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12-02-2009, 10:24 PM
| | | | Tonewoods? How do they make a difference?
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It has come to my attention that apparently the type of wood used in a bass guitar makes it sound different? I'm not trying to tell people they are wrong, as I am not very experienced with basses, I just want to know how it makes a difference because apparently basses work like so: "Most electric bass guitars use magnetic pickups. The vibrations of the instrument's metal strings within the magnetic field of the permanent magnets in magnetic pickups produce small variations in the magnetic flux threading the coils of the pickups. This in turn produces small electrical voltages in the coils. These low-level signals are then amplified and played through a speaker."
as I am sure most of you know already. How then does the vibrations of the wood make a difference when it is picking up string movement and converting it to electric signals based on the response of a changing magnetic field?
Again just so it is very clear since I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression, I like this place, I just need to know  |
12-02-2009, 10:30 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Israel | | I've been wondering the same thing for a while, waiting to hear an answer! 
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12-02-2009, 10:32 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio | | The pickup's functioning varies depending on the density of the wood. If you have a tough wood like mahogany, it sounds really crisp and solid, like the wood. If you have a light wood like basswood, it sounds lighter, and imo, wimpier. 
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12-02-2009, 10:33 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio | | Which, it has to do entirely with vibrations of the strings, which vibrate the wood around the pickup, which the pickup.. picks up. Get it? 
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12-03-2009, 08:03 AM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Central Illinois, USA | | | An electric instrument is a totaly system. The way the strings vibrate is impacted considerably by the neck, the bridge, and the body wood (IMO, in that order). A very stiff neck, a hard body wood, and a solid bridge will change how the strings vibrate. All the PUPs can do is translate what the strings are doing.
An ash bodied Precision does sound a LOT different than a basswood one, which sounds different from an alder one. Go to Warmoth's site and read what they have to say about wood. Read up on what Ken Smith (Ken Smith Basses) and Ron Wickersham (Alembic) have to say about woods.
Compare a Steinberger to a Spector to a Tobias.
John
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12-03-2009, 08:17 AM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burlington, Vermont vt | | | I can almost hear the hand-waving now....
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12-03-2009, 04:55 PM
|  | Will work for groove | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Middletown, OH | | | It's not so much the type of wood, but the quality of the wood itself that makes the difference.
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12-04-2009, 07:08 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Austin, TX | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Vertex  It has come to my attention that apparently the type of wood used in a bass guitar makes it sound different? I'm not trying to tell people they are wrong, as I am not very experienced with basses, I just want to know how it makes a difference because apparently basses work like so: "Most electric bass guitars use magnetic pickups. The vibrations of the instrument's metal strings within the magnetic field of the permanent magnets in magnetic pickups produce small variations in the magnetic flux threading the coils of the pickups. This in turn produces small electrical voltages in the coils. These low-level signals are then amplified and played through a speaker."
as I am sure most of you know already. How then does the vibrations of the wood make a difference when it is picking up string movement and converting it to electric signals based on the response of a changing magnetic field?
Again just so it is very clear since I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression, I like this place, I just need to know | Go over to the "basses" forum and wait around for a bit. Soon enough there will be a tonewoods thread that will start out all civil and then degenerate into such a p!$$!ng contest that the mods will wade in and clean house.
There is no definitive answer to your question.
Last edited by ggunn : 12-04-2009 at 07:12 PM.
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12-05-2009, 12:03 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by __HM__ Which, it has to do entirely with vibrations of the strings, which vibrate the wood around the pickup, which the pickup.. picks up. Get it? | 
This is true.
Plus, different wood, changes the vibrations of the string.
Also, quality of tone wood will effect vibrations.
Not all alder sounds exactly alike. ( it is close) |
12-05-2009, 02:59 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: D'Shaw | | | The strings are attached to the wooden body and neck which feed the energy of the vibrating string back to the string itself including any filtering and phase changes encountered along the way.
All that is what's transduced by the pickups.
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12-05-2009, 07:51 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: WA State | | Quote:
Originally Posted by __HM__ Which, it has to do entirely with vibrations of the strings, which vibrate the wood around the pickup, which the pickup.. picks up. Get it? | http://entertainment.howstuffworks.c...ic-guitar1.htm
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