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How does colour affect tone?

#41
Here's a non-sarcastic answer that I think (I hope ?) most will agree with :
  • two instruments spec'd exactly the same will probably sound different
  • everything affects the resulting tone to a certain degree
  • some things affect the tone more than others (pickups > pickguard material, hopefully not triggering anyone here) : maybe the finish contributes to 0.1% of the final result, in which case, does it affect the tone or not ? How significant is it ?
  • "a certain degree" might really be inaudible to some and not to others, because we all hear things differently
  • it is hard to definitely prove things don't affect the tone, because isolating one single factor in a man-made instrument built with different pieces of wood and different pieces of hardware located at slightly different spots, assembled differently, wired slightly differently and tested in different conditions is impossible : the instrument (and the measuring device) is a complex system where everything interacts with everything else
  • it is a bit easier to prove things do affect the tone, but still hard depending on what is tested, for the same reasons (strings = easier but still tricky, because strings change alter the setup of the instrument for instance)
  • I think videos of cardboard / epoxy / metal / crayons / other alternative material guitars are fun but only help to argue that the material of the body is probably not one of the main contributors to the tone (cardboard strat still sounds like a strat); it still does not prove that it does not impact it (no control)
For all these reasons, I think this topic is much more nuanced than the usual tonewood discussion where you're either for or against the idea.
 
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#44
Ok, trying to improve “my” tone.

Yes, paint material (or oil or wax) has a physical damping effect on whatever it is coating, bass or other. Maybe that’s good (you like) or bad (you don’t like) or maybe it’s minute and you don’t notice it. The sound you hear from an electric bass is from the flux created by the strings captured by electromagnetic pickups.
In other words, if we can’t settle whether the bridge (1 of 2 places your string vibrations enter the wood) affects tone, how the heck do you settle this?
Anything on your bass including paint, including the pickup enclosure screwed into the wood, including the neck, including the frets’ microscopic space beneath, everything has a physically measurable affect on the output because everything combines to determine how your string vibrates and that vibration is measurable.

But you ain’t hearing the paint through your amp. Or the lack of paint.
 
#47
Now, I'd like to contribute a post of the variety "plausible but neglible".

There is a thing called quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). Thats quartz crystals, like those present in our everyday electronic devices as clocks and piezo pickups, which are used for measuring realy small changes in mass (thus: microbalance). The desired liquid/suspension/whatever is applied to the QCM and the change in resonance frequency of the uncovered QCM and covered QCM is measured.
Now, this resonance frequeny is in the MHz range and the shift can be somewhere from less than 1 hertz to several thousand hertz, depending on several aspects. So, the relative shift might be anywhere from less than 0.1% to greater than 10% relative to an uncovered QCM.

When we assume a plank of wood with attached steel cables will behave similar to a piezo-electric crystal in a highly controlled setup, it might be plausible that a completely untreated body blank or very thinly sprayed body (with all hardware etc. installed) might actually differ in its resonancy frequency from the very same body after a applying a thick finish.
However, as this change in one component of a rather complex system can be anywhere from barely measurable to maybe audible to the human ear, and I will not try to guess a relative influence of the bodys resonance frequency on the overall system, a maybe present effect can very well be subsumed under neglible.

In conclusion: carrot color with tort strings and flatwound pickguard sounds best.
 
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#55
What we know now is that some people can and some people can’t hear the distinctions.

It’s useless to argue but fun to discuss. It’s meaningless if you choose your instruments on touch, feel and sound because you’ll connect with what will work for you. You’ll find the instrument that stays out of your way and expresses anything you want it to. It’s meaningless if you eq down your signal chain or get your sound at the cab or output stages alone. So personal. It’s not necessary to deny someone else’s experience.
So many options it’s a great thing making music.
 
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#56
I think a basses finish can tell you what kind of player the bassist is sometimes. It’s uncanny how accurate just seeing the bass can tell you what you’re in for.

Natural coffee table type finishes bring to mind excessive vibrato and harmonics, while sparkle finishes tend to slapp their way through everything including ballads.

That said I love both finishes and approaches and celebrate all manner of bass excess.

Any other styles that go with a particular aesthetic y’all have noticed?
 

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