What does a chambered body give you?

[bbehrens]

What does a chambered body give you?

Obviously it reduces weight but that is not the primary consideration (at least I don't think so).

Would the chambers be round?

Where would they be placed?

Does it result in a thicker body?

Does it affect the bass frequencies or the treble or both?

Please enlighten me.

- bsb

[Fishbrain]

subscrubed

[ehque]

Originally Posted by bbehrens

What does a chambered body give you?

Obviously it reduces weight but that is not the primary consideration (at least I don't think so).

Would the chambers be round?

Where would they be placed?

Does it result in a thicker body?

Does it affect the bass frequencies or the treble or both?

Please enlighten me.

- bsb

i think the main drive factors are weight and sound. with a more hollow body its lighter and allowed to move more, draining certain frequencies from the strings (usually the high ones) allowing for a warmer sound.

chambers need not be round, most ive seen are either large chambers contoured to the body, which may result in feedback, and long strips of differing length, used by warmoth and claimed to reduce feedback because there are many different frequencies the chambers will resonate at.

i think only hobbists with routers make circular chambers.

they can be placed throughout the body, but usually not under the bridge, near the neck, or near the control cavity.

no it does not always result in a thicker body.

[bbehrens]

Originally Posted by ehque

with a more hollow body its lighter and allowed to move more, draining certain frequencies from the strings (usually the high ones) allowing for a warmer sound.

I would not think that this would lead to a more vintage tone necessarily though. But does it kill the trebles?

Originally Posted by ehque

i think only hobbists with routers make circular chambers.

I have no idea. I didn't know that there was any thought to it with respect to feedback or chamber shape.

Originally Posted by ehque

they can be placed throughout the body, but usually not under the bridge, near the neck, or near the control cavity.

This seems obvious enough. The control cavity is already a chamber some luthiers try to keep as small as possible!

- bsb

[ehque]

Originally Posted by bbehrens

I would not think that this would lead to a more vintage tone necessarily though. But does it kill the trebles?

conventional wisdom - yes. not completely, but it would somehow.

Originally Posted by bbehrens

I have no idea. I didn't know that there was any thought to it with respect to feedback or chamber shape.

the lighter the bass and the freer the top is to move (which is the case when you start putting large chambers in the core block) the more it (your bass, and the top) can be affected by loud noises nearby, such as that coming from your monitoring amp. if it resonates at any note or harmonic of a note you use often (or at all) you'll receive feedback not unlike walking into a speaker with a microphone.

think acoustic guitars. they suffer bad feedback the more "acoustic" they are. the more chambered your bass is, the more it will behave like a acoustic guitar.

[bbehrens]

Originally Posted by ehque

conventional wisdom - yes. not completely, but it would somehow.



the lighter the bass and the freer the top is to move (which is the case when you start putting large chambers in the core block) the more it (your bass, and the top) can be affected by loud noises nearby, such as that coming from your monitoring amp. if it resonates at any note or harmonic of a note you use often (or at all) you'll receive feedback not unlike walking into a speaker with a microphone.

think acoustic guitars. they suffer bad feedback the more "acoustic" they are. the more chambered your bass is, the more it will behave like a acoustic guitar.

You are getting me more away from any kind of a chambered design. Not that I was actually considering it anyway. I just wanted to look at the design of bass guitars to evaluate what I would like to see in a custom design.

Thanks!

- bsb

[dragon5363]

Bump. Ive been wanting to try a chambered J for a while. Im considering getting one off warmoth, but id like to know a little more about the sound first.

[ehque]

Originally Posted by dragon5363

Bump. Ive been wanting to try a chambered J for a while. Im considering getting one off warmoth, but id like to know a little more about the sound first.

Warmoth mentions the sound effects in their webpage. Frankly, i dont think their routing will change the sound DRASTICALLY - its not as extensive as some ive seen, and the load bearing chunk - the center block from neck to bridge - is not routed at all, so that the pickup route templates need not be changed...

With the bridge, pickups, and neck mounted securely on a solid core block of wood, there's much less chance for the strings to resonate and for it to feedback. Also less chance for the body to change your tone. May or may not be a good thing.

I would go for it, simply for the fact that jazzes are butt-heavy.

[wilser]

From experience I can say that this is incorrect.

I have 2 chambered basses that I built in early 2005, a fretted and a fretless. 2 completely different wood combinations (fretless is a thick alder core with figured maple top and back with ebony fingerboard and the fretted is an ash body with bubinga top with maple fingerboard) and they are 2 of the brightest and snappiest sounding basses I've ever heard.

Originally Posted by ehque

...and allowed to move more, draining certain frequencies from the strings (usually the high ones) allowing for a warmer sound.

[Musiclogic]

My experience with chambering is it's more about weight than tone. Most chambered basses have a slight bump in the mids, but other thanthat, there is very little difference that I have heard. I have tried tuning chambers using some of the parameters set up by Ken Lawrence, and this seems to work. I know Cliff Bordwell does this also, and seems to have great success with it. I have really never experienced feedback problems with chambering. My personal 7 string has very large chambers on both sides with a very small control cavity, was done by body contour with no real thought for resonance, has a Highlander Piezo bridge, and has never had feedback, so I can only say I haven't had problems with feedback in my personal chambered bass, or any of the others I have built. This may be different from others experience. My 7 string is a Soft Maple Body with 1/4" zebrawood top, and 11 piece maple and Mahogany neck through. I am in the process of re finishing it, As it was dropped by a friend, and took a chip out of the cutaway.

I have had 3 Wilkins Chambered Mahogany basses with different tops and they have all sounded great. As mentioned before the chambering gives a "warmer" more "open" sound which I prefer and of course the chambers reduce the weight. I personally have not noticed any great reduction of the highs and if anything they seem to be sweeter and less brittle.

As far as the type and size of the chambers, mine as done by Pat Wilkins are 2 large ones and follow the shape of the body but the corners are rounded off and not sharp. Also mine have not been chambered for a section that runs through the center of the body in line with the neck so that you have solid wood under the bridge and pickups.

I like chambered bodies a lot! My current favorite is my Wilkins P/J Chambered Mahogany with a Maple top and my next 2 custom basses will be chambered as well.

George