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Double Bass Basses improving with age? (DB Forum Thread)

#61
About the TonRite, no feedback, nobody seems to use one, reason enough for me to try it ;).
So it runs over night and according to the instructions, after 10 days one should hear the result :smug:.
I will report.
TonRite.jpg
 
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#62
The closest I can come to this is that a fair number of my mandolin playing friends tried the ToneRite when they first came out. Some have stayed with it, others have not. There are so many other variables with any wooden acoustic instrument that it's very difficult to say what has helped tone and what has not. Given that many instruments that we're comparing with are 100+ years old, life is literally too short to know for sure.
 
#63
#64
In my experience, bowing has clearly improved the sound of my strings but I haven't seen (or heard) bowing improve the sound of my bass. Setup, including string choice and sound post adjustment definitely has improved it. But, then, the bass is aluminum so it's hard to know for sure what to expect.
 
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#65
Don Hergert said:
the bass is aluminum so it's hard to know for sure what to expect.
Click to expand...

I would think that aluminum would be impervious to any structural changes that wood might experience. We know that old wood is different from new wood. Metal? Unless it's been stressed or oxidized, how does it change?
 
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#67
From my banjo and Dobro experience, many players and collectors believe that metal crystallizes with vibration, including sound vibration. Just like with wood, I don't honestly know that anyone has ever proved that crystallization of metal due to sound vibration -- if in fact it happens -- improves tone.

My personal opinion is that setup and the touch of the player has more to do with tone improvement than age or vibration.
 
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#68
Don Hergert said:
From my banjo and Dobro experience, many players and collectors believe that metal crystallizes with vibration, including sound vibration. Just like with wood, I don't honestly know that anyone has ever proved that crystallization of metal due to sound vibration -- if in fact it happens -- improves tone.

My personal opinion is that setup and the touch of the player has more to do with tone improvement than age or vibration.
Click to expand...

Or maybe it will slowly expand over time like Dizzy Gillespie's cheeks...
:D
 
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#69
I've read a lot of back and forth on this for a very long time and while I agree to a point the part that nags at you is...
What is better?
How cam you accurately document the same bass being played at say an interval of 10 or 20 years where factors like player and strings are not a factor? Even if you had strings that were exactly the same and the temperature and weather conditions are are exactly the same... you would hope the player had gotten better in that time which would have a effect.. so you would need to use a machine of some type. AND how are you measuring this better? what are the sonically measurable factors of this better? how many to a blindfolded group of witnesses is needed for a correct measure of better. And is it really better?
 
#71
My wooden instruments seem to have improved with age. Or maybe it's that my ears have not.

Anyway, a lot mandolin and guitar builders and players are bought in to torrefaction process. I think it's snake oil, but until someone figures out how to do and does an objective study I can't be sure.

[This invalid link has been removed]
 
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