The Rules of Hearing Wood

[-=DanAtkinson=-]

As most of you know, I recently posted threads with audio clips of different body & fretboard woods. My hunch was that wood did not influence tone nearly as much as some people like to think, so I set out to test my theory.

Well, as I skimmed through those threads last night, I realized I terribly wrong I was. Even though the bulk of TB members couldn't tell the difference between woods, a handful of tonewood experts helped me understand the error of my ways, and showed me how flawed and useless my tests were.

My tests were flawed because apparently there is a very, very specific list of requirements/rules to actually being able to hear wood tones. You can't possibly hear the differences in most everyday typical scenarios.

So I thought it would be useful to consolidate all these rules in one place. The following requirements were presented by various tonewood experts, in various places throughout my threads.


You can only hear variations in wood tone:

1. If you have 2 pickups on your bass
2. If you have 1 pickup on your bass
3. If you solo the bridge pickup
4. If you don't use a compressor
5. If you use a high-end expensive preamp
6. If you use a low-mass bridge
7. If you are listening to the bass through an amp in a live stage setting
8. If you are listening to the bass recorded direct, in a controlled studio environment
9. If you have a robot play the bass parts to remove any variation between takes
10. If you use drastically different tonal woods, such as Maple vs. Mahogany
11. If you use expensive pickups
12. If you listen to the raw WAV file vs. an MP3 file (like 95% of people use these days)
13. If you record the samples using several bodies of each wood type, not just 1
14. If you have decades of experience as a professional luthier
15. If you don't apply any EQ to your bass signal
16. If you aren't a moron
17. If you don't have defective ears
18. If you're playing a jazz part
19. If you are listening to the bass by itself (solo)
20. If the recording process is supervised by MIT graduates and conducted at NASA

I'm sure there are more that I missed. There are lots of posts in those threads. If you know of any other requirements, please feel free to add to this thread.

[bassclef216]

I thought the # 1 rule was - You have a deep need to justify why you paid so much for your instrument.

-Or-

You are an instrument making company and you want to get some suckers to pay a couple extra grand for virtually the same thing. Marketing marketing marketing.

[conqr]

I hear villagers,....and pitchforks

[TheEmptyCell]

21. If hearing a difference is actually important to you.

I find the tests fascinating, and reinforce my OWN experience (not that of anyone else in the universe) that wood isn't the main or only factor in determining tone. If it looks good and doesn't fall apart, count me in!

[arsie]

I'm not sure NATO's got any fighter planes left to spare, Dan.

[Selta]

Where do these people come up with these things?

[screaminglucy]

i think it's all an excuse to go and get new/different gear or maybe obsessing about such things is just a distraction from the real world...lol.

Anyways, good work Dan dispelling the tone myths that are prevalent throughout boards like these

[WoodyG3]

Science and art have never mixed well. I'm okay with that. I want my doctor to be a good scientist. I want the guy I'm listening to on stage to be a good artist.

[christw]

I pay no attention to wood for it's tonal properties. Aesthetics, weight, and hardness (to resist denting) are important to me though.

[kesslari]

The best way to hear wood is to have an enthusiastic, uninhibited and naturally noisy partner. :-)

[ghoulbug]

You forgot rule #21.
If you lack the ability to hear what other people clearly can, then you are entitled to vent your frustration by making a sarcastic rant-filled thread that contributes nothing to the debate at hand.

Just messin' with ya, Dan.

[-=DanAtkinson=-]

Originally Posted by kesslari

The best way to hear wood is to have an enthusiastic, uninhibited and naturally noisy partner. :-)

/thread

[metron]

Thats pretty funny! What about playing near the bridge because the closer you play to the bridge, the more the wood influences the tone due to proximity?

[smperry]

Originally Posted by -=DanAtkinson=-

/thread

Good idea. Nothing good is going to come out of this thread, which is dripping with sarcasm. Closed.