G
GOYA
New member
Define it.
Tadpui
Well-known member
The knob I never use on my guitar 
Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
You first.
muttley600
Banned
The degree of presence or absence of higher partial frequencies relating to the harmonic series above the fundamental of a sound pressure wave.
Would you like me to explain that to you?
Would you like me to explain that to you?
Yonce N Mild
Voice of Sanity
tone is.........................overrated.
Tadpui
Well-known member
Tone is what makes me want to pick up my electric guitar, plug into my amp, and make noise.
Tone is what my acoustic guitar lacks.
Tone is what my acoustic guitar lacks.
mikemorgan
panned out
Tone is what guys who know all the notes on their fretboards strive for next.
Roguetitan
New member
Quality or character of sound.
G
GOYA
New member
WhiteStrat
Don't stare at the eye.
I like your esoteric description of tone, but I'm sorry your acoustic has none. Sometimes, my acoustic has the only tone that will satisfy. It sings a song every bit as toneful as my electrics...
muttley600
Banned
I asked you first.
I answered you first. Others have described it but not defined it.
Next question please.
muttley600
Banned
If his acoustic didn't have any tone it would be silent.
WhiteStrat
Don't stare at the eye.
True, but I believe he's talking more about that intangible quality that makes him want to play it--like he described his electric. I can't help but wonder if he just has a lousy acoustic, or if he thinks only electrics can move him in that manner.
muttley600
Banned
I'm just killing thread mate.
It's as dumb as they get. If you accept tone to mean anything other than as I described it you will never get too people to agree on it. OP question was to define tone. I did. QED.
Lets move on before I'm forced into explaining why his acoustic tone can never the same each time he plays it. I'm in that kind of mood.
G
ggunn
Crystal Flavolian
That's like a description of a woman's body taken from Grey's Anatomy (the book, not the TV show). Technically accurate but completely avoidant of how it makes you feel when you see one, which is, to me anyway, the essence.
muttley600
Banned
That's like a description of a woman's body taken from Grey's Anatomy (the book, not the TV show). Technically accurate but completely avoidant of how it makes you feel when you see one, which is, to me anyway, the essence.
The question was to define tone, not to outline a personal subjective view on qualities of subjective judgement.
Q. Tone - define it? I did. All other answers are either an extension of my correct definition or an incorrect subjective description. Why are they wrong? Because they are describing a specific tone, not "tone"
Honestly I think you should all be repping me like made for aborting another train wreck of personal slanging and autistic diatribe lasting many pages and even more months..
But hey ho, you guys have the answer now, you can carry on and argue about who is wrong about the rest.
G
GOYA
New member
Perhaps others have a different context in which to define tone?
The reason for the thread and it simplistic question was to allow for whatever answers might be given. I've seen the word used here in ways that do not fit my understanding of the word.
One thing for sure, in it's usual meaning in a guitarists' context is when one says "tone", most times it means "good tone".
muttley600
Banned
Well now that you have the correct definition you don't have to decide whether it fits your understanding you can decide whether it fits the correct definition.
Nope, even guitarists have to exist in a world that distinguish between subjective and objective observations. Sad I know but non the less true. I want to die sometimes when people come into my workshop and wax lyrical about what "tone" is because it is like trying to describe what it is like to be you. Even the best authors poets and orators have struggled with that one for millennia.
muttley600
Banned
Oh and context is irrelevant really. To define tone all you need is a line or two similar to my OP. Maybe you didn't really understand the question.
I'm being obtuse I know but I've had 30 years of this stuff and to even begin you have to start with "a" tone if you want to analyse the specifics of a particular sound.
Tadpui
Well-known member
Muttley600 said:
Haha, yes the mute acoustic guitar. It's very rare, worth a lot of money. The folks at Alvarez had to work very hard to defy the laws of physics in an entry-level dreadnought
Actually its not a bad acoustic guitar, its a cheapie that's aged well and mellowed over the last 15 or 20 years. Its just not a nice acoustic that sings like you describe. Now that I've played a Martin HD-28 and a few other collectible Martins, I now know the silky smooth mids and highs combined with the powerful lows that can come from a well-made acoustic. It's the perfect tone for me, and it would inspire me in the same way that my electric guitar rig inspires me.