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Help Me Design My Next Test!

#61
-=DanAtkinson=- said:
So, here is your chance. Please post your thoughts on how this test should be conducted. But please keep it realistic!
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I think it's important to first nail down very specifically the question you're trying to answer. Are you trying to determine if there exists a difference between woods? Or if people can detect a difference between these samples? Those are two very different questions. Or is it something completely different?

You might start even a step back from that by defining the tonewood hypothesis very specifically first. Then devise your questions, and only then design your test.
 
#62
Hey Dan, if you want another bridge for your test I can hook you up.
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#67
I suppose this suggestion would be considered "unrealistic", but you're not really going to get any converts until you up the sample size. So comparing 10 alder/rosewood P's against 10 maple/maple P's would be a better test; it would be one I would pay attention to the results of.

Wood is natural, so there is a lot of variation from one piece of maple to another, one piece of rosewood to another. Because of this, taking a single example of any wood combination and comparing to another single sample of a different wood combination is not a statistically powerful test. Maybe, just by the luck of the draw, you got the mellowest sounding maple P of all time, or the hardest spankiest piece of Alder in your state.

Without a broader comparison envelope your tests are just not truly experimental, they're anecdotal. Indeed, not saying your doing this, but it is within the realm of possibility that one could pick single test instruments known to not exhibit the classically expected tonal qualities for the woods they're made of.
 
#69
cybersnyder said:
I'd love to hear a test with the only variable being the neck. With two different basses the argument will be that the brighter pickups in one offset the less bright pickups in the other or that strings made a difference. I truly believe that most of the tone attributable to wood is in the neck, but I'd love to be proven wrong. If the outcome is to see if people can determine a difference in tone, play three samples. Two with one configuration and one with the other configuration. Then the goal will be to pick the one that's different versus telling which clip is rosewood and which is maple. 33% will be correct based on pure chance. Any number higher than 33% will, based on the number of responses, determine the level of confidence in musician's ability to tell a difference in tone.
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Sorry.
I should have read the whole thread.
 
#75
NKBassman said:
I'd say record 4 clips. Alder/Rosewood, Alder/Maple, Maple/Rosewood, Maple/Maple. Use the same pickup, same bridge, same brand of strings, etc.
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This above sounds like a good test plan.
Dan thanks for all your efforts to provide what I consider to be a fair and unbiased test. Years ago I attended a seminar by a Canadian acoustic guitar builder (think it was Seagul or Godin). They had developed a method to test wood so that a piece of lumber used for a top would have consistent results based on measurements

I wonder if there is some method to measure the acoustic properties of a piece of wood / neck combination. Maybe a pickup output to a spectrum analyzer, or acoustialy exciting a piece of wood to study how it resonates? Not suggesting that you have the equipment or interest in this, but wondered if you had considered a way to pre-determine some of these small differences repeatedly with test equipment.

We put a man on the moon 41 years ago; describing and evaluating the tone of a bass guitar has proven to be much more difficult.
 
#77
-=DanAtkinson=- said:
Well, I'm not really trying to "sway" anyone. I'm doing this for those people with an open mind who might learn a bit from these tests. And many of those people have legitmate ideas about making the tests better.

Let's hear 'em! :bassist:
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I just get the feeling all it's going to do is start a "holy war" of opinions yea and nay and people bitterly defending their own personal point of view regardless of the test results to the death. It's not human nature to bother with being swayed by facts that argue against what you personally believe, instead it's human nature to do your best to smear whoever says otherwise and to hold onto those beliefs like Scrooge on a penny.

But I gotta admire you for having the guts to do this even though it will bring the loonies out of the woodwork.
 
#79
LilloEsquilo said:
I just get the feeling all it's going to do is start a "holy war" of opinions yea and nay and people bitterly defending their own personal point of view regardless of the test results to the death. It's not human nature to bother with being swayed by facts that argue against what you personally believe, instead it's human nature to do your best to smear whoever says otherwise and to hold onto those beliefs like Scrooge on a penny.

But I gotta admire you for having the guts to do this even though it will bring the loonies out of the woodwork.
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The loonies are already out! Check out the thread that started all this!
 

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