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Repainting the body

Discussion in 'Luthier's Corner' started by Matthew Priest, Jul 17, 2021.

  1. Jul 17, 2021 #1
    Matthew Priest

    Matthew Priest

    Jul 17, 2021
    Would repainting the body of a bass to another color affect the tone of the bass at all?
     
  2. Jul 17, 2021 #2
    dwizum

    dwizum

    Dec 21, 2018
    Nope.
     
    Beej likes this.
  3. Jul 17, 2021 #3
    Beej

    Beej

    Feb 10, 2007
    Vancouver Island
    Agreed. I think examples where people have noticed a tonal change after a finish change are mostly related to other factors that have occurred in the disassembly/reassembly process. For example, tightness of neck screws, set up differences, pickup height, seating of bridge against the body, etc. :thumbsup:
     
    Matthew Priest, WI Short Scaler and dwizum like this.
  4. Jul 17, 2021 #4
    Bruce Johnson

    Bruce Johnson Gold Supporting Member Commercial User

    Feb 4, 2011
    Fillmore, CA
    Professional Luthier
    Basically nope.

    The only way you might hear a slight tone change is if the body is a very soft, light weight wood and you switched from a thin "oil" style finish to a thick, heavy polyester or polyurethane finish. That can change the stiffness enough to make a small difference in the mid-range warmth.

    But if the body is already fairly heavy and stiff, changing the finish won't affect it.
     
    Matthew Priest likes this.