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Rosewood/Maple Finger Boards - Tone difference?

#161
jobo4 said:
What's so politically correct about the fact that a significant group of skilled bassists disagree with you? Others can tell the diff? I submit that hey must have an agenda: to make themselves feel better or to sell more basses with different fingerboards or some other...

Whatever makes you sleep better...:bassist: :eek:
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Wow.. That reply just reinforces jzucker's original position.


Well done. And I thought we were just having a spirited debate, not promoting an agenda or expressing superiority. C'mon now!
 
#163
Fretless5verfan said:
This is faulty logic. Turbo whine is a very discernable noise. It's either present or it's not. The tone differences in woods are generalities and nowhere near as cut and dry. Which is many people say "tends to" when they describe tone differences.
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But your first example wasn't if you can hear turbo whine or not but that you could adjust the performance of the car by the subtleties of it.

And turbo whine is not at all obvious for someone who doesn't know cars. It's just more noise the engine makes. I was actually agreeing that there is a certain degree of what we can learn to discern. And turbos aren't off or on so I'm not sure what you mean by that. They spin over a range of rpms. Maybe you're thinking of the waste gates being open or closed?
 
#166
Moo said:
I want to have more than just one guy try though, I want to make something available on the web so people can put on their headphones and study the sound clips, compare them back and forth and then decide what the woods are and see if they're right. Lakland would be great as they have a standardized line with the wood options.
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Sounds like a winner.
 
#167
Moo said:
But your first example wasn't if you can hear turbo whine or not but that you could adjust the performance of the car by the subtleties of it.

And turbo whine is not at all obvious for someone who doesn't know cars. It's just more noise the engine makes. I was actually agreeing that there is a certain degree of what we can learn to discern. And turbos aren't off or on so I'm not sure what you mean by that. They spin over a range of rpms. Maybe you're thinking of the waste gates being open or closed?
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I didn't give that example now did i? lol.

And you're right the turbo isn't off or on, but there come a point where the whine is loud enough to hear, and a point where it's too quiet to be heard among the rest of the engine noise. For instance, I can only hear the turbo in a Jetta 2.0T once it goes over 2k rpm or so.
 
#169
jzucker said:
Nobody said they could pick it out in a blindfold test.
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6 posts above yours, though that one may have been a bit tongue in cheek.

100's of people have claimed they can hear the difference, now that I'm working on a machine to prove this one way or another that should simmer down to much less dramatic claims. Jauqo still seems pretty confident, if he can do it I'll be the first to post about it :)
 
#171
Moo said:
6 posts above yours, though that one may have been a bit tongue in cheek.

100's of people have claimed they can hear the difference, now that I'm working on a machine to prove this one way or another that should simmer down to much less dramatic claims. Jauqo still seems pretty confident, if he can do it I'll be the first to post about it :)
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Moo
How will this be graded 2 out of 3,5 out of 7 etc ? :)
 
#172
Moo said:
6 posts above yours, though that one may have been a bit tongue in cheek.

100's of people have claimed they can hear the difference, now that I'm working on a machine to prove this one way or another that should simmer down to much less dramatic claims. Jauqo still seems pretty confident, if he can do it I'll be the first to post about it :)
Click to expand...


Go back 16 posts and read the whole quote in context. Oh details details. That was refuring to the turbocharger!
 
#174
Moo said:
6 posts above yours, though that one may have been a bit tongue in cheek.

100's of people have claimed they can hear the difference, now that I'm working on a machine to prove this one way or another that should simmer down to much less dramatic claims. Jauqo still seems pretty confident, if he can do it I'll be the first to post about it :)
Click to expand...

How can a machine prove anything? All along folks have been using the "escape-clause" of no two pieces of wood being the same. If you want to use that as an loophole you can always claim that the sample your machine tested was a statistical anomaly. Unless you test 100 random samples of each type you can't draw any significant conclusion.

OTOH, I know that maple is brighter. I can hear it. :D
 
#175
Well, I guess I'll throw my .02 in. Maybe I wouldn't be able to tell in a blind taste test which was which. I think I notice a difference when I play ash body basses with ebony versus maple boards. The ebony does seem to have more, what I call "body", to the note, although Roger Sadowsky probably describes it more accurately as "punch". I actually like the look of maple boards but have convinced myself I don't like their sound? Hmmm...maybe. But it sure is amazing that I've sold every maple board bass I've ever owned because I tricked myself ? into thinking it sounded different than ebony or rosewood. Oh well, I guess I'm delusional. But at least I'm in good company. Hi Roger! Oh and one more thing: You know what I like best about music? It's not science.
 
#177
jobo4 said:
What's so politically correct about the fact that a significant group of skilled bassists disagree with you? Others can tell the diff? I submit that hey must have an agenda: to make themselves feel better or to sell more basses with different fingerboards or some other...

Whatever makes you sleep better...:bassist: :eek:
Click to expand...



you honestly believe mr tobias,mr sadowsky,mr roscoe,mr skjold,and countless other highly respected builders offer different fretboard choices to "make themselves feel better or to sell more basses."that is the silliest thing ive read in this thread.
i assume they sleep fine.
 
#178
JAUQO III-X said:
Moo
How will this be graded 2 out of 3,5 out of 7 etc ? :)
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That we have to decide. 2 out of 3 isn't that good, 6 out of 7 would be good.

My thought so far, once we collect the sound files I want to build a Flash movie people can download. It would be a bit of a video game and pressing start would shuffle the files and display them for you. You could play and rewind to your hearts content and select properties from menus next to the clip, what kind of FB, body wood, humbucker or single etc...

Then you'd press a button when you're happy and it will display what you got right and what percentage that was. I also have some thoughts on a way to officially take the test and send the score to a database so I can display the results overall. I'll call you later.
 
#179
jzucker said:
How can a machine prove anything?
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You have to trust it.
All along folks have been using the "escape-clause" of no two pieces of wood being the same. If you want to use that as an loophole you can always claim that the sample your machine tested was a statistical anomaly. Unless you test 100 random samples of each type you can't draw any significant conclusion.

OTOH, I know that maple is brighter. I can hear it. :D
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I'm expecting most of the golden ears who don't do well will simply dismiss it as wrong, at least this is how it works when testing other psychic abilities. But for those not too invested it will hopefully be an interesting experiment that should surprise many of us. If I finish it of course ;)
 

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