Quote:
Originally posted by abaguer
Barefoot Larry makes a very good point. Slam Stewart played a Kay and classical musicians would try to figure out how he got such a big sound on a plywood instrument. The sound was his, not the kay's. |
That's not to say that most people don't consider the carved sound better (I know that *I* generally do).
But carved & ply just don't make the same sounds, I like them both, and some people prefer ply.
Also, as you said, you can give almost ANY bass to some people and they will get a good sound, they may just have to work harder at it.
I saw this demonstrated by Willie Nelson. I always thought that his sound was mostly due to that old Martin Classical acoustic-electric he played, complete with a near-antique amp (I think it was an old Baldwin). I always knew that the way he hears the timing was a large part of it, but I thought the actual TONE, with the quick decay on all of the notes, was all equipment, mostly the nylon strings having a heavy pick-strokes used on them.
One time when Roger Miller was on Austin City Limits, Willie dropped in unannounced. He walked up behind Miller in the middle of a song.
They both played Miller's blonde Telecaster simultaneously, while Willie transferred the guitar from Miller to himself, without missing a note.
Suddenly the guitar work in that song began to sound almost exactly like Willie was playing his Classical guitar, right down to the decay of the notes.
I'm sure that it IS the nylon strings and Baldwin amp to some degree, but that effectively demonstrated that about 90% of it is Willie Hugh Nelson his own self... even on a Telecaster, or probably any other guitar in the world.
I sometimes play washtub bass and washboard at parties, along with various guitars & other instruments.
I almost always have amazed children with musical inclinations all over me with questions.
What I tell them is that music is mostly in the musician, not the instrument.
A good drummer can play GOOD snare drum using a snare brush or a small automotive whisk-broom, on on an old Maid-Rite galvanized washboard.
He can be a good drummer with drumsticks on an old pine board, or a guitar case, but a bad drummer can't sound good on any amount of high-quality drums, not even a full Slingerland drumset.
must have owned a Kay that had some particular problem, or bad set-up. 
