....

[Ting Ho Dung]

Wait. What are we doing now? I thought we were guessing which was 24 frets or 22. Not which we preferred or thought was better. I listened to each clip half-heartedly and picked which I thought were 24 frets. Someone please go over the rules again.

[Studio Custom]

On May 11, 2016 at 1:02 PM, murkat said:

 

[Studio Custom]

On May 11, 2016 at 0:58 PM, gtrdaddy said:

 

[LucSulla]

Thanks for taking the time to post these; it was interesting. 

Having done experiments in the past, I don't feel like you ultimately are measuring what you meant to. That wasn't entirely your fault.  Some discussion of better vs. different has come up.  Different is obvious, but I would have liked some formal definition of "better" in order to assess that.  So maybe really a research question and and a hypothesis. 

R1 - Do 24 and 22 fret guitars sound different in the neck position?

H1 - A 22 fret guitar in the neck pickup position sounds better.

For R1, if we are assuming all things are equal, I think everyone would have to agree that, at least these two guitars, sound different in the neck position.  While under heavy gain with other effects, the difference isn't noticeable, it's striking as you got cleaner and dryer.  I don't really have much of a dog in this hunt, but I found the difference in those final two clips was really surprising to me. 

Of course to make any serious generalization, you'd need quite a few more pairs of guitars, at least 29 more, before you would have enough data to really start making claims.   So in regard to R1, it's certainly a very interesting demonstration, but not ironclad.  I would actually be curious to do that and add more questions such as adding scales like "from 1 to 5, with 1 being most bass heavy and 5 being most treble heavy, please score each clip" to see not only if people could hear a difference but if they were hearing the same difference.

Probably a better way to do this if you scaled it up would be to define what makes a 22 fret better and operationalize those terms so that instead of asking people which is better you are asking them to rate characteristics that have been deemed more desirable and then see if, once the data is collected, if the 22 fret guitar scored significantly higher in those categories. 

Ideally, you'd at least want someone playing the clips who had no idea what the test was about.  Even better would be to automate the whole thing somehow so everything was played as exactly the same as possible. 

Seriously, if I had 30 pairs of guitars that were as close to the same as possible aside from the frets, I'd totally love to do this. It would be fun.

As for H1 - I don't know that I felt in the last three clips, where to me there was a pronounced difference, that I would call either better.  Out of each of those clips, one was darker and one was brighter.  I'd think that would depend on taste. 

For the high gain stuff, I couldn't really hear anything.  Considering what these guitars were mainly used for, I think that at least provides a little ammunition to argue that for the crowd 24 fret guitars were generally intended, with all the processing and gain, 22 vs. 24 frets probably wouldn't have mattered much if at all. 

So that's my take. 

[Studio Custom]

On May 11, 2016 at 1:07 PM, gtrdaddy said:

 

[zorrow]

I prefer 22 frets, but not because I think there's anything better with them. I just know there's no money above the 5th. So, why would I want even more of... nothing?  

That said, I've discovered during my recent incursions in funk that there's actually some money above the 5th fret, and that Nile Rodgers could tell us a story or two about it.  

[Ting Ho Dung]

I like blue guitars.

[murkat]

28 minutes ago, Studio Custom said:

You mean the one with the visual aid?   

absolutely.

That vid does more than just meets the eye.

I do not need a visual aid to taint my ears what they already know.

Like I said prior.

Use two Sunburst type guitars, full size humbuckers, one at 22 fret, the other at 24 fret, and do you lil blind test with a dry signal.

 

[Studio Custom]

On May 11, 2016 at 1:07 PM, gtrdaddy said:

 

[Studio Custom]

On May 11, 2016 at 1:40 PM, gtrdaddy said:

 

 

[django49]

I'll settle for 23 frets. Split the difference. Today, anyway.

[Studio Custom]

On May 11, 2016 at 1:50 PM, gtrdaddy said:

 

[Ting Ho Dung]

13 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

They sound different better.

Fixed. 

[it's me HHB]

Only 10 mil, laughable!

[diablo175]

Wow. It's come to this?

 

[Jeff R]

Let's raise the stakes shall we?

22 vs. 24 =

[atquinn]

8 minutes ago, diablo175 said:

Wow. It's come to this?

 

Of course it did. Completely predictably.

Also, "you're"

-

Austin

[Caddie]

kinda like Keith Richard, 5 strings 15 frets.  If I can't do it with that I simply won't play it.  Hey Ronnie, get over here.

caddie

[zorrow]

TGP-isms all around!  Can you guys please cool down? I liked the thread's subject, but now the risk of not even knowing about its outcome is getting higher and higher.  Please, remain civically reasonable, as this is just a forum whose sole purpose is having some fun. We're not supposed to come here to make enemies, but friends.

[diablo175]

7 minutes ago, atquinn said:

Of course it did. Completely predictably.

Also, "you're"

-

Austin

Gee thanks Austin. Now, folks are gonna think I committed that most common yet grievous of grammatical faux pas.

[MCChris]

$10 million can buy you a lot....except literacy.

[FGJ]

Jam A

Groove B

Kal A

Latina A

Aspen A

[FGJ]

16 minutes ago, diablo175 said:

Gee thanks Austin. Now, folks are gonna think I committed that most common yet grievous of grammatical faux pas.

That's "Pho Paw"... What, can't you spell? ;-)

[it's me HHB]

 to be fair, I include myself, Studio Custom, MCChris, Kiz, sometimes Brooks, Cynic and Disturber as " cantankerous "

[Lockbody]

5 minutes ago, it's me HHB said:

 to be fair, I include myself, Studio Custom, MCChris, Kiz, sometimes Brooks, Cynic and Disturber as " cantankerous "

I think only one in your list has been banned for it, though.