Analysing the tap tones of an instrument is one of my most important tools as a guitar maker. A series of recorded taps will reveal a huge amount of information about an instrument, and as I develop as a builder I have a record of the characteristics of the ones I’ve already finished. This allows me to direct my efforts to make each one better than the last.
Tap-tone analysis is something anyone with access to a small hammer and a computer can do, and even if you aren’t a builder it can give a really interesting insight into guitars and what you want from them.
Sit with the guitar in a quiet-ish room in front of the computer so its microphone can pick up the taps. Open Audacity to a new project, press record, and tap the guitar top just behind the bridge about 20 times. Stop the recording, and you’ll see something like this:
About — Kittredge Tap Tone Guitar & Woodworking
This is the record of the sound pulse produced by your tap series, and it contains a surprising amount of information once it can be unlocked. The key is a process called Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) that shows you all the frequencies present in the top response – in other words, how the instrument responded in detail to you tapping it.
For comparison with mine, select the Blackman-Harris window, size 16384, and Log frequency as I have. And that’s the spectral signature of your guitar. It’s like a sonic fingerprint – notice that there are a series of peak responses right across the spectrum, each of which is produced by a different mode of vibration. Complex? Oh, yes!
Note that there’s a peak at 50Hz. This has nothing to do with the guitar – it’s the 50 cycle hum that pervades a house where electrical appliances are at work.
Ultimate Guide To Guitar Tapping (technique, Problems, Faq)
Given the nature of the dB scale, though, anything reading less than say -60dB is kind of suspect. Remember that the difference between -40dB and -60dB is a difference of 100
All guitars have a similar spectral response because that’s what makes them guitars (a guitar is a sound, not a wooden box). But as with fingerprints, each guitar is unique in detail. And unlike a person’s fingerprint, a spectral signature can tell you a great deal about the guitar that makes it.
The format of the Audacity file makes it hard to compare taps directly. For that you need to export the data to Excel and plot a graph of it, but I’ll explain how to do that on another occasion. You can see the idea if you go to my blog entry on vibrating guitars.
Finger Tapping Technique
One last comment, though. There’s no substitute for your own ear when you choose a guitar – what’s right is what you like.Have you ever experienced playing two identical instruments and note a difference in tone? Maybe one having a fat and lively tone and the other sounding more neutral and weak despite the fact it is the same wood and model?
On 99% of the guitars and basses you will test and play, the matching of the woods which compose the body and the neck is randomly made. You will be surprised to learn that it is possible to forecast the tone an instrument will deliver and tune it to our needs and taste by pre-selecting the wood used for the neck (or the neck itself if we are assembling an instrument) in order to achieve a superior sounding instrument that will tear the other's apart.
On the instruments where the neck is not preselected the contribution of the wood to the sound is generic and the overall tone mostly comes from the pickup and the hardware: this doesn't mean these instruments sound bad. Not at all. They simply sound normal. They do not have us WOWING.
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Today we will see how to recognize and select superior timber woods for our instrument to achieve the finest tone possible. To do this we will use the tapping technique. THE TAPPING TECHNIQUE
As skilled luthiers we should stock all the necks and body blanks cut to the same sizes, paying attention that we left some margin for the wood to move while drying. For example for a strat body blank (44.4mm) we will cut it to 50mm, for a strat style neck (20mm) we will cut to at least 25mm). Then we need to proceed as follows:
Take a neck's blank and hold it with one hand between your thumb and index finger in one of the upper corners and gently beat with your other hand middle finger knuckle at the centre of the blank to about 2/3 of its length from the top. You can also move the knocking to find the point where the wood resonates at its best. If you are working on a complete neck, hold it from the upper tuner hole and beat in the middle/lower part of the rear contour.
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To practice you can go to a luthier workshop and ask him if, to help your training, he will allow you to tap the various necks and bodies, or body and neck blanks he has available (be careful they are of the same type and size).
When purchasing a replacement neck try to shop where there are many parts available so you can choose among them the one which resonates better.
There are two factors we must pay attention to when tapping: 1) the note pitch, 2) the note sustain and decay. What we are looking for is a low note with a sort of bell effect where the tone is highly resonant and decay is longer.
Tapping Wood Technique
The note pitch will give us the idea of the depth of the tone and the volume we will have on the finished instrument.
The following is an example of the average neck tone at tapping. This is the tapping tone of the necks you'll find on 90% of the guitars you will play. The wood this neck is made of does not strongly contribute to the instrument tone. Listen
This is an example of what we are looking for: tapping this neck produces a deep tone (about an octave under the previous one) and a good sustain (even if not 100% perfect). This neck will contribute to the guitar tone by producing a complex tone, rich of volume, well defined and with a good sustain. Listen
Joyo Tone Chain Multi Effect Pedal With Palestine
Following you will find a series of MP3 files which shows the different tones you may find when tapping a neck. You can use them as a reference for training your ear.
NOTE: we suggest you use the headphones or a good hi fi system to listen to the files as the bass frequencies here are as important as higher ones.
1) This is the typical hi pitched tapping tone. This neck will produce a normal tone. Not bad but not hi quality. Note is hi pitched. Please also note how the tone is missing low frequencies compared to the following examples. Listen
Boston 500k Push Pull Guitar Coil Tap Tone Pot
2) Another hi pitched neck at tapping. There are some subtle differences in respect to the previous one though. The tone is a bit deeper (bodied), some more lows are there. Still a common neck but slightly better than the previous one. Listen
3) Another neck belonging to the hi pitched family but a bit lower pitched than the previous two, and featuring some more sustain and resonance. Still common, but the best of the three Listen
The following necks feature a slightly lower resonance and pitch than the previous group. They will sound beter than the previous ones, but will not excel. 4) This is the tone of a medium pitched neck at tapping. This neck features a very short decay (lack of sustain) though more body than previous ones but the lack of sustain makes if a bit deaf. The lower pitch is a plus but the dead sustain will damage the resonance of the strings and produce low volume and sustain. Listen
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These are the best necks. Once assembled on a guitar they will deliver a full, rich and resonant tone with good sustain and volume. They are pretty hard to find. 9) A pretty low pitched neck with a pretty good sustain. This is still a fine neck. Listen
10) An even more deeper tone then the previous one will produce a lot of volume and depth on the notes. We regret the sustain which might have been better. Listen
A neck may sound deaf at tapping for many different reasons among which can be an improper truss rod installation, or even simply how the truss rod is adjusted at a given moment. (read). A loose truss rod could vibrate in phase with the neck and absorb some of the strings vibration thus inhibiting sustain. Here are some examples of necks displaying truss rod problems. 11) A bass neck with a double expanding loose truss rod in resting position. Note the amount of vibrations the neck shows when tapped. Listen
Basic Guitar Tapping Techniques
13) Yet another neck, this time a guitar one, with a single action truss rod (completely loose resting position). Note the
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