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Anthony Jackson's TONE?

#41
I love AJ's tone but I do feel it has gotten more "stringy" sounding; more metalic sounding. It's like a big string instead of a big piece of wood. I really liked the sound he got with Bartolini's in the old days. It was much warmer. I was surprised when I heard him on the Hiromi disc. Very different sound these days.....he's still the best though.
 
#47
musicman5string said:
Something to consider in his tone is the fact that he changes his strings something like.....every day!!!!
I have heard from a number of people who said he does in fact change his strings ridiculously often; maybe it's every 3-4days, but still...
I remember my first bass teacher told me a story about how when he was a kid AJ gave him a bag of his "used" strings; my teacher said they were brand new.
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that during a session Anthony would change his strings after each take. I’m not sure the author was claiming he did it all the time, but said he saw him do it on the session the author observed. I thought it was excessive, or perhaps obsessive. I later came across an article where they studied the degradation of strings and they do decline quite quickly, from their new state. My recollection is degradation of the high frequencies, but I don’t recall for certain. Anthony was a perfectionist, by all accounts, and he had very good ears. I believe this sort of thing would make a difference to him. I visited the Fodera shop in 2005. I had just bought #9 from TheGrooveShop and Dave Beasley brought me by. Vinny was there and we talked about Anthony. He said when he was filing down the nut on one of Anthony’s basses he was skeptical whether Anthony was actually hearing the minuscule changes that Vinny was making. Vinny would sometimes pretend to change it but not really change it, but he never fooled Anthony. Vinny firmly believed that Anthony had exceptional ears.
 
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#48
Another contribution to the bass guitar community by Anthony Jackson, I believe, is the exposed core or tapered string that Anthony used extensively. As the thickness of the string gets larger for strings it makes it more difficult for the string to bend, both at the bridge saddle and the stopping point or nut. This affects the tone of the string when plucked. Piano strings for lower notes address this by being made so that the wire windings that wrap the central core wire end before crossing the equivalent of the bridge saddles. The wire wrap windings only are present on the vibrating portion of the string, to increase the mass or linear density to lower the pitch. As I understand it, Anthony requested exposed core strings from Ken Smith when Ken made the two 6-string basses for Anthony. (I did some quick research to confirm my recollection that Ken Smith claimed to be the first to offer exposed core or tapered bass guitar strings and found a website selling Ken Smith tapered bass guitar strings referring to them as “Pioneered by Ken Smith”.)

The slope of the string, relative to a non-vibrating string, is greatest at the bridge and stopping point or nut (also at any nodes for contributions from the overtone series, but it is the change in slope, I.e. bend, that is important which is maximum at bridge saddles and stopping point). You can’t do much about the stopping point, but at the bridge you can use the exposed core technique so that only the thin core wire comes across the saddle. The thin core wire can bend more freely, with a much smaller radius of curvature than the thick string on a B, E or A string. This leads to a more pure/precise note for the fundamental and overtone series. As I see it.

People have commented on the piano-like sound of Anthony and I think this is a contributing factor.
 
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#49
jsbarber said:
Another contribution to the bass guitar community by Anthony Jackson, I believe, is the exposed core or tapered string that Anthony used extensively. As the thickness of the string gets larger for strings it makes it more difficult for the string to bend, both at the bridge saddle and the stopping point or nut. This affects the tone of the string when plucked. Piano strings for lower notes address this by being made so that the wire windings that wrap the central core wire end before crossing the equivalent of the bridge saddles. The wire wrap windings only are present on the vibrating portion of the string, to increase the mass or linear density to lower the pitch. As I understand it, Anthony requested exposed core strings from Ken Smith when Ken made the two 6-string basses for Anthony. (I did some quick research to confirm my recollection that Ken Smith claimed to be the first to offer exposed core or tapered bass guitar strings and found a website selling Ken Smith tapered bass guitar strings referring to them as “Pioneered by Ken Smith”.)

The slope of the string, relative to a non-vibrating string, is greatest at the bridge and stopping point or nut (also at any nodes for contributions from the overtone series, but it is the change in slope, I.e. bend, that is important which is maximum at bridge saddles and stopping point). You can’t do much about the stopping point, but at the bridge you can use the exposed core technique so that only the thin core wire comes across the saddle. The thin core wire can bend more freely, with a much smaller radius of curvature than the thick string on a B, E or A string. This leads to a more pure/precise note for the fundamental and overtone series. As I see it.

People have commented on the piano-like sound of Anthony and I think this is a contributing factor.
Click to expand...
I'm surprised by Anthony's string gauges. I thought for sure he had a 130 for the B to get that massive sound. I guess the quality of Fodera's build and the exposed core helped a lot! Anthony Jackson's signature 6-string bass strings have a gauge of .028, .045, .065, .085, .105, and .125. These gauges are unique because they are wound on a round exposed core, which allows for greater sustain and subtle overtones, a design that was specifically crafted to his specifications.
 
#50
deanb1043 said:
I'm surprised by Anthony's string gauges. I thought for sure he had a 130 for the B to get that massive sound. I guess the quality of Fodera's build and the exposed core helped a lot! Anthony Jackson's signature 6-string bass strings have a gauge of .028, .045, .065, .085, .105, and .125. These gauges are unique because they are wound on a round exposed core, which allows for greater sustain and subtle overtones, a design that was specifically crafted to his specifications.
Click to expand...
I may be wrong, but I remember his B was 128
 

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