Alan Carruth wrote:
Ah, the 'Art vs Science' thread; as if it always had to be a 'versus'.
Al, you put it much more eloquently, but this is what I was trying to convey…
It is often those set on the idea that there must be a formula to build the perfect guitar who insist that "emotions" or "senses" cannot be trusted. Probably remnants of Anglo-Protestantism, and deep in the culture.
For the rest of those who happily use whatever technology/science to build, they also realize that it brings them only so far. And I think anybody strives to reduce the unknown-unknowns to known-knowns, or at least known-unknowns.
But the last leg of the build, so to speak, must be done on the consciousness level.
Nothing magical with that, this is what I call the working of experience. Clearly if the senses have no experience in the matter they hardly can be trusted. It's never too late to train, we tend to forget the potential we have in ourselves and the enormous range available in our hearing and touching.
To take a simple example, it's great to take notes on builds (and I do), but writing can also hamper our ability to memorize.
I think Brave Buffalo once said "writing is forgetting", answering the question why Sioux, in spite of their enormous vocabulary, didn't develop a written language.
So perhaps, there is a balance to strike there, and no art vs. science.
A final note on higher frequencies: theoretically we only hear up to about 20KHz, which is why the first digital standards (CD, DAT etc.) were sampled at 44.1KHz (about double). Interestingly, when I was doing recording/sound engineering, I slowly switched to 48KHz because of DVD mastering, and I thought it sounded slightly better than 44.1KHz most of the time. I couldn't really describe it, but it was there -providing good audio equipment-. Then 88.2KHz and 96KHz came and I used that, because again, it had an elusive "better" quality to it, even when the project was finally dithered and down-sampled to 16bit/44.1KHz.
Some people prefer analog recording and vinyl pressing, in spite of the higher floor noise level, because there is no sampling limit. The only limiting factor is the recording and playback equipment (usually analog as well).
So if theoretically we can only hear up to 20KHz, why do we hear a difference with sampling rates that go far beyond our perception, and that get dithered and downsampled anyway (and later played on average equipment…)?
There is something up there in those frequencies, and they affect dynamics and lower frequencies as well, that we can't measure (yet, perhaps…) but yet makes a difference.
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FAQ
) A guitar is a physical object that was built using physical processes. Therefore, everything pertaining to the qualities and characteristics of a guitar can be explained in physical terms. Things such as love and care are not physical elements in themselves that have any bearing on the sound of an instrument. More care of course, will often lead to a better instrument but this is not because we take something called "care" and put it into the build physically, but because that care causes us to take greater concentration when dealing with some physical element within the guitar.
) the vagaries of life -- as we all do. Wood is a very cool engineering material, but is varies from piece to piece, from inch to inch (cm to cm) along the same piece of brace wood, etc. There comes a point when you just have to feel it and listen to it and in my mind, that negates some portion of point number 5. ![[headinwall]](./images/smilies/headbangwalluf8.gif "Mad")
