Another "Does Wood Matter" thread (with different trajectory).

[Solarmist]

I still think one can only (possibly) tell the difference if it's an acoustic bass; once plugged in ... forget it.

 

[Bob Lo]

if that's the case, then why bother trying to get a good tone at all? i guess that we should all just play plywood basses thru crappy guitar amps.

IMO, it all starts at the source, and everything else is downstream from there.

I'm not saying that we are all deaf,just that we don't all have the same degree of hearing.

 

[johnk_10]

i've always said that the only time the wood doesn't matter is if the player likes what they're getting out of their bass. but if i were asked to clone one for that player's backup bass, you can be sure that i wouldn't use any different ingredients.

 

[pacojas]

don't forget that, not only does wood make a difference,...

the flow of the grain disperses frequency at different angles and velocity.

IMHO!!!

hint: tap a tuning fork, place it against a piece of lumber, and place your ear at different locations on the lumber.

 

[Bob Lo]

don't forget that, not only does wood make a difference,...

the flow of the grain disperses frequency at different angles and velocity.

IMHO!!!

hint: tap a tuning fork, place it against a piece of lumber, and place your ear at different locations on the lumber.

Now you have really complicated things

 

[Korladis]

but IME, they'd sound ALOT closer.

Exactly my point.

For instance, IIRC, people have noticed general tonal differences between the 4004L and 4004Cii. The only construction difference between those models is the wood choice, as I recall.

 

[seungkoo]

The fact is, it matters. Everyone who says it doesn't go buy a washtub bass and be happy with it.

 

[mongo2]

The fact is, it matters. Everyone who says it doesn't go buy a washtub bass and be happy with it.

LOL, Since you've mentioned it. In the last 2 months I built two shortscale EUBs using washtubs. People have expressed a lot of interest in them when I've gigged them.

 

[metron]

These wood threads make me angry at trees.

 

[BioDriver]

These wood threads make me angry at trees.

As the maples scream "Oppression!"

 

[johnk_10]

that reminds me, Leo once said to me, "John, I can't tell God how to grow a tree."

 

[96tbird]

As the maples scream "Oppression!"

And the Oaks just shake their heads.

 

[pringlw]

Deadspots.

Exactly. Wood no matter? Then dead spots must be a myth.

(Wood matters but less than pickups, strings and electronics)

 

[mcnach]

Oh, look!

A squirrel!

 

[pringlw]

And the Oaks just shake their heads.

And I may add, it's keeping all the trees equal by hatchet, axe and saw that produces all the wood for our basses.

 

[Jeffrey Wash]

We like to use the analogy: "Pickups are to instruments as microphones are to singers." Which singers? Which microphones?

That about sums it up for me right there. To those who say that wood doesn't matter: does that also mean that if Bono and Tony Bennet step up and sing into the same mic then they'll sound exactly the same?

 

[PJSim]

 

[Korladis]

And the Oaks just shake their heads.

I've never seen an Oak bass.

 

[RobJ]

That about sums it up for me right there. To those who say that wood doesn't matter: does that also mean that if Bono and Tony Bennet step up and sing into the same mic then they'll sound exactly the same?

No, but then they aren't made of wood are they? Unless of course they're witches....



I kid, I kid....

 

[4FretlessMetal]

So here is something I posted on another tone wood thread, the PDF shows the relative Speed of Sound (SOS) for a number of wood species. The bars represent the mean SOS for a given species as reported by the USDA Wood Handbook, the error lines represent the distribution of SOSs for that species given the reported variation in specific gravity, and Modulus of Elasticity.

As far as I know SOS and shape are the only factors that contribute to the resonant frequency of materials like wood (excluding the damping ratio which is some what dependent on the environment and how dry the wood is)

So its clear there is a great deal of overlap in resonant frequency between species. Now as to the question of can two pieces of wood with different resonant frequencies have a perceptable difference on the tone of a bass, and is there a measureable just noticeable difference (20Hz, 200Hz, 2000Hz), well I'm taking an agnostic approach until science weighs in.

However, I did mention this dilemma over beers at a blues club to a psychologist I work with who has some expertise in auditory research and she was fairly interested. So if someone wants to put up some funding