The End of Tonewood ... or Tone-anything!

[Buddster]

Love that he puts an insanely strong magnet on the anvil, and then can't get it off

 

DOOH! 

[Judo Chop]

5 hours ago, TimR said:

 

Wood isn't magnetic though? 

Yes it is

[Downunderwonder]

20 hours ago, TimR said:

 

Wood isn't magnetic though? 

The magnets don't "see" the wood, or your fingers, very well at all. The idea was to block out the air gap so no way fingers could be put into danger. You would still want sub pinkie sized gaps to maintain the air guitar schtick.

[rwillett]

On 29/01/2026 at 13:46, BigRedX said:

 

That's because the main component of the sound is the steel or nickel strings driving a magnetic pickup and the traditional guitar amplification. 

I've made a few guitars and basses with an aluminium backbone and 3d printed body. No wood at all in the body but decent wooden necks. Nobody has yet said they sound rubbish. Perhaps they were being kind.

 

I play them as much as I play the wooden bodied guitars and basses I own. I do not claim to be a guitar virtuoso but they sound different but no more different than my 80's Westone to my MIK Squire Tele to my Strat. My headless bass is different to my Jazz or Bitsa Jazz or Westone Thunder, not worse just different. 

 

What was interesting was how little effect the incredibly strong magnets had on the pickups. Given the strength of them, and I laughed out loud at the anvil, I would have thought it would affect the tone but it didn't appear to. 

 

I think it was a great experiment, mad but still worthwhile. 

 

 

[lurksalot]

On 29/01/2026 at 10:57, BassApprentice said:

Possibly the most unnecessary experiment in guitar history, but here we are
 

 

I can absolutely relate to that video…

 

 

we use the same gloves at work 😁

[Beer of the Bass]

The video wasn't even meant to be about the "tonewood debate" (yawn), he's just trying something novel, wacky and more than a little impractical for the curiosity and spectacle of it.