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NOT the DEFINITIVE wood does/doesn't matter thread!

Wood?

  • Different woods have different acoustic properties, I can hear the difference.

    Votes: 87 32.6%

  • Different woods have different acoustic properties, but they have no bearing on tone.

    Votes: 33 12.4%

  • All woods sound the same to me.

    Votes: 21 7.9%

  • Fingerboard or neck wood matters most.

    Votes: 39 14.6%

  • Body wood matters most.

    Votes: 16 6.0%

  • Different woods CAN have a HUGE effect on tone.

    Votes: 53 19.9%

  • Different woods DO have a HUGE effect on tone.

    Votes: 21 7.9%

  • Wood doesn't effect tone AT ALL.

    Votes: 24 9.0%

  • I think wood matters, but I don't really care.

    Votes: 81 30.3%
  • Total voters
    267
#45
J-Bassomatic said:
Technically cardboard is made from wood! Next!:laugh:
Click to expand...

Wood is cellulose fibers glued together with lignin (a glue of sorts). The strat was made with cellulose fibers and man made glue (not as different as you might think).

Unfortunately, we now have to have threads about tone cardboard and tone glue.

Carrots have cellulose, but not the right fibrous structure. Definitely not a good tone vegetable. Coconut husks, on the other hand...
 
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#47
Uncle Hanky said:
I can't claim any advanced degrees, or even claim to be halfway intelligent, but I'm of the opinion that electronics matter much more than tonewoods in an electric instrument. ::ducks::
Click to expand...

I don't really disagree with you. Pickup placement, electronics, and the like matter a lot. I just happen to believe that wood (especially the neck and fingerboard) matters some too.

My theory: The difference between a good and a great instrument is that the great one got almost everything right. Note I don't say perfect, as I don't know if it exists, or if you'd even know it if you experienced it.
 
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#49
I am of the opinion that the type of wood used makes little difference. However, I believe the density and weight of whatever wood is used does make a difference. The heavy ash basses of the late 70's come to mind. The 70's pups were a huge part of delivering that aggressive tone, but IMO, the woods uses were also a factor.
 
#53
micguy said:
My degree is in Acoustical Physics. I also play bass. My vote is that neck wood is where it matters most.

Quick demo that supports this:
crank the gain on your rig, tap on the back of the body. Tap on tge back of the neck. What do your ears tell you?
Click to expand...

I agree that neck wood seems to make a bigger difference than body wood...........by the way, I do NOT have a a degree in anything.

I have a Warmoth koa body Jazz Bass and it used to have a maple neck with Brazilian rosewood fretboad and it sounded pretty much the way a Jazz Bass is supposed to. Then, a TalkBass person had a Warmoth 100% all Indian rosewood neck and fretboard for sale and I bought it and switched necks. Everything else on the bass stayed the same..........WOW!...............what a difference! Dud and thud but in a nice way. Tremendous difference between the 2 necks.

So, I think and have experienced that the wood of the neck has greater influence than what the body is.

I've owned over 40 different basses over the decades and basically, body woods, fretboard woods do not fall into any predictable sound or tone. And, I have never noticed any difference between rosewood fret boards and maple fretboards. I have found that ebony fretboards do seem a bit brighter.

A piece of wood will sound however it wants to and every bass' sound and tone is different. No 2 basses sound alike.
 
#54
bassdude51 said:
I agree that neck wood seems to make a bigger difference than body wood...........by the way, I do NOT have a a degree in anything.

I have a Warmoth koa body Jazz Bass and it used to have a maple neck with Brazilian rosewood fretboad and it sounded pretty much the way a Jazz Bass is supposed to. Then, a TalkBass person had a Warmoth 100% all Indian rosewood neck and fretboard for sale and I bought it and switched necks. Everything else on the bass stayed the same..........WOW!...............what a difference! Dud and thud but in a nice way. Tremendous difference between the 2 necks.

So, I think and have experienced that the wood of the neck has greater influence than what the body is.

I've owned over 40 different basses over the decades and basically, body woods, fretboard woods do not fall into any predictable sound or tone. And, I have never noticed any difference between rosewood fret boards and maple fretboards. I have found that ebony fretboards do seem a bit brighter.

A piece of wood will sound however it wants to.
Click to expand...

I would argue that the sound of the Jazz bass changed because the first neck was much stiffer than the 2nd. One could say that the wood makes the difference, but really, it's the structure - the stiffness of the wood that makes the difference. The less stiff neck absorbs some of the string vibration, causing a "thudier" sound. Two pieces of the same species of wood,with different stiffnesses, could yield the same results.
 
#55
mapleglo said:
I would argue that the sound of the Jazz bass changed because the first neck was much stiffer than the 2nd. One could say that the wood makes the difference, but really, it's the structure - the stiffness of the wood that makes the difference. The less stiff neck absorbs some of the string vibration, causing a "thudier" sound. Two pieces of the same species of wood,with different stiffnesses, could yield the same results.
Click to expand...
I do not know if rosewood is less stiff than maple. Rosewood seems to me to be heavier than maple. Rosewood is an oilier wood than maple. Warmoth says that rosewood necks do not need to be finished and my all rosewood neck is all natural with no finish. Where as maple should be finished unless if roasted.

I guess that I'd have to have at least 10 basses with all rosewood necks in order to confirm the "dud and thud" sound.

I don't feel that my all rosewood neck is less stiff than maple because I only have about a 1/4 turn on the truss rod bolt. Most of my maple necks have anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 turn.

I don't know but I do know that rosewood seems to be heavier than maple.
 
#58
bassdude51 said:
I do not know if rosewood is less stiff than maple. Rosewood seems to me to be heavier than maple. Rosewood is an oilier wood than maple. Warmoth says that rosewood necks do not need to be finished and my all rosewood neck is all natural with no finish. Where as maple should be finished unless if roasted.

I guess that I'd have to have at least 10 basses with all rosewood necks in order to confirm the "dud and thud" sound.

I don't feel that my all rosewood neck is less stiff than maple because I only have about a 1/4 turn on the truss rod bolt. Most of my maple necks have anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 turn.

I don't know but I do know that rosewood seems to be heavier than maple.
Click to expand...

Here's the thing. Some samples of rosewood are stiffer than maple. And some maple samples are stiffer than rosewood. There's likely more variation between samples of the same species of wood, than there are variations between different species of wood. Wood, no matter what the species, is organic, and grows as it will, depending on the environment.
 
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