Guitar players seem to lust after an old sixties solid electric guitar more than anything. But do they really sound better, sweeter or any of the other superlatives attached to them by collectors and players world wide? One thing is for sure, their sound certainly does change. But whether it's for the better or for the worse seems to be heavily reliant on luck... and not by any calculable reason as my research seems to show.
What I have found by comparing some nineteen fifties and sixties classic guitars with new examples of the same instruments, is that the outcome is truly surprising. I am fortunate enough to own some very old Fender guitars, three of them being collectors dream instruments!
Acoustic Instrument Have a Different Set Of Rules
Let's be clear from the outset. This article applies to solid body electric guitars only. We all know that the sound of acoustic violins and guitars is subjectively said to improve with age. But they behave very differently to solid body electric guitars. It's what the pickups can hear 'electro-mechanically' directly from the strings that's important, not a solid body guitar's acoustic tone!
My Research
After some research, of the trial, error and comparison kind, I have come to the following conclusion:
As the guitar ages, the neck, which is the weakest part of the instrument, suffers progressive wood changes and causes the neck to absorb increasingly more energy from the strings the older it gets. This results in a less bright and dynamic sound output electrically.
Ageing affects guitars differently though. Not all guitars deteriorate by the same amount over time and it appears that the quality of the neck’s wood determines this. But I have to say that it appears far more noticeable with Fender guitars. This is probably down to the simple fact that they are particularly bright twangy guitars and not that they are inferior, so any small change would be more easily noticed.
There is no yardstick by which one can predict the effects of ageing. And, some solid guitars can become pretty unusable eventually, in that they have reduced brightness and dynamism when amplified.
One obvious sign of their ageing, and that their woods are shrinking, is that the fret ends eventually protrude from the side of the neck, so have to be filed down. Also, many guitars show cracking in the lacquer finish, usually nitro-cellulose, on the body. Nitro-cellulose lacquer has a tendency to crack or blister with age anyway, so will not stand up to wood movement too well... ask any old-timer car sprayers! As the wood shrinks, small 'mountains' of cracked lacquer appear, because it has no where else to go, but upwards!
Surprisingly, many vintage guitars become very bright and resonant when played acoustically. This is because, as the neck becomes weaker and absorbs more energy from the strings, this energy is heard as increased acoustic volume from the guitar’s whole structure... particularly from the neck. You can often feel that the neck tends to vibrate more in your hand as you play it.
This is fine for an acoustic instrument, but detrimental for an electric solid body style guitar. This is because the neck is soaking up the string's vibration energy and attenuates (dampens) the higher frequency vibrations more than the lower frequencies. Guitar strings vibrate more easily and for longer, at low frequencies than at high frequencies. The string vibrations slow down much quicker too, so the pickups cannot ‘sense’ such bright dynamic string vibrations, as would be the case from a new guitar.
On the other hand, guitars that have the traditional ‘trapeze’ type of tailpiece, like electric jazz guitars, will exhibit a shorter sustain and a mellower tone. In fact the Fender Jazzmaster has this exact tonality and shorter sustain characteristics. Leo Fender designed it this way because the increased string length after the bridge acts as a fulcrum and allows the strings at this point to swing in the opposite direction to the string on the pickup side of the bridge. Thus, absorbing string energy and slowing down the string vibrations more quickly, mellowing the tone and shortening sustain. So from this, we can deduce that a neck that absorbs energy will have a similar affect on the guitar’s general tone to the Trapeze tailpiece... and often more so, as the instrument reaches very old age.
My Theory Backup
I have three Telecaster type guitars. A 1950s Broadcaster, a 1963 Telecaster and a 2010 Standard Telecaster with which I have experimented by swapping their necks around.
The Broadcaster is very bright acoustically, but dull sounding when plugged into an amp. The 1963 Tele is reasonably bright through an amp and acoustically. But the 2010 Telecaster is very bright when amplified, but quite dark sounding acoustically. So you can see a pattern emerging here.
However, it’s only three instruments, so it will not be viewed as a reliable experiment. Therefore, to help the theory along, I have swapped the necks around to see what affects would take place. Replacing the neck of the 2010 Tele with the neck of the 1963 Tele made a very noticeable difference! The 2010 Tele became darker toned when amplified... as if it were still on the 1963 body and electrics. So, the neck clearly has a major affect on the guitar's sound.
Pedal Steal Guitars - Ultimate Sustain
My theory needs additional support, so here’s another observation that helps to underpin what I'm saying.Pedal steal guitar bodies are constructed from a solid mass of aluminium, which incorporates the neck. They have incredible brightness and sustain thanks to the low energy absorption of the aluminium body. In fact, they are so bright, that the pickups have to be wound with huge amounts of extra wire turns on the pickup coil to bring up the bass output to match that of the treble!
Six String Guitars with Aluminium Necks
Travis Bean guitars from the 1970s had aluminium necks and were incredibly bright too. They were sold as having ultimate sustain! So, there’s another snippet in support.
Gibson Style Guitars
It is also possible to hear these ageing affects in Gibson style guitars too. A friend has a lovely old 1963ish ES125 (a true semi-acoustic) with P90s. The acoustic tone is to die for, but the electric tone is rather ugly (IMHO)... it has a deep throaty bark.
I have a very nice 1964 ES335, which when put up against a newish ES335, also sounds rather dark by comparison. The 1964 has a nice tone, but it’s not the same as a new one. Its acoustic tone is much more dynamic and brighter than a recent ES335, which is in line with my findings with the Telecasters.
Summary
Well, from my point of view, there is little point in taking my experiments any further. From this, I don’t feel the need to put the Broadcaster neck on the 2010 Tele, as I’m pretty certain what the outcome will be.
The guitar neck is the most significant cause of the sound changes.
I have, in some cases, found that even new guitars can sound rather dull through an amp. Jerry Donahue had a new Tele sounding Strat made by Fender, Corona during his Hellecasters days. It was, very surprisingly, not that responsive through an amp, I have to say. I advised him to take it back and have the neck changed. He went through their stock of finished necks and selected one by tapping in the centre of the neck's back... looking for a nice resonant 'cricket bat clonk'. It was then cured once fitted!
My observations are in direct conflict with what many players believe. They tend to apply thinking, which is entirely appropriate for acoustic guitars, to the electric solid body variety. But it does not seem to hold true.
If asked, my advice would be NOT to buy an old electric guitar on the basis that it sounds beautiful acoustically!
Conversely, if you rely on an amp and effects to produce ‘your sound’, then much of these findings will not be applicable to you, as the guitar is being used merely to provide pitch, timing and vibrato information for your amp and effects to respond to.
Old guitars DO often look cool and feel wonderful... but not always the best sounders after all this time if 'your tone' relies on semi-clean tones where the guitar's crisp, dynamic sound is important. To show what I mean, here is a video of Johnny Marr playing Rory Gallagher's iconic Strat. To me, this is a perfect example of a tired Strat showing the signs of old age that sounds flat and 'wiry'. To me Johnny's body language says 'disappointment': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt0XlQ1uMDA
Sadly, some oldies are probably best used as music room decoration for collectors, as their ‘best before’ date has long expired!
Hope you find this interesting.
