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Post by lavaman on May 10, 2015 13:59:33 GMT
I've just completed the online tests and found them interesting. I got consistent results for the first test. I was surprised that my favourite wood was Walnut. My least favourite was Sapele (I thought it was plywood.) I found the second test (ABX discrimination) much more difficult, getting only half of them correct. I think so much depends on the players technique; for example playing a little nearer the bridge or digging in to the strings does change the tone.
I don't live far from Lancaster so I've volunteered to do the laboratory test. If selected, I'll let you know how I get on.
Iain
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Post by lavaman on May 20, 2015 17:26:36 GMT
Guitar Wood Tests - Lab tests at Lancaster University
Hi
I did the first lab test today and thought I'd let you know how I got on. They have 6 Fylde Falstaff guitars, all identical apart from the woods used for the back and sides. The neck on each guitar felt huge. I like wide vee profile necks like on the Martin Vintage series but these were a full C section and felt a bit like a cricket bat to me. You play each guitar for a couple of minutes whilst blind folded with welding goggles. (could this become a new fetish?) You keep the goggles on while selecting the computer ratings too. The darkened room glows faintly green. I played extracts from three tunes, all in drop D, on all of the guitars to try to compare the differences between them. I'm a finger picker but I took along a plectrum to test with as well. After playing each guitar you are asked to rate them on a computer screen in a similar way to the online tests. You've still got the guitar on your lap when you do the computer rating so if you're not sure you can play a few notes to remind yourself of that quality.
The lab test asks you to rate a few more qualities than on the online test; about 15 or so. I can't remember them all but they include 'warmth', 'richness', 'tone (string) separation', 'balance', 'brightness' , 'sustain', 'projection', 'loudness' etc. I'm not sure if these terms will mean the same thing to different players, but I guess it will even itself out as more and more people do the lab tests. Another quality was 'playability'; which I felt was a bit odd as all the guitars were the same, had the same strings and were setup the same. I guess they meant 'how much do you enjoy playing this guitar'.
You then repeat the process with the guitars given to you in a different order to the first test to judge the consistency of your ratings.
I rated the Walnut and Sapele guitars as the best. This was an interesting result because during the online test I rated the Walnut as best and the Sapele as the worst! What do I know?
After the rating test you can play all of the guitars without the blind fold. Again, I liked the Walnut and Sapele, but I also liked the Mahogany and EI Rosewood. They're all good guitars, but I guess we all have different preferences to the different guitar sounds. A big surprise was that I didn't like the Brazilian Rosewood guitar at all. It seemed a bit lifeless compared to the others.
They recommend that you do just one test per day as your brain gets tired doing the tests. I know mine did, so I'm going back next week to do the ABX tests and will report back then.
Iain
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Post by lavaman on Jun 3, 2015 16:40:32 GMT
I've completed all of the lab tests now so I'd thought I'd let you know what it was like. For the ABX test, I played just 3 guitars. Again in the dark. I played one guitar (guitar A) for up to two minutes, followed by guitar B. I then wore headphones playing pink noise while the researcher checked the tuning of guitars A and B. He then handed me back one of the guitars and I had to say whether it was A or B. The process was repeated 12 times, using the 3 guitars. I found the easiest way to identify the 'sound' of each guitar was to just play three simple shapes on each test - an A7 chord (x07989) followed by another A7 (x05650) followed by a D7 bass run (200212). I also played hammer-ons on the first string and listened to the ring of the other strings. I found it easier to concentrate and to remember the 'sound' if I just played for 30 seconds rather than the full 2 minutes.
The whole ABX test was repeated on another day using the same 3 guitars. I scored 9 out 12 on the second test which I was pretty pleased with. At the end of the test my 3 guitars were revealed to be walnut, sapele, and Brazilian rosewood.
The final test was to repeat the very first test where you had to rate the quality of woods. The only difference was that this time you could see the guitar and were told what the wood was. Not too many surprises here, the maple back guitar was brighter than the others, the East Indian rosewood was warmer and more complex sounding and the mahogany was somewhere in between. The sapele was similar to the mahogany but to my ears a little brittle. The Brazilian rosewood was similar in tone to the EI rosewood but it was duller, quieter and lifeless. My favourite was the walnut. I can't think of any 'mainstream' guitars that use walnut, perhaps they should.
Sam hopes to publish the results of his research towards the end of the year. If you've got the time and live near Lancaster it's worth having a go.
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Post by marcus on Jun 4, 2015 8:05:11 GMT
Hi Iain,
Thanks for taking the time to post your experiences. I did the online test and found it pretty difficult to get any consistent results. I did find, however, that I was able to distinguish between two guitars far better if I only listened to a small excerpt of the recordings. It seems like you had the same experience playing them live. I'd really like to do the live test... it would be interesting to challenge preconceived ideas on tonewoods and tone.
Looking forward to seeing the results.
All the best
Marc
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Post by creamburmese on Jun 4, 2015 12:40:40 GMT
Great review - thanks for posting! BTW - I had a Brook Torridge walnut guitar - does that count as mainstream? I don't have it any longer but personally I seem to be drawn to walnut guitars - currently have a walnut Froggy Bottom, though I don't think I'd class them as mainstream -
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Post by lavaman on Jun 4, 2015 13:04:36 GMT
I had a Brook Torridge walnut guitar - does that count as mainstream? I was tempted by a walnut Brook because they look so nice, but I stuck with my original choice of a cedar and mahogany Clyst. No regrets. Iain
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