Can fretboard binding dull the sound?

[JVG]

I feel a bit silly putting this idea out there - it seems unlikely, however.....

Like many of you, I have a bunch of self-assembled guitars, 4 of which have fretboard binding (1 Tele, 1 Jag, and 2 Jazzmasters), and these guitars are all more "dead" sounding than their brothers without binding. By "dead" I mean less resonant, and lacking twang. Generally dull and uninspiring.

Is it possible that the binding is noticeably restricting the resonance of the neck? Or is it just a coincidence, due to the numerous other factors that influence a guitars sound?

Cheers!
J

[Shadoweclipse13]

I would personally say that there are a lot of factors, but it's certainly a possibility. What about switching the necks on one of your guitars that sounds more resonant, just to test?

[timtam]

Interpret this (and the wider 'tonewood' debate for electric guitars) as you wish ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oo2H-W7d6A

[Embenny]

I'd say there is a 0% chance of this being true.

In the high-end acoustic guitar world, there are no luthiers or players advocating for binding-less acoustics (which do exist). And those guys go all out - just look at the hype surrounding things like "moon" spruce to see the lengths they're willing to go for mythically-improved acoustic resonance. There are mad scientist luthiers experimenting with every material and construction method imaginable in the quest for acoustic tone.

So, if everyone from Jim Olson to Linda Manzer put binding on the necks of their $10k-$20k acoustic guitars, I think it's safe to say that it won't have a noticeable effect on an Electric guitar's tone.

[Shadoweclipse13]

I'd say there is a 0% chance of this being true.

In the high-end acoustic guitar world, there are no luthiers or players advocating for binding-less acoustics (which do exist). And those guys go all out - just look at the hype surrounding things like "moon" spruce to see the lengths they're willing to go for mythically-improved acoustic resonance. There are mad scientist luthiers experimenting with every material and construction method imaginable in the quest for acoustic tone.

So, if everyone from Jim Olson to Linda Manzer put binding on the necks of their $10k-$20k acoustic guitars, I think it's safe to say that it won't have a noticeable effect on an Electric guitar's tone.

I'd agree with this train of thought if it wasn't for the difference between how acoustic and electric guitars both generate sound. I'm not saying binding does affect the tone, I honestly don't believe so, but I do think that the resonance from the neck wood plays more of a part of the tone of an electric guitar which is sensing vibrations, over an acoustic guitar, whose body is a big sound chamber.

[Embenny]

I'd say there is a 0% chance of this being true.

In the high-end acoustic guitar world, there are no luthiers or players advocating for binding-less acoustics (which do exist). And those guys go all out - just look at the hype surrounding things like "moon" spruce to see the lengths they're willing to go for mythically-improved acoustic resonance. There are mad scientist luthiers experimenting with every material and construction method imaginable in the quest for acoustic tone.

So, if everyone from Jim Olson to Linda Manzer put binding on the necks of their $10k-$20k acoustic guitars, I think it's safe to say that it won't have a noticeable effect on an Electric guitar's tone.

I'd agree with this train of thought if it wasn't for the difference between how acoustic and electric guitars both generate sound. I'm not saying binding does affect the tone, I honestly don't believe so, but I do think that the resonance from the neck wood plays more of a part of the tone of an electric guitar which is sensing vibrations, over an acoustic guitar, whose body is a big sound chamber.

...and that sound chamber has the energy of the string transmitted by two contact points - the neck and the bridge.

The neck is a massive component in transferring energy to the body (specifically the top) of an acoustic guitar. The construction of the neck and its joint to the body are hugely debated points in luthiery because of this relationship.

I will grant you that neck resonance is probablycontributing a higher proportion of the acoustic tone of a solid body electric, but I've never seen Gibson aficionados claim that unbound melodymakers, LP/SG juniors and LP studios have improved resonance over the standard and Custom models with binding.

The only physics-based argument I could imagine for that claim is the weight difference between the fretboard wood that was removed and the binding material that was added (more mass leading to more sustain) - but, considering that many unbound necks have rolled fingerboard edges where some wood is removed to give a rounder corner vs the 90 degree edge of binding, I sincerely doubt that would be perceptible, and certainly would contribute less than the natural variation in density of the neck wood, the weight of the tuners selected, and the thickness and profile of the neck (the latter two being the major determinants of how much wood and mass are present).

[Jaguar018]

In my experience... I have no idea. I like bound necks; in fact I like blocks and binding on all necks. For me it's purely an aesthetic that I love. Does it sound better or worse? If I thought it sounded worse I would keep buying more B&B necks until I found one that worked.

Without taking any reasonable things like physics into the equation, the ultimate traditional TWANG guitars, Teles and Strats, never had bound necks in their heyday.

[PixMix]

I have never thought about this or come across this question. For what it's worth, I have only one parts guitar with a bound fretboard, a jazzmaster with an MJT body, Allparts neck, and Squire JMJM pickups. Unplugged, it sounds ok but not as lively as few other guitars I have. Plugged sounds absolutely stellar. This is also one of the guitars I spent a ton of time on set up and fine tuned every single part that moves, so I attribute this to the setup and pickups that I really like.

[rumfoord]

I'm inclined to say, theoretically yes. But with the variation being smaller than the possible variation of different woods and necks. If that were the case, you'd kind of never know. But I could see it affecting tone in a very minuscule way. It's hard for me to imagine it being perceptible, but every bit of plastic is like some tiny elf with plastic fingers touching your guitar while you play. I'd sound different if somebody with big heavy rubber fingers was touching the soundboard of an acoustic while you played. Same principle but smaller impact?? But that's why we talk about some guitars just magically sounding good---because we can't figure out why.

That said, the particular ways that humans tend to create and be swayed by cognitive biases...I imagine that if I had ONE guitar without binding that was magic, and ONE guitar with binding that was dead; I could see myself subconsciously constructing a pattern and accidentally forcing the rest of the guitars into this framework---no matter how hard I tried not to.

So. It's hard to tell.

[JVG]

Having thought about it more, and read the comments, I'm inclined to reach the same conclusion as you, i.e. binding probably does has some minuscule effect on tone, but it's most likely an order of magnitude smaller than the effect of the woods, bridge, and other things, and therefore probably imperceptible.

In the case of my bound Tele, I think it's just a dud neck. It's well made and looks great, but seems to be just an un-resonant piece of wood (for reasons I don't know). For the JMs and Jag, it's not so obvious where the issue lies - perhaps the neck wood, perhaps the body wood. On all my offset guitars I use the same tuners, strings, nut type, and Staytrem bridge, so it can't be those things causing the variation in their unplugged sound.

I've gone down the avenue of trying various pickups and various other setting, and while it improves things to some degree, I'm thinking there is a point where a guitar unfortunately needs to be written off...no amount of tweaking will make it "great", it will be "good" at best, despite using all the highest grade parts, and having quality construction.

Maybe at some point I'll try swapping the necks between my most resonant JM and one of the bound ones, and see how it goes. It would be an interesting experiment.

Cheers!
J.

[Fiddy]

I went to a concert, and left thinking "Man, I wish that dude's guitar wouldn't have had any binding"

[Embenny]

Having thought about it more, and read the comments, I'm inclined to reach the same conclusion as you, i.e. binding probably does has some minuscule effect on tone, but it's most likely an order of magnitude smaller than the effect of the woods, bridge, and other things, and therefore probably imperceptible.

In the case of my bound Tele, I think it's just a dud neck. It's well made and looks great, but seems to be just an un-resonant piece of wood (for reasons I don't know). For the JMs and Jag, it's not so obvious where the issue lies - perhaps the neck wood, perhaps the body wood. On all my offset guitars I use the same tuners, strings, nut type, and Staytrem bridge, so it can't be those things causing the variation in their unplugged sound.

I've gone down the avenue of trying various pickups and various other setting, and while it improves things to some degree, I'm thinking there is a point where a guitar unfortunately needs to be written off...no amount of tweaking will make it "great", it will be "good" at best, despite using all the highest grade parts, and having quality construction.

Maybe at some point I'll try swapping the necks between my most resonant JM and one of the bound ones, and see how it goes. It would be an interesting experiment.

Cheers!
J.

I've definitely had cases of necks and guitars that didn't "gel". But swapped that neck to another guitar and, wow, it actually sounded great! Of course, if it's your only Tele, you wouldn't have that option, but I've found it interesting that some parts just don't "mesh" well together despite being good quality parts.

[BoringPostcards]

If this was TGP we'd be on the 100th page by now. LOL.

[JVG]

If this was TGP we'd be on the 100th page by now. LOL.

Ha ha yeah probably right. That's why I'm not into TGP!

I suspected it was a crazy theory, but just needed a few sensible people to tell me so. Stay tuned for my next topic ...."does the colour of my pants affect my guitar tone?"

Have a great day guys!
J.

[BoringPostcards]

Stay tuned for my next topic ...."does the colour of my pants affect my guitar tone?"