Make YOUR own "bass tone" pie chart!

[organworthyplayer337]

Considering the tone of i.e. a Precision bass (Your Bass);

1. Pickup/Pickup Postition
2. Bridge
3. Body Wood
4. Fretboard Wood
5. Electronics [pots, caps etc]
6. Strings
7. TECHNIQUE

In a percentage, how much does, lets say; the bridge contribute to the basses overall sound?

Also what other component should be added/included?

Of course it's not an exact science but you can estimate with a percentage

Create a Pie Chart, Free . Customize, download and easily share. Just enter the amounts, pick some colors/fonts, and we'll take it from there!

Make your own personal chart, and post it (you can just type it out and post it here if you want)

*Edited

 

[bholder]

You'll never get consensus is all I'm going to say. Well, but I'll post my favorite pie chart:

 

[Gorn]

You left out the player. The player should get a bigger slice than any other factor assuming a bass is in good working order. It's not a matter of technique, p bass or not.

 

[neckdive]

I graded the fretboard higher since I only play fretless. For fretted I would knock off about 20 points and add 10 each to strings and pickups.

 

[aaronious]

Can we do the same for TB acronyms? WHAT THE HELL DOES YMMV MEAN!!??!!??

 

[organworthyplayer337]

Can we do the same for TB acronyms? WHAT THE HELL DOES YMMV MEAN!!??!!??

Your mileage may vary

 

[aaronious]

Your mileage may vary

THANK YOU!!!!! I know it's dumb but it drives me crazy evertime I see it, then I forget to ask.

 

[hrodbert696]

No, actually, I don't think we can, because tone is qualitative, not quantitative. Granted you can measure frequency responses and such, but the tone arises out of the interaction between components, not each element separately, so there's no meaningful way to say "how much" any one of them contributes.

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

I would rather make a cake chart. Mmm cake

 

[DigitalMan]

I graded the fretboard higher since I only play fretless. For fretted I would knock off about 20 points and add 10 each to strings and pickups.

View attachment 781690

I can't disagree with your reasoning. For electronics I'd drop it down to 1% for passive, but increase it to 20% for active, and 50% if it's a Wal.

 

[dukeandrews]

That is a cool website.

Share | Charts

 

[placedesjardins]

Do you think TB can create the most accurate bass tone pie chart?

Considering the tone of a typical bass;

1. Pickups
2. Bridge
3. Body Wood
4. Fretboard Wood
5. Electronics [pots, caps etc]
6. Strings

In a percentage, how much does, lets say; the bridge contribute to the basses overall sound?

Also what other component should be added/included?

Create a Pie Chart, Free . Customize, download and easily share. Just enter the amounts, pick some colors/fonts, and we'll take it from there!

Make your chart, and post it (you can just type it out and post it here if you want)




*not including technique in MY chart because a P-Bass sounds like a P-Bass no matter who plays it IMO, IME, YMMV etc. and I'm sorry if this has been done before

The thing about the chart is that it would be three-dimensional with intersecting zones, like a Venn diagram. Very complex.
The sad thing is that non-bass players would plot one dot on an x-y axis for all options.

 

[bholder]

You left out the player. The player should get a bigger slice than any other factor assuming a bass is in good working order. It's not a matter of technique, p bass or not.

Well, there's an implicit assumption there also that the player is in good working order. I find more often than not, that's my problem right there.

 

[kosmicwizard]

Can we do the same for TB acronyms? WHAT THE HELL DOES YMMV MEAN!!??!!??

Your Mileage May Vary

 

[Plectrum72]

Amp/cab=100% of tone

 

[M.R. Ogle]

Pie chart, no. More like multiple sliding scales.

 

[neckdive]

You left out the player. The player should get a bigger slice than any other factor assuming a bass is in good working order. It's not a matter of technique, p bass or not.

I assumed that the player and amp/cab were the same therefore eliminating those as variables.

Moreover, this is the basses forum, not the technique forum.

 

[neckdive]

I can't disagree with your reasoning. For electronics I'd drop it down to 1% for passive, but increase it to 20% for active, and 50% if it's a Wal.

I can't argue with that either.

 

[Shortie]

I graded the fretboard higher since I only play fretless. For fretted I would knock off about 20 points and add 10 each to strings and pickups.

You forgot the most important component, which accounts for at least 80% of the sound: BASS PLAYER'S TECHNIQUE.

 

[Rib 13]

Do you think TB can create the most accurate bass tone pie chart?

1. Pickups
2. Bridge
3. Body Wood
4. Fretboard Wood
5. Electronics [pots, caps etc]
6. Strings
7. Technique (Not Mentioned in OP)

This is impossible to do for the following reasons:

1) Everybody has different ideas on what great tone is therefore there will be biasing toward a specific set of criteria based on what each individual's idea of great tone is

2) Even if everybody was in agreement that great tone= Marcus Miller (See what I did there?? ) we all play different, feel different, attack the strings different, etc so prioritizing the order/percentage of the criteria from "most important" to "least important" will also vary from player to player