that’s what was most comfortable to me. If you don’t sound like SRV, it has nothing to do with the fact that you’re not playing 13s.
@@dochort21 yeah, I definitely believe that string gauges don't actually change the tone, but I know that bigger strings are better for lower tunings, I play 10s in D Standard and it works just fine, sounds great and feels perfect!
Bass strings actually can be revived somewhat from boiling. Not a myth at all. But buying new ones is still preferable.
Actually yes. It depends. Boiling PLAIN guitar strings is really kind of moot and futile. But the wound strings were gunk residue resides in the wound cavities as all strings on bass are wound plays a role. And if you use Fender bass tuners you just put the strings back again without distorting or weaking the turns they have shaped form in.
My take instead of boiling, is soaking them in isoprpopyl alcohol. For a while. The de-gunking of finger dirt and residue inside the wraps starts creeping out. But guitar strings are so cheap these days so it's a no brainer buying new strings.
Yeah I can go from really crappy tone to a completely new better tone just by boiling them
I agree. Boiling crusty wound strings makes them sound lively again. Not so for dead-sounding plain strings (sorry Eddie). For years as a cheap-ass, I'd just replace the three high strings and boil the wounds for 20 minutes. Now I can afford to buy full sets whenever I want.
totally agree! i did that several times on the E, A, and D strings from a set of peavey stainless. worked every time!
...dont boil strings. Please, for the love of all that is holy, just get new ones.
Best guitar related video I have seen!! Practice, or just play all the free time you have, workout best in long run and much better than spending money.
It's true, I tried Gibson Les Paul standard Blueberry burst and it felt uncomfy at all for me, like my Epiphone les paul standard which I wanted to replace. Eventually I replaced my Epiphone with Gibson Les Paul Standard 2019(from the new original series) and it felt and feels amazing and sounds amazing. So really it sums up - no matter the price high or low or the brand, it depends on the guitar and model and quality control.
You forgot a big one, Darrell: All ceramic pickups suck and all AlNiCo pickups sound great! There are plenty of great sounding ceramics out there and also poor sounding AlNiCo pups out there too. It's all about the overall design!
There is a lot of brand and cost bias going on in these subjective evaluations. I would love to see a video comparing the sound of a $1500 American Fender Strat to a $250 Squier Standard Strat with the pickups secretly swapped. I think the vast majority of people would still bias their opinions toward the sound of the Fender just because their brain tells them it is supposed to sound better.
The comparison has been done between these two guitars plenty of times and people tend to say things like, "The Fender just has the fullness of tone that you need and the Squier sounds too bright and harsh to me."
If the pickups were swapped, I'm sure a few very experienced players would know simply because they know what the pickups sound like on their own merit, but I would bet my bottom dollar a majority would be saying things like, "The Squier sounds okay but it's slightly dull and it doesn't have the brightness and bite of the Fender."
Don't forget that, according to Billy Corgan, the color of the guitar also affects the tone! lol Great video by the way. Just subbed the channel. Are you Canadian, I'm hearing an Ontario accent, heh?!
DEM RED GEETARZ GO FASTA! WAAAGH!
__
Basic fact of 40k.
Arksolva Studio it is for sure ! A red guitar excites you, then you play rocky, a sonic blue calms you and you play pop balads, a black one gets you in blues ,and a green one makes you quiting guitars , haha 😂
Gilles Genete it’s all about perspectives lol
@@gillesgenete9598 Totally agree. Green guitars just sound terrible. Can't stand green.
Billy sounds like a bad RNG system.
You know what creates a warm vintage tone? Ribbon mics! Now those will give you warm vintage tones!
14:11 - this immediately reminded me of beginning of "It might get loud" - "Who says you need to buy a guitar" -- Jack White.
the final conclusion that we all can think of after we see this video: " guys.. shut up and play, seriously..." Fantastic video Darrell, thank you very much!
Regarding power supplies: A transformer/rectifier power supply will give you a noise-free power source given sufficient capacitance to minimize ripple at a given load. This is pretty similar to a battery that will give you a "perfectly" clean voltage. Battery brands won't make any difference apart from capacity and discharge rate at varying currents. There is another power supply however that can introduce noise to your signal and that's a switch-mode power supply - similar to what's in your computer or laptop power supply. Instead of a heavy transformer and a large amount of capacitance, it uses MOSFETS to do high-frequency PWM switching to step down the voltage and provide a stable current. Like a class-D amplifier, this method doesn't lend itself to low total harmonic distortion, save for some specialized and patented circuit designs.
So are you likely to hear noise from a switch-mode power supply designed for guitar pedals? No, probably not. Are all power supplies the same? Definitely not.
I am the kind of guy who believes everything matters, but when the impact is lesser than 3%, you shouldn't bother and leave that to optimization, that is focus on it when and only when everything else that do matter is sorted and already up there. This includes most other myths here mentioned.
Besides, food for thought: why invest in a noise-free power generation when half you pedals are dedicated to induce noise into your sound? I think the ear should be the ultimate judge, not the brain.
Fun fact: I changed the pick guard on my cheap Ibanez, removed the cheap plastic one and put one made of mahogany plywood. That did make a huge difference and was totally worth it; it got rid of a cheap plastic-like resonance it had when playing unplugged. The amplified improvement, still, might be lesser than 10%; that is unnoticeable to untrained ear, which is the most of my public.
This said, music is a matter of feeling above anything. Whatever makes you feel better and improve your "playmanship" is totally worth it, even if the net gain is objectively negligible. I know to me what makes me feel the "most better" when playing my instrument: it is practice. When I get to practice a lot, I become more and more akin to my instrument, and whatever I do - be it playing music or just setting up my tone - is drastically improved.
@@EddieOtool for me it was hum. And theres something youre all forgetting. Every electronic device you own transmits random radio waves.. energy.. which your other electronics pick up. Thus why EVERY electronic device you own has a sticker saying it complies with the maximum that device is allowed to put ou
Power supplies don't feed your circuitry. Power supplies feed capacitors that feed your circuitry. If designed properly they function as low pass filter so that no high frequency pass into the audio pathway. If not designed properly result is static coloured noise.
Fully agree with all myths you busted. The buffer vs true bypass is my preferred one as it is a clear example of how you pay more for a less complex electronic circuit to the detriment of the sound quality.
But another myth I'm fighting is the influence of volume and tone pots on sound tone quality. Provided that the component is reliable and acceptably within the tolerance, electrons do not care if the strip of carbon oxide is manufactured by a reputable brand or an unknown farm in the Far East; resistance is always resistance. Furthermore, pots are well hidden under the surface of your guitar and nobody can admire you for a 20€/$ component...
Disagree with myth 3. I received my PRS with 46-10s. On my boss Katana, sounded lovely with all the knobs at noon. But I wanted more bass/sustain/thickness in the tone. I have switched to Ernie ball custom beefy 54-11s. Big big difference.
More Stickers ,
More sustain!
. I love the way you put back together the strat of the tonewood myth! Looks sick and it is still and amazing functional guitar... 👌🤙🤙🤙🤙
Everytime, when i watch Darrells videos, i go plug in my guitar and start playing. Darrell makes guitar playing so fun.. so addictive. Love it...👍🎸
About tonewood: I replaced a cheap plastic pick guard on my entry-level Ibanez for a mahogany plywood one. It did make a noticeable difference unplugged, but a marginal amplified difference if any. If your guitar has a huge plastic guard and you find it has a plastic-like, unenjoyable resonnance, especially unplugged, I strongly recommand this fix. Anyhow between bandmates and crowd I'm probably the only one noticing, which is still good since I'm the one playing the thing. Since it did positively affect my feeling while playing, I dub it was worth it. Doesn't it all come to that in the end?