Poor mans hollow body bass question

[VegasCustom]

So just a random thought here... but if the typical design of a hollow body is to add wings to a tone block with a neck attached (the same as adding wings to a neck through) would it be viable to route out the wings to make them exactly like hollow bodies (albeit without the same uniform thickness) or be redundant. IS the tone of a hollow body dependent on using thinner tone woods to craft it similar to a acoustic?

 

[bholder]

Well, not so much similar to an acoustic, but yeah, it's a valid and often-used semi-hollow construction technique. Fender, in particular, does this on their Tele Thinlines and Starcasters, for example. The main body is routed out leaving maybe 1/2" at the sides. Not quite as acoustically resonant as a typical bent plywood semi-hollow, but does get some of the benefits (particularly weight reduction but tonal also).

 

[Bruce Johnson]

So just a random thought here... but if the typical design of a hollow body is to add wings to a tone block with a neck attached (the same as adding wings to a neck through) would it be viable to route out the wings to make them exactly like hollow bodies (albeit without the same uniform thickness) or be redundant. IS the tone of a hollow body dependent on using thinner tone woods to craft it similar to a acoustic?

The answer to that question is complicated, because it depends on what you mean by the Tone, and where it's coming from.

Do you mean the Acoustic sound? The sound in the air, that's being pumped out of the soundholes, whether the bass is plugged in or not?

Or, do you mean the Electrified sound that's coming out of the speaker of the amplifier?

Those are two different things, which often get confused. The purely Acoustic sound depends heavily on the overall flexing of a thin top over a big open chamber. That's what pumps the air and makes the sound. The art and science of building acoustic guitars is all about making that thin-walled box flex and pump air.

A hollow-bodied electric bass isn't really designed to make Acoustic sound. It may make some noise out the soundholes, but that's accidental. The body is partially hollowed out to change the overall stiffness of the body, so the body flexes more as the strings vibrate. This changes the vibration on the strings. The pickups detect that and send it on to the amp. So, the sound coming out the speaker has changed. The point is to make the sound coming out of the amp sound more like the sound of an all-acoustic instrument. A hollow-body electric bass is designed to get closer to an "acoustic" tone out through the amp.

Chambering out the body is the main way to do that. But it's more complicated than just copying the wall thicknesses and chamber sizes of an all-acoustic body. Putting thin-walled wings onto a stiff center spine won't get you there. The whole body has to be designed to flex under the string vibration. And that's different from a body that's designed to flex the top to pump air.

 

[VegasCustom]

The answer to that question is complicated, because it depends on what you mean by the Tone, and where it's coming from.

Do you mean the Acoustic sound? The sound in the air, that's being pumped out of the soundholes, whether the bass is plugged in or not?

Or, do you mean the Electrified sound that's coming out of the speaker of the amplifier?

Those are two different things, which often get confused. The purely Acoustic sound depends heavily on the overall flexing of a thin top over a big open chamber. That's what pumps the air and makes the sound. The art and science of building acoustic guitars is all about making that thin-walled box flex and pump air.

A hollow-bodied electric bass isn't really designed to make Acoustic sound. It may make some noise out the soundholes, but that's accidental. The body is partially hollowed out to change the overall stiffness of the body, so the body flexes more as the strings vibrate. This changes the vibration on the strings. The pickups detect that and send it on to the amp. So, the sound coming out the speaker has changed. The point is to make the sound coming out of the amp sound more like the sound of an all-acoustic instrument. A hollow-body electric bass is designed to get closer to an "acoustic" tone out through the amp.

Chambering out the body is the main way to do that. But it's more complicated than just copying the wall thicknesses and chamber sizes of an all-acoustic body. Putting thin-walled wings onto a stiff center spine won't get you there. The whole body has to be designed to flex under the string vibration. And that's different from a body that's designed to flex the top to pump air.

Ok that is incredibly informative. Thank you. Actually solves a lot of thoughts with my current build so now I can move forward. Thanks man

 

[Haroldo]

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