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Maple vs. Rosewood

#61
It didn't occur to me until this morning that I may have misunderstood what the "wood doesn't matter" folks were saying.

Is it possible they think that the "wood matters" folks think that the pickup picks up the sound of the wood?

It can't. So they must think we are alchemists. As obvious as this may seem.....the magnet pickup, picks up, the vibrations of the string. How that string vibrates is affected by the density, resonance, dryness, grain, oiliness, rigidity of the wood, combined with the muting or accentuating effects of the bridge, nut, neck etc.

Perhaps too obvious.:)
 
#62
JEDI BASS said:
I'm anal and never play unless my hands are clean. I have bought some basses that look like an auto mechanic played it on his breaks.... kills me!
Click to expand...

But how am I supposed to get chicken grease on my flats? :ninja:

But seriously, I picked up an old Stingray with a maple board that looks like it hasn't been cleaned by the last 2 owners and the gunk is just so in there and I can't get it out.
 
#64
chadds said:
It didn't occur to me until this morning that I may have misunderstood what the "wood doesn't matter" folks were saying.

Is it possible they think that the "wood matters" folks think that the pickup picks up the sound of the wood?

It can't. So they must think we are alchemists. As obvious as this may seem.....the magnet pickup, picks up, the vibrations of the string. How that string vibrates is affected by the density, resonance, dryness, grain, oiliness, rigidity of the wood, combined with the muting or accentuating effects of the bridge, nut, neck etc.

Perhaps too obvious.:)
Click to expand...
No, that's not it at all. It's obvious to me, if you misunderstood their position the first time, you're still not getting it.
Firstly the "Wood doesn't matter" title is misleading. Secondly, what they are proposing is NOT that wood doessn't matter at all, but that it doesn't matter as much as the pro-tonewood advocates claim. The "WDM's" say that it's only one small factor among many that make up the tone of the bass and in the long run is not a reliable way to judge what a bass will sound like. Pretty much the whole debate is based on a matter of degree.
I would suggest however, let's not let this thread devolve into another pointless tonewoood argument.
 
#67
C.Linton said:
No, that's not it at all. It's obvious to me, if you misunderstood their position the first time, you're still not getting it.
Firstly the "Wood doesn't matter" title is misleading. Secondly, what they are proposing is NOT that wood doessn't matter at all, but that it doesn't matter as much as the pro-tonewood advocates claim. The "WDM's" say that it's only one small factor among many that make up the tone of the bass and in the long run is not a reliable way to judge what a bass will sound like. Pretty much the whole debate is based on a matter of degree.
I would suggest however, let's not let this thread devolve into another pointless tonewoood argument.
Click to expand...

I agree let's not let it devolve.

I also got it the first time.:)
I got it in 1966 and still do.:)

Yes there are folks here who say wood has no effect. Some think their playing doesn't matter:) much less any other component.:)

Sometimes expressing an understanding of the other's position or suggesting that you don't know everything opens the "other" to a good dialog.
 
#69
Confirmation bias - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Confirmation bias (also called confirmatory bias, myside bias or verification bias) is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses.[Note 1][1] People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. For example, in reading about gun control, people usually prefer sources that affirm their existing attitudes. They also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. Biased search, interpretation and memory have been invoked to explain attitude polarization (when a disagreement becomes more extreme even though the different parties are exposed to the same evidence), belief perseverance (when beliefs persist after the evidence for them is shown to be false), the irrational primacy effect (a greater reliance on information encountered early in a series) and illusory correlation (when people falsely perceive an association between two events or situations).

A series of experiments in the 1960s suggested that people are biased toward confirming their existing beliefs. Later work re-interpreted these results as a tendency to test ideas in a one-sided way, focusing on one possibility and ignoring alternatives. In certain situations, this tendency can bias people's conclusions. Explanations for the observed biases include wishful thinking and the limited human capacity to process information. Another explanation is that people show confirmation bias because they are weighing up the costs of being wrong, rather than investigating in a neutral, scientific way.

Confirmation biases contribute to overconfidence in personal beliefs and can maintain or strengthen beliefs in the face of contrary evidence. Poor decisions due to these biases have been found in military, political, and organizational contexts, as well as in the process of getting to know other people.
 
#73
If your going to do a comparison between two different things you need to play the same riff with each, preferably without too many notes so you can actually hear the attack and decay of what's being played. The guy who recorded the video is a jackass imo. And approaches the whole thing with the pre conceived notion that there is no difference, making a mockery of the whole thing. Search the same thing on guitars and listen to legit comparisons .
 
#74
If you don't believe that there is a difference out of respect leave the ignorant be and don't enter the thread.
It amounts to antagonism. If the OP said perhaps, "show me the error of my experience" then chime in. If you don't like Ps why go in a P appreciation thread? Have you nothing else to do? A great question of life is just because you can do you?

I had my time with SVTs and cabs when they were first introduced. As much as I respect that many love them, I don't. I won't go onto one of those threads because I have nothing to add.

I think that those of you who are sure we can't hear or feel these subtle differences are suffering from a lack of good hearing or have lost yours. You may be using very insensitive rigs. Some of you actually believe not only doesn't the audience hear but that they don't care. All that being true I respect that you can't hear the difference. It gives you no
actual experience to understand that others can.
Peace.
 
#76
On those basses in that recording with my eyes closed on couldn't have told you which was which. If hadn't known he was playing to different basses I would have never known one was a rosewood board and the other maple.

This pretty much fits my experience as well. To me the difference is more about the look and the feel than the tone and I've owned both. My Jazz has a rosewood board and when I look for a PBass to buy it will probably have a maple board but I actually have no preference.
 
#78
chadds said:
Is it possible they think that the "wood matters" folks think that the pickup picks up the sound of the wood?
Click to expand...

Of course. Many pickups, especially single coils (as they can be microphonic), will pick up all sorts of extraneous noises that have nothing to do with string vibration. This includes hands rubbing/bumping the bass body, or even a leather strap rubbing the body making a squeaking noise.

In some extreme cases, muting the strings and speaking right into the pickups will amplify your voice thru the amp. Like a microphone, hence the term microphonic.

Knowing this, it's only logical that wood and neck characteristics will affect the sound in some way. Wheather someone is in a position to hear these things, or is even capable of hearing them, is another story altogether.
 
#80
I love this. Here's something: I have two 'identical' P bass bodies/electronics. One has a MIA Std neck, rosewood board. The other has an Allparts all-maple neck.
Guess which one sounds 'brighter?'

The MIA rosewood one. By miles and miles.
People hear with their eyes.
Rosewood looks darker therefore........

Most don't even know that rosewood is MUCH harder than maple. Almost as hard as ebony, in fact. Logic tells me that harder wood should equal brighter tone. I can't imagine why it wouldn't be so.
 

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