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If a tree falls in the forrest do pickups actually make a difference

#21
Doom Bass said:
If you had to put a percentage to each major item that makes up the tone of a bass what would you allocate?

Body
Pups
Bridge
Neck
Preamp / electronics

Can good wood make up for cheap pups? Can kick ass pups make up for cheap wood?
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No:scowl:
It's only as strong as it's weakest link.

Some thing matter more to different people.
I for one think that an on-board preamp is a waist of money,but a friend of mine from work thinks its all the rage.He uses the 3 band eq on his bass to level his tone when switching between styles and technique,I just use Circle K strings.
 
#27
Jensby design said:
I agree with the fingerboard wood making big difference.
But did you mean (Dan Armstrong)?
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No. Search Dan Atkinson tests, a TB'er who did a poll to see if people could guess several things, such as body wood and fingerboard wood. About 74% of people guessed which bass was maple and which as rosewood, which is much more than those who guessed body wood.

EDIT: URL for main thread here:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=744206
 
#28
mcblahflooper94 said:
I disagree. I think you all are putting more emphasis on body wood, and I think fretboard wood makes the main difference (Dan Atkinson tests).
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+1

If you think about it logically, there is only a fret between the string and the fretboard wood, which is a close to direct contact that strings come to wood on a fretted instrument. So the wood that the fret board is made from, can slightly influence the vibration of the strings.
 
#29
Don't forget another often overlooked contributor to tone; over the top or string through. Go from one to the other with all the strings on the same bass changing nothing else, it can be night and day.
 
#30
Every part on the bass contributes to a differing degree from each individual bass to bass.Each part on the bass is unique unto it self with slightly differing properties from one that look exactly the same. This is my excuse for having multiple necks,bodies, bridges,p.u.'s ect. on hand.
 
#31
UBU said:
Don't forget another often overlooked contributor to tone; over the top or string through. Go from one to the other with all the strings on the same bass changing nothing else, it can be night and day.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree, the speaking length of the string is between the nut and the saddle. The anchor point is not going to cause much difference as long as its solid.
 
#33
I used to believe that pickup changes didn't make a difference until I got a P Lyte and hated the original pickups. Every pickup change I did to it made a difference, and I've made about 4 now, finally settling on EMG PJ's and a BQC preamp.
 
#35
George Mann said:
Body wood plays a MAJOR role in the tone of an instrument!
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On an electric instrument,(in mine and many others opinion) no it doesn't. Especially on a neck through, by the time you have glued 9 pieces of wood together there is not much vibration coming through to the wings. I had this explained to me by a highly respected luthier. He also explained to me the benefits of through body stringing were also greatly overexaggerated, since somebody mentioned it. Said luthier only strings through the bridge and I respect his opinion more than my own. I personally couldn't tell any difference on my Carvin.

Whoever doesn't think a pickup change makes a HUGE difference is either using extremely similar pickups or just in plain old denial. I have swapped my pickups on several basses and always notice a drastic change. Granted I pick very different pickups from stock such as going from Fender Standard to Seymour Duncan SPB-1's or 3's, night and day difference.
 
#37
austentaciousC said:
Being a recently recovered (not fully) GAS survivor, and having gone through about 60 basses, heres how i see it:

Pre/pickup combo- 40%
Neck wood and NT/Bolt on and scale-20%
Strings-30%
Body 10%
Of course, thats given a very well made bass with expertly constructed components, i find when you're dealing with cheaper basses the quality on any one of those can hold back the entire setup.

And i dont want to derail the overall thread, but ive owned several "twin" basses where they were identical save for the neck-through vs bolt-on. NT VS. BOLT ON MAKES A VERY NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE. Ok.
Click to expand...

Who makes identical basses EXCEPT for bolt on, neck through necks?
 
#39
It depends on the bass. Example 1: Passive Fender Jazz or Precision, no matter who made it, still sounds like one. Example 2: Warwick Thumb bass German blonde vs German ovangkol w/wenge neck, more difference. All above in the mix! NOT by itself. But to offer my opinion:

Pickup/placement - 30%
Neck wood/fret material/nut / construction - 20%
Setup including pickup height - 20%
Strings - 25%
Body/bridge - 5%
 

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