Change in tone with ageing?

[bassdude51]

Seven years down the road, you ears have probably lost some of it's high end......thus your J Bass sounds warmer.

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[msb]

I suspect that your touch has improved because of all that time you’ve put in playing. I play a blues jam every weekend and let people use my gear. Same bass , same amp , same settings , three different players … three completely different bass sounds. I know that most of the tone comes from the player’s touch , not the bass , the amp , or the settings.

 

[amper]

Hello,

As described in THIS THREAD , I reacquired a Jazz Bass I used to own since new, after 7 years. Obviously, I cannot make a direct comparison, but from memory, I am convinced that now, after 7 years, the tone of the bass is considerably deeper and warmer. Could it be that the this is due to wood ageing, knowing that it has a thin nitro finish?

What's your experience people?

The finish has little to nothing to do with the process of wood aging. Even if your instrument had a catalyzed finish, the wood would still change with time. A finish coating that feels impermeable to you is not necessarily impermeable to volatile components in the wood which can migrate through the finish. I have some 30 year old fountain pen cartridges that have completely dried up, despite remaining sealed, because the plastic may *seem* impervious, but over the course of many years, the water inside migrates through the polyethylene and evaporates.

Yes, all other things being equal, wood generally gets more resonant as it gets older.

People who don't think this is a thing have no understanding of what happens to wood as it ages, it's really that simple.

Please note the these questions are not actual "questions" to anyone who has studied even a small amount of materials science. Only uninformed musicians think that wood aging has no effect on tone.

And for the record, I prefer newer instruments to 1950s-1960s vintage, so you can't lay that one on me, either. Virtually everything about modern manufacturing is vastly superior, save for the quality and age of the wood. Wood is only one factor in tone.

 

[Ajsweet]

Hi OP,

I have a 3 month old Spector Euro 4LX.

Things I have noticed since the 1st day (@brand new):

1. The playability is (very slightly) different. (better)
2. The fret clank is less.
3. A very subtle and slight change in tone.
4. An hour's practice on my Spector is worth 2 hours on my last bass.
5. The gold plating on the bridge is already wearing off.

My Euro 4LX has a hard high gloss (2pot?) finish all over (but the fretboard) , so I'm not sure how the moisture content of the wood ages and reacts to the humidity in the environment.

 

[Bass Motifs]

For a moment I thought this thread was about the bassist...

 

[Paul New]

My 68 precision has changed a great deal, but I can compensate with a hearing aid adjustment.

 

[bholder]

Yeah yeah as I get older, my tone just gets grumpier. Oh you mean the bass? Yeah, warm, mellow. Not grumpy.

 

[jj.833]

I generally favor older basses above new ones. 'The difference' I feel is more substantial with cheaper ones, like Squiers. With an exception of really bad basses, ie. made from really bad wood, which I luckilly don't see too often anymore.
I don't believe I could gain something by arguing whether it is a fact, or a fault of mine, or a fault of the manufacturers.

Most bassists I know truly believe that their bass is better than other. I admire everyone who stays with his instrument long enough for him to consider its age as a factor. I think it might mean that the player cares for the music more than for the object the music is made with.

 

[Ajsweet]

Hi OP,

I have a 3 month old Spector Euro 4LX.

Things I have noticed since the 1st day (@brand new):

1. The playability is (very slightly) different. (better)
2. The fret clank is less.
3. A very subtle and slight change in tone.
4. An hour's practice on my Spector is worth 2 hours on my last bass.
5. The gold plating on the bridge is already wearing off.

My Euro 4LX has a hard high gloss (2pot?) finish all over (but the fretboard) , so I'm not sure how the moisture content of the wood ages and reacts to the humidity in the environment.

Just wanted to update this as it's been another 3/4 weeks, and I feel the playability/tone is changing (very slightly better)

The gold plating on the bridge is wearing off in a hurry, but that's not for this thread.

 

[Ritter667]

Some fine vintage earwax there, maybe?

Or as the bald boy in Matrix, perhaps more poetically, would say: "It is you, not the spoon...".