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Removing the pickguard for more tone?
- Thread starter joelb79
- Start date
This may be true. I refinished an old bass and all the tone came out...it was deafening! And the previous owners were very poor players, so that was bad too.Drake Kennedy said:
This is why Jaco's "Bass of Doom" has chipped paint... all that great tone working its way out of the wood. Probably kept Jaco awake at night.
I ablsolutely refused to look at this one at first; had the smell of troll all over it, but now that I've had a read, and a lot of laughs, I think I'll keep it!
Still don't know what to say about that guys pickguard though...
Still don't know what to say about that guys pickguard though...
Hey, it's no joke! Pickguards affect the tone!
I recently started a company which offers pickguards fashioned from a range of materials-- everything from the stuff they use to make the heat-shielding tiles on the space shuttle, to rare, seriously endangered woods from Borneo and Thailand.
Prices start at $999. That may seem a bit steep, but what would YOU pay to sound exactly like your heroes?!
I recently started a company which offers pickguards fashioned from a range of materials-- everything from the stuff they use to make the heat-shielding tiles on the space shuttle, to rare, seriously endangered woods from Borneo and Thailand.
Prices start at $999. That may seem a bit steep, but what would YOU pay to sound exactly like your heroes?!
I once met a bassist that would only play in rubber-soled shoes because he said he need the the "sonic isolation" to create his tone.
No joke. Of course, his tone came from a $300 Charvel.
No joke. Of course, his tone came from a $300 Charvel.
- Feb 2, 2001
- 12,719
- 1,291
- Disclosures
- Builder: Valenti Basses
ok ....lets take a scientific approach...
what if you coated your whole body in plastic...would it make a difference to the tone?? probably yes.
so coating half of one side in plastic ie a pickgaurd is gonna do something?
the only thing is that more than half the bass players out there already have that ...its called a poly finish.
so the answer is ..if you have a poly finish ..dont bother
if you have a nitro finish it may well make a fraction of a difference but your already way ahead of the game anyway.
jaco took his off but what the hell did he know!
what if you coated your whole body in plastic...would it make a difference to the tone?? probably yes.
so coating half of one side in plastic ie a pickgaurd is gonna do something?
the only thing is that more than half the bass players out there already have that ...its called a poly finish.
so the answer is ..if you have a poly finish ..dont bother
if you have a nitro finish it may well make a fraction of a difference but your already way ahead of the game anyway.
jaco took his off but what the hell did he know!
The pickguard doesn't affect the tone nearly as much as the color of the bass does. But, I still use only celluloid guards, just in case.
The response to this thread has been a little odd 
, especially on a board where some people claim thin veneers and fancy finishes make a tonal difference. Why wouldn't a plastic layer affect tone if a wood top or finish does? I really don't know the answer to that but let's not forget the "clothes make the man" phenomenon. If you feel good about how your bass looks then you'll play better!
, especially on a board where some people claim thin veneers and fancy finishes make a tonal difference. Why wouldn't a plastic layer affect tone if a wood top or finish does? I really don't know the answer to that but let's not forget the "clothes make the man" phenomenon. If you feel good about how your bass looks then you'll play better!
danomite64 said:
Man, if that isnt the truth. My last bass was an awful red, so you know it had a horrible tone. Ill never buy another red bass. They suck.
I've found that most of my tone comes from the metal knobs on my bass. I'd highly suggest if you have plastic knobs to change them out post haste.
morebass! said:The response to this thread has been a little odd
The tops on most of the upper-end basses are not that thin. They are usually around 1/4" or so. It is enough wood to change the mass of the body if the two wood types are different in density. This, and the fact that a top is glued on, does make a difference. The large surface area glue joint and the misalignment of the grains of the two woods will also change the stiffness of the body.
Different mass and different stiffness means different dampening characteristics of the body. And, so different tone.
Most pick guards are not really heavy enough to make a notable change in mass. Also, they are not glued on, but simply attached to body with screws. So, they don't really do much to change the rigidity of the body either.
I'm not so convinced of the significant tonal differences in finishes. It may be there, but it is certainly more subtle than the differences in tops.
It depends on how many screws hold the pickguard on. A bass with 6 screws will sound way better than one with 7 screws. Its all about transfer of energy and even order resonation. If you have a bass with a 7-screw pickguard the screws act as a damping device due to the odd number and will not let the pickguard resonate freely. So you might as well take it off.
