b'The Guitar ExperimentOne of the biggest issues in aand the way the choices change overthe Department of Psychology at discussion about guitar tone is thea very short time, tell us some of theLancaster University. wood used to make the instrument.darkest secrets of our personalities. IfWe discussed the possibility of There are more choices todayyou want to scare yourself, take thatmaking a number of guitars, and than there ever have been before,test.Using choice of words ratherusing them to test perceptions and there are lots of individualthan colours, the choices might telland preferences.The possibilities preferences. Some timbers haveus more about the player than theywere endless, and the timber gained a reputation for a particulardo about the guitar.combinations impossible to properly quality of sound, but not everybodyAlso, there are a number of buzzanalyse, so we decided to keep agrees, and it isnt easy to find awords used in guitar circles - Iit simple. What difference does consensus. know what the words separationthe wood used for the back and I have noticed that players haveand clarity mean in the Englishsides make to the sound of the individual ways of describinglanguage, but when used aboutguitar? Could the player actually tone.A guitar which is mellow toa guitar sound, they are throwntell the difference in a blind test? one player, is bright to another,about like confetti, mostly used asHow would the player describe and different players make differentcompliments rather than carefulthe different sounds?What words observations about every aspectcritical observations, and again, twowould be used? Would any guitar be of sound.It is quite common forplayers often disagree.Talkingregarded as better, and how much those perceptions and commentsabout tone is like fishing aboutagreement would there be in the to change after a short while,architecture- Frank Zappa. answers to any of the questions?particularly if somebody else is thereChris Plack is a friend, a keenWe chose six commonly used at the time, offering their opinions asguitarist and regular customer.Hetimbers. American Mahogany, well. is a professor in the Audiology andSapele, Maple, American Walnut, I liken this to the Luscher colourDeafness Group at the UniversityIndian Rosewood, and Brazilian test, where the choice of colours,of Manchester, and a professor inRosewood.Those choices gave 248'