What Is Most Responsible For Harmonic Content, In Your Opinion?

Which One Matters Most?

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Did you guys ever use an analog synthesizers? You can take a simple waveform from the oscillator and add gain and/or distortion to it. This adds harmonic content and complexity. Then you can filter it.

Grossly simplified, the guitar is the oscillator, the amp is the distortion and the speaker is the filter. The amplifier actively adds harmonic content. Sure the oscillator can produce different waveforms but it’s not where the harmonic content comes from.

Take this amplifier for instance:

The harmonic richness is clearly from the amplifier.
 
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Achilles said:
TECHNIQUE!
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Actually, probably true. Where you hit the strings absolutely has a huge impact on the harmonic content generated. Maybe the Majesty puts the OPs pick in just the right spot for the harmonics that OP is looking for? Or possibly the natural harmonic content of the Majesty alights well with the Boogie stuff such that there is a bit of a feedback loop enhancement going on?
 
JasonE said:
I think it has a lot to do with the construction of the guitar and the setup. The pickups and amplification are only going to pick up what is there and make it louder.
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I see what you’re saying but that would only be true if we only played into faithful sound loudeners. If the amplifier circuit didn’t create and add harmonics above the fundamental you’d be correct.
 
Eagle said:
Back to front.
It all starts with the instrument.
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As is the case with literally any instrument
Why a steel string sounds different than a nylon yet sounds still like a guitar and an for example flute doesn't... Overtone content.

And I'm clear I know that just piggybacking.
 
JasonE said:
I think it has a lot to do with the construction of the guitar and the setup. The pickups and amplification are only going to pick up what is there and make it louder.
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Making stuff louder makes stuff clip meaning distort. That add harmonics to what's there.

Run a 1 k sine wave in a amp simand look at a frequency analyzer on the output.

Now run 1k, 1.5k and 2.5 k simultaneously through it and look at the frequency analyzer.


Side note a clean Twin still generates distortion
 
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I think it's the guitar and construction, but (just to make that very clear) it's possibly beyond mankind to exactly decipher which of the parts need to be constructed and combined in whatever way. There might be some combinations working "better" (whatever that means...) and others that don't.

My personal quick check on how much harmonic content a guitar will throw out would be to finger an index finger barré over all strings, then use my right index to lightly "slap" on top of the octave fret. Barré 3rd fret, slap onto 15th fret. Of course that also works with single notes, but barrés give it away quicker IMO.
I have two guitars that ring like mad when doing so (80s Ibanez Sabre and a 70s Ibanez 335 clone). This is translating pretty well to pinch harmonics, too, with both of them it's very easy to squeeze them out.
It's also that some chords seem to sound "richer" whereas others need some care - perhaps because overtones don't suit out tempered system well.

And I'm also not sure whether harmonic "richness" is a good thing in general (plus, there seem to be differences in the way the harmonics come out). For instance, I also have a G&L Legacy. Doing the "slap octave fret" thing is really tough and hardly results in much overtones. But playing overdriven chords is working marvellously well, perhaps exactly because of no harmonics clashing with the tempered system.

But I wouldn't place a bet on any of that.
 
TSJMajesty said:
I don't claim to know for sure, but until I played a Majesty thru an Axe III, or thru any of my Mesa amps, I'd never heard a guitar with so much rich harmonic content.

If pressed, I'd probably say it's PU's, followed closely by how they're amplified. Or maybe it's the Mesa predominantly. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :rofl

What's your thoughts?

How bout guys who play more than 1 guitar (unlike me, haha)? @Warmart , what do you think, if you were to compare your Majesty to one of your other, very awesome, axes, using the exact same rig?
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Have you measured pickup placement relative to the bridge? My SG is a full centimeter closer than 335 and boy can you tell.
 
la szum said:
Aren't overtones an inherent element of every sound? Make a noise on any instrument, or
bang an object and there are overtones (aka harmonic content). :idk
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From what I've checked into since making the thread, overtones can be any frequencies in addition to the fundamental, and harmonics are integer multiples of the fundamental frequency.

Harmonics are overtones, but not all overtones are harmonics.

And yes, since every musical instrument has them, maybe my question should have been more correctly, What part of the signal chain is most responsible for our hearing them?

And that's still probably not completely correct, since I think amplification is responsible (if I understand any of Cliff's posts) for creating some that the instrument itself didn't produce.
 
PLX said:
That's because string energy is at it's lowest at the bridge (and the nut).
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Of course, but the more drastical change is still in frequency content.

Fwiw, this here is one of the pickup arrangements I fooled around with on my G&L. I've tried just about any combination of potential bridge pickups in any order. The differences are absolutely staggering. For example, the Little 59 installed in that picture, sounds absolutely lackluster in that position, the other way around it's fine, the Fender Noiseless is fine the other way around, too, but the inbetween positions using it aren't too great.
GundL_PUs.jpeg
 
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