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Body TONEWOOD - Myth or Fact?

#82
Here we go again:

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#85
Every part of your signal chain contributes to the overall sound. The bass is an important part of that. The wood the bass is made from no doubt plays a role. How important a role? Probably not very. Probably undetectable if you have any kind of signal modification.

Acoustic guitar? Now there's a scenario where "tonewood" makes a difference.
 
#89
bitwo said:
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.
Tonewood is poopie. Go for maple, ash or swamp ash if you want a good sound

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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#90
Crackle said:
The body wood - alder, maple, basswood, etc. - makes a huge amount of difference in tone and sustain based on my personal experiences.
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+1.

I play my basses unplugged a lot. I've noticed my best sounding basses through an amp are the ones that sound the best unplugged. I also believe the material(s) the neck is made from has an impact on tone. As do the strings, and of course, the hands playing the instrument.

Obviously once the instrument is plugged into an amp, a lot of other factors are added to an instrument's tone.
 
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#94
Smallmouth_Bass said:
I don't know how much the body wood effects the tone, but I do believe it does have some effect.

Plus, I think the majority of luthiers and instrument builders would argue that the body wood does make a difference. Seeing as they are the experts, I would be inclined to believe them.

I once transferred a neck from one body to another on the same model bass. I was surprised at how much of a difference it made.
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More than once, I've replaced necks on Fender and Fender-style basses, and every time I could hear a noticeable difference in tone.

As a matter of fact, I played a bass in front of two very good luthiers at a shop. I swapped the bass' neck, then played the bass again. All three of us could instantly hear the change in the bass' tone.
 
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#96
I have had a number of matching basses made with different body woods and there absolutely was a difference in sound, and it was very noticeable. Case in point, I currently have 3 MTD-635s that each have different wood combinations and the tone variations are fairly easy to pick out. In particular, there's a big difference in between my ash body model verses one with tulipwood. Necks and fretboards also make a significant difference. Try telling Michael Tobias himself that woods don't make a difference and get ready for quite the lesson.
 
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