Can You Tell Which is Which?

msr13 · #1 04-04-2010, 10:25 PM

I am just curious. I always fail the "Can you guess which one" listening games. So, I thought I would try it using three very different guitars. Can you guess which is which?

I played each guitar directly into a Headstrong Lil' King using the reverb at 2. No other effects were used. I plugged the Lil' King directly into a Zoom H4n recorder. Each guitar was set using both pickups with the tone control approximately a third up from totally flat. Two of the guitars are strung with flat 10s. One is strung with Elixir 10s. Sorry for not running them all the same, but I didn't feel like changing just for this exercise.

Pardon my playing. I did each phrase in one take. (And, I'm just not that good.

) The phrase is the first two lines of Darn That Dream by Jimmy Van Heusen (Lyrics by Eddie DeLange). Also, the video is hissy, but the original recordings weren't, so I am not sure what I did wrong-- and hopefully that won't influence your answers too much.

The Guitars:
A 2009 Collings I-35 Deluxe, stock.
A 2007 PRS McCarty, stock.
A 2002 Fender American Deluxe Tele, stock.

YouTube Video

randyc · #2 04-04-2010, 10:48 PM

I'll take a shot: PRS, Collings followed by Fender. Lovely tune, BTW !

msr13 · #3 04-04-2010, 10:49 PM

Thanks, Randy. I will PM you the answers.

bkdavidson · #4 04-05-2010, 12:12 AM

I'll bite; PRS, Tele, Collings. It is kind of interesting that while you can heart a difference in the tones, but it really is pretty hard to tell exactly which is which.

msr13 · #5 04-05-2010, 12:14 AM

I had the same challenge. I will PM you the answers.

Bill C · #6 04-05-2010, 03:12 AM

Collings, Tele, PRS? But they all sound very similar!

Chito · #7 04-05-2010, 05:23 AM

Collings, PRS then the Tele for me.

Chev · #8 04-05-2010, 05:56 AM

Collings, PRS ,Tele, my guess. But as mentioned, hard to tell.

Tom Karol · #9 04-05-2010, 06:40 AM

Hmm, very interesting! Umm, Collings, PRS, Tele?

msr13 · #10 04-05-2010, 07:07 AM

I'll PM you all the answers.

#11 04-05-2010, 07:14 AM

Man that was interesting. Definitely a difference but VERY close. Thanks for taking the time to do that. I always dig this kind of blind test.

I'll say...

PRS, Tele, Collings

....but I could be 100% wrong!

robertm2000 · #12 04-05-2010, 09:24 AM

Ummm...would you pardon me if I don't guess? They sound similar enough that, honestly, I don't care! On top of that, your playing is very nice on all of them, and any of the sounds would make me happy if I were playing. As would the level of skill! Truly, tone starts in the fingers.

I'm happy with the Strat knockoff I play with a Seymour Duncan Cool Rails, neck position. Switched to a tube amp recently which really helped. Thanks for the enlightenment.

gpmedium · #13 04-05-2010, 09:27 AM

My guess would be Collings, PRS and then the Tele.

Doctor Jeff · #14 04-05-2010, 09:43 AM

Collings, PRS, Tele

msr13 · #15 04-05-2010, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robertm2000

Ummm...would you pardon me if I don't guess? They sound similar enough that, honestly, I don't care! On top of that, your playing is very nice on all of them, and any of the sounds would make me happy if I were playing. As would the level of skill! Truly, tone starts in the fingers.

I'm happy with the Strat knockoff I play with a Seymour Duncan Cool Rails, neck position. Switched to a tube amp recently which really helped. Thanks for the enlightenment.

Thanks for the compliments, Robert. Much appreciated. You've nailed my point for running this exercise for myself. Here are three guitars, at three very different price points, different bodies, scales, necks, pickups, headstocks, etc., and it is extremely hard to identify which is which when using similar amp settings. A constant, running theme on this forum, and echoed by you, that playing is in the hands, certainly seems somewhat validated here.

But also, Derek, Dale, and I have been having a running conversation about how particular players always sound like themselves, regardless of the instrument. And, that seems, at the very least, not to get contradicted by this exercise.

derek · #16 04-05-2010, 12:00 PM

Alrighty. First two sound like they have flats on. Based on your very nice playing, and listening thru the crappy speakers on my laptop, here are my guesses.

PRS
Collings- Fuller, darker tone
Tele - Brightest tone.

Now if you have flats on the Tele, then reverse the PRS and Tele. I am pretty sure the Collings was 2nd. If not, then it just goes to show you though I can talk a good game, I am full of crap.

itsall4you · #17 04-05-2010, 06:53 PM

hmph..

It seems like i've got a different guess to everyone..

I think Tele Colings then PRS.

Peter C · #18 04-05-2010, 07:28 PM

1) Sounds like a Les Paul in the mid position, so the PRS

2) Sounds like the above, but with more "air" in it, so the "339" style guitar. I liked this one the most.

3) Doesn't sound like humbuckers, so the other one

I don't care if I'm "wrong", and they all sound good.

tonedeaf · #19 04-05-2010, 09:17 PM

Fascninating, I can't even make the one guitar I own sound that consistent!

I couldn't even hazard a quess as to which is which, but I think I did sense a some differences in the instruments:

1. A little bit more bass bias with a hint of echo (like it was being mic'ed in a large room).

2. More "bite" in the treble regions.

3. Superior clarity in the treble regions.

Great fun.

woyvel · #20 04-05-2010, 09:35 PM

collings, prs, tele

Scotto · #21 04-05-2010, 11:23 PM

collings, prs, tele

Meggy · #22 04-06-2010, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkdavidson

I'll bite; PRS, Tele, Collings. It is kind of interesting that while you can heart a difference in the tones, but it really is pretty hard to tell exactly which is which.

This would be my guess too, the second one sounds to have a bit of that single coil "quack" on some of the notes (quite nice actually!) and the 3rd one seems to have a bit more of an open quality to the sound to me, consistent with a semi-hollow construction. But I'd love to know if I'm right, please let me know!

cosmic gumbo · #23 04-06-2010, 05:16 PM

This supports my belief that a decent jazz tone is a fairly easy thing to get out of most guitars.

msr13 · #24 04-06-2010, 05:19 PM

Now you tell me.

And, as I become better educated and continue to learn more-- a lot of that education coming from many of you and this forum-- I couldn't agree more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo

This supports my belief that a decent jazz tone is a fairly easy thing to get out of most guitars.

musicalbodger · #25 04-06-2010, 06:02 PM

Have to agree with you Meggy & BKD. Sounds like PRS, Tele, Collings to me. Though they are remarkably similar.

bkdavidson · #26 04-06-2010, 08:43 PM

I gotta say, the two that I had switched really surprised me. The one I got right jumped out at me immediately, but I went back and listened a few times with the other two. I really heard what Meggy described, and I also couldn't agree more with cosmic gumbo. I've felt that way for a long time now as well.

fep · #27 04-06-2010, 10:25 PM

So I don't have any of those guitars but I do have a strat.

I believe I heard that single coil squawk (I mean that in a good way) from the second guitar.

The third guitar had the most midrange and sustain... It's really mostly due to the pickups and I suppose that's the kind of pickup sound PRS would be going after.

The first one had a better decay for this style of playing imo.

So even though I'm not familar with those guitars my guess is:

Collins, Tele, PRS

randyc · #28 04-06-2010, 10:52 PM

Not to distract from this excellent exercise but I'd note something that we all know (or should know, at least viscerally). The sound of the instrument is of little importance to the audience - it's of paramount importance to the musician who MAY be the only one that makes a distinction.

(I'm giving away something that I wrote several weeks ago regarding one of the reviews that's still in progress, but this is important to me.)

Those of us who are not virtuosos cannot perform equally when we play various instruments. We try to take advantage of anything that improves our ability to communicate with a listener. Doubtless Kenney Burrell can make my Epiphone Emeror Reject sound like anything that he chooses to project at that moment BUT - decade after decade - he returns to that Super 400. That's the sound that HE hears best for the message that HE wants to project.

PS: Isaac Stern didn't play a Yamaha violin

As usual, I blur the message with a prejudice of the instruments but I hope that the message is understood (and I wish that I owned a Super 400).

82Benedetto · #29 04-06-2010, 11:04 PM

Tele, PRS, Collings. PM answers?

82Benedetto · #30 04-06-2010, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo

This supports my belief that a decent jazz tone is a fairly easy thing to get out of most guitars.

Depends what you consider a jazz tone. I'm not for distinguishing between semi-hollows and solid bodies....a clean bassy, rounded tone isn't difficult to achieve but if you want an acoustic tone you're not getting that from those