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A cnc cant hear, if your buildng a fine acoustic instrument it must be "tuned" by ear otherwise there would be no reason for M Camp, B Tren , etc etc to make guitars and why they cost a lot. Can a plek machine do a perfect fret job? No! it will still require hand finishing polishing etc. A solid, semi hollow or lam can take advantage of automation but still has to be completed by hand. If you plug in, after hearing J Soloway's recent post, you could get an almost all machine made axe for around $300 and if you can play like him laugh all the way to the bank.
Originally Posted by olejason
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01-12-2026 04:13 PM
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So tuning really applies to acoustic part of a Carved Top guitar,from what I understand. If it’s an electric with pickups mounted and built in electronics, what's the point?
Sure there is more carving than a laminate, but I would imagine CNC could do the majority of the work, or even the old paragraph Gibson used for L-5CES models.
And we can split hairs about its better pure acoustic response. But at the end of the day.I think once it is plugged in there goes 90% of the acoustic response.
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Easy partner, folks round here think the acoustic part changes the electric part of the guitar.
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it certainly does, it improves the feedback part. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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Just give me a fence post with a Johnny Smith on and I’ll show you all!!!!!!
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undoubtedly! But the outcome is still dependent upon the system so your not hearing an acoustic guitar. Add a pedal board... the worlds your oyster. Im defining "acoustic" as an instrument requiring no further amplification for performance volume and projection. If youve got a 2 pickup guitar that can do that, it didnt come off a CNC and its rare..Mazeltov!
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For the record I do think the acoustic part of the instrument affects things massively lol.
The construction and innate sound of the guitar affects tone more in my opinion than the pickup, certainly in how the sound evolves through time from onset through decay.
Solid bodies, less so perhaps, but things like the type of bridge and stringing certainly affects things.
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Paraphrasing Les Paul. Originally Posted by Christian Miller
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No doubt it has some affect as well as increased feedback issues on say Gibson Johnny Smith,Le Grande or Citation which are floating pickup models.
I’m mainly pointing out the thicker carved plates of both Gibson L-5CES,Super 400CES, and the L-4CES models.
And how tuning is basically irrelevant in those models. And therefore could use less manual labor.
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There are 2 types of archtop lovers. Acoustic archtop and electric archtop. Only the 1st will slightly benefit from a tap tune.
Any CES model it would be completely unnecessary.
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If the body of the guitar makes no difference to the electric sound, why is it that you can instantly spot an L5CES or L5 WesMo vs. an ES175 on almost any recording? Same pickups, same electronics, but the sound of each is quite distinctive. It has to be the body. And it isn't just size. The L4CES sounds different from an ES175 though both are the same size.
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There is a 3rd type - lovers of both! Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
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Hey! I resemble that remark. Originally Posted by garybaldy
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I think the body contributes a lot to the tone of an electric archtop guitar and that there can be different sounding L-5 CES guitars with the same pickups. Every piece of wood is different and how an archtop is carved will affect tone, even with built in pickups. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
Will they benefit from a tap tune? (Only if they composed it?) Originally Posted by garybaldy
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I'm not disagreeing that the body size and construction matters, but each of those three guitars has its neck pickup in a different spot relative the scale length, plus the L5 is a different scale length from the 175 and L4. So the comparison doesn't isolate the body from other elements. Plus, we're rarely (if ever) comparing them in properly controlled/blinded ceteris paribus conditions. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
And the reality is that there are recordings where you can't really tell what guitar is being used. Hell, I can listen to recordings of myself where I don't remember which of my guitars I used and be unsure of which one it is, and mine are all really different from each other. Sometimes you can't even tell in a live performance -- e.g., a guy I often hear at jam sessions has a 175 and an L4. If he starts playing and I'm not looking at the bandstand, I can't tell right away what he's playing., and this is a guy I've heard play probably a couple of hundred times.
All that said, my pet theory as to why the body, construction style, and materials matter is that the pickup is attached to the guitar, the guitar vibrates, therefore the pickup vibrates, which affects the pickup's electro-magnetic field and the way it sounds. Different construction types, dimensions, and materials result in guitars with different vibratory/resonant characteristics, and therefore different effects on the sound of the pickup.Last edited by John A.; 01-13-2026 at 02:51 PM.
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The pickup is part of a system. Pickup, wiring, potentiometers, cap, more wiring, input device of amp (active,transformer...) amplifier stages, output drivers and speakers. This doesnt consider that I rarely see someone playing without a pedal board these days. All these things effect the sound of the guitar, Plugged in you can and will change the guitar sound and once again (my apologies to JS) for me J Soloway proves the point on his $300 solid body which sounds better and more acoustic than many plugged in archtops Ive heard. Not to mention most pickups sound different depending on placement, construction, etc. Because of my job I was present at many blind listening tests with major audio system manufacturers, always surprised at the result, its hard to remove your bias even when your aware of it, as soon as you saw the name your perception changes. JBL proved this years ago with controlled studys.
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So how many Archtop guitarists does it take,to change the light bulb? Lol!
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Depends. Is the bulb laminated or carved? Originally Posted by jads57
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Two. One to change the bulb and the other to help him discuss endless details about lightbulb construction and materials. Originally Posted by jads57
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That task is beneath most archtop guitarists. Solid body guitarists, on the other hand, absolutely love doing it. Originally Posted by jads57
Case in point -- This Fender Telecaster Has an LED Light Show Built In
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Guitars are sick.
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Maybe because the the Rock Guitarists pay scale, is so much Higher? Originally Posted by Mick-7
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Don’t forget the lava lamp guitars too.
John 5 shows you his lava lamp guitar and tells you how it was made! #john5 #robzombie #guitarist - YouTube
I saw Rob Zombie when this guy was playing guitar for him (maybe 25 years ago). He also had a plastic guitar filled with fake blood and a strobe light, he put it over his head and the blood poured on him.
That band put on one heck of a show.
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Scale length. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
Imo* tone woods on solid body guitars make almost no difference to the amplified tone. If there is a difference it would be in sustain.
For Archtops, once amplified, the scale length is the only thing that really determines whether or not you can hear a difference.
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