Well it doesn't make as much different as strings or pickups but, there is a somewhat subtle difference between Alder and Ash. Basswood has a distinctive tone as does Poplar. However, nothing near what strings or pup do.
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How exactly does wood affect tone in electric basses?
- Thread starter manutabora
- Start date
I hope not... Someone will just open a new one.
I think it needs to be a sticky so people will know better than to open that can of worms.
It certainly is possible, inasmuch as one can determine the frequency response of speaker cabinets and use the data to confirm what your ears tell you...only with numbers instead of vague adjectives like "midrange" and "bottom end" and "mud". It just hasn't been done yet.
There is a way to do this. Larry may recall this...one of my sons was on the verge of making this a science project at one point a few years ago. Now that the boy is taking AP Physics this year, we may revisit it.
So the end result will be a bunch of frequency response data for different wood species which (my ears tell me) should show some differences. But the real question will be whether the variability within each wood species (the standard deviation on each response) will be sufficiently narrow that different species are statistically different from each other.
My intuition tells me that some will stand out from others, and some won't.....spruce won't bonk like cocobolo. But maybe mahogany bonks like walnut.
The OP asked, "how exactly does wood affect tone in electric basses?"
If you don't think it does have any effect why are you chiming in here?
If you don't think it does have any effect why are you chiming in here?
- Dec 20, 2004
- 4,267
- 2,481
- Disclosures
- Player-Builder-Founder: Honey Badger Pickups & Regenerate Guitar Works
guess it's hard for some to catch the subtle nuance between "exactly" and "any kind whatsoever" 
to follow Arx's thinking - this thread should be stickied, and it's reading made a prerequisite before one can post to this forum. an annual re-read requirement should also be imposed
maybe if such a requirement is enacted we'll be done with this topic once and for all - until someone produces a scientific study report, that is
R
to follow Arx's thinking - this thread should be stickied, and it's reading made a prerequisite before one can post to this forum. an annual re-read requirement should also be imposed
maybe if such a requirement is enacted we'll be done with this topic once and for all - until someone produces a scientific study report, that is
R
Tnank you all for a thoroughly entertaining morning.
so here's the definitive answer.. then you can close the thread.
I KNOW THE SECRET!!!!! Pay -pal me 25 bucks and I'll tell you! (I got the secret from Larry but it cost me WAY more so I have to re-coup my losses.) ****.
please allow me, as a someone who'se built stringed instruments for a few decades (and still doesn't have a complete clue about manipulating some of these variables) to add my 2 cents and then I'll promise to never re-visit this again............
1. stop comparing factory instruments to hand made ones:
2. If some builder tries to blow smoke up your kazoo that s/he has THE answer but you have to use annointed woods to get it, move on and find another builder who will tell you: "yes, wood matters, I can make a nice sounding bass but can't absolutely, positively predict /shape the outcome". (because that's the reality) . BTW, the way I tell if I have a good board or not is to go to the lumber yard is to rap on the board. if it's ring-y I take it, if it's thud-dy I don't. If there are 10 of the same species lined up, each board will sound a bit different..(but that's mitigated by moisture content, the phase of the moon and your choice of breakfast treats) .... If you start with good materials, you 'should' end up with a good sounding bass on the other end.
3. If you're reading this thread and coming to the realization that the bass you commissioned to YOUR specifications for 4 thousand bucks really doesn't sound that much different than the 600.00 imported factory bass, you don't have to lash out at others.....it's your mistake....move on!
4. the whole thing is mojo/voodoo. You probably can write a spiffy looking formula to prove your point, but then you take that above bass and hand it to 3 people and it will sound 3 ways differently.
5. Ash and Alder became the anointed woods in the Fender world because Leo got a great deal on those woods. It's we chumps who listen to jaco, jamerson, marcus miller etc. whomever and then try and replicate THAT sound.
6. To my way of thinking , TONE is secondary. If you have a bass that hurts to play after the first set, who cares how it sounds? you won't play it because it's uncomfortable to play.
7. and what's with basses with gloppy inlays all over them, or light up LED's? or 8-9-10 strings????? if you want to be a guitar player play a guitar!!! and what about a bass with 19 switches and 8 knobs? going into a mongo pedal board?......and who let the dogs out????? don't you know the engineer is just going to EQ evrything out until you sound like a P bass?
there, you have the definitive answer!
*****please don't pay-pal me.... I'm just funnini you!
so here's the definitive answer.. then you can close the thread.
I KNOW THE SECRET!!!!! Pay -pal me 25 bucks and I'll tell you! (I got the secret from Larry but it cost me WAY more so I have to re-coup my losses.) ****.
please allow me, as a someone who'se built stringed instruments for a few decades (and still doesn't have a complete clue about manipulating some of these variables) to add my 2 cents and then I'll promise to never re-visit this again............
1. stop comparing factory instruments to hand made ones:
2. If some builder tries to blow smoke up your kazoo that s/he has THE answer but you have to use annointed woods to get it, move on and find another builder who will tell you: "yes, wood matters, I can make a nice sounding bass but can't absolutely, positively predict /shape the outcome". (because that's the reality) . BTW, the way I tell if I have a good board or not is to go to the lumber yard is to rap on the board. if it's ring-y I take it, if it's thud-dy I don't. If there are 10 of the same species lined up, each board will sound a bit different..(but that's mitigated by moisture content, the phase of the moon and your choice of breakfast treats) .... If you start with good materials, you 'should' end up with a good sounding bass on the other end.
3. If you're reading this thread and coming to the realization that the bass you commissioned to YOUR specifications for 4 thousand bucks really doesn't sound that much different than the 600.00 imported factory bass, you don't have to lash out at others.....it's your mistake....move on!
4. the whole thing is mojo/voodoo. You probably can write a spiffy looking formula to prove your point, but then you take that above bass and hand it to 3 people and it will sound 3 ways differently.
5. Ash and Alder became the anointed woods in the Fender world because Leo got a great deal on those woods. It's we chumps who listen to jaco, jamerson, marcus miller etc. whomever and then try and replicate THAT sound.
6. To my way of thinking , TONE is secondary. If you have a bass that hurts to play after the first set, who cares how it sounds? you won't play it because it's uncomfortable to play.
7. and what's with basses with gloppy inlays all over them, or light up LED's? or 8-9-10 strings????? if you want to be a guitar player play a guitar!!! and what about a bass with 19 switches and 8 knobs? going into a mongo pedal board?......and who let the dogs out????? don't you know the engineer is just going to EQ evrything out until you sound like a P bass?
there, you have the definitive answer!
*****please don't pay-pal me.... I'm just funnini you!
because the OP asked "how exactly does wood affect tone in electric basses?" the question itself is tainted and cannot be answered with 100% certainty, thus most of what has been said (except the great insight by Hoyt) is not valid.
This thread should be closed because there is very little (if any) useful information and has just served for a few folks to get angry do the religious-political standoff that never gets settled. Not cool.
LOL - That is SO true.
I've lost count of the number of times that I've been in the studio and found that the carefully crafted, clean, piano like tone that I've coaxed out of my roundwound strung Ric has been processed until it sounds like a P-bass with 10 year old flats.
Look at who's angry. Not me. Seems to be the people who are misquoting and getting called on it, among others.
Because it's a perfect opportunity to start in with the same old annointed wood crap, Harry. The funny thing is this time some have actually said wood can make a difference. I guess that's progress.
BTW folks, I enjoy being on my side in as poorly thought out a discussion as this. If half the posts are mine, the other half surely didn't find any strength in numbers
. And Kevin Brubaker, along with many of the better bass luthiers out there think wood matters... so I doubt he'll have a problem with my stance here.
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
cut the crap people - everyone. the point is to -converse- about a topic, not to -win- an argument 
. this isn't jr. high school. sheesh.
. this isn't jr. high school. sheesh.
The discussion about how to interpret the question doesn't really seem necessary, imo. The wording of the title might be very slightly ambiguous for those of us reaching far enough, but if actually you read the first post, it's very clear that the OP is asking for an explanation of some mechanism by which the sound of a solid body instrument might be affected by the wood it's constructed from, rather than being entirely down to the strings and the pickups. That question's been answered several times already in here. Anybody saying that the wood can't possibly make any difference needs to show why that is the case. Good luck!
Discussion about exactly how much difference it makes or how predictable it is is fine and definitely an interesting topic for sensible debate, just as long as we all bear in mind that the original question has already been answered.
Discussion about exactly how much difference it makes or how predictable it is is fine and definitely an interesting topic for sensible debate, just as long as we all bear in mind that the original question has already been answered.
to springboard off of John's post.... i , for one, was merely trying to entertain and add a little levity. My sincere apologies if anyone was offended.
having said that, I took a new all black walnut bass that I just finished to a 1000 seat jazz festival last night. Kent Armstrong Jazz pickups, quarter-sawn maple neck with Indian rosewood FB and bottom of the line GHS Bassics strings..... That bass cut like a knife! Oh yeah.... wood matters. It held it's own with a MTD that shared the bill with us......
wood definitely matters. it's just that you can't fully manipulate ALL the variables as predictably as we luthiers would like... but we can dial it in close.
enjoy your weekend, folks
kfh
having said that, I took a new all black walnut bass that I just finished to a 1000 seat jazz festival last night. Kent Armstrong Jazz pickups, quarter-sawn maple neck with Indian rosewood FB and bottom of the line GHS Bassics strings..... That bass cut like a knife! Oh yeah.... wood matters. It held it's own with a MTD that shared the bill with us......
wood definitely matters. it's just that you can't fully manipulate ALL the variables as predictably as we luthiers would like... but we can dial it in close.
enjoy your weekend, folks
kfh
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