PRS wing button tuners, for the tonez!

[rsm]

It's not tonewood, it's your tuners!


"

As a summary, despite being made of wood, guitar necks and headstocks both have significant flexibility. Adding even a slight amount of weight, or pressure, to the headstock of the guitar can alter the tone of a guitar. By adding our new Wing buttons, the neck and headstock of the guitar are under less pressure, which rounds out the upper level of the instrument’s tone in comparison to heavier metal tuners which creates a tone that can be subject to a duller sound with dead spots.

"

Pure tonal magic!




Source:

https://prsguitars.com/blog/post/fine_tuning_introducing_prs_wing_button_tuners

 

[7704A]

That reminds me, I'm selling tone weights now if your guitar is too bright. Just stick them on the back of your headstock for a smoother, less sharp sound.

 

[thegame]

Play your guitar unplugged with the headstock lightly touching a wooden door or a piece of furniture. Notice the difference? That is an exaggerated yet similar principle to what PRS describes in that video.

 

[Rex Rocker]

People at Gibson forums go nuts over lightweight tuners.

Personally, I don't disagree with tuners making a small difference in tone. It's pretty much the same as the tailpiece studs on a Gibson. That is a great exaggeration, though. It's not night and day difference, honestly, and tuner tips are not going to make or break your tone. But if you can make your tone 0.001% better, small as it may be, why wouldn't you?

I do like that lightweight tuners make for better balanced (less neck-heavy) guitars.

That being said... I think those tuners look horrible.

 

[Rex Rocker]

PRS design is so hit or miss for me. It's either classy (like their pickup rings or their lampshade knobs), or it looks like horrible pawn shop stuff from the 80's (like those tuner tips or everything on the Vela).

 

[itsme]

The weight at the headstock does affect tone. Lighter brightens it up a bit and heavier fattens. Unless a guitar is dark or dull, I typically like heavier tuners as I prefer a little thickening.

 

[Rex Rocker]

The weight at the headstock does affect tone. Lighter brightens it up a bit and heavier fattens. Unless a guitar is dark or dull, I typically like heavier tuners as I prefer a little thickening.

I bet it also depends on the material. The shaft of Kluson-style tuners is steel and on those, it looks like brass. I bet it has the same effect as trem blocks or saddle material.

 

[rsm]

Play your guitar unplugged with the headstock lightly touching a wooden door or a piece of furniture. Notice the difference? That is an exaggerated yet similar principle to what PRS describes in that video.

I'm skeptical that it would translate to his new tuners.

also his comment about dead spots because of tuners?

by the time the sound hits the pickups and goes through your entire signal chain I doubt the effect of his wing button tuners will be significant...that's all I'm saying,

reminds me of the directional, cryogenic, instrument cable discussions on TGP many years ago.

 

[7704A]

Play your guitar unplugged with the headstock lightly touching a wooden door or a piece of furniture. Notice the difference? That is an exaggerated yet similar principle to what PRS describes in that video.

My understanding is that it's not quite the same, since now you have a different structure that can have different vibration characteristics than a freestanding guitar. If you wanted to test a guitar you'd have to tape/glue/whatever weights to the headstock and measure the sound differences. My personal opinion is that weight on the headstock affecting sound is plausible since the scientific literature seems to indicate that the way the neck (when attached to a guitar) vibrates can affect the way a guitar sounds, including deadspots. However, the PRS marketing copy seems physically suspect to me, at some points even directly opposite to what I'd expect to happen, hence the sarcastic remark earlier in the thread. Always possible I got the physics wrong though.

Incidentally, guitar-playing scientists have looked into the example you gave. The figure below which is taken from this paper (pdf here) shows the measurements for neck touching/not touching in the right column. Pickup signal is shown top right, unplugged sound bottom right. Dotted is without box, solid line is with box.

Here is the top right graph blown up a bit more:

 

[stratjacket]

I think the best tone comes from expensive amp power cords and lighter tuner wings

 

[thegame]

My understanding is that it's not quite the same, since now you have a different structure that can have different vibration characteristics than a freestanding guitar. If you wanted to test a guitar you'd have to tape/glue/whatever weights to the headstock and measure the sound differences. My personal opinion is that weight on the headstock affecting sound is plausible since the scientific literature seems to indicate that the way the neck (when attached to a guitar) vibrates can affect the way a guitar sounds, including deadspots. However, the PRS marketing copy seems physically suspect to me, at some points even directly opposite to what I'd expect to happen, hence the sarcastic remark earlier in the thread. Always possible I got the physics wrong though.

Incidentally, guitar-playing scientists have looked into the example you gave. The figure below which is taken from this paper (pdf here) shows the measurements for neck touching/not touching in the right column. Pickup signal is shown top right, unplugged sound bottom right. Dotted is without box, solid line is with box.
View attachment 292610
Here is the top right graph blown up a bit more:
View attachment 292613

Interesting. I think we should forward these findings to Glen Fricker the science guy. On one hand, the data supports there being a difference. On the other hand, he won’t hear it, therefore his head will explode, preferably on camera. Win/win.

 

[cobrahead1030]

I doubt it affects the tone in a life changing way, but for the price tag on some of their guitars, I would hope they're doing everything they can to make continuous improvements.

I'm sure I'd never hear it in a recording, and would be hard pressed to hear it with the guitar in my hands. But if I'm dropping $4k or more, the sound in my hands better be as good as they can possibly make it.

 

[Dan Gleesak]

I’ll stick with my strandberg lol

 

[VonBonfire]

That being said... I think those tuners look horrible.

Like something off a piece of crap Sears acoustic. Surprised he didn't copy another Gibson shape since his LP double cut rip off has done him pretty well. Still looks like a woodtick though.

 

[itsme]

It’s kinda funny that apparently the artist’s with signature guitars aren’t buying it and stuck with the original tuners.

 

[VonBonfire]

From the article:

“These new buttons help to open up the vowel sound of the guitar."



That sounds almost as dumb as Tim Pierce telling me about the "bells" coming from his second "most amazing Les Paul ever". Bells or vowel sounds, which do YOU prefer. I'd prefer not to be assaulted with stupidity when I'm looking at a set of damn tuners, lol.