Do Pickups & Tonewoods ACTUALLY Matter? Let's Test This... 

I would like to offer some thoughts based on some of your comments: Thanks for keeping this discussion calm and friendly folks! This is my conclusion on the topic for now: we all get to decide for ourselves to what extent all of this matters. That's the beauty of music! Don't ever let anyone tell you what matters and what doesn't. If it makes you happy or feel good, that's good! Does it really matter what makes that happen as long as you don't harm anyone? To ME pickups and tonewoods absolutely matter, that's my own subjective opinion! Some people are saying: "in a final mix you won't be able to tell the difference" but I would like to offer another perspective: in a full mix, that's when you'll notice whether the tone of an instrument works or not. It will "fall into place" or not. So that's when all the little nuances make or break a tone. I realise this might be subtle for some, and that's totally fine but to give an example: the old stock Burstbucker 61 pickups in my Les Paul would not sound good in a mix in one of my preferred tunings, it would sound super muddy. The drums and bass would completely dominate that sound because of the lack of tightness and mid-range presence. That was just an example of course. Regarding the argument of: "it's better to focus on speakers as those have a much bigger influence on your tone". Well, pickups and speakers are very different things. A speaker affects the overall frequency curve of the tone coming out of the amp. A pickup shapes the tone and response of the guitar right from the source going into the amp. A speaker doesn't really change the distortion character/dynamics. Very different things! You also can't always take an EQ pedal and make one pickup sound like the other, that's just not true. Another thing regarding tonewood: I've played and owned some guitars that had "bad wood". Just dead sounding and not resonant. The strings would not vibrate in a pleasing way and the sustain would die down quicker than on a guitar with good resonance. A guitar with good resonance will be a much more pleasing playing and listening experience. Again, just my personal opinion and you may disagree! These were just some of my additional thoughts on the subject. :)

Though I can hear a difference between pickups when isolated, even in Glenn's video, I think the difference is pretty subtle. I've had non guitarists listen to pickup comparisons and it's rare they've even been able to tell when the change happens. I think the difference gets even more subtle when placed in a mix.

Thanks for the video! Is it possible to get a d.i. tracks? It would be interesting to try it on my equipment)

As Glenn has already pointed out, the differences are in output and clarity. I think this comparison demonstrates that. I hear very little difference in the overall tones but the output and clarity shifts between each guitar.

I feel that this video slightly misrepresents glenn's points. He never said the difference was negligible, he said that the difference was not worth spending the money to buy new pickups. The point of his videos is that there's no point spending hundreds of dollars on new pickups when something as simple as changing the positioning of the mic will drastically change the tone way more than a different pickup ever will.

I also commented a similar thing under Glenn's video: When you are using a significant amount of gain, the quality of the guitar and its characteristics start to fade away. When you are using basically no gain, so say a clean DI signal and would compare that, the differences would be almost undistinguishable as well. In my experience you can hear a Pickup quality and the difference between guitars as well, when using a crunchy mid to high gain rock tone. Let's say ACDC to early Van Halen sort of gain level. It's enough gain to let the harmonics of the guitar/pickup evolve but not too much to clip of the transients and turn the guitars signal into a compressed brick. This is not directly a critique to yours or Glens videos, but a suggestion. I think you were totally right to do a video about this topic as well, and it is well made. The differences are clearer in yours though. So what i would do: I would to basically do the same again but with gain turned back, using maybe a few more other guitars with other construction, other bridges, etc. Great video Jon, I started following your channel when you had barely 2k subs, and it's great that you keep doing these sort of videos for us. Comparisons are always very welcome, for me anyways. Cheers

I could definitely hear the difference and identify the pick ups. My favorite guitar is loaded with a JB, I own several with EMG's, and I hate Fluence so that only left the Bareknuckle that I wasn't familiar with. I could absolutely hear the sound that I associate with those pick ups and why I own or do not own them in the case of the Fishman. I've never understood this debate as I've swapped pick ups in the same guitars and have heard dramatic differences. In fact when I swap a pick up it's because I think it will pair well with that particular guitars' strengths... Which is what I think everybody does... Tone wood I don't think makes as much of a difference with an active loaded guitar, but it definitely makes a difference in general. Everything about a guitar down to the the neck shape IMO really effects the way it plays and sounds. The BC Rich Warlock I bought in high school for instance is a dense, glue filled brick of a guitar as it's the cheapest and easily worst constructed guitar I own and audibly so. But it is very harmonic and has my favorite overall natural tone for 16th note triplets, probably because of how dense it is. So I paired it with a Seymour Duncan Invader, similar but hotter than a JB, where it went from collecting dust to being used pretty regularly. I don't know where the debate is there. That's both the wood, and the pick up that makes the sound of the guitar and the combination of the two that took it from being a relic of an ill spent check to a relevant guitar in regular use out of the dozen or so that I own. Loved the sound of those Bareknuckles, BTW.

A is the JB, B the EMGs, C aftermath, D the fishman fluence modern. You can't tell the difference when you're chugging, but full chords and single notes, the difference is there. It seems to be more of a difference between the pickups rather than the body wood being used. Also all the guitars have a tuneomatic style setup which might be making them sound similar as well. My favorite is the SC-200 with the JB. Great video!

Well, once again like Glenn said, not a significant difference for the most part, I really loved the clarity of the LTD NW44 though.

I think your pickup comparison video you did last year was quite a definitive video. Yes, some comparisons like the ones on the Seymour Duncan channel seem to over-exaggerate the differences, but your video seemed to be quite in line with a few other good comparisons that I've watched. Of course, things like changing a speaker or mic will have a much bigger difference, but like you said, it's upto the individual whether the differences are "negligible" to them or not. I see it like this: if you're unhappy with your tone in general, maybe changing out other stuff first before pickups makes sense, like the speakers in your tone. But if you like your tone and have it dialled in, and maybe want to experiment with something different, trying a different set of pickups might be worthwhile.

I could hear very subtle differences. If it was in a mix I don't think I could tell any difference. For me the appearance appeal and feel of the guitar are huge and how it inspires me. So I think Glen was mostly correct and I have spent a lot of money on pickups tone chasing.

Glenn was just click fishing...pickups do matter. His claim is a bit ridiculous

I bet that the NW 44 sounds like you describe it because of the lack of tone controls. Less tone = More tone😉 Love it!

Nice video my friend! Personally as an amateur heavy and rock song writer, different pickups and different guitars inspire my to write completely different riffs and styles of songs. Even though I use high gain I do not use the same amount of gain every time and different pickups translate different the whole experience for me. The attack, the dynamics etc have a significant role to all this. For an example the fact that some guitar players cannot relate with active pickups proves in a way that pickups matter quit a bit. I have a guitar with 81-85 and I struggle to connect with ... Even though I own it few years now and the tone is good, for me is not an inspiring guitar and I have it for very limited and specific tasks...

Whoah, my gut and ears were correct on this one! Your descriptions were spot on, pretty much identical to what I would have spontaneously said! At first I thought A and B were the other way around, but in the palm mutes it became clear that the JB was more boomy and the 57 was as you said more “compact”. Here’s one thing I often think about: most people who play guitar aren’t audio engineers and do not hear the miced cab through studio monitors… So in a studio world obviously you get more drastic results quicker by switching speakers or microphones, but people who play at home with their practice amp or at full blast in a band rehearsal won’t experience this, so you try to manipulate the sound as much as you can BEFORE it comes out of the speakers! And often because the sound between speakers vary so much guitarists might get used to one favorite cab, and changing that might be “too much” both sonically and obviously in size as well (few people are lucky enough to have space for a room full of cabs)! I know software is an option but a lot of people just want to plug in and play without firing up a computer 🤷🏼‍♂️ When you have a solid reference point, like a favorite speaker, your ear becomes trained to hear the subtle differences the more you experiment with different variables and you get to choose what matters to you and what doesn’t. Just think of when you were a beginner and barely could hear a difference between a crunch tone and a lead tone, both sounded distorted! Case in point: Eddie Van Halen (who’s ears were said to be legendary at some point) changed his tone and gear DRASTICALLY through the years but the one thing that was pretty much always consistent was his Greenbacks (including his Celestion signatures that were modeled after them)… And obviously there’s the feel thing as well, even though sometimes the difference might not be that audible to the listener, the feel of the response might affect the way you approach playing! Anyway, sorry for the long response, great video as always!

plz test 1 pickup in different guitars....

Those EMG 57s are SO underrated...

Listened through flat-ish response headphones while scrolling on my phone ( not giving full attention). Couldn't tell much of a difference, if any.. Nothing post processing wouldn't over shine. Now when crafting a song over the full length of the song those seemingly microscopic difference might become more apparent... but as far as this test goes, you could tell me you were playing the same guitar the whole time and I would believe you.. sorry.

The follow up of Glenn is Online. My Guesses where all wrong and i have or had all these Pickups in my Guitars... The question is... could you do something with one Pickup you cant do with the other? Maybe with a little touch on the Amp Settings... I'm honestly not sure about that.. when i switch between my Nazgul Equipped Jackson to my Fishman equipped Harley Benton i usually just turn the tone knob on my overdrive a bit. I never think "Oh this just don't work"... but if it feels good at the Moment, it usually is... And i'm also a tone snob myself...

Before I watch the rest of the video, I have to say. He later made another video with a bunch of different pickups. Both active and passive. And they made almost no difference in tone, with the exception of the Fishman fluence moderns. But only when you add gain or distortion, when comparing humbuckers. Single coils did sound very different. The difference between pickups actually becomes noticeable for clean tones. So basically as long as you have humbuckers, your gain and distortion tones will not be impacted. And all this only applies for studio recordings. In a live setting it's much easier to hear the difference in tone woods, but not pickups. Because in the studio you cut out alot of frequencies and allow certain ones through for the best sound in a studio mix. Okay... now I can watch the video. 😅

Pickups and pickup position matter, wood doesn't. Les Pauls and SGs sound different even with the same pickup because of the positioning of the pickup relative to the scale length. Unless you're sticking a mic on your electric guitar, you'll only hear the magnets in the pickups responding to the strings, not the wood. But check out some of Jim Lil's excellent guitar tone mythbusting videos if you don't wanna just take some random internet guy's word for it.

I think that clarity can be a misleading word. Maybe it’s better to think of clarity as audible frequency separation. Also the sum of all parts do make a difference, be it slight or drastic considering that on a molecular level, changing a material changes the structure, density, all that. Also the way a material is treated, manufactured, etc. factor in to the overall change. Basically, certain materials dampen certain frequencies more than others. Materials are not perfectly homogenous, each contribution plays a role in the end. It’s also true that people hear “differently” meaning not everybody can hear the same high frequencies as the next person. We all suffer from some degree of hearing loss of higher frequencies until the day we subside. This is true for both the pickups and the guitar. I’m not familiar with their manufacturing processes, but unless they are comparing each pickup to a target frequency analysis and tweaking it until it’s almost exact, even changing a jb pickup to a new jb pickup will make a difference. I am not saying that you or I would notice it as we don’t have perfect hearing.

Haha Glenn uploaded another video about pickups only an hour ago. Haven't watched it yet. I think there is certainly a case to be made that a lot of it really is just marketing talk. But I also wasn't too convinced by his video with that pickup switching guitar. Still undecided at this point. Curious to see (or hopefully hear!) what you're presenting in this video! However, the tonewood thing has pretty much been proved false. The tiny amount that it may influence the tone is completely masked by other things. In my experience (only anecdotal, and I'd like to see somebody conduct good experiments about it!) the bridge design has a way bigger influence on the way the string vibrates and, thus, what is being passed on to the pickup.

I didn't hear anything between these guitars that I couldn't ballpark with EQ adjustments.

Oh yeah theres a difference in each guitar and pickups. That other dude is only fooling himself John. Lol

How much wood would a woodchuck wood.Doesnt matter.😢

I believe a hotter pick will not change the tone that much ( especially when in a mix) however they make it easier to get pinch/natural harmonics and they let the note ring with sustain just a little longer, and this is what happened when I replaced my Pegasus with an Invader. When playing live/recording this helps confidence , which might be the most important . After of course practice practice practice

Small differences but mostly the same. Great vid!

no never did its just magnetic field

I was in doubt between A and B but the difference is clear on all pickups. Now I think that Glenn shows that you can achieve a good production with low budget but you don't want to change EQ too much to get the same results and also it doesn't mean that all pickups sound the same. I'm with you the tone, feeling and looks are very important.

The tonewood myth has already been debunked by Jim Lill. Pickups is more debatable but I think you can make any 2 pickups sound 99% the same with proper EQing. At least passives vs passives or actives vs actives.

B and D are so completely different from A and C. The pick attacks and the low end was tighter. A and C had some chubbiness to it. The tone lies in your hands more than anything but theres no arguing that woods and pickups change your sound.

A sounds passive to me. The individual notes on chords are really noticeable B sounds kinda middle of the road of these pickups - a little thick - I like it but dont love it C sounds like it was made by Mike Fortin D has super aggressive attack/mids. Probably active

Yes all guitar signalchains are a mix of gain staging and EQ, but small sound differences can translate into big differences in feel. Glen has become a clickbait clown, I actually think pickups more than any other feature of a guitar have a big difference on sound and especially feel. Ironically Glen always has terrible tones in his videos too which makes it harder to take his opinions on it even when hes not wrong, he could take a few notes from this channel.

Fishmans has got to be the snake oil of all snake oils in pickups, they're really not that special, you can tweak an EMG for the same tonal character at just a twist of a knob

There area some differences but in a mix I don’t think they will be noticable,not to mention that casual listeners won’t even tell the difference on just the guitar tracks

Next to no difference in tone change with gain and distortion. Would work fine in a mix like Glenn said. Unless your playing clean I see no need to change pickups.

This is my honest opinion, but I do think that there is potentially something going on with Glen's tests. Maybe some funny compression or something in the way the tone is processed? I'm not sure. I think pickups make a large difference. I've heard many tests online, including yours, and not only are the sounds different between each other, but I feel they're fairly consistent, especially comparing a JB to much more modern PUs for example. While I'm not too convinced that the woods used will affect the tone to a large degree, I do agree that it's very important as it alters my impression of the guitar e.g., if it (vibrations and acoustic sound) feels tight, resonant etc..., especially not plugged in, and I'm sure that this will affect my view on the tone even when pugged in. To me, my woods matter, but I can understand that from maybe a productivity standpoint, or for something to act more as a tool than a beloved instrument, that it may not matter as much. I want to know that my guitar signal is to my tastes before the amp, not just the final product.

They do all sound shit when I play them, so... that might be a 'me' problem.

To me, the biggest difference in the sound is in output. Yes, there are some EQ differences for sure but output was the most noticeable, which will definitely affect feel in my experience. I guess the question isn’t really are there differences, it’s are the differences enough to justify at least a $200 investment to swap out? That’s where I’m probably somewhere in the middle between your opinion and Glen’s. As usual, thanks for the great video!

My view is that all the components of a signal chain matter. It might be a tiny change on its own, but a different set of pups, new strings, longer scale length etc will sound different than whatever those initial variables were. It all adds up at some point. Great video!

I have answered this question myself already, before even watching the video. For electric guitars tonewood IS A MYTH and does absolutely NOT matter for the tone. Pickups on the other hand do all of the work.

To me in your and Glenn's comparisons the differences were that small, that I have the feeling an EQ and/or IR or slight reverb or compressor would easily make up for any flaws or needs. As you mentioned, feel and looks bake the cake for me. Thx!

humiliated 🤜🤛

Glenn's next video: "Guitars are a SCAM, play KEYBOARDS instead!!" 😉

The difference are there but so subtle and nothing that cant be changed through EQ at the end of the day. And it’s really a moot point when every modern guitarist wants the same exact tone anyway. Everyone sounds the same and every guitarist definitely isn’t using the same pickups. If anything you can really only tell when playing clean. Like yeah, as a bassist there are definitely muddier and clearer sounding pickups, but what makes the biggest difference is new or old strings. But once you’re using IR’s and plug-in’s you can make any tone and sound you want. So yeah, why spend the extra money?

Over my 40+ years playing musical instruments ,One thing I find never mentioned, and something I still see all the time, is just how differently people hear music and sound. That explains why we have "ear" players, Relative pitch, and perfect pitch. Therefore I suspect a lot of people just can't hear the differences so they think they don't exist. Rabea Massadd has a video with Nolly and the guy from Bare knuckle pickups, they go through a bunch of pickups looking for one to be Rabea's sig pickup, there are obvious differences in each pickup....

I made a video about Glen Fricker's video as well a while back because... well that guy just talks shit! If he was a bodybuilder he would be the "Kalimuscle" of the music community with his bro science! That guy just wants views regardless of whom that might affect! Anyway... Paul Reed Smith said it best when he described the pickup as a microphone for the guitar and he used maths to demonstrate exactly what he was saying. So using that analogy, it's the same as saying an SM57 and SM58 sound the same... Gosh, the difference between EMGs and passive is so massive...

I know Glenn is a big fan of saying "show me the evidence" well here it is. This is a pretty substantial difference when you allow the sound of the guitar to ring through. It's worth mentioning you dialed in a much more modern guitar tone here than Glenn's examples and I think this is key to being able to head the differences. I wouldn't be a fan of the tone Glenn dialed in, it was so saturated to the point where I could have strung up my household broom and it probably would have sounded the same through Glenn's signal path. Just to play devils advocate, I think with certain guitar tones there are cases where pickups make little difference, but not all of us use those type of guitar tones. This video is perfect evidence of that. Great job Jon!!

Tbh i'm not taking Glenn too serious but he was talking about the Jim Lill videos, Jim Lill basically took his strat, tried it without the guitar body and it still sounded "the same", really worth watching tho i'm always taking things i see/hear on the internet always with a grain of salt. What i take away from these videos is that tonewood and pickups don't matter as much as some other people say, but in my experience the pickups do matter while the tonewood just makes minor difference. You are totally right in one point, the guitar has to inspire and style is quite important because it makes me pick up the guitar and play more often. But in the end i'm just some guy playing metal on a stock Duesenberg Caribou and i could be wrong in many points.

I hate to admit it but Glenn is right. While I can hear subtle differences, it is negligible. There is even less difference between all those guitars than if you just moved the mic an inch.

The thing about descriptions is that they can affect a person's perception, especially when you are comparing more subtle differences. It's been proven, for example, that telling a person what a wine is going to taste like will affect their response when drinking it. That being said, there are differences between each of the pickups, but I think they are more important for advanced players than casual or novice players. Also, for a fair comparison on tonewoods you would need to compare four guitars with the same shape and pickups. Honestly, I think we can be swayed by expectations more than you think. What I want to see is for someone to sit down and record different pickups, and look at the different frequencies to see if there really is much of a difference.

The biggest difference was when I switched from single coil to humbucker. Everything else is really subtle and I've focused too much on this like most guitar players. The Bare Knuckle seemed to lack a bit of low end or clarity, not sure. Again, they are so similar.

One aspect that everyone in pickup comparison is forgetting, is the feel when you play, some play easier some not. There’s the difference. Not that much in tone.

I guessed C correctly, just relying on your description in the beginning. Definitely could not miss the characteristics of the active pickups. A and B were too close to call.

C is clearly brighter. But the rest are interchangeable for me. I can get that tone shift with an eq pedal, so I’m not sold

I have 7 different guitars at home and all of these sound different. A guitar is a construction out of different parts, out of different materials and all parts of a guitar have an impact in the behavior of the impulse energy and the resonance and refection. It's a complex interaction of simple physics. Specific properties of the material are used for different purposes. That means that similar constructions have similar properties. This means for example, that the more different the pickup is built, the more different the sound we perceive, which must be understood as the overall result of all parts of the guitar. The influence of the single parts are different. The fact that there are many similar-sounding guitars is also due to the fact, that a certain sound is preferred. If you specifically look for guitars for different music genres, you will notice that the designs differ significantly because the sound goal is very different. In addition to these technical aspects, the feel and the interaction between the musician and instrument play a crucial role. There are scientific studies on these topics, but they are generally only read by "instrument manufacturers". A quick tip: just buy the guitar or accessories that makes you happy. Ultimately, it's always about your feelings. And everything that let you feel great, will let you make better music.

He did shootout all pickups. Emg, fishman, duncans, etc. 10 different guitars. Same strings and tuning. Different pickups. Very very minimal difference.

ESP LTD Phoenix Black Metal - My choice :D

Glen just overblows things for money. Makes sense. He throws a half second asterisk in by saying “for modern high gain metal” as if that’s the genre that people who care about tonewood play 😂 Cuz yeah, people who are trying to decide whether they want an alder or basswood strat aren’t playing “modern high gain metal”

I could hear difference, I don't think it's just clarity and output either. If you want something that sounds super different try an EMG 85 in the bridge, it has an insane amount of bass. Sure the speaker matters more, and the notes you play obviously. But the whole point of sound engineering is to get all those subtle nuances that most listeners don't consciously notice just right.

I believe that if there's something in a guitar that affects its tone, that's the pickups, and I don't think it's like 100% different from one the other. I agree with Glenn that speakers and cab size make the biggest difference, however, I also agree that the actual amp (pre-amp?) And the pickups are part of the end result.

I think all Fricker does is turn everything into a pissing contest, he's slowly devolving into a meme.... I'm subbed to around 60 channels, his is the only one I've ever unsubbed from.... Thank you for your balanced approach....

My Guesses: A - ESP LTD SC-20 B - ESP LTD Phoenix Black Metal C - ESP LTD NW44 D - ESP LTD EC1000T I was pretty confident on A/C based on your description. The other two I felt B felt more like it had a booster pedal, how you described the Fishman, and went with that. There is definitely a difference. I should have listened closer to the low end and I probably would have gotten them 100% right. JB stood out as the passive pickup to me and I can definitely hear what you're saying about the single coil type sound with the Bareknuckle Aftermath. I haven't messed around with pickups in a long time, 15 years or so, but I always felt there was a difference. In relation to other things, it is small, but it is there. Funny things can happen though. Years ago I took my least favorite pickups and threw them in my least favorite guitar, planning to sell it, and then I ended up liking the way they sounded in that guitar. So I never did sell it. lol

Long as the m********* stays TUNED,which apparently is asking a lot because most guitar companies still can’t seem to make one that’ll stay tuned,but I realize there’s a lot to it.tuning and stability is everything in a guitar TO ME.Amps are way more important,AGAIN,TO ME.Good video though bud.you come off cool and not like some RU-vid or GC snob.

Pickup placement and height matter. AFAIK nobody questions that. Pickup PLACEMENT clearly matters because it imposes a comb filter on the signal which is more drastic than, say, differences between neck and body woods' resonances. It's pretty much the opposite of natural harmonics... if you touch a string at the 12th fret it kills the fundamental and all the even harmonics, which need to be going up and down there. It doesn't kill the even harmonics, which go up and down to one side of that point and down and up to the other side. If you put the pickup under the 12th fret, it's just the opposte: you WILL pick up the fundamental and all the even harmonics, because they make the string go up and down there. You won't pick up the odd harmonics because they DON'T make the string go up and down over the pickup. A Les Paul and and an SG always sound a bit different because both pickups are in different places relative to the bridge. Comparing the sounds of different pickups without holding the pickup placement constant is meaningless. Different pickups differ primarily in the volume and the frequency response curve of their output. Speakers vary like that, too, shaping the overall frequency response curve. And we usually play through signal chains with EQ effects in between, and recorded guitars usually get their EQ modified in the final mix. You can usually make one pickup sound much more like another if you understand their frequency response curves and use an equalizer to match them. Pickups don't have a characteristic sound independent of their EQ effects. Some pickups may be easier to EQ the way you like than others, but unless you've put real effort into EQing them, you don't know what the "real" sound of the pickup is. People with trained ears can usually tell the difference between a humbucker and a single-coil mainly because of their different frequency response curves. Different single-coils and different humbuckers also have different frequency response curves before you EQ them. Yes, different guitars often sound different, and often that's because the guitarist doesn't know how to use EQ to get the sound they want. Often it will be modified by the mixing engineer to get the sound THEY want, using EQ, rolling off the bass to make room for the bass instrument and bass drum, or scooping the mids or rolling off the treble to make room for vocals in a particular range, or whatever. After the mixing engineer gets ahold of your signal, the distinctive things you like about it playing solo will likely mostly go away. EQ going into gain stages will affect how those gain stages distort. EQ after the gain stage will affect the overall sound, too. It doesn't prove anything to play a bunch of guitars made of different woods with different pickups in different places, and point out that they sound different. What we need is a tone-matching challenge, to see if people can EQ signals from the same guitar with different pickups to sound nearly identical, and likewise guitars with different body woods but the very same neck, pickups, and electronics. As far as wood goes, the wood of the body matters little, and more for its sheer THICKNESS and MASS than any special resonance characteristics of the wood. For the purposes of most resonances of the whole (neck-plus-body) guitar, the body mainly acts as a big rigid weight clamped to the end of the much more flexible neck. All that matters about the body is its rigidity and mass, not the particular wood it's made of. A more flexible wood can be equally rigid if it's just a little thicker, because the rigidity depends on the CUBE of the thickness. A Les Paul body is very rigid, not mainlyh because it's made of expensive wood, but because it's very thick. A body that's over 2 1/4" thick where it matters is going to be more than twice as rigid as a Strat body 1 3/4" thick, just because of the THICKNESS of the wood. You can also give the thicker, lighter body equivalent mass by adding a few weights along its length. Then it will sound just like a Les Paul body, because Glenn Fricker is right that the body's function is mainly as BALLAST. Sure, different guitars sound different, but if you don't understand the engineering principles and are not controlling the variables, you have no idea why. Somebody once said that 90 percent of guitar equipment sales are because guitarists don't understand EQ, and I suspect that's about right. They especially don't understand how adding cheap weights to their cheap guitar body can make it sound more like one made of expensive wood, because that too affects EQ by reducing resonances and shifting resonant frequencies upward, like a Les Paul's.

Fair is fair. Here are my guesses as of the 8 minutes and 40 seconds mark. A: BK B: 57 C: Fish D: JB Update: I only got one correct. I was definitely hearing the shorter scale, all mahogany magic with the 57, but I was all over the map with the other three. My only defense is that I used to own an LTD 1000 series with a 57/66 set so that one isn't a pain to pick out. I've never played any of the other pickups.

All I can say is there are crazy big differences between my guitars. You compared all LTD guitars but when you go from a Les Paul to a PRS CU24, to a PRS Santana, to a tele (humbucker bridge) to a strat (humbucker bridge) to PRS single cut, to a SG, ect. ect. they are all VERY different. If you decide to use a crappy studio modeler or amp...then you can strip away some of that..but not totally. Glenn is a producer and not a guitar player. I remember when I was barely playing guitar and I could lay a few chops down my opinions on guitar tone were very green. Also like you mention....the way i play differs on each guitar. I react differently, play solos in different flavors...even in the same genre. Of course all subjective things..but its true! I LOVE this channel...just straight up facts from someone who is a true expert.

i 100% agree. I think your tone is a little less distorted/clearer sounding than glens. Therefore im hearing the differences a little better. I still think there is no wrong view. Everything is subjective. I also love the fact that this conversation is being had cuz im learning alot of things that are giving me ideas on how to find another tone i like. Thanks. Your videos and riffs are great!

lol Glenn really rocked the boat

The only one that clearly stands out is that single pickup ESP, the rest are similar enough that it doesn't matter. But really, is that worth the cost of swapping pickups? Could you get a similar result simply by adjusting the EQ? That's the point, I believe. Should you spend $200 on new pickups, should you just boost a certain frequency on an EQ? I ould have saved a bunch of money by not getting the Tosin Abasi signature DiMarzio pickups. I don't think the minor changes are enough to justify the cost.

Differences in EQ and level/gain. But barely. Words like "warm", "gritty", "clear", "tight", "guttural" don't mean anything. These differences aren't worth spending hundreds of dollars on new pickups or maybe even thousands on a new guitar to put them in. Like Glenn said: mics, mic positions, and speakers are where you're going to get the biggest change in tone.

They all sounded different to me. I have two Les Pauls one with EMG 81/85 set the other the 57/66 set. I have an SG with Gibson passives. With my Mesa Mark V I can’t make one sound like the other. The passives are really punchy and the EMGs no matter how I set my amp can't do that punch.

I could hear the differences. For some reason C and D were the most for me. A few spots, I noticed B sounded slightly different than A. I feel that tone is the sum of the whole. Details can be altered so many ways down the line. I also, feel some things are very over hyped and marketed. My least expensive guitar, I upgraded the bridge (Wilkinson) from the original. Put Sperzel locking tuners, put in older pickups from a Charvel. Put a Lil' Screaming Demon in the bridge. Huge difference. It is parts Strat, not even a real Fender. It is a great guitar now. I think those Zexcoil pickups are worth upgrading Strats and Teles.

I really wanted to hear a huge difference… but I did not. My brain would play a trick on me, it wasn’t until I could SEE the guitar, that the tonal difference was noticeable. In a mix or a live situation, I don’t think the differences stand out. Feel is a HUGE factor. I have two Les Paul, Slash and Aldrich pickups. Most listeners couldn’t tell a difference, but I prefer the Slash pickups?! I can hear a subtle difference, but there’s an almost indescribable thing it does… it feels different??

At least one of them has to matter. The sound has to come from something . I have heard that wood doesnt matter pickups dont matter tubes dont matter cabs dont matter speakers dont matter. I guess its magic or elves make the sound .. it all matters to varying degrees its all part of the final sound . Each peice of the puzzle contributes .some pieces more than others ..its a sum total of all parts of your rig . Some will overstate the importance of certain pieces of the chain while others will say they are less important than they really are .. Every body has different ears as well .some will hear abig difference while others will hear hardly any or none at all

Pickups do make a difference? Yes. Is it important? From a production point of view, not that much. In the amp there are these things called "knobs" which will compensate those differences, only if, you know... use them! Of course there's a difference from one pickup type to another, humbuckers sound like humbuckers, actives sound like actives, p90s sound like p90s and single coils sound like single coils, but differences between pickups from the same type will only be related to output (which you compensate with the gain knob in the amp), if they are built with same magnet and materials. The differences you hear in these kind of comparisons could be explained just because of pickup height, output, scale length or the way the guitar you are holding makes you play. Also, bad potentiometers or condensers can make a good pickup sound bad... People should just stop making excuses and go make real music. For that matter you just need an instrument that inspires.

C-seymour duncan A- Fishman B- Bareknucle D- EMG 😅

I'm a bit confused that you only used pickups that are commonly used in metal. I'd say a stock Les Paul or PRS pickup would've yielded a bigger difference. Also, they're all petty high end pickups, so I'd expect them to all sound more transparent and balanced than cheap ones. But that being said, I definitely heard a difference between each pickup, in the dynamics and the frequency response. Will 99% of listeners not notice in a full mix? Maybe, but it will make me happier when I play and that's enough for me :)

Not enough to worry about if you're on a budget Changing IRs will give more tonal change anyway, and it can be free.... Which is Glenns point. Before buying pickups = try new IRs instead, his own latest set of IRs sounds fantastic

I watched Glen's vid and now this one. I still think it's very subtle. I will say that C was the easiest to tell that it was different, the eclipse with the aftermath pickup. So I do think that it's very subtle differences still. But, with that said, ya know if me or someone wants to buy a different pickup, then I'd say go ahead at it, cause for some people and me included, it's a whole different thing when your in the room with the guitar vs listening to it through a video. Not to say that these videos are bad for hearing a huge difference in tone, because I think we all can say audio + visual technology has advanced A LOT since gear demos were first put up on RU-vid YEARS AGO! So, I mean that's why people usually say that if you can, you should try out a piece of gear in person, because feel and looks can also dictate a sound and how we feel about it. One last thing tho too here that I was thinking of besides changing electronics and/or speakers or whatever it may be....With the changes in tone being so subtle (In my opinion) would it be possible to get the same tones (or very close to) with a Graphic EQ pedal in the front of the amp or in the FX Loop of the amp? I think that would be a cool video/experiment to try (For example, taking the double pickup eclipse guitar and putting it through the same amp with a EQ pedal in the mix to try and get it to sound like the bareknuckle aftermath pickup guitar). Anyway, those were just some of my thoughts. Keep doing what ya do!

I like Glenn and have watched most of what he's put out, but he's just wrong on these recent videos about guitar tone. Comparing cheap guitars with cheap pickups through an amp sim just doesn't compare to great guitars with name brand pickups going through tube heads. I spent a few months last year getting the right tone for 2 guitar players and it came down to the pickups. Most notably was replacing a JB with a BN HolyDiver. Their record will be released May 2023 on Frontier. Thanks for making this video for Glenn (and for all the other videos that got me to a great guitar tone)!

A,B,D sounded very similar. C had more treble. The point of Glen's video was to say the differences are not worth the hundreds you'll spend on new pickups and install. The more noticeable difference will come with the speaker/IR. So he's just trying to save people money, especially when it comes to mixing music for the best sound. Tone is personal and should be inspiring. Sometimes a subtle difference can matter. However, more importantly is a guitar that feels comfortable and is well made with quality components and stays in tune. As a guitarist, we can obsess over gear and get drawn into a rabbit hole that never ends. In the end...the listener won't know the difference; they care more about the quality of a song. So spend more time practicing and writing music and jamming with friends...and less time obsessing over minute details. I think Tom Morello would approve this message :)

Who cares! All of those guitars are hot as f... and looks are really what really matters here! Jokes aside, there are slight differences, and those might impact the player (feel, isolated recording, etc...), but I don't think those differences would significantly affect the listeners in a full album mix.

Very minimal differences. I could hear a very slight difference from guitar to guitar but definitely not enough to where I'm going to run out and spend 200 plus dollars for a new pair of pickups. I'll stick to my present plan which is to replace 2 of the vintage 30s in my mesa cab with 2 ,75 watt creambacks in a X pattern.

one thing I would like to see more of is a comparison between no name cheap pickups and name brand expensive pickups..And its important to point out that these comparisons apply to high gain distorted tones..not clean tones..I cant really hear a big difference between brands and wood types when the distortion is cranked up..great video sir

In my opinion, the difference is subtle and negligible. Especially, starting from the second sample with palm muting. I do hear the difference but if we imagine it on a record in full mix with all that post-processing on top, nah, it isn't worth investing in another guitar just for that. Personally, I've been playing the guitars for about 25 years and bought only three guitars: one 7-string Ibanez, one acoustic Yamaha and one bass. Personally, I never could understand that obsession with buying and changing the guitars all the time that some of my friends had. Thanks for performing the test though. That's so cool that nowadays we've got such efficient means for sharing the experience. Before that, it was mainly all about blind trials and errors. And they were quite costly sometimes.

To me they all sound pretty much the same save for one of them seeming slightly louder in output on the first riff playback. Everyone hung up on tones/tonewoods etc are swearing there's a huge difference but there really isn't a very significant difference at all objectively. It's the audible equivalent of 4 shades of the same color. Hardly noticeable when you're listening for it, and completely irrelevant when you're not listening for it. I definitely agree that a guitar has to feel right, that's really the most important factor as far as I'm concerned. I did my own comparison between some of my guitars with the same signal chain and volume, and there was no major audible change in the tone on a recording for me either. When you're in the room one of em seems slightly more treble-ey but it didn't translate in my playback. I think Glenn's point wasn't that "it doesn't matter" but rather "it's not the big deal its made out to be". But guitarists like buying guitar shit, and they like to hear themselves talk about it. That's ok, but I have to admit it's funny hearing people invent new terms for sound that aren't scientifically definable. "This one has a mean growl, and THIS one is really soft and glossy, THIS one sounds wet! And THIS one is real gravelly!, oh, THAT one has a real slippery velvet-like sound!". If only that kind of creativity went into the music people write these days

Only the pickups matter. There is another RU-vid channel who has done the experimentation by systematically removing all the elements of the guitar down to just strings and pickup and found the sound remained the same.

In a mix, I doubt we could tell the difference. The mix engineer might however. On a kidding note, if you aren't happy with any of these, I accept donations. Having these on hand for recording wouldn't be a bad thing, option paralysis is though.

Regarding "tone wood" Mick Mars said in an interview that he took a bunch of paint of one of his main strats because he said it was "choking" his tone. In a rig run down with Slash his guitar tech said about his original les paul copy that it just has this mid range thing that none of the other guitars have and at that time he didn't have signature pickups, he primarily uses alnico II pros before then in most of his guitars. So if paint or wood do not affect tone why would Slash's personal guitar tech State that his number one has a specific sound to it that none of his other whatever 50 les Paul's on tour do not have the same distinct character, and how would Mick other wise know that his guitar sound changed after gouging some paint off it if in fact it absolutely had not... Mick is not justifying any expensive purchases by scraping his paint off for a better "tone" Techs and professional musicians claim these things matter bedroom home and garage studio wannabe enthusiasts claim they don't. Also Mick Mars has custom hand wired pickups for hotter output made by hand by an Australian company.... why would he do that and pay a premium... if he could have put any pick up in there to have the sound he specifically wants... Hmmmmmm!!!!!! Double hmmmmmm!!!!!

All you have to do is change the pickups on a guitar one time and you'll know pickups make a difference. If you then cover the nuance with 100 pounds of sludge, the difference will be nearly impossible to discern. If all you care about is the nastiest metal sound possible, find a guitar you like with hot pickups and enjoy the singular experience. The same is true with speakers. Plug an amp into an extension cabinet with a different speaker and you'll get a different sound. Of course, amps, speakers & cabinets make an obvious difference. That's why we all have our own amp preferences. Tone wood doesn't really matter to me - probably because every good guitar I've owned used a good tone wood. That said, how a neck feels and how a guitar sounds unplugged are critical to me. The tone wood likely plays a part in that initial impression.

Hi Jon, I think you should have included a cheap guitar and run a complete blind test without setting bias before the test. The question is "do you really need to get expensive pickups or pickup change for high gain guitar sound, is it really worth the effort and money?". For me the answer is a big "no". I think most of you guys didn't quite get what Glenn was aiming. He always emphasizes that you can produce a nice high gain guitar tone without throwing loads of money on equipment for the sake of chasing "the tone" especially if you are musician on budget. Changing pickups won't get you there like a magic. That is the whole idea in most of his videos.

Are there differences - yes. To me, are they huge - no - but I'm old and a bit of a novice I think this is much like tasting wine. At the start, many taste similar but you notice some differences. If someone shows you what to look for you can start to discern different flavours that are signatures for different grapes and start to understand the mouthfeel and the effect of tannins. Then you get to those at the top that can tell you that this bottle was from grapes picked on the south side of the vineyard, on a rainy day, lunchtime instead of early morning.🤣 For some people/metal noobs, especially in a full mix, they would hear no difference at all. I can hear some differences but cant really articulate what it is as I'm not familiar enough with each type of pickup. For others - clear as day. But - could some of this get dialled out or evened out with pedals settings/amp settings/ EQ/ noise gates/ speakers in the cabinet or IR that you use? Effectively making each one sound identical? And if so - does it change your thoughts on if pickups (or tone woods) matter if you could (relatively easily) erase any differences?

Your video is way better. For one, Glen used an insane amount of gain. Way too much even for death metal. For two, Glen was down picking power chords very sloppily, you're playing a bit wider range of notes here. For me pickups mainly vary by well they articulate my large chords when distorted. Some do not give you the detail in your higher strings when you need them to. If your going to compare pickups you need to pick the riff wisely. Glen played two strings in his entire video and he clearly hasn't tried to record a full album with variations of style. Sure, any guitar will do if you're down picking power chords on your E and A string with chainsaw gain. That is not going to be acceptable to suit most guitar players needs. Just noobs who wanna play thrash power chord metal.

They were all really similar except the aftermath. That pickup is really distinctive. The woods make almost 0 difference. Switch the aftermath through to all 4 guitars and it will sound exactly the same. Your playing is much cleaner, so the differences can be heard better, IMO. Glenn's video was a bit of snake oil because he uses so much gain. Try this comparison with strat pickups on a totally clean amp and you will hear a lot more of a difference.

A-Full thickness B-Phoenix C-NW D-Horizon Edit- well I got one right,I own and love it, so no surprise there 😂

Y’know. I’d say that a guitar I’m more comfortable with makes more difference than tonewood. The amps I’ve played through make less difference than the speakers. When it comes to recording , as long as it’s a good take everything is out the window.

The differences to my ears are subtle at most and could have something do with differences in pick attack between takes.

C had more twangy tail, beside that the other three were interchangeable to me. In a mix I don't think anyone would notice a difference. Here's my opinion from my own experience and recording tests: High gain amps mask a lot of the variable that makes a guitar sound. Tonewood is not a thing, this has been debunked over and over, this horse has been beaten to death. The difference between brand new guitar strings and old one is pretty negligible in a mix. You can hear a difference between pickups in a mix in extreme cases only, for instance and Invader (super high output) vs a P90 will be quite different and will also make you dial your amp differently. On the other hand, sustain can be affected by a lot of factors such as pickups, hardware and the setup.