How/why is the tone of an electric guitar affected by the type of wood it’s made from?

Question

The pickups convert vibrating strings to electrical signals, so how would the type of wood they’re embedded in affect the tone? (Or even a hollow vs solid body?)

In: 15

Answer 1

Before the string vibrations reach the pickups, they travel through the guitar’s body, neck, and headstock, all of which are made of wood.
As the string vibrates, it sets the entire guitar in motion, and the vibrations are transmitted through the wood. The density, stiffness, and resonance of the wood affect how efficiently it transmits these vibrations, and this can alter the character of the sound that ultimately reaches the pickups.

So, the wood of an electric guitar can have a significant effect on the way the guitar sounds, even though the final sound is produced by the pickups.