Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred

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THE $10 ELECTRIC GUITAR

Conventional wisdom among luthiers (craftspeople who build and repair stringed instruments) is that 75 percent of an electric guitar’s tone is defined by the pickups and strings, 15 percent by the quality of the neck, and 10 percent by “miscellaneous” factors (which include the entire body of the guitar, as well as hardware, bridge design and composition, electronics, etc.). In contrast to an acoustic guitar—whose body is almost wholly responsible for the instrument’s timbre and volume—the shape, material, quality, and construction of an electric guitar’s body has little bearing on its voice. To illustrate this point, the famous Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, Arizona, keeps a vintage Fender guitar neck ...