Rosewood/Maple Finger Boards - Tone difference?

[Moo]

Nonetheless, I do think the fingerboard makes a significant difference in musical output, although that difference my stem more from the nature of the user-fingerboard interface than from tonal characteristics inherent in each type of wood.

I think it very well might, though I don't really touch the FB when I play. If you're suggesting that the different feels of FB wood can change the way you play them would you also agree that how a FB looks can change the way you play it?

One area where visuals can make a huge difference how you feel about something is sex. A persons face or figure can change the experience greatly solely by appearance. I'd suggest a similar effect is just as prominent in how we perceive an instrument. And since the perception is real, the reality that hot girls are better for sex is accepted but would that hold up under a bag test? Could you identify a blonde or brunette with the lights off?

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Could you identify a blonde or brunette with the lights off?

I could identify a dwarf or a giantress with the lights off.

 

[dougjwray]

"Bag test"?

 

[Fuzzbass]

It must be a real bitch being forced to click on a thread title.
My condolences.

 

[Fuzzbass]

How many vocals have been recorded with an unplugged mic?



Your turn. No doubt you've proven something.

Thank you, I have. I've proven that voice is an acoustic instrument and an electric bass is not. A pickup is not a microphone. A pickup is not an ear.

Or... maybe you're saying that an unplugged solidbody electric bass has been recorded with a microphone. I'd like to see some evidence of this!! I have my doubts that ABG's have been recorded this way.

Your turn.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Dude, that's childish even for you

If that ain't the

calling the kettle black

I got a sarcastic reply about recording basses unplugged... of course to you that wasn't childish. I understand why.

 

[Brad Johnson]

I think it very well might, though I don't really touch the FB when I play. If you're suggesting that the different feels of FB wood can change the way you play them would you also agree that how a FB looks can change the way you play it?

One area where visuals can make a huge difference how you feel about something is sex. A persons face or figure can change the experience greatly solely by appearance. I'd suggest a similar effect is just as prominent in how we perceive an instrument. And since the perception is real, the reality that hot girls are better for sex is accepted but would that hold up under a bag test? Could you identify a blonde or brunette with the lights off?

That could very well be true. Some musicians aren't experienced enough to not do things based solely on visuals. I can't count the number of times I've seen someone go to an unfamiliar amp and start tweaking the EQ... before plucking the first note.

That still doesn't change what people who don't fall in this trap experience.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Thank you, I have. I've proven that voice is an acoustic instrument and an electric bass is not. A pickup is not a microphone. A pickup is not an ear.

A pickup is a human being. No wait, that's the Elephant Man.

Or... maybe you're saying that an unplugged solidbody electric bass has been recorded with a microphone. I'd like to see some evidence of this!! I have my doubts that ABG's have been recorded this way.

Your turn.

I'm saying your point was obviously pointLESS. Here's why...

Define "acoustic". Whether you like it or not, even electric basses are built to produce an AUDIBLE, ACOUSTIC output. At least the ones we're talking about in this thread. I'd bet even you have heard one unplugged. Admit it

If you've heard more than one unplugged, you may even have noticed that they might even have sounded DIFFERENT. Eh?

Do the recordings you mentioned DISPROVE THIS? Of course not. Point-LESS.



A SYNTH is a good example of an ELECTRIC (or electronic) instrument. I can play my basses unplugged... can you? Now try that with a synth.


Back to you.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Or... maybe you're saying that an unplugged solidbody electric bass has been recorded with a microphone. I'd like to see some evidence of this!! I have my doubts that ABG's have been recorded this way.

Your turn.

Figured I'd address this gem separately. You doubt that acoustic bass guitars have been recorded with mics? Ever seen a Martin ABG? Many of them don't have onboard electronics... yet they've been used on records. Think all that Mariachi music was recorded with EMGs?


Now here's the fun part... by your reckoning, if someone places a pickup on that bass, is it no longer an acoustic instrument? Does the acousticosity p ) of an instrument hinge on how many people can hear it or how well it can be heard without amplification.

Not to my ears.

Your turn again

 

[dougjwray]

Ooooh... this is getting good again!

 

[Akami]

Typical. Your tangent and you ask why it started. Duh.

Just in case you can't remember a couple of pages back...



Ask yourself. You brought it up. Then again you have this odd habit of doing that. You picked a baseless fight with me because you'd been holding a grudge about something completely unrelated that (at least for me) was long forgotten.


Whatever.

If you don't want to discuss the specific issue of this thread, do not talk to me. Got it?

Well it's about fingerboards, if you know what they are...

Anyway, a couple of pages back I evidently nailed it.

Sorry we dont talk to one another like that on Talk bass

 

[Moo]

edit(jt) : respect for other members

 

[john turner]

In summary, most people say yes and describe the difference as the same difference as the visual appearance, rosewood is darker, maple brighter.

In more than a 1/4 century I've never met anyone who claimed they could hear the difference who could tell what kind of wood a fingerboard is without looking. So in other words it's a very distinct tone difference that you need to see before hearing, you figure it out...

i can -easily- hear the difference on two identically equipped basses. i -have- two identically equipped basses and the difference is swimmingly apparent.

 

[john turner]

Is that your final answer. Time's up. Gotta argue that one. The fretboard absolutely makes no difference in sound. Fretting and playability yeah, but think about it. The pickups are down in the body, that is where you get the tonal differences in your wood on the bass. When a note is played on a fretted instrument, it is pushing off of metal, that is where the vibration ends. You cannot get any different tone from a different fretboard only different playability. The neck however can probably make a difference.

lol. how can something connected to the neck (i.e. the fretboard) make "absolutely no difference to the sound" when even you admit the neck "can probably make a difference".

 

[john turner]

jeeze, how did i miss this thread?

 

[john turner]

I am a luthier, I've made some high end stuff and have been a NAMM member since 1989, I've seen tons of people who swear they can tell a difference in almost anything you can see, I've never ever seen anyone who can demonstrate that in even the mildest of scientific settings.

other than your claim to be, do you have any evidence of your luthiery? every luthier -i- have ever talked to has unanimously stated that they felt board woods made a huge difference in the tone.

 

[wujuu]

oooo...and john, care to elaborate on your two identically-equipped basses and difference in tone of the fingerboards? im sure your answers will be similar to the common internet descriptions...but...just to hear it from someone with proof

 

[john turner]

Although I respectfully disagree with your opinion on the fingerboard making the most difference, you hit the nail on the head there.

where does r. sadowsky ever say that the f-board makes the most difference?

 

[john turner]

This quote seems to capture the reasoning behind the 'fretboard doesn't matter' side of this argument. Obviously this is false, because every fret, piece of wood, and so forth on a bass is glued or screwed onto everything else. The vibration does not stop at the fret unless you acoustically isolate it (with a foot of air for example). But instead you glue and wedge frets into the wood so they vibrate as one. The density and elasticity of the fretboard essentially determines how the string and fret vibrate. Everything is acoustically coupled on a bass, and the entire instruments vibration patterns (tone) depend on all of the components.

great response.

i'd like to add that the folks that think the vibration stops at the fret need to remember that this is true only in an ideal world. the vibration extends past the fret and fretting finger somewhat - vibrational energy extends up the string toward the nut - since the finger-string-fretboard junction is not infinitely massive/immobile. it's physics. this serves to dampen some of the high frequencies. you can hear this by putting a c-clamp ona string at a fret and plucking the note. it will be audibly brighter than if you fret it with your finger.

 

[lug]

So, this bass must have the most uneven sound in the history of bassdom.

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....runs like hell