Phillip Ford/Solid body Guitars/Sustain

[Phillip L Ford]

On Thu, 3 Jan 2002 19:04:04   
 Joseph Garrett wrote:
>Phillip,
>Your comment that the strings of a solid body guitar are not "coupled to the
>body of the guitar! Obviously you have never really looked into the dynamics
>of Solid Body Guitars. First, the sustain of a solid body guitar is relevant
>to the mass of the bridge/tail piece. If it is made out of a material such
>as brass it has huge sustain. If the bridge/tail piece is made out of
>aluminum is has a different sustain characteristic. If the body is made out
>of alder, it will have one type of sustain, (and tone), characteristic. If
>it is made out of more dense exotic woods, it will have more sustain and a
>different tone characteristic. Lastly, the strings are DIRECTLY coupled to
>the body of the guitar, no matter if it is solid body or hollow body.
>Regards,
>Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)(Go Nebraska)(A Bass Player)
>
>
Joe,
I'm just talking through my hat.  I know nothing about solid body guitars and
practically nothing about acoustic guitars.  I don't play either one and have
never so much as held a solid body guitar in my hands.  I'm just going by what
I imagine to be the case based on 3rd hand descriptions and photos that I've
happened to see.  I can believe that the way the guitar is built will influence
the tone.  But, isn't what you're calling a bridge essentially just a means of
holding the end of the string which happens to be attached to the body of the
guitar.  The body of the guitar isn't meant to move air in the same way the top
of an acoustic guitar is, am I right?  Granted the strings in a solid body guitar
are directly coupled to the body of the guitar, but perhaps more in the way that piano
strings are directly coupled to the body of the piano through the tuning pins,
both of which might better be called indirectly coupled.  That's
quite a different thing to the way strings are coupled to the body of the
piano through the soundboard or to the top of an acoustic guitar.
The point was supposed to be that apples and oranges were being compared.
If I've got this all wrong, then my apologies, and I'll try to use a different
comparison next time.

Phil F



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