It starts out innocently enough. Assuming you can already play a musical instrument, you pick up a guitar, a banjo, a mandolin, or whatever. Then you play it, and out comes the tone. You may want to call it sound, but something comes out from those wood and wire creations. Sound, or tone. But what exactly is “tone.” According to one resource, “A musical tone is characterized by it’s duration, pitch, intensity/loudness, and timbre.” And what? Timbre. That’s what. Not to be confused with, “Timber, the tree is falling!” Going further, what’s that? What is timbre? Without being too tangential, another resource defines timbre as, “A perceived quality of a musical note.” Think tinny, scratchy, annoying, vs. round, warm, full, pleasurable. And then you have to take into consideration individual variation in each person’s hearing, but we’re not going out on that musical tree limb in this look at tone. BTW, I’ve heard three or four professors of music pronounce timbre, “Tamber.”
If you play a number of musical instruments over long periods of time, you will probably begin to notice the differences in tone that they produce. From that time when you first picked up and played, say a guitar for example, to the present, when you perhaps have played 150 different guitars, you are aware that there is great variation among those guitars regarding the tone that each instrument produces. Depending on you own geekiness, you may say, “So what?” Or you may find it highly interesting that there are a variety of tones that come out of these musical boxes. And if you are in the latter category, it can motivate you to pursue that magical, mystical, elusive tone that lies somewhere over the rainbow. Some instrument playing folks are in a constant pursuit of a certain tone that they have not yet captured, a tone that is in their head, even though it is something that they never have heard. On the other hand, some folks say they have finally found it in a newly acquired instrument.
Think of John Resichman and his beloved Gibson, Lloyd Loar signed, 1924 F5 mandolin. John has been labeled by some as, “Mr. Tone.” Think full, rich, round, hypnotic tone coming from his mandolin that make your ears go, “Wow, that’s the epitome of tone.”
And then there is Tony Rice and his magical 1937 Martin D-28 guitar. He produces an ethereal tone from the guitar that has been described as, “The Holy Grail.” The guitar that a million and one guitar players covet.
And in pursuit of our own holy grail of tone, the rest of us buy, sell, and trade musical instruments in the hope of reaching the ultimate goal of getting to that one musical instrument that makes us think, “This is it. This is THE INSTRUMENT that is the instrument of all instruments that I’ve ever wanted or will want. My search is over, and I’ll never need anything else again.” And then you say out loud to your spouse, “Honest dear!”
This pursuit of tone can be loads of fun, and can add enrichment to our lives as the years go by. But it can also be dangerous. Some of these instruments that we think potentially hold the best tone in the whole wide world are very expensive. Supply and demand drive prices through the roof. For example, the Gibson Lloyd Loar signed F5 mandolins made from 1922 to 1924 can cost as much or more than some houses ($100K to $200K+). And old Martin guitars from the 1930’s and 1940’s can be just as costly. And then there are the Stradivarius violins. I’ve heard of people who have taken out second mortgages on their homes to buy a musical instrument that they are sure will eradicate existential angst, and make life complete.
On a smaller scale, it’s common for a high quality musical stringed instrument to be in the $5K to $25K range, tempting the average musician as he or she does internet window shopping all over the world. The tone-chase can be addictive, a constant challenge, a perennial pursuit, a never ending treasure hunt. But therein lies the mysterious gift of another dimension of positive meaning to life. After all, isn’t it great to be passionate about something, no matter how young or old we are?
So how can we tell when we’ve caught it after we have chased it for a year, a decade, or a lifetime? How can we tell if we have finally captured that one magic tone of tones that excite neural pathways to the point of our head almost exploding? Like so many other things in life, the answer is, “I can’t explain how it will happen. I just know that I will know it when it does happen.” In the meantime the music stores are waiting, the luthiers (instrument makers) are waiting, and the individuals are waiting. Waiting just for you to chase and catch that wonderful, magical, magnetic, elusive thing called great tone. And they know it, they all know it, and you know it. That if you excite the mind, the hand will reach for wallet….
