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Does a heavy polyurethane body finish affect the tone?

#21
I'm 100% certain that a thick poly finish afects the way the instrument works. I'm 99 percent certain that, if you could (you can't by the way) devise an apples to apples comparison with the same exact piece of wood, but without the finish, and you did the test double blind, you wouldn't hear much difference.

Does it look good? Does it balance well? If so, I suggest you focus on whether or not the neck is a good one (free of dead spots, fits your hand well, etc. - that's where the action really is.
 
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#23
I have a G&L with their “nearly naked” finish, which is VERY thin. It is noticeably louder, unplugged, than other basses. Dunno if it’s the finish or other factors, but there ya go.
 
#26
The polycoat acts as a damper for the vibration of the body. The vibration of body is a result of the energy transferred from the strings. Energy transferred from the strings is no longer in the string. What has been transferred is affected by the dampening effect of the poly on the body. The disturbance in the magnetic field of the vibrating string is thus missing the vibrations that have been transferred from the strings.
 
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#27
ZedLepp said:
I see you didn't answer my question then. Feel free to explain how an electromagnetic field is affected by polycoat.
Click to expand...

I think the thing that you're missing is that the pickup detects movement of the string within it's magnetic field. It's not just the magnetic field that matters, it's the movement of the string as well. It's possible for something that's inert in the EM sense to impact the tone, volume, or sustain of the instrument, if it impacts the vibration of the string.

Think of it this way: If this were not true, then essentially any guitar with a given pickup/wiring/control scheme would sound exactly 100% identical, which is clearly not the case. We can debate over the extent of the impact that something like finish weight has on tone, but it's pretty clearly true that the stiffness, density, weight, and other properties of non-magnetic and non-conductive parts of the guitar do play a role in shaping the sound that is produced.
 
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#28
Turnaround said:
The polycoat acts as a damper for the vibration of the body. The vibration of body is a result of the energy transferred from the strings. Energy transferred from the strings is no longer in the string. What has been transferred is affected by the dampening effect of the poly on the body. The disturbance in the magnetic field of the vibrating string is thus missing the vibrations that have been transferred from the strings.
Click to expand...

I would bet that the energy that is being put into the bridge would easily overpower any reflection that is coming from the body. Kinda like a fire hose vs a garden hose.
 
#29
dwizum said:
Think of it this way: If this were not true, then essentially any guitar with a given pickup/wiring/control scheme would sound exactly 100% identical, which is clearly not the case. We can debate over the extent of the impact that something like finish weight has on tone, but it's pretty clearly true that the stiffness, density, weight, and other properties of non-magnetic and non-conductive parts of the guitar do play a role in shaping the sound that is produced.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, due to manufacture processes, making things 100% identical is a very hard thing to do.
That's why basses of the same line don't exactly sound like each other.
No, it's not pretty clear that those things have an affect on shaping the sound. Physics has shown me that some dont.
 
#30
ZedLepp said:
I would bet that the energy that is being put into the bridge would easily overpower any reflection that is coming from the body. Kinda like a fire hose vs a garden hose.
Click to expand...
It's not the reflection that is important. It's the way the vibrations that are induced by the string are removed from the string's vibration. It's a subtractive, not additive, function.
 
#34
DirtDog said:
Si. I mean Oui. I mean I don’t know what I mean.

Or not.
Click to expand...
Don't say "Si", say "Oui". :D
inspector-sergeant-deux-deux.jpg
 
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#39
So I'm confused. Are you trying to say that ONLY things that impact the EM field can impact tone? That's what I thought you were implying when you made your first post.

Or are you agreeing with the rest of us that there are some things that don't impact the EM field, but do impact tone?
 

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