Double Bass PU/bridge/body interactions?

[TCube]

Here's a thought experiment:

Take a bridge with a piezo pickup and try it out on two different bass bodies. The sound coming out of the PU is perceptibly the same. Agree? Disagree?

 

[Francois Blais]

Disagree!
The whole "acoustic" system is involved in the tone you get.
Put that bridge on a solid-body, on a cheap plywood and on a great carved bass.
I'm sure you won't get the same tone.

 

[JtheJazzMan]

Disagree as well. Dont forget the pickup is recieving all vibrations, from the top of the bass and body etc. So the natural acoustic characteristics of the bass make a difference.

I took the full circle off my old bass and put it on my new bass. Different bridge, yes, but identical strings. I like the tone much more on the new bass.

Tap on the body of a bass and hear the sound coming through the pickup, then do it on a solid EUB. Definitive difference, no?

 

[TCube]

Thank you Jazzman, Francois,

I expected that most would disagree. But I'm wondering more precisely how much the bridge receives back from the body, especially for a solid EUB since there will be transmission loss of energy across each interface.

Jazzman, your point about the thump-test (thump the body and listen through pu) is well taken. But a thump with your knuckle on the wood has a much more direct path to the pu (body > bridge > pu) and therefore imparts more energy than the "reflection" back to the bridge. The reflection has more impedance mismatches and is much less direct (string > bridge > body > bridge > pu).

My guess is that the "feedback" from body is minimal esp on a solid body. I guess I'll just have to test it out.

THanks folks!

Cheers and happy giggin'