Telling one Guitar From Another...

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

I was reading the Scofield interview in this month's GP and I'm kinda puzzled about one question.

 

He is asked whether he uses his AS200 on all the tracks of his latest album and he says that no, he used an ES335 on some tracks, but can't remember which.

 

Now, that left me wondering... he can't remember which guitar he used because he hasn't listened to his own CD for a while or is it because semi acoustics (of a similar construciton level) tend to sound pretty much alike?

 

I'm interested in this because, once it gets past a major guitar sound group, I find it hard to tell one guitar from another.

 

I can tell if a guitar's got humbuckers or single coils and I can tell a strat from a tele and so on, but I'm damned if I can go any deeper into it. Soundwise, I can't tell a firebird from a flying V, for example.

 

It's never really bothered me, because once you start playing around with the mixing desk, you can pretty much get whatever guitar sound you want.

 

But on the internet and in interviews, one is always running across people that say stuff like "well, the only guitar for THAT song was , you can really hear that guitar in the finished song." You even get that on live recordings. I was watching a U2 live DVD the other day, and the Edge uses a different guitar for each song.

 

Some of it is probably the Edge showing off for the guitar geeks, but surely he thought it made a major and important difference to the sound?

 

If people such as the Edge are so picky about which guitar they use for each track, it stands to reason that they can tell one guitar from another in other people's recordings.

 

Does that make sense so far?

 

How good are the rest of you at this sort of blindfold listening tests? And it's no good listening and saying "That's obviously a 1962 whatever"... Have you ever tried to find out how right you were?

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

Originally posted by Vince C.:

...he says that no, he used an ES335 on some tracks, but can't remember which.

 

...it. Soundwise, I can't tell a firebird from a flying V, for example.

 

... I was watching a U2 live DVD the other day, and the Edge uses a different guitar for each song.

Perhaps because he did the recording so long ago that he doesn't remember. He grabbed the one that he felt was right for the track, the one that felt like the right choice on that day. In the ensuing days, weeks, months, since then he just doesn't rememeber.

 

Edge was probabky knocking them out of tune.

 

A lot of the stuff that we obsess about means less in a completed track than we might be willing to admit. But.... if we diddn't, would the completed tracks be as good? If I used a Shure 58 for all vocals instead of the Neumanns, AKGs, Korbys, Coles, RCAs etc that are available, would it make any difference after mixdown? I think that it does.

 

Side by side you can hear the differences. A/Bing at the board, you can hear the differences. But blind listening, then picking the axe by the sound? I question the reliability of any claims like that since there is so much processing between the guitar and your ears. I can make a Tele sound like an LP and vice versa in the studio. Wouldn't fool you side by side, but without a reference, it would.

 

Bill

[Caevan O’Shite]

Often, when you're playing a guitar, you'll notice differences in sound- and feel- that someone standing there listening to you will not notice at all, even if they're also a musician. The perspective is different, as well as the microscopic focus.

 

I used to think I could pull off the "blind listening test" like Bill describes above; used to. I came to know better!

[Dr. Ellwood]

Nope, other than the distinct differences that Vince listed I cannot tell the difference. I sometimes change guitars on stage just because I like the feel of cold strings during a set.