Agreement Vintage: Fill & Download for Free

Oh, the “vintage”myth….Here’s a lesson in physics:Pickups, which are based on magnets, change tone in time. Why? Because they lose magnetic properties. So, your vintage guitar didn’t sound the way it sounds today when it was new. Most likely, it sounded a lot like a new guitar of today.Let’s move to electronics, so I can mention the crappiest capacitors you could put in a guitar. Back then, capacitors were made of two layers of aluminum foil with a layer of paper in the middle. An Orange Drop capacitor blows any of those crap capacitors away any time. Of course, Gibson sells “vintage capacitors” and an outrageous price of $200, which is the biggest ripoff, especially considering the inside of those “vintage capacitors” are modern capacitors with a vintage wrapping.Perhaps the wood, then, you might ask. Well, sure, if you believe in the “tone wood” myth, used to raise guitar prices. Fact is (supported by science) that in solid body instruments, the wood you use have no effect on the tone. Sound is generated by magnetic field changes by metal strings. Wood has no magnetic properties, so it can’t affect the field. Sure, the “tone wood” religion is still out there, but there’s no hard evidence of it whatsoever.“Vintage” is a placebo effect. The sound of a vintage instrument is warmed mostly because of the magnetic changes in pickups. Would you recharge of switch pickups, you’d be surprised how much similar the sound of your vintage guitar and a new guitar are alike.I have two guitars: a Squier Strat and a Squier Jazz Bass. Both of them are awesome. I play the bass mostly. I paid for my bass around $160, and spend about $240 in modifications. For $400, I have a bass which can easily compete with any $2,000 and over Fender high end bass. It sounds awesome, performs awesome, looks awesome (I did paint it), and I’d bet it beats any vintage Jazz Bass any day of the year.In the end, it’s not about the guitar. It’s about the player. “Vintage” is not a magic wand that makes you a better guitar player. Another reason why “vintage is better” is hype. People spend so much money in a vintage instrument as a collection piece, what do you think they will say: “oh, I paid for this guitar 20 times what it costs new, but it sounds like crap”? NO! Most people will claim it sounds like a harp from the Heavens!Let’s talk about Gibson. The Les Paul’s headstock is known for getting out of tune more ofter than Fender’s (previously, I said “it has the crappiest design ever”, what as I was pointed out, it’s not true. Les Pauls are really nice guitars, and some misunderstanding happen), which was discovered, it was due to the headstock angle. Newer Gibsons (I think Epiphone did it) changed the headsock’s angle and it had a huge impact on tuning stability. As a musician, why would I want to buy a vintage guitar with a headstock (yeah, yeah, I said “piece of crap” here too, and that ALSO was inaccurate… sorry about that.) that gets out of tune every 3 seconds? I’d rather stay with the new and improved version of it.Other than perhaps a better manufacturing process or parts (which is not always the case) or the historical value of the guitar, there’s no major difference between vintage and new.EDIT AFTER POST (and a fair share of comments):First, I want to thank everybody for their comments (yes! Also those telling me I’m wrong. That’s what Quora is about, right? Friendly discussion)For the comments I received (and I encourage everybody to read them) I think the general agreement is:The “tone wood” discussion is still a edgy topic, with defenders, detractors and no common ground. I guess we can all agree on it.Some people find a huge difference in vintage instruments, others find barely any difference.And the thing is, when there’s a topic with opinions to distant from each other (not only in instruments, but with anything in life), only one conclusion can be taken:The issue is totally subjective.Would it be objective, there would be some sort of general consensus. So, does wood affect tone? Some people is able to find a difference, some don’t. Are vintage instruments better? Some people claim to feel the difference. Some people finds no major difference. The point? And I told someone, the instrument picks the player, not the other way around. It’s about what feels good in your hands. “Good”, “bad” and “better” are no absolutes. It’s only about what’s good, bad or better for yourself.Again, thanks for the comments!SECOND EDIT AFTER POST (wow!! I didn’t expect the answers here!!)As Alex Kallend pointed (and fairly so), I mentioned “the science”, but didn’t care about explaining it. For the sake of clarity, I will reprint here what I answered him. Thanks for the remark, Alex!“You are totally right. I didn’t explained the science behind it. And that makes me look like a monkey repeating whatever I read around without thinking about it. I truly apologize. I hope you don’t think less of me after what I will do here (and I apologize for the length of this, but I need to try not to look like an idiot).Here’s the science behid it, as I learned it, and as I understand it:Electric solid body guitars (since that’s what we are talking about here) string vibration comes from plucking. A “wave” (actually a physical wave, similar to getting a rope tied to a rail, and snapping it) is formed, and that wave bounces from the nut to the bridge.Sustain comes from the resistance the limiting parts presents. That’s why a high mass bridge helps increasing the sustain on a bass guitar (I’m mostly a bassist). In that case, one could argue more compact wood would increase sustain. And would the nut and bridge were made of wood, that would be totally true. In fact, that IS true for acoustic instruments. But in the case of electrics, the metal bridge make most of the wave bounce back. The wood’s mass has very little impact on that. But regardless, the mass has an impact on sustain, not tone.Tone comes from the variation of the magnetic field generated by the vibration of the metal string. Put a nylon string there, and it will not sound (unless you have a microphonic pickup, which is a no-no for good quality pickups). The metal string, to generate the right note, must vibrate in a certain frequency (“Frequency” means how many times a body vibrates in a determined segment of time, measured in Hz). Each note has its very own frequency. The funny thing about strings is, they can generate secondary waves when plucked.Now, how’s the sound generated? When a magnet is placed inside a coil, and we generate movement, an electric current is generated. That’s how many generators work: A powerful magnet is placed inside a coil. Steam or water makes the magnet spin, and electricity is generated. In a guitar, the way to alter the magnetic field is by disrupting a steady magnetic field (the pickup’s magnets) with an external source, which is the string’s vibration. That vibration generates a tiny electric alternate current (AC, like in your electric socket), which needs to be amplified.Now, as any AC current, it has two characteristics. One is frequency, which we covered, and amplitude, which is how big the wave’s peaks are. And here’s where we’re getting to the key to tune:Wave amplitude is what defines the tone. Amplitude has to do with many factors. The first one is, how hard you hit the string. The other factor is the pickup construction. How strong the magnets are, how many turns the coil has, and well, how well the strings are aligned to the pickup rods are the 3 main factors when we refer to amplitude.Once the current exists the pickups and hit the electronics, potentiometers and capacitors have a role in the equalization of the wave. Volume and tone knobs do exatly that: Alter the electric wave’s amplitue to modify the tone.The final current coming from the guitar is still very tiny. Once it hits the amplifier, it’s made to something strong enough to make a speaker vibrate. But the very nature of the amp will also transform the electric wave. The implies modifying the wave’s amplitude. When you do that, depending on the amp, it could amplify in a very clean way or in a dirty way. Picture zooming a bitmap image. When in its original size, it looks sharp. The bigger it gets, the blurrier it gets. Amps are no different.So, in this amazing road, from plucking the string to reaching the speaker, I don’t see any place where the wood’s nature could affect the amplitude of the wave. Unless, of course, the vibration of the whole instrument can make the pickups vibrate. But in most cases, pickups are very well fixed in the body without much space for vibration. In fact, the best guitar pickups are waxed, to avoid undesired vibration.So, wood can have other effects. For example, some woods can be heavier or lighter, making the experience more pleasant. Or they might have a better color, or a better finish. It can improve the instrument in many different ways. But I can’t see how it can improve the guitar’s tone. The science behind it tells me it has no effect.Now, let’s highlight, we are talking about “tone wood”, not “sustain wood”, hehe! Tone and sustain are two very different things.Unless, of course, there’s a factor I’m missing.Thanks for your comment. It really helped me round up the idea.”

BrazilBrazil joined the Allied effort during the Second World War, serving as base for the invasion of Africa and sending an expeditionary force to Italy. As part of the Brazil-United States Political-Military Agreement, in return the US would help set up Brazil’s steel industry.As the Cold War began to take shape after the war, the US made a further requirement that Brazil joined the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance in order to receive the promised funds to build its steel industry. President Truman visited Brazil for the signing of that treaty, and President Dutra (pronounced doo-tra) from Brazil hosted the conference.There are many jokes about Dutra’s ignorance of English language. By far the most revealing and well known one involves his welcoming Truman at his arrival:— How do you do, Dutra?— How true you true, Truman?YemenAbdullah as-Sallal staged the military coup that started the North Yemen Civil War. Egypt, under Gamal Abdel Nasser, provided military support to Sallal. However, Sallal was seen in Egypt as a boorish man who lacked refinement in manners. It is said that when visiting Egypt, he was confronted with a breakfast table that included assorted fruits, many of which he hadn't tried yet. It is believed Nasser would have asked him if he enjoyed that gift:— And did you like the bananas?— Yes. However I did find the pip really hard to swallow…

José Mourinho should bring Gareth Bale back to Spurs.This might be an expensive affair but I think Levy and F.Perez can come to an agreement based on how much Real Madrid pays for the man every week and not even play him. Madrid can certainly take some loss and just sell him. Spurs need a new blood to come out of their distress. Gareth Bale, fortunately rose to top in this club and knows the dressing room and fans. There are still a couple of players at the club he played with. Bale will be a great addition to this club as they don’t have a great right winger right now.From the technical point of view, it makes sense as well. Bale will have the best version of Benzema in the form of Harry Kane. Bale and Son on both the wings will only make things better. Moura will be a fantastic secondary option on either side and can help fill the Bale’s role whenever needed. Mourinho, though not a great man manager, has had an experience working with star players and don’t expect it will be a problem this time as well.Bale moving to London is the best thing for Spurs and of course for Bale instead of moving to China. All that’s needed is their bosses coming to an agreement and Bale being fit. “Just cut that bun and show us the vintage/new Bale”.