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How exactly does wood affect tone in electric basses?

#181
Nine pages in, 180 posts posted, almost 4000 views viewed and no one has solved the mystery yet? :confused:Someone call those guys that have Big Foot stored in their deep freezer they probably have the answer your looking for! Or perhaps we should call a paranormal expert, yeah and a physic too MAAAAAYBE the answer lies within the walls of Hanger 18 at area 51...

There is no proven answer, only opinions and anyone who knows me already knows mine so I'll spare you the details.

Maybe someday someone will post proof but so far no one has. So until then I reserve the right to build basses from whatever wood I want.

I like how Carl Thompson put it,
"Any time you talk about sound I end up in the same place. I really don't know anything about sound. It's something I can't define definitely. That's why I don't talk about it. I only like to talk about things I can define definitely. I can't define tone. A thicker fingerboard's going to get a warmer sound-no it's not. It's going to get a brighter sound-its going to get a thicker sound. That doesn't mean anything to me, not really. So I can't really relate to that. I never had so many questions about sound before. It's too ambiguous. Does that make sense to you?"

Now that's a honest answer and who am I to argue with Carl!? He also uses a quote from Ken Parker that says "I use good wood" or "I use guitar wood" Yep from now on that's all I'm using too guitar wood!:D
You can check out the entire interview here.
Invalid Link Removed


Why is it when a thread like this comes up everyone and their momma has the million dollar answer? I especially like the "I've been a musician for x amount of years I know what I'm talking about responses".....get real! It's been my experience most musicians don't know jack..... that includes me! :p
 
#183
I think that wood is one of the factor that makes the tone (or timbre) of an electrical instrument, but not the most important.
There are a lot of things that make the tone of an electrical instrument (building, hardware, adjustement, scale, pickups, circuits, wood... I've heard that finising(!?) too). So, saying that wood makes a difference is not taking in count the others.
I'm almost shure that nobody that post in this forum has ever made a blind test on woods (and I mean build two "twin" basses whit similar specs, just changing woods, and played in the same amp). And if somebody does it, the possibility to tell the difference - and I'm not talking about recognise the wood - is very low, or none.

So, Why a cheap wood bass sounds different that a good tonewood bass? I think it's because the expensive one has an overall better building than the cheap one.

And if so. Why the main instrument makers (Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, Warwick... you name it) are not changing from expensive to more cheap woods? IMHO it's because a large number of factor that can be resumed to "Tradition, prestige, demand of the buyers..."
Most of these brands are selling instruments that are buyed because they provided instruments to players in the "golden age" of modern music "50's to mid 70's". Players that influenced most of modern players, so nobody are going to take the risk of saying "we're not going to build our instruments like we used to...So forget about sounding like James Jamerson and others"

And the rest of luthiers just follow the stream (wich is really the right thing to do) One friend of mine that makes the most marvelous Archtop Guitars, told me once that he finishes his instruments with Nitro Laquer because it was what the customers asked for and he couldn't find a better reason to do another thing, as well as selling guitars is his way of living.

So, wood makes a difference, but it's not so important, if someone wants to experiment about it. Go on! The results could be surprising... But taking in count that if you just want to build a cheap instrument, it will sound cheap... There is no "undiscovered secret" about it...
 
#184
scottyd said:
Nine pages in, 180 posts posted, almost 4000 views viewed and no one has solved the mystery yet? :confused:Someone call those guys that have Big Foot stored in their deep freezer they probably have the answer your looking for! Or perhaps we should call a paranormal expert, yeah and a physic too MAAAAAYBE the answer lies within the walls of Hanger 18 at area 51...

There is no proven answer, only opinions and anyone who knows me already knows mine so I'll spare you the details.

Maybe someday someone will post proof but so far no one has. So until then I reserve the right to build basses from whatever wood I want.

I like how Carl Thompson put it,
"Any time you talk about sound I end up in the same place. I really don't know anything about sound. It's something I can't define definitely. That's why I don't talk about it. I only like to talk about things I can define definitely. I can't define tone. A thicker fingerboard's going to get a warmer sound-no it's not. It's going to get a brighter sound-its going to get a thicker sound. That doesn't mean anything to me, not really. So I can't really relate to that. I never had so many questions about sound before. It's too ambiguous. Does that make sense to you?"

Now that's a honest answer and who am I to argue with Carl!? He also uses a quote from Ken Parker that says "I use good wood" or "I use guitar wood" Yep from now on that's all I'm using too guitar wood!:D
You can check out the entire interview here.
Invalid Link Removed


Why is it when a thread like this comes up everyone and their momma has the million dollar answer? I especially like the "I've been a musician for x amount of years I know what I'm talking about responses".....get real! It's been my experience most musicians don't know jack..... that includes me! :p
Click to expand...

That article from Carl is what made me lose all fear about building, and stop worrying about getting the tone wood "right". Hence, my sig. I don't believe that you can get a particular sound from an instrument based on the wood. Some woods have tendencies, but you can build three identical instruments out of the same species of wood, everything else the same, and get three different sounding instruments...period.
 

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