I notice that most electric guitars follow roughly the same design as acoustic and classical guitars.
 
Now I understand that the orthodox shape and the capacity of an acoustic's body has traditionally been chosen to maximise the volume of the strings and to create the 'tone' of the instrument. I also understand that the choice of wood and other materials in an acoustic guitar (as well as the type of strings used), as well as how the strings are played are also crucial to the tone.
 
I also realise that the type of wood and method of construction (e.g. bolt-on or neck-through), as well as variables like pick-up and string choice affect the tone of an electric guitar.
 
But my question is, naïve as it may be, does the shape of an electric guitar body make and real difference to sound of an instrument?
 
 

the strat looks like you are holding a woman's body.
 
what else is there to know?
 

I would say no.
 
But, as with anything audio related, some would suggest that it might make some tiny infinitesimal difference and then inflate that to an epic level of importance.

Well in my experience I think it does and it does make sense to me. I mean as a Gibson fan who's had the good fortune to play through (but not necessarily own) the wildly varying styles of Gibby bodies I notice a marked difference even though the hardware/electronics are more or less the same (tune-o-matic bridge, chrome 57 pickups, standard Gibby pots/wiring, etc). Like an SG is kind of light and breezy sounding with just enough crisp and just enough dark but a little thinner than other models. A Flying V is dark, full and bottomy (as is an Explorer from waht I remember but I do not have much experience with those). A Les Paul is surprisingly crisp for it's density but has a nice full midrange (I actually don't like Pauls but they certainly are unique and cannot be replaced if you are going for that specific tone).
 
Those are all solid bodies which with similar hardware and pickups should behave sonically exactly the same way if body shape had nothing to do with it. I have also noticed that these characteristics seem to hold true even on clones.
 
Other brands are harder to tell the difference on because... well there aren't that many wildly varying body styles with Fender and you likely won't get the same consistency amongst hardware/electronics with other brands.
 
That said... I'm no luthier, sonic genius or even a particularly intelligent individual. It could all be psychological but I notice a difference and actually seek out body styles based on these experiences because I have to rely on clones due to extremely limited finances. For example... I currently have a strat style Pacifica with a Hot Strat pickup config that does indeed behave like a Strat when I tell it to (but because of the humbucker can be summoned to do the devils work as far as nice crunchy metal rhythms/leads). I also have an Ibanez Les Paul clone that despite the absolute arse quality of it and the extremely underpowered (non-chrome) humbuckers can be coaxed into doing the job of a Les Paul.
 
What I would REALLY like is to have a good SG style again and an old ES style (Epiphone has a reasonably priced ES series on the go right now I'd love to get my hands on but the first electric I owned was a Saga II semi hollow body ES clone and it was brilliant in all sense of the word).
 
That said I also own an ancient Ibanez roadstar that is Strat style that no matter what I load into it will never sound like a Strat but I think that has more to do with the wood used in the neck and the body and the ridiculous amount of lacquer on the body (I swear it's like over a millimeter worth of coating). It is however thicker in the body than a real strat and is in general shaped differently as far as cutaways and subtle curves. It's hard to explain without picking it up but it's just bulkier and an example is the horns at the neck cutaway are just far less sculpted and much thicker likely deadening a lot of the tone and/or fattening it up. Still a very nice guitar and is more suited for metal with the right pickups.
 
tl;dr... yeah, I think shape has a lot to do with tone.

drewfx1
I would say no.
 
But, as with anything audio related, some would suggest that it might make some tiny infinitesimal difference and then inflate that to an epic level of importance.

drewfx1
I would say no.
 
But, as with anything audio related, some would suggest that it might make some tiny infinitesimal difference and then inflate that to an epic level of importance.

lol

If you ever played an unbalanced instrument you may agree that design of body is much more important...after all there as been many years of instruments with different woods and hardware to let one know that there are "safe" choices but what are they worth if you have hold the thing all the time to keep the head from hitting you in the balls or knocking your front teeth out?

Okay... look at it this way. Take an unplugged guitar and hit some strings. Doesn't sound like much. Now touch the headstock or any other part of the actual body of the guitar to a wall or desk or whatever. It will amplify it simply through vibration (I used to take my guitar into the crapper as a kid and butt it up against the drywall to practice as I pooped). So we have just confirmed that there are vibrations going through the body of the guitar. Whether those vibrations are going to directly affect the pickups or not would have to be answered by an electrical engineer. HOWEVER what WILL be happening at the very least is those vibrations will physical affect the vibrations of the strings themselves which WILL affect what is being picked up by the pick ups.
 
Resonance and whatnot.
 
I Want to Believe!
 

spacey
If you ever played an unbalanced instrument you may agree that design of body is much more important...after all there as been many years of instruments with different woods and hardware to let one know that there are "safe" choices but what are they worth if you have hold the thing all the time to keep the head from hitting you in the balls or knocking your front teeth out?

In my crippliness I can appreciate the ergonomics of guitar design much more. An SG/Strat style body is far easier to wield for long periods in a sitting position than a Flying V.
 
I've always disliked how Les Pauls are weighted. Never mind all the other things I dislike about them like the fat, rigid necks. The Studio and Juniors are alright but they kind of defeat the purpose of using an LP. Might as well just go for an SG at that point.
 
Also... hi, Spacey. ;-)

Okay....look at it this way...next time you hear a recording of somebody playing a guitar, which you've never heard so you don't have a clue about what they are using, tell what guitar/shape they are playing, woods used, name the pickups they are using, name the strings, tell all the hardware such as brand of bridge, type of nut material and anything else about it that so many claim to be able to tell...amps/sims, brand of effects....etc., AFTER they know all that info....and then it all sounds so different when somebody else plays the exact same "stuff". LOL...measure what? Measure how nutty people are? Advertising folks measure them...by profits.