• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Is there a significant difference in tone between neck-through and bolt-on basses?

#241
-Asdfgh- said:
Les Pauls also have different pickups to, say, a Telecaster.



Maybe that would work!



If the wood was particularly resonant you wouldn't hear much as the wood would vibrate, turn those vibrations into heat, and the vibrations of the string would be robbed out. For an acoustic instrument you want enough resonance to project the sound, as you want the wood to vibrate, but there you are talking flat plates, not a solid block. It's why a DB has shorter sustain - energy from the strings vibrates the flat plates of wood to create the sound.

Since cheap and expensive guitars are made out of the same sorts of wood (e.g. ash, alder) and wood densities and structures vary between samples, then unless for a $1000 guitar manufacturers individually select particular pieces of wood over a $300 guitar, the wood between the two guitars is not likely to be a consistent factor.


On guitar, I really like mahogany for my clean and dirty sound. High gain it doesn't matter.
Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]
Dude, you can hear the wood. The point was I used the same pickups on two different bodies.
 
#242
Two-Spirit said:
S


So why does a Les Paul sound dark and woody and a guitar with different woods doesn't?
Click to expand...
Jeff Scott said:
Where do people come up with these things? :laugh:
Click to expand...
How else would you describe the body of a neck-thru bass compared to its bolt on counterpart? Thats essentially what it is... look at a warwick thumb for instance... with the neck thru they have effectively removed the center of the body and glued the rest to the sides of the neck.
 
#245
Here's the one I decided on.....
upload_2017-11-26_20-15-41.png



upload_2017-11-26_20-14-41.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: Brad Johnson and Arthur U. Poon
#248
Ash is a much clearer punchier wood than mahogany, and the flame maple is harder, brighter and clearer than than their Spalts tops. Add that with a maple neck and I can see where you heard punch and clarity. Congrats on your new bass! The nice thing is, you got to hear the difference between woods and construction, because the electronics are the same.
 
  • Like
Reactions: capnsandwich
#249
winegamd said:
Ash is a much clearer punchier wood than mahogany, and the flame maple is harder, brighter and clearer than than their Spalts tops. Add that with a maple neck and I can see where you heard punch and clarity. Congrats on your new bass! The nice thing is, you got to hear the difference between woods and construction, because the electronics are the same.
Click to expand...


Yes, and I'll agree that the single cut is easier to access the up register on but I really liked the punch of the Standard. There's no money up that high anyway. lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: Arthur U. Poon, giovabass and dukeorock
#250
capnsandwich said:
OK, here's the lowdown. I just finished up here at Sweetwater. I played the SC neck-through. It sounded very buttery and warm. I could've told them to wrap it up and ship it to my place right there. Then, I asked him to go get a Standard for me to try just because they had a 6 string there too. I played it too. Then I went back to the SC and A/B'd them. I really felt that the Standard spoke to me more. It was punchier, brighter and I felt very at-home with it more so than with the SC custom. And guess what? It's a bolt-on. It wasn't heavy at all either. I'd say the 6'er was lighter than the 5'er. I think I've made my decision and my decision is almost $6k cheaper! Win win for me!
Click to expand...

Congrats man!
 
  • Like
Reactions: capnsandwich
#252
Congrats for your new bass :)

capnsandwich said:
... I played the SC neck-through. It sounded very buttery and warm. ...
Click to expand...
I think that's because of the Oak neck.
That's the same impression I had when I played the Oak necked bass at the Fodera shop, and that bass was a bolt-on. A lot of low end and lacking of punch and cut in the mix.
But that doesn't have nothing to do with the neck-thru construction IMHO.

capnsandwich said:
I really felt that the Standard spoke to me more. It was punchier, brighter...
Click to expand...
Agree, I prefer a bass with those qualities as well.
And that's because of the maple neck, high mids, attack and definition. Put that in a neck-thru or dovetail and I bet you'll have more or less the same - like I have on my Fodera dovetail neck.

capnsandwich said:
Yes, and I'll agree that the single cut is easier to access the up register on but I really liked the punch of the Standard. There's no money up that high anyway. lol
Click to expand...
Well if you put it like that, there's no money in the C string of a 6 string bass as well lol :D
BTW great choice, I play a six as well and the Fodera Standard 6 would definitely be my dream sixer if it had an ebony, maple or indian rosewood fingerboard - I'm not a big fan of pau ferro. Enjoy your new beast!
 
  • Like
Reactions: capnsandwich
#253
giovabass said:
Congrats for your new bass :)


I think that's because of the Oak neck.
That's the same impression I had when I played the Oak necked bass at the Fodera shop, and that bass was a bolt-on. A lot of low end and lacking of punch and cut in the mix.
But that doesn't have nothing to do with the neck-thru construction IMHO.


Agree, I prefer a bass with those qualities as well.
And that's because of the maple neck, high mids, attack and definition. Put that in a neck-thru or dovetail and I bet you'll have more or less the same - like I have on my Fodera dovetail neck.


Well if you put it like that, there's no money in the C string of a 6 string bass as well lol :D
BTW great choice, I play a six as well and the Fodera Standard 6 would definitely be my dream sixer if it had an ebony, maple or indian rosewood fingerboard - I'm not a big fan of pau ferro. Enjoy your new beast!
Click to expand...

Thank you!
 
  • Like
Reactions: giovabass
#254
Two-Spirit said:
If you want to put pro pickups in a cheap bass or guitar be my guest. I think wood is tone.
Click to expand...

By what mechanism is the tone in the wood?

If wood is so crucial why do perspex guitars and basses (even more isotropic than wood) or made of concrete (much denser), or stiffened cardboard (much less dense) sound much the same?

Note that these comparisons don't apply to hollow instruments like an ABG or DB as these use flat plates of material, not solid blocks.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Marikk
#255
winegamd said:
Ash is a much clearer punchier wood than mahogany, and the flame maple is harder, brighter and clearer than than their Spalts tops. Add that with a maple neck and I can see where you heard punch and clarity. Congrats on your new bass! The nice thing is, you got to hear the difference between woods and construction, because the electronics are the same.
Click to expand...

The bass I had that people said the punchiest was a Washburn. I didn't strip it, but when I had to replace the jack socket, when I dropped it, it looked a like it might well have been plywood.
 
#259
It's all about what you hear/feel/like/believe in.
I think the player, amp, and strings have a lot more to do with tone than the wood or construction of a bass.
Basses are pretty much limited to bolt on or neck through.
Can you hear the difference either live or recorded?
For that matter bolt on vs. neck through; same material and pups in a blind listening test of just the bass?
I can't and I have both.
 
#260
-Asdfgh- said:
By what mechanism is the tone in the wood?

If wood is so crucial why do perspex guitars and basses (even more isotropic than wood) or made of concrete (much denser), or stiffened cardboard (much less dense) sound much the same?

Note that these comparisons don't apply to hollow instruments like an ABG or DB as these use flat plates of material, not solid blocks.
Click to expand...
You're trying to turn this into a physics lecture. This is common sense. I know some basses have graphite and things like that but they are just another material that has an impact on an instruments tone.
"If you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it well enough." Albert Einstein
I think there might be one person on this thread that understands what you're talking about.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back