What's your Recipe for a great tone??

[Veenture]

...practice pressing down on the string just hard enough to get a clean note. If you press too hard, you will deflect the string into the fretboard, distorting (sharpening) the note...but when you can play consistently with only the finger-pressure required to make clean contact with the frets, your guitar will sound much better, with improved sustain.

I think this is where vintage Mosrite "Speedfrets" and Gibson "Fretless Wonders" shine, i.e. there's not much chance of stretching the note too far when pressing down on the string.
I'm amazed that some people actually want the opposite effect and even have their fretboards scalloped. Bending notes of course, is a different matter.



Mosrite Speedfrets and scalloped fretboard

[sleeperNY]

This topic has been covered many times at the Chet board. It always ends with the same conclusion. The biggest factor in anyones tone comes from there HANDS. This is from many Pro Guitar players, as in making a living playing. I think we all think that if we have the same equipment that the pro.s have we will sound like them. Amps and guitars do shape the sound but I do believe that the biggest part of tone comes from a players touch and that means his or her hands. Chet sounds like Chet no matter what he plays or played through. Nokie sounds like Nokie no matter what as do all the greats. I just have to go with the hands. Just my opinion.


Jim

[dubtrub]

I think we are getting playing style and techniques mixed up with tone. It's like saying, if I put Jazzmaster pickups in a Strat will it sound like a Jazzmaster or Stratocaster. Makes no difference what you fingers do, the tone your pickups generate is what the guitar is going to sound like regardless of the shape of the body. I always sound like me no matter what guitar or amp I play but they all have a different tone. I have a feeling this topic is going no where.

[Desert Surfer]

I think the "Style" is definitely decided by hands and skill.

But the "tone" is also decided by the tools which include guitar, amp and effect pedals etc. and the way they are set up.

The guitar masters like Nokie is always looking for different "tones". That's why he uses different guitars during his playing years; such as different type of electric guitars (Fender Telecasters, Mosrites, Tony Hunts, Carvins, HitchHikers etc) acoustic guitars (Santa Cruz, Taylor etc) and nylon classical guitars too.

When Nokie discovered Mosrite guitars in Bakersfield, he went back to The Ventures and told them that he found the "tone" which is perfect for their playing style. So I feel even to the guitar masters, the tools decide and define their "tone" too.

I like the unique tone of The Ventures in the early 60's. Even I am not a real good player, the right tools (Mosrites, Bassman and Reverb tank) help me to get that particular sound pretty close. If I use the same tools to imitate Gerry McGee's playing in 70's, the tone is just not right.

That's my 2 cents...

[Rich121]

The thread is still going back and forth between TONE and STYLE.

Style is what you have. The how you phrase, how you bend ... etc etc .... down to your fingers, brain and soul.

Tone is what your equipment has. Your amps,guitars (petals if you use them). Possibly even the room or PA.

You try to match the two to something pleasing to you. (You can buy the tone if you know what you want or maybe search for years). If tone wasn't equipment then we would only need 1 guitar and one amp. We could all play the same thing for all types of music and personal styles.

The examples have been too subtle.

Lets give Nokie an ESP Crying Star with JB and Super Distortion PUs, a Boss DD, a Tube Screamer and a Dean Dime Bag D100C.
I'm sure he can play it but I doubt you would like it. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't.

Now. Lets give todays latest/greatest neo-shreader (someone with the mechanical ability of a brain surgeon and the speed of a Porsche) a Mosrite and a 60's Deluxe Reverb (no petals). The techie that he is I'm sure he can play it but I'll bet that his style doesn't fit.

Don't confuse Music Type, Style and Tone. They combine to make 1! unique YOU!.

Me today. I play a Anderson DT and the same Super Reverbs that I've used for 40 years. That's my tone (well most of the time)
As to my Style, that's questionable at best, but probably is kind-of Robben Ford meets Hank Marvin.

So change your gits, your PUs, your caps all you like. That's the elusive tone.
As to style, practice,practice,practice and pray to God for some talent.

[jfine]

I agree that your tone is in your hands, but if your gear is fighting you, you won't play up to your capabilities. I used various programmable multi-FX floor units into a clean amp for years with varying degrees of success, but when my last one died on me at a gig about a year ago, I started going into the amp (a Tech 21 Trademark 60 212) from the guitar with a volume pedal in the amp's FX loop, and I'm liking my clean tone a lot better. I still have a few issues--once I get my clean channel dialed in, the dirty channel isn't quite right, but that's the amp design more than anything. I should probably use a good pedal for my dirt instead of the amp's dirty channel, but if I do that, I'll probably wind up getting another programmable FX unit for the convenience, and so I can carry a gig bag with the FX unit rather than risk the amp on fly gigs. It's always that tradeoff between tone and portability, and until I get lucky enough to get a gig with an act that's got a road crew, portability's going to win out. The roadies better watch out--if I get that lucky, I'd love to have a Twin Reverb for the clean sound, and a high-gain 50-watt Marshall half-stack for the dirt! My back hurts just thinking about it...

[Veenture]

Nokie sounds like Nokie no matter what as do all the greats.

Surprise surprise, even Nokie has his personal recipe for a great tone
'Though (I think) he will play through anything that's provided for a gig or concert, his personal preference nonetheless is playing his HitchHiker guitar through his Nokie Edwards Signature Marble amplifier

http://www.marble-amps.com/marble.asp?p ... ginasub=13[]3{}Nokie_Edwards.asp

[Olav]

Great tone is mostly in your hands the way you play NOT the tools you use.I'ld say it's 90% the player 10% the guitar& amp.

I'll have to disagree with this comment. Although I have several guitars and and a handful of amps. each have their proper place tone wise. Although most any musician will 'play' the same on basically any guitar through any amp, the tone it projects will not always be the same.

When playing surf music I get a certain tone that is generated through my Bandmaster, outboard reverb and Jazzmaster guitar. I cannot get that same tone with my Stratocaster or Les Paul playing through my 57 tweed Deluxe, nor through my Vibro Champ, yet I'm using the same hands.

Danny, you seem to earthly to grasp the difference between the terms 'sound', the shaping of that, which you described in your post and the magical, highly subjective, almost unobtainable 'tone' and the (as mentioned) near impossible begetting of it, which DOES come from the fingers.
Only OTHER guitarists fingers though, I've learned.
Hence the use of row upon row of effect pedals.

[sleeperNY]

The main reason (IMO) that this is such a great topic is because there are so many factors that make up tone that almost everyone has a different idea as to what it is. I know just what Danny is saying and agree with most of it. I just don't look at tone as being only how sharp or mellow our guitar is set. If we all sat down in a room and played the same guitar one after the other doing the same song we would all sound different. Not night and day but it would be different sounding. That part of the TONE is coming from the HANDS of the player. To me you just have to include it all when talking about tone.


Jim

[TimR]

I think "tone" is kind of an abstract concept that means something different to different people. A truly gifted and unique guitarist, like a Nokie, or a Santana, Gilmour, Clapton, Hendrix, SRV, etc., has something special in their hands that most of us don't have. Maybe you could call that "tone." But those same guys have spent years experimenting with different equipment to achieve just the right "sound" that matches up best with their particular "style" -the overall ambiance of what makes them unique. I think Dave Gilmour is a good example. He's been described by many as having some special magic in his hands, which I believe is true. Yet have you ever seen a picture of his equipment setup? It resembles the cockpit of a 747. Yes, the equipment is important if you're attempting to achieve a certain sound. If you don't have reverb, in your amp or in a unit plugged into your amp, you're not going to be able make it with your "hands."
I guess the bottom line is: "Tone" is a combination of a lot of things that all come together in different ways for different people.