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Body TONEWOOD - Myth or Fact?

B

bitwo

Jun 28, 2019
88
38
#1
The tonewood fixation for e-basses does not make sense. It's a historic tradition from acoustic instruments, where tonewood really matters. Compare an EUB with a traditional upright bass.

For e-instruments the material of the body does not matter at all. It is said tone depends on the choice of tonewood for the body, neck, and fingerboard. The question arises: Body TONEWOOD - Myth or Fact? If this is your fervour, read on. I found an interesting video on youtube Tone Wood Tester: One guitar to test them all .The experiments are done with guitars, I assume that basses do not have separate truth?

I am not a tonewood fanatic and do not discuss that topic with full commitment. I prefer light bodies (of Paulownia 310 kg/m³) to protect my back.

Wikipedia: "In music, sustain is a parameter of musical sound over time. It denotes the period of time during which the sound remains before it becomes inaudible, or silent." This makes clear that this has to be distinguished from "tone".
 
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#2
original-1-900x770.jpg
 
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#4
There are TOO many threads on this topic, which can readily be found by a quick search.

Stating that the materials of construction of an electric bass guitar does not matter is simply inflammatory and ignorant. If you have doubts about something, always look at the extremes.

Here is an all aluminum bass guitar, as an example of extreme deviation from standard materials of construction.


It's pretty easy to hear the difference in sound between that instrument and a standard fretless P Bass. Even with your eyes closed.

Of course, when you get to instruments built with more similar constructions, the differences can become subtle. So What? I've never played any two different basses which sounded EXACTLY the same. I suppose that could be disproved using completely engineered materials (like aluminum); but, what's the point? Isn't it a good thing that our wooden instruments are all slightly to not so slightly different? We use them to create ART, not some kind of engineering project deliverable.

Wood is a VERY complicated material with a wide range of properties and behaviors. And, I'm glad of it.

Move along, nothing to see here.
 
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#7
bucephylus said:
There are TOO many threads on this topic, which can readily be found by a quick search.

Stating that the materials of construction of an electric bass guitar does not matter is simply inflammatory and ignorant. If you have doubts about something, always look at the extremes.

Here is an all aluminum bass guitar, as an example of extreme deviation from standard materials of construction.


It's pretty easy to hear the difference in sound between that instrument and a standard fretless P Bass. Even with your eyes closed.

Of course, when you get to instruments built with more similar constructions, the differences can become subtle. So What? I've never played any two different basses which sounded EXACTLY the same. I suppose that could be disproved using completely engineered materials (like aluminum); but, what's the point? Isn't it a good thing that our wooden instruments are all slightly to not so slightly different? We use them to create ART, not some kind of engineering project deliverable.

Wood is a VERY complicated material with a wide range of properties and behaviors. And, I'm glad of it.

Move along, nothing to see here.
Click to expand...

I'd be willing to bet if that aluminum fingerboard was fretted, it wouldn't sound much different than any other fretted P bass. In this case, the aluminum fingerboard / string interaction is the dominant factor in the timbre.
 
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#10
byacey said:
I'd be willing to bet if that aluminum fingerboard was fretted, it wouldn't sound much different than any other fretted P bass. In this case, the aluminum fingerboard / string interaction is the dominant factor in the timbre.
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I expect not. I believe you would still hear wildly more sustain and "brightness" from the all aluminum instrument. What you are hearing here is largely due to a significantly lower amount of damping at the string ends; including at the bridge.

Much of the instrument specific sound we are accustomed to occurs due to information in the string which is lost into the body. It's a subtractive thing. No doubt, there are positive resonances as well.

Feel free to make a fretted version to disprove my hypothesis.

Otherwise, take note that bass guitars built with bar stock aluminum would be wildly less expensive to produce than the carved (CNC'd) wooden instruments, and be far more profitable for bass guitar companies. However, I would not advise taking one into a Nashville studio, where actual sound matters far more than appearance. But, feel free to try that as well.
 
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#19
arbiterusa said:
OP troll post galore. No merit to that argument.



Steinbergers. They all sound exactly alike. As you'd expect, as they're not wood but a synthetic compound.
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That is probably true. I've never comparatively played two Steinies; but as I also stated, you might expect that result from instruments built with completely engineered materials. Which would be the Steinberger. Not disparaging Steinbergers; I actually like Steinbergers, just don't gig them.
 

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