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myth-busting: Resonance is not synonymous with Vibration
- Thread starter Killed_by_Death
- Start date
I demand that you come to the same conclusions that I have. You're not allowed to look at context, use cases, history, treat the example as a whole system, or provide alternate interpretations. As Lemmy would have wanted.
Every Motorhead song sounds the same. So I am not convinced...
OP +1
I called my tech. He worked on the Jefferson Airplane's gear, at Alembic, Fender and is authorized Martin etc.
He said go find a MM with the graphite reinforcement. A very even bass.
He said hold your bass mid way after sticking some felt under the strings. Knock on the body move around and suddenly you will hear a note. That's your bass's resonant peak. P basses have a few. One might overlap with the pickup's resonant peak.
Reducing mass raises resonant peak. You want it to go to outside the playing notes of the bass. Some builders use medium sized schallers. Graphite in the neck stiffening it raises the resonant peak. My friend said luthiers are basically building what we've experienced are the qualities of vintage instruments. I said why does a 50's 60's sound, generalizing here, sound so "vibrant" compared to a new P off the wall at GC?
He said the old one will be lighter. Whether it's the type of wood, loss of moisture over the decades, resonance doesn't care. It's a loss of mass. The old ones and a current one found or built to these specs will sound acoustic when played unplugged. The loss of mass raises the resonant peak so the bass ends up sounding very even.
He said pickups and electronics are subtractive. If the physical components aren't bringing the sound acoustically then the pickups can't make it happen.
So OP, thanks.
I called my tech. He worked on the Jefferson Airplane's gear, at Alembic, Fender and is authorized Martin etc.
He said go find a MM with the graphite reinforcement. A very even bass.
He said hold your bass mid way after sticking some felt under the strings. Knock on the body move around and suddenly you will hear a note. That's your bass's resonant peak. P basses have a few. One might overlap with the pickup's resonant peak.
Reducing mass raises resonant peak. You want it to go to outside the playing notes of the bass. Some builders use medium sized schallers. Graphite in the neck stiffening it raises the resonant peak. My friend said luthiers are basically building what we've experienced are the qualities of vintage instruments. I said why does a 50's 60's sound, generalizing here, sound so "vibrant" compared to a new P off the wall at GC?
He said the old one will be lighter. Whether it's the type of wood, loss of moisture over the decades, resonance doesn't care. It's a loss of mass. The old ones and a current one found or built to these specs will sound acoustic when played unplugged. The loss of mass raises the resonant peak so the bass ends up sounding very even.
He said pickups and electronics are subtractive. If the physical components aren't bringing the sound acoustically then the pickups can't make it happen.
So OP, thanks.
Hmmm. I have a jazzbox guitar that has a wolf note (dead spot) on C in every octave.
I’ll have to always play it against a wall from now on lol
But seriously. If that’s the case, then a clip-on tuner could, by dampening the resonance point, potentially enliven the note C up and down the neck! I’ll have to try a few things. Perhaps I can start with a small vise grip plier or something.
There are things to put on your headstock to move the dead spots but I think you have to add a lot of mass, a wolf note is a note that resonantes longer, it's just the opposite of a dead spot I believe but I'm not expert. Supposedly these work but I know nothing about them:
https://www.amazon.com/Fender-0992180100-Fatfinger-Guitar-Nickel/dp/B004WQOFBI
As an Amazon Associate, TalkBass may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via links on this site.
Turnaround
Commercial User
You are confusing electronic resonance with acoustic resonance. Same word, different meaning.
Electronics Resonance has the spike at the resonant-peak, that's what you were describing earlier.
I'm not confused, but I am tired.
@-Asdfgh- has hit the nail squarely on the head. So have several others, @mambo4 and @Koshchei included.
It is not useful pick at people by using semantics (and pedantry) to show that they are “wrong” and others are “right”.
None of this is terribly complicated. Metal strings move and vibrate. If their frequency is absorbed by the wood -usually the NECK- or their energy lost to other imperfections, then the amplitude of that vibration is reduced and less current is induced in the pickups. If any component tends to resonate at a frequency played by the instrument, then that frequency will “sound” quieter.
People use “resonant” to describe what they hear and feel. Nothing wrong with that.
And guess what? Without vibration, resonance is next to meaningless.
Furthermore, each resonant peak in each instrument will influence the “voice” of that instrument. This isn’t a bad thing.
It is not useful pick at people by using semantics (and pedantry) to show that they are “wrong” and others are “right”.
None of this is terribly complicated. Metal strings move and vibrate. If their frequency is absorbed by the wood -usually the NECK- or their energy lost to other imperfections, then the amplitude of that vibration is reduced and less current is induced in the pickups. If any component tends to resonate at a frequency played by the instrument, then that frequency will “sound” quieter.
People use “resonant” to describe what they hear and feel. Nothing wrong with that.
And guess what? Without vibration, resonance is next to meaningless.
Furthermore, each resonant peak in each instrument will influence the “voice” of that instrument. This isn’t a bad thing.
Pardon my ignorance. May I ask if this is what you are saying? An electric instrument's signal, generated by a magnetic pickup, is more likely to have volume & sustain characteristics that are dependent on which string and fret is being used if it resonates "well" acoustically?
That links to a completely different thing than I said. Not sure what is with the talk bass ferries on that one.
I may have munged up the quoting process - sorry 'bout that. Unfortunately, too late for me to go fix it. I owe you a beer.
This is unfortunately how people feel about it, even when it's pointed out that it's not the correct use of the word.
The more time I spend with humans, the more I don't understand why most of them just don't care. I thought it was a thing in the culture when I lived in Asia, but it's not there, it's worldwide.
However, in North America people will fight you over their own 'entitlement' to remain ignorant.
@-Asdfgh-
What's your background?
Really appreciate your insight and explanations
@Killed_by_Death
Thanks for an interesting topic that is becoming slightly less confusing, one post at a time.
What's your background?
Really appreciate your insight and explanations
@Killed_by_Death
Thanks for an interesting topic that is becoming slightly less confusing, one post at a time.
Ah good, there are some who are learning. That is encouraging. I was about to split from TB for the day, it's exhausting.
- Jun 6, 2012
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