bass sound after top removal--what's normal?

[PB+J]

Should it sound different? It seems to.

Six months ago I had a bad rib crack develop in my bass,a Shen 7/8 willow flatback. I'd always liked the bass for its even tone--it has no deficiencies, even in all registers, big, warm, lively--but been a little frustrated with what I could only call a lack of "character." It's a bit like a Toyota Camry--reliable, dependable, always gets the job done, little zing.

I took the bass to Tom Wolfe in The Plains, VA, and he did an excellent job on the repair. He had to take the top off.

The bass sounded different right away--much brighter. I had it strung with Velvet blues before and after, and had not noticed any twangy-ness, but now they seemed really twangy. And the action was higher. The adjusters were all the way down, and before I'd had them up a bit in summer. The velvets did not feel the same. So I switched to 3 old spiro weichs and a velvet G. Right away, much happier.

The bass has gotten less twangy over the last month--all the twang is gone--and now it sounds deep and rich and oddly, it seems to have a little more of what I'd call "character." That could be my imagination, but I'm really liking the tone I'm getting right now. The action is still higher than it was, and I'm thinking of taking it in to have it brought down a bit.

It could all be my imagination. But what should one expect when the top comes off and goes back on? Everything the same? some differences? Any generalizations?

[Square Bear]

the action may be higher because simply because it is summer now and the wood is expanding. if you can expect a bass to sound different when you move the sound post half an inch, it follows that you would expect it to sound different after having major work done. i think it's a craps shoot, no way to know what is going to happen. you increase your odds of a positive outcome by having your work done by a quality, experienced luthier though.

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

My bass is now one year into it's new life after a total restoration. Its tone has gotten bigger, deeper and warmer, There was some twang, more like boink on the E but it's gone. Some of that is due to a better bridge, but most of the improvement has just come with playing the bass in.
The humidity of summer may have some effect on the soundpost fit as well.