Lightwave pickups for DB, eh?

[Smith373]

I started a thread on this with the BGs and it was mentioned that the LightWave optical pickups (for BG, new stuff if you've missed it listening to too much Edgar Meyer going Bach and forth) are superb for merely amplifying the true sound of the string and give an (unwanted) upright sound to the electric according to one. How 'bout it, oh you knowledgeable dudes(Bob G)? Think the LW could be attached to a DB with minimal acoustic change and wiring? It was said that nothing can or should alter the wood sound of a DB (i.e., amps and pickups are not always true to the reproduction given the venue, sound bouncing and all that). If the LightWave is great at true sound and the DB needs true sound to be ideal (aren't they all ideal!?)then maybe there's a connection. Speculating, but it seems to make sense. Si? No?

[David Kaczorowski]

I looked at the companies website a while back and wondered the same thing. If I understand the system, the light is trained on the vibrating string, eliminating amplification of vibrations from the body of the instrument. That would
be a big problem considering that a large portion of a doublebass' sound is the resulting vibrations of the instrument's body. Additionally, I'd be worried that long term exposure to the UV light or whatever they are using might damage the finish of my bass.

[Smith373]

So, then, the doghouse without the house may be just a dog, right?

[Christopher]

The Lightwave uses IR radiation, not UV, so your eyes and the bass' finish should be spared. David is right though; an optical pickup trained solely on the string wouldn't really reproduce the instrument's true tone; you'd need at least another pickup to pick up the vibration of the instrument's top.

[David Kaczorowski]

And a third one to pick up the air moving in front of the bass would be ideal.