It's about how the whole thing vibrates. There is no way in hell a solidbody can vibrate the same way as an hollowbody, regardless of how similar or different their body woods are.
Apples and oranges.
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So if wood type makes no difference in tone...
- Thread starter bdplaid
- Start date
It's about how the whole thing vibrates. There is no way in hell a solidbody can vibrate the same way as an hollowbody, regardless of how similar or different their body woods are.
Apples and oranges.
To do this right, should have had multiple examples of each type of bass, maybe 5 of each fretboard, and see if they can be blindly categorized. Identical construction, materials, electronics, tone settings of course. I would be convinced that fretboard material matters if an experiment like that were done with statistically significant results.
This is why I dislike the whole warforge/titanforge system. Someone gets lucky with +12 mythic titanforged plywood and it outclasses your +1 warforged bubinga that you slaved away to get.
Oh no, it's happening again. Is it the full moon already?
And I don't know that anyone thinks it doesn't matter at all, it's just a matter of opinion as to how far below strings and electronics it matters on an electric instrument.
And I don't know that anyone thinks it doesn't matter at all, it's just a matter of opinion as to how far below strings and electronics it matters on an electric instrument.
Both and all of the above.
Species - yes, and I believe you can assign some VERY general characteristics to different species - this one is brighter than this one, and this one is darker than this one... But within any given species, like people, no two are going to e the same, and it is totally dependent on that particular piece of wood.
I think the mass of the neck - as in how much actual wood is there - is very impactful on tone, especially considering how much of the string is vibrating over the neck. I also think the number of pieces used to construct the body has a big impact. Something that is often missed in the debate about "are more expensive instruments worth it" is how many pieces of wood are used to make a body. A fender MIM bass might be made from three, four, or five unique pieces of wood glued up together. Maybe those 5 pieces really work together to make beautiful tone, but when you buy a more expensive bass, you are likely getting one, maybe two pieces.
I also think that there are some very talented people out there, with lifetimes of experience building instruments, who probably play, touch, and listened to more instruments in any given week than any of us can hope to in our lifetimes. I don't think the worlds best master luthiers are all coordinating with each other and pulling off some kind of massive scheme to defraud the people of the world regarding wood and tone.
Granted, it may be as much of an art as it is a science, but when those guys knock on body blanks, and put tuning forks to them, they are seeing how the wood resonates - it's not a fake show they are putting on for the benefit of selling a bass to your for a few grand more.
But a lot of short scale players are just as good ... really!That's what the girls all say!
My hollow bodies are true hollows, a Hofner Ignition Club, Hofner 500/5 President and Ibanez AFB200. They do sound quite different from semi-hollows I've owned and tried.
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The only ones that say that are short scale guys.
Does wood matter:
ACOUSTICALLY - Yes, because you are using the wood as your sound board to transmit sound through the air.
SOLID BODY ELECTRIC - No. You are going to have to get around physics for this one because wood has NO effect on a magnetic field. That is what you pickup is using to "read" the METAL string that is vibrating and inducing a voltage across that coil of the pickup. That is transmitted through the OUTPUT jack of your instrument. Again, wood has no effect on a magnetic field.
ACOUSTICALLY - Yes, because you are using the wood as your sound board to transmit sound through the air.
SOLID BODY ELECTRIC - No. You are going to have to get around physics for this one because wood has NO effect on a magnetic field. That is what you pickup is using to "read" the METAL string that is vibrating and inducing a voltage across that coil of the pickup. That is transmitted through the OUTPUT jack of your instrument. Again, wood has no effect on a magnetic field.
Ummm...not quite. Whadja do a google image search of "calculus" and take the first image displayed? I just tried it and it looks like you did. LOL, Good one
Busted
This is an incredibly weak way to defend an already weak position. Unless you have seen someone — anyone — arguing that hollowbody basses should sound the same as solid body construction, then this position was entirely made up.
When the construction is as different as solid vs. hollow then the wood that’s used is meaningless.... How come hollow bodies sound different from solid bodies? Hmmmm?
This is correct, but the structural attributes of the wood can affect the way the strings vibrate. Dead spots are a perfect demonstration of this. When the resonant frequency of the neck and/or body is close to the fundamental string frequency, they rob energy from the strings by vibrating. In theory this happens at varying amounts across the entire audio spectrum.
Okay, I had a Mike Lull MV4 Jazz in light ash/maple fingerboard, Fralin (I believe) single coil PU’s...and a Fender American Standard Jazz in medium-weight alder/rosewood fingerboard. Nickel roundwounds on both. They sounded completely different, unplugged and plugged. Not a small effect. I have to credit Roger Sadowsky who many years ago stated that the wood type and weight is a primary tone (and sustain) factor. It’s been true of every bass I’ve owned. Mystery to me how others find otherwise.
Simple... How come hollow bodies sound different from solid bodies? Hmmmm?
Hollow bodies have no finish on the inside, so the wood can breathe.
You know where they get virgin wool? Ugly sheep!You sheep never understand what it's like to be a lone wolf
