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Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In An Electric Guitar?

Jim Lill · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Music theory, synthesis & productionScientific method & science communication

What it is

Guitarist Jim Lill methodically tests what in an electric guitar affects its tone, swapping parts on a partscaster and even trying a 2x4 body. He finds that wood and construction matter far less than people assume.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Cited as a fun, experimental debunking of tonewood claims that shows electronics dominate electric guitar sound.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2022, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “I recently came across an excellent video where a guitarist tries to determine exactly which parts of an electric guitar affect its tone.”

    Methodically swaps electric guitar parts to find what affects tone.

    fenomas, 2022-04 · Strong recommendation · in “The Legend of the Music Tree”

  2. “is a fun and technically-interesting video”

    Fun and technically interesting look at guitar simplicity.

    CharlesW, 2022-05 · Recommendation · in “Simple And Terrible Machines”

  3. “this is pretty fascinating - he shows experimentaly that the guitar itself has little to do with tone.”

    Shows experimentally the guitar itself has little to do with tone.

    dmbche, 2023-07 · Recommendation · in “Amateurs obsess over tools, pros over mastery”

  4. “check out this guy who ran a much more systematic set of experiments”

    Systematic experiments on sacred and sensitive targets.

    gadtfly, 2026-03 · Recommendation · in “Comparison shows audiophiles waste a lot of money”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: guitar, tonewood, pickups, experiment, audio myths

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