So if wood type makes no difference in tone...

[Kro]

... How come hollow bodies sound different from solid bodies? Hmmmm?

For the record, I'm in the camp that believes that it's possible wood can make a non-zero contribution to tone (So you're telling me there's a chance. YEAH!), but if this is the best argument of the pro-wood side, you guys are in trouble.

 

[Lagado]

Density and weight certainly make a difference to how the bass resonates. How can it not...

Wood Density Chart

 

[dkelley]

Wood does matter, hugely.

you notice it dramatically with guitars more than basses even.

put the same pickup in a mahogany body solid guitar (25.5" scale hard tail) and then put it in a maple body guitar (25.5" scale hard tail) - totally different tone.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

I thought this was relevant,... I actually have 5 Jazz basses and only one of them with maple finger board, which happens to be the warmest one of the bunch, sharing the same electronics!

Out of the warmth thing, the one with the whole rosewood neck and fretboard is the absolute tone powerhouse !!!

 

[Hammerfield]

 

[BassJuju]

I no longer care to "educate" a public that has no interest in learning anything.

This...

 

[kodiakblair]

A high quality acoustic guitar, violin or upright bass is another animal altogether-

Did you see the results from the Leonardo Guitar project a few years back

6 luithers built 12 guitars, same specs like internal bracing etc. Each built 1 from traditional acoustic timbers and 1 from poplar,plane and a few other timbers. Blind folded audience was asked which were traditional.

Turned out each guitar got 50% of the votes and the folks behind the test put this down to guessing. Once the blindfolds came off the traditional timbers gained 75%.

 

[6Bass101]

Not apples and oranges at all. The people who say wood doesn't matter hold the belief that all tone emanates from the strings, the pickups and the fingers. I've seen this written on TB many times.

Taking in the idea of structural differences, why can't that also be true of wood? After all, wood is organic, having been a living thing,and has a cellular structure that varies from species to species.

I believe the prevailing logic is that “all things being equal” wood doesn’t matter. I’m not saying I agree, I’m just saying that’s what I’ve read around here.
Personally, I think there are too many variables to accurately attribute one way or another.

 

[Kro]

Personally, I think there are too many variables to accurately attribute one way or another.

My favorite thought experiment is to take the argument through the next few logical steps. For instance, will my tone change if I lose or gain ten pounds? Muscle is more dense than fat after all. What if my bass is connected to my pants? Do hi-mass pants really sound better than shorts? What about wearing a puffy sweater vs a t-shirt? Or how thick the soles of my shoes are (Auralex Gramma soled shoes anybody)?

Everything certainly effects everything to some degree, and everybody is free to make up their mind as to when they feel the diminishing returns threshold is crossed for them personally. I know where I stand though, and it isn't on Gramma soled shoes!

 

[DrMole]

Did you see the results from the Leonardo Guitar project a few years back

6 luithers built 12 guitars, same specs like internal bracing etc. Each built 1 from traditional acoustic timbers and 1 from poplar,plane and a few other timbers. Blind folded audience was asked which were traditional.

Turned out each guitar got 50% of the votes and the folks behind the test put this down to guessing. Once the blindfolds came off the traditional timbers gained 75%.

I was trying to be generous to the wood crowd- of which I am somewhat a part of with regard to acoustic instruments-
but the above experiment goes even further to support the point that most, even the best ears of musicians or builders cannot tell the difference sonically
between most common tonewoods even in acoustic, hollow-bodied
Instruments. The difference of tonewood in a solid bodied, electric instrument is even less a factor in sound, again to the listener/audience.

The playing feel to the musician can be argued as more important but few if any in the audience could tell the difference, be they tonewood expert, master violin maker, guitar luthier or experienced studio recording engineer.

I really want the wood to make more difference because paying an upcharge for just pretty wood(4-5x the actual cost upcharge) is rather silly, minus the visual aesthetic appeal.

 

[kodiakblair]

The playing feel to the musician can be argued as more important

I'll go with the confirmation bias reasoning,if the player thinks X wood sounds better chances are they'll approach the instrument differently

 

[tunabolt]

Wood is like wine, most people would not be able to distinguish them from one another in a blind test because it all sounds/tastes very similar.

A hollow body is like a nearly-empty bottle of wine with just a few dribbles left. You can still taste it, but it will probably be stale and unsatisfying.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Everything matters, I don’t think there’s any real debate on that. The argument comes in on how much wood matters vs other components like pups and electronics, rigidity of the neck and body, etc. The more rigid the system, the more string energy remains in the strings, which could be good or bad. I’m an agnostic, but after several years on TB, I’ve yet to see a convincing demonstration that a specific “recipe” of wood combinations will reliably produce a certain tone, but if you slap a set of Ric pickups on a 2x4, chances are pretty good it’s going to sound at least a little Ric-ish. Lots of interesting theories abound, so I’ll keep an open mind.

 

[hennessybass]

I play my basses "unplugged" a lot.
I have two different basses (a Jazz and a Tele, both strung with the same brand/size of strings) and when played "unplugged" they sound drastically different from each other. Like way different.

So in the hierarchy of things that make tone (as listed earlier in this and many other TB threads) the following are not in play...
strings (same),
Pickups, preamp, amp, speakers (not relevant as I'm playing acoustically)
Playing style (same dude, same fingers)

What's left after that...
Body (wood)
Neck (wood)
Tuners (different, but both are larger "old school" tuners)
Bridge (different, but both are "low mass" vintage style)
Nut (same material)
Frets (difference is easily apparent with open strings)

So mostly what we are talking about is the body and the neck = wood, and the way that wood vibrates.

Here's the thing... those differences and features of each bass that are unique and very apparent when you play them unplugged translate and are also very apparent when you plug them in.

Obviously there are things happening when you plug them in and that stuff like pickups, amp, speakers, EQ an all that come into play,,, BUT the fundamental characteristics of each bass when played unplugged are still present and apparent when amplified.

Put me in the camp of 100% being on board with the fact that of course wood makes a difference.

Species of wood sure, but also things like the mass of the neck (how thick it is front to back), how many pieces are glued together to make a body, etc.

 

[mongo2]

Wood makes a tonal difference - less than 1% of the final tone, though.

Please show your math leading to that conclusion.

 

[pie_man_25]

Not weighing in on wood mattering or not, but that is apples and oranges dude. One is a major change to the structure of the bass that is going to make the surface more able to move and change how it resonates, change how the pickups can respond to the string, change how the strings and body interact with the bridge and tailpiece. This is like saying "if wood doesn't matter, how come an acoustic guitar sounds different than an electric?" . . . well, because they have a totally different construction and prevailing physics behind them. You're picking an entirely different variable to change and acting like it proves the first variable matters.

Again, not weighing in on whether wood matters, just saying this argument makes zero sense.

This. Changing the whole construction of a bass is bound to change the tone more than a change in materials - which can still possibly change its tone, but you're making an argument that is ultimately either unrelated or weakly related to a tonewood argument.

sure it is, but the question itself is usually asked to elicit 'all-or-nothing', binary responses. i think most of the 'reasonableness' exists in a third group, the one who'd say: everything matters to one extent or another, great or small, and that the woods used to build the thing matter more in some instruments and less in others. but that doesn't satisfy the either/or folks or the yes/no folks. the question itself: "does wood matter?" appeals to the folks who need a yes/no answer...right now! --- so that their conscious 'equilibrium' is not tested. and of course, no one wants to feel stupid.

per the OP: are you kidding?


*

The binary question also matters to the end result. If I had to make a yes/no answer to the question, "does wood make a difference", it'd be yes. If I had to make a yes/no answer to the question, "does wood matter?" It would be no. From personal experience, different guitars (and basses, and ukuleles) sound different, this can include differences in woods. My personal favourite acoustic guitar is made of some agathis (I believe) plywood, and I genuinely think it's the bee's knees. I wouldn't pass up a bass that ticked off all of the boxes in my head if it were made with a rosewood fretboard instead of a maple one either.

 

[Kro]

Please show your math leading to that conclusion.

I believe the math is:
10% luck
20% skill
15% concentrated power of will
5% pleasure
50% pain
<1% tonewood... no, wait, that doesn't seem right....

 

[crazyBassClown]

Put me in the camp of 100% being on board with the fact that of course wood makes a difference.

But does it matter because of the species of wood, or because like people no 2 trees are the same even if they are the same species?
Have you ever looked at a pallet of 2x4's at a hardware? The variation is unbelievable, especially on the cheap non structural stuff. And it's all pine, and probably all came from exactly the same location.

 

[CallMeAl]

 

[JoeWPgh]

Most "hollowbody" basses are actually semi hollow, with a solid block of wood from the neck to the butt of the instrument. So, if it's all in the pickups and strings, the sound should be very similar. But, they do sound very different than solid bodied basses. Yes, there is a wholly different structure to the body, but wood has a structure too. And that varies from species to species and board to board. The "hollowbody" example is an exaggeration that shows that structure matters.
But the variation of the structures of different boards in minor compared to the structure of a "hollowbody" v solid body. Is the body wood critical to an instrument's sound? For most people, not much, if at all. But as you climb the ladder of quality, the improvements get smaller and smaller (and more and more expensive) For me. body wood is pretty much at the top of the 'quality ladder'. But as with anything else, the point of 'good enough' or the point or 'diminished returns' is going to be different from one person to the next.
So yes, wood does makes a difference. But not enough that will matter to a great many people.