5 Steps To Better Tone

I don't think i've ever met a guitarist that was fully satisfied with their tone, I don't think I ever will. 

There are, however, some simple tips to help you get the best tone. Read on for some quick fixes and more in depth ideas for improving your tone.

When it comes to tone there is no such thing as right or wrong. It really depends on what you're going for with it, the genre and style etc.

Step 1: Identify the weakest link in your rig.

Is it the amp? The Guitar? I hate to say it but... you? It's important to identify the weak link so that you can improve that first. Improving the weakest aspect of your tone will make the biggest difference.

Step 2: Change Your Strings

Not changed your strings (ya know, this kind of string) in about a decade? We've all been guilty of it, at one point or another. Change them. You'll notice a vast improvement in both tone and feel. Nice, easy and cheap.

Step 3: The Amp

The amp is hugely important for your tone, arguably the most important link in the chain in terms of pure sound output. Are you still using a supermarket amp that you found in a scrapyard? Upgrade. Amp buying can be a difficult process (i'll have a buyers guide on here soon!) and it can end up costing you an arm, a leg and all of your life savings if you're not careful. It's important to remember the law of diminishing returns, which kinda goes like this:

The more you spend initially the better the quality, however the improvements per price paid get smaller and smaller the more you spend after this. For example the difference between your typical non-brand starter amp and a £500/$600 marshall is enormous. The difference between a 2 grand and a 4 grand amp is significantly smaller. 

 It's also important to remember to pick an amp based on your tastes and needs.

Step 4: The Guitar and Pickups

Now i'm going to assume (for the purpose of the guide) that the materials of the guitar make no difference to the tone. However the guitar is important, it's the interface between you and the sound you want. A poorly made guitar with a bad setup will make you seem like a worse player than you are (I know we shouldn't blame the tools but sometimes the tools just suck) and if you're not properly able to use the interface then you aren't getting the tone you could be.

Now for the pickups. If your guitar is amazing, your amp is boutique and you've changed your strings but the tone still lacks then it might be the pickups. A PRS with a fridge magnet wrapped up with some rusty copper wire for a pickup is gonna' sound like turd (yes, even a PRS can sound like turd). A good brand for pickups that have a diverse range and reasonable prices are Seymour Duncan. Pick pickups (that's hard to say repeatedly) based on your style and preferred genre.

Step 5: You

Now i'm not saying that you're rubbish (I bet you're about 15 times better than me!) but if, for example, you're trying to emulate the tone of your favorite guitarist and you have all the same gear then you need to look at your style of play. Does the guitarist you like only fingerpick? Then lose the plectrum.

I would argue that the player is at least equally responsible for tone as any other component in the signal chain. So if you think your tone is rubbish then maybe you need to spend a bit of time improving the precision of your playing skills.

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Wood: Does It Matter?

A hot topic for many of us, but does the substance that we stick strings and pickups on really matter? 

I'm going to avoid controversy and say yes... and no. The materials we use to build guitars with are obviously important, you're unlikely to see a functioning guitar made from mashed potatoes (although I would definitely like to see you try and make one).  A guitar needs to be made from reasonably rigid materials, too much flex and your tunings will be weird and I don't think a bent fretboard is ideal. But is the difference between mahogany and maple really that noticeable? Lets 'av a look.

Assume we're talking about an electric instrument that is amplified, a purist might argue that the type of wood is one part of the long ingredients list for the recipe for 'tone' and that it is a key aspect. They're right in that it will affect the tone of the instrument but the amount it can affect tone is in question. In a blind test of a maple bodied guitar of the same construction as a mahogany bodied guitar I would defy anyone to consistently pick which guitar is which. The differences in tone would be almost negligible, in my opinion. Where this logic gets contentious is when it comes to acoustic instruments (more on these later).  

Where I feel the type of wood matters is the bearing it has on the weight and aesthetic of a guitar. There are very few things as visually pleasing as a book-matched, flamed or quilted maple top on an electric guitar. There are also few things as annoying as a guitar that would be better suited to a weightlifter because it's constructed entirely with dense woods,. whilst a guitar that is too light could have a negative impact on the feeling of quality. 

Acoustic instruments have a more solid argument for the 'tone' that can be imbued by wood. An acoustic guitar amplifies itself using a hollow chamber under the strings, this means the vibrations of sound have to reverberate through this chamber. The character of the wood, especially the density of the wood, will have an impact on the reverberant quality of the chamber. A denser wood like maple will allow the reverberations to 'bounce' of the walls of the chamber more easily and would probably create a 'brighter' tone than a less dense open grained wood. In the case of acoustic guitars the wood has a direct impact on the type of sound produced.

What the f**k do I know anyway?! I'm still gonna' get that mahogany bodied LP and brag to literally all of my mates about how the tone is that much beefier because of it.

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