For those who have numerous different jazz basses...

[ashtray]

Ok, to take a serious stab at this - forget the paint for a second and consider what else is different between a sunburst bass and a black or red one. Give up? The wood! Yes, the nicer grains and sometimes veneers are used on the burst finishes, while the uglier wood with flaws or many more piece bodies can be hidden under solid color paint.

So its possible that basses with natural or burst finishes actually DO sound different than those with solid colors!

(also, sometimes Fender will use a different type of wood on something that shows the grain - ie, ash vs poplar)

 

[Korladis]

Now I'm wondering whats the best paint for metal?

Titanium white.

 

[Plutonium244]

Red basses sound hot. But if you are into cool jazz I recommend blue.

 

[madjazzbass]

Sunburst only sounds different if it's accompanied by a tort guard.

Then you've got 2TSB and 3TSB and all of their variants like 59' Burst, etc.
To further complicate it you've got your different shades of tort which all sound slightly different too.

 

[madjazzbass]

 

[madjazzbass]

Titanium white.

Black Metalflake of course, Duh!

 

[Korladis]

Black Metalflake of course, Duh!

Despite playing metal, I tend not to play black basses. The issue is that I wear black t-shirts a lot, and so I don't want my bass blending with the shirt too much.

 

[markmeloney]

Red cars go faster

 

[markmeloney]

This thing is kind of long but if you're on talkbass I can only assume you have lots of free time like myself. I think you need to hear this as much as I did.

 

[markmeloney]

Forget all of that stuff. go to the store, try all of the basses and get the one that sounds and feels the best without you having to mess around with it

 

[markmeloney]

Despite playing metal, I tend not to play black basses. The issue is that I wear black t-shirts a lot, and so I don't want my bass blending with the shirt too much.

HAHA! you have a point.

 

[Kmonk]

Thanks and let me clarify.... I meant if a sunburst vs red/black or even natural, sound different...must be asthmatics because they do look pretty sweet.

I've never heard of an asthmatic bass. I wasn't even aware they could breathe. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Bassplayer315]

Did someone say "tort" yet. Hey Scott is playing without his glove.

 

[JWMurrayJr]

My red Jag is faster than the silver one.

 

[JWMurrayJr]

Serious question?

 

[LanEvo]

Ok, to take a serious stab at this - forget the paint for a second and consider what else is different between a sunburst bass and a black or red one. Give up? The wood! Yes, the nicer grains and sometimes veneers are used on the burst finishes, while the uglier wood with flaws or many more piece bodies can be hidden under solid color paint.

So its possible that basses with natural or burst finishes actually DO sound different than those with solid colors!

(also, sometimes Fender will use a different type of wood on something that shows the grain - ie, ash vs poplar)

Excellent point...

By and large, you would expect natural and translucent finishes on "better" hunks of wood. By better I mean fewer pieces glued together, more even grain, and that sort of thing.

If I'm a builder and I have a nice 2-piece, book-matched, tight-grained body blank on one hand and a 4-piece, mismatched body blank on the other ... which one do you think is going to get the opaque finish? In other words, body color might in fact be a surrogate marker for wood "quality."

Now, whether any of that actually makes a difference in tone is up for debate. People here like to say wood contributes 0% to tone on a solidbody electric. Personally, I disagree, but I'm not going to get into a whole thing about it.

 

[franvarin]

Ok so for those who have numerous or a couple that consist of sunburst AND a different color, such as plain black or red etc---- can you hear a difference in tone between each due to the finish? Numerous cats seem to have and swear by the sunburst option..is there a reason besides asthetics? Brightness, warmth, punch etc..

Hi! I have several Fender Jazz Basses. All three have Duncan quarter pound pickups. One is a fretless sunburst, one is a fretted sunburst, the third is a 5 string. All of them sound different. I don't subscribe to the finish accounting for that much of a difference. I think it is more about the wood and the strings that you use. My fretted jazz is brighter than the other two. I'm using Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats on it. The five string has a lot of bottom end, not boomy but just well defined and round. I'm using D'addario Chromes on that. The fretless is right in between the two in terms of tone. The two four string basses also have Leo Quan BA II bridges and the Five string has a hipshot type A bridge (brass). I think those elements have a lot more to do with the tone than the finish. Hope this helps you.

 

[leesbrushes]

I believe I read somewhere that the lighter colors and transparent finishes adhere better to the ash and darker colors and bursts to the alder. So, in that regard your body wood tone is different. However, I don't think it's an exact science.

They used ash for a lot of sunburst and trans white/blondes.
Add on the maple vs rosewood fretboard
And I could see differences in tones.
But I agree that it's due to wood type and thin laquer /finish type over paint per color per say.
And my wife's cat loves to sit next to me when I play and practice unplugged but when I reach for the switches on the evil boxes ...he's gone.

 

[Blaargh]

Oh totally. My 3 colour sunburst, tort pickguard Jazz sounds like John Paul Jones all the time, even though I put a pair of active EMGs in it! I guess I underestimated how important paint really is.

 

[D M C]

Paint is objectively the most important factor with regard to tone. More important even than pick guard.

Really! I'm super serial.