Fodera Club Part VII

[mrbassman_de]

Concerning the weight impact on the tone, I guess it has something to do with the response of your playing, how fast the notes articulate. A heavier bass should take slightly longer to make the note sound than a much lighter bass.

Do you state that lower weight supports a faster attack ? If yes, I'd be not sure about this, Jo !

Look at the heavy Fender boat anchors produced at the end of the 70s. They are famous for their ultra fast attack and the resulting fat slap tone.... Ebony is a quite heavy wood and the boards are chosen for their support to get snap in the highs. Northern ash as a body wood is the same.

Not only that weight is not identical with density (which is more important here IMO). The wood in a guitar absorbes certain frequencies produced by the waving string, and resonants some of its own tonal characteristics back to the string - and the physical attributes of a particular piece of body wood will determine, which ones. Of course only in conjunction with all other parts. My personal feeling is that weight alone is of minor influence here...

 

[thepontif]

One thing is for sure...sound propagates faster the more dense the material is. It's the reason the speed of sound is specified at a particular temperature. Colder, and hence denser, air allows sound waves to propagate faster because the molecules are closer together and need to cover less distance before they collide with another one.

Not sure how that translates into the effective attack of a note, but it is a real phenomenon.

 

[geshel]

The speed of the sound within the bass has more to do with the stiffness of the material than the density. You can make a material that's stiff but not dense, eg carbon fiber. It will have a quick attack. Likewise, something dense but soft (uh, wet clay?) won't.

 

[anonymous111813]

I was referring to Richard Bona, who liked the heavier bass more than the lighter bass. My guess is that his lyrical playing might be better because of the longer sustain and the slightly longer attack of a heavy instrument.

Of course, there are other things that affect the tone of an instrument. Many Squire and other instruments are made of light woods like Nato and are resonant but lack of some response in bass-related frequencies.

I guess the famous late 70s Fender Jazz Bass-tone comes from the very present mid-frequencies that the heavy ash bodies deliver and that combined with maple fretboards makes a nice slap sound. However, you do own a very nice bass from the early 70s which is very light in comparison to the late 70s basses and which has a huge slap tone.

Fodera seems to be building basses with lots of sustain, a very "sweet" mid spectrum and a nice slap tone. It seems that they took a good amount of the "Vintage" sound and gave it some fresh look.

 

[thepontif]

The speed of the sound within the bass has more to do with the stiffness of the material than the density. You can make a material that's stiff but not dense, eg carbon fiber. It will have a quick attack. Likewise, something dense but soft (uh, wet clay?) won't.

Well, the speed of sound is a function of the density of the material it's propagating in. If the material isn't stiff then the sound will be absorbed to some degree. If carbon fiber is less dense than hardwood, sound will not travel as fast in the carbon fiber. If they are both equal stiffness, the less dense one will require less energy in being made to vibrate. Wet clay is dense, but it's also resilient. So it will absorb the sound waves before they can get anywhere.

 

[Christian Houmann]

Jason - What decides if a 5 string gets a 3-2 or 2-3 headstock?

 

[harrybosch]

I guess the famous late 70s Fender Jazz Bass-tone comes from the very present mid-frequencies that the heavy ash bodies deliver and that combined with maple fretboards makes a nice slap sound. However, you do own a very nice bass from the early 70s which is very light in comparison to the late 70s basses and which has a huge slap tone.

My experience with heavy ash body 70's basses has been that they have less mids than the lighter basses. Or perhaps they seem to have less mids due o the lows and highs seem to be accentuated in the heavier ash basses. Either way, I perceive less mids.

 

[Angus]

Jason - What decides if a 5 string gets a 3-2 or 2-3 headstock?

Probably just if people ask. I specified mine to be 3+2, for example.

 

[narud]

My experience with heavy ash body 70's basses has been that they have less mids than the lighter basses. Or perhaps they seem to have less mids due o the lows and highs seem to be accentuated in the heavier ash basses. Either way, I perceive less mids.

same here. i do hear more upper mids in swamp ash though.

 

[emjazz]

same here. i do hear more upper mids in swamp ash though.

Joe...you are so pimp. Nice new pick.

 

[geshel]

Well, the speed of sound is a function of the density of the material it's propagating in. If the material isn't stiff then the sound will be absorbed to some degree. If carbon fiber is less dense than hardwood, sound will not travel as fast in the carbon fiber. If they are both equal stiffness, the less dense one will require less energy in being made to vibrate. Wet clay is dense, but it's also resilient. So it will absorb the sound waves before they can get anywhere.

Hi,

The speed is actually inversely proportional to the density.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound#Speed_of_sound_in_solids

The parameter rho - looks like "p" - on the bottom of the fraction is for density. E is Young's Modulus, a measure of stiffness, and is on top, therefore the speed is directly proportional to stiffness.

IOW, if two materials are of the same stiffness but one is denser, the speed of sound will be lower in the denser material. This is because the particles in the denser solid have more momentum.

Think of a bunch of weights connected in a line by thin rods or wires. You push inwards on the weight on one end, and watch as the compression wave travels down the line.

If the wires are very stiff, that will speed up the wave. If they are bendy (or like slinkys) it'll slow things down.

If the weights are heavy, it'll slow things down. If they are light, it'll speed things up.

Taylor

 

[Just Thumpin']

The Customer's preference...

Absent a preference, we will generally go with a 2+3...

J

Jason - What decides if a 5 string gets a 3-2 or 2-3 headstock?

 

[Lennard III.]

I specified mine to be 3+2, for example.

same here !

 

[thepontif]

Hi,

The speed is actually inversely proportional to the density.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound#Speed_of_sound_in_solids

The parameter rho - looks like "p" - on the bottom of the fraction is for density. E is Young's Modulus, a measure of stiffness, and is on top, therefore the speed is directly proportional to stiffness.

IOW, if two materials are of the same stiffness but one is denser, the speed of sound will be lower in the denser material. This is because the particles in the denser solid have more momentum.

Think of a bunch of weights connected in a line by thin rods or wires. You push inwards on the weight on one end, and watch as the compression wave travels down the line.

If the wires are very stiff, that will speed up the wave. If they are bendy (or like slinkys) it'll slow things down.

If the weights are heavy, it'll slow things down. If they are light, it'll speed things up.

Taylor

Sorry, I got that backwards. The point is, density and the speed of sound are directly related.

 

[jakkkk]

I play my old light weight Pbass much slower then my Fodera......

 

[cnltb]

The Customer's preference...

Absent a preference, we will generally go with a 2+3...

J

Have you noticed a difference in how an instrument behaves with different tuner configs(say, 2-3,3-2,all in line and all in line reverse (on a jazz that would mean on one ,the E is longest behind the nut and the other would be with the G being the longest behind the nut)
I have read posts in which people say that a left hand neck on a right hand instrument seems to feel better for them. Hence the question.

 

[Just Thumpin']

For me, personally, no, I notice no difference -- other than the obvious comfort with tuning the basses with a certain configuration. However, as far as playing goes, once they are tuned up (and again, I am answering personally), I see no difference...

Have you noticed a difference in how an instrument behaves with different tuner configs(say, 2-3,3-2,all in line and all in line reverse (on a jazz that would mean on one ,the E is longest behind the nut and the other would be with the G being the longest behind the nut)
I have read posts in which people say that a left hand neck on a right hand instrument seems to feel better for them. Hence the question.

 

[basswalker2004]

For me, personally, no, I notice no difference -- other than the obvious comfort with tuning the basses with a certain configuration. However, as far as playing goes, once they are tuned up (and again, I am answering personally), I see no difference...

i agree with Jason. I have had both configurations and noticed no real difference.
I always thought that it was done 2-3 if you were going to have a low B string rather than a low E (to make room for fatter windings i guess) but I guess that is not really a factor.

 

[cnltb]

For me, personally, no, I notice no difference -- other than the obvious comfort with tuning the basses with a certain configuration. However, as far as playing goes, once they are tuned up (and again, I am answering personally), I see no difference...

Thanks!
That goes for inline cofigurations also?

 

[cnltb]

Sorry to come back to that already talked about subject of varnish and laquer etc.
It was mentioned that fodera use urethane if I remember correctly.
Is that the same stuff as used in boat building?
and... where do you see the benefit of many coats of varnish over fewer ones apart from it wearing off less quickly (it seem counter intuitive to me to put many coats on a body that is made to vibrate).
Thanks again!