The shape of a guitar “doesn’t amount to squat” in terms of sound according to legendary vintage expert George Gruhn
We’ve come across plenty of hot takes on guitar over the years, from debates on tonewood to theoretical knowledge, we’ve seen it all. But vintage guitar expert George Gruhn has now thrown his hat into the ring, and believes guitar shapes don’t make much difference to their sound at all.
In a debate on the Life With Strings Attached podcast, Gruhn says that body shape “doesn’t amount to squat”. However, it does seem that his definition of shape considers purely the body silhouette, rather than the thickness of the model or any neck specifications.
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“Changing body shapes doesn’t amount to squat… changing body shapes on a solid body guitar doesn’t amount to much,” Gruhn says. He is then quizzed by host Jamie Gale, who asks him if a Telecaster with humbuckers would sound like a Les Paul with humbuckers.
“No it wont, because the structure of the guitar is different enough that the vibration pattern of the strings is not the same,” Gruhn replies. At this point, Gale is still completely baffled.
“So an SG sounds like an Explorer?” asks Gale.
“No they don’t because an SG is thinner,” Gruhn says, before expanding on his meaning of shape. “The Explorer has a neck joint that’s rock-solid stable, the SG does not. The Explorer has a much thicker body than an SG and it [has] different wood. The shape is not the important part, you could make the Explorer in a different shape and it would still sound about the same,” he suggests.
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The pair have to agree to disagree, with Gruhn hilariously adding: “I can’t help it if you’re wrong!”
You can check out the full podcast below, which is split into two parts:
Gruhn launched his own guitar line back in 2023 with a model named the Versitar. He described his creation as “the only guitar on the market today that you can essentially look at from 100 feet away at a glance and know immediately which brand of acoustic guitar it is”.
George Gruhn established Gruhn Guitars in 1970. You can find out more about him and the business via the official Gruhn Guitars website.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
