The bass for now!

[Deleted member 165050]

One word: batteries. These are the trailing technology, but are making significant gains. Solar collection is valid right now; what’s needed is storage.

One of the problems with this discussion is that those intent on derailing it always reach immediately for the false dichotomy, the one that implies an either-or situation. It is not either-or. It is local AND grid. Most of the day to day power can be local, and certainly the emergency generation can also be local. Unless you have some significant medical issues that demand air conditioning or something, in the event of widespread power issues you keep your fridge going and maintain climate in one or two rooms. You don’t need whole-house AC all the time.

And the grid will still be there, but will eventually fade in importance as the newer technologies get better and better.

I'm with you on this, just because something isn't practical or possible with current technology doesn't mean it can't happen. Imagine trying to explain today's technology to someone from Tudor times. Highly localised (i.e. device level) power accumulation will happen when humanity wakes up to the fact it is surrounded by energy and doesn't actually need to generate it at all.

But getting back to bass, clearly the future is gnomic.

 

[iiipopes]

If you look at the way popular music has been trending, the bass of the future likely won't be a bass guitar.

Music critics said the same thing about popular music in the early to mid 70's with the advent of synth bass keyboards. Fifty years later, we are still playing many of the same electric basses; I surmise fifty years from now the same thing. After all, the fundamental form of the violin has been around since the early 1600's with only incremental changes.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Yes. And it's going to be coming sooner than later.

I liked you post. The forecast, not so much… Have a good one.

 

[NathOBX]

Mid 20th century tech seems to sell just fine for Harley Davidson.

 

[2112]

Music critics said the same thing about popular music in the early to mid 70's with the advent of synth bass keyboards. Fifty years later, we are still playing many of the same electric basses; I surmise fifty years from now the same thing. After all, the fundamental form of the violin has been around since the early 1600's with only incremental changes.

True, but you haven't heard violins playing a significant role in popular music for many decades now. And as someone pointed out earlier, bass guitar is playing decreasing KY significant role in popular music today. Is it still around? Sure. Is it as important? No. Will it become more important as time goes on? No, the trend is in the opposite direction and has been for some time. Audiences are moving on.

This negative trend is not likely to support significant innovation in bass guitar designs. Sure, you'll see something cool come along every once in awhile, but I don't think we'll see anything earthshattering involving bass guitar innovation.

 

[droo46]

Mid 20th century tech seems to sell just fine for Harley Davidson.

Yeah, about that...
Harley unveils turnaround plan as shares nosedive on disappointing results

 

[Warpeg]

Composites will be the future for guitar/bass instruments.
No more wood.

I could see this being a thing soon. All it will take is some good marketing.

 

[Rib 13]

 

[micguy]

A modern bass? My Mike Lull PJ5 is as modern as you can get.

Hmm - a bass based on a 70 year old design, with a mod commonly done 50 years ago, and....a different shaped headstock? I'd have to say that Dingwall has your bass beat a bit when it comes to modernity.

 

[abassman]

Enjoying all the responses..., now if only we can get all those violinists to stop desiring a Stradivarius. Still waiting for a trumpet to have a built-in tuner...
I love new designs and I've got more differing basses than I need. It's the music, the imagination, not the technology. Otherwise we'd all be listening to synth music.

 

[Ostie]

I think that the fact that the P bass, J bass, Strat and Tele are still in vogue says a lot about Leo’s designs.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

The 50’s are 70 years ago.

Imagine a 1950’s, 60’s 70’s automobile vs a 2021 auto. How things have changed.

What bass epitomises the modern bass?

The future for cars is electric.

What is the future for the bass guitar?

The problem with this analogy is that basses that are made in the year 2021 are nearly identical to the ones that were made in the 50s and 60s. Those classic designs are the most popular and desirable. Sure, there have been plenty of modern updates, but the basic design is still the same. Automobiles on the other hand, have changed dramatically. There really is no comparison.

 

[Kaa]

I liked you post. The forecast, not so much… Have a good one.

Yeah, as I watch the development of AI, the tipping point seems closer and closer. Have you ever seen the movies "AlphaGo"? It's about a group of programmers who are trying to develop an AI that can play the game of Go at a world-class competition level.

 

[Jazzdogg]

What is the future for the bass guitar?

* Basses with built-in variable high-pass filters (after all, we've had variable low-pass filters built into basses for decades);

* Powered basses that receive phantom power instead of using batteries;

* Basses with plug & play p'ups, perhaps mounted on rails, to allow quick & easy adjustment of position between the bridge and the end of fingerboard;

* Basses with fewer wood components;

* Basses with built-in compresors;

* Basses with built-in dead-note eliminators;

* Basses with self-adjusting truss rods;

* Basses that connect wirelessly to Bluetooth pedal boards & FOH;

* Basses with built-in wireless transmitters;

* Basses that combine the Torzal Twist with fanned frets;

* Basses that protect themselves from airline baggage handlers with mil-spec gig bags;

* Basses that weigh less and less with each passing year...

* Since I'm a relic from the fifties, I don't really expect to see much of this in my lifetime.

 

[GodsLove66]

DEFINITELY Dingwalls!!! Not much my taste really, but it is a very modern, forward thinking instrument. I just happen to have a taste for the 70s.

 

[micguy]

Mid 20th century tech seems to sell just fine for Harley Davidson.

They will do just fine with that strategy, until the mid 20th century buyers all die off.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

A "classic" never goes out of style. I'll stick with a P.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Yeah, as I watch the development of AI, the tipping point seems closer and closer. Have you ever seen the movies "AlphaGo"? It's about a group of programmers who are trying to develop an AI that can play the game of Go at a world-class competition level.

No, but I did see “2001” with Hal running amok and that was over 50 some years ago. Recently I read an article that you’d best watch what negative things you post about AI… or else……

 

[groovaholic]

Why do people still sit in chairs?

Because sitting in air fails every time?

Joking aside - standing desks are getting more and more popular due to the health impacts of extended sitting.

They did a study in the UK of bus drivers and ticket takers - and the people who stood all day to take tickets had much better health metrics (across the board) than those who sat in the driver's seat for hours.

Beyond that, there is a TON of innovation in seating, to continually make it more ergonomic.

So my prediction would be incremental refinements, coupled with the occasional seismic-shift in the basics.

Think of early efforts to improve the bass, like brass hardware & roundwound strings.
Then more fundamental shifts like 5 string basses (40 years ago there weren't any) and fanned frets (30 years ago there weren't any).
Look at NAMM photos from past years, and you'll see the fads that died, and the evolution that caught on.
Hindsight seems the only reliable way to tell which is which...

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Joking aside - standing desks are getting more and more popular due to the health impacts of extended sitting.

They did a study in the UK of bus drivers and ticket takers - and the people who stood all day to take tickets had much better health metrics (across the board) than those who sat in the driver's seat for hours.

Beyond that, there is a TON of innovation in seating, to continually make it more ergonomic.

So my prediction would be incremental refinements, coupled with the occasional seismic-shift in the basics.

Think of early efforts to improve the bass, like brass hardware & roundwound strings.
Then more fundamental shifts like 5 string basses (40 years ago there weren't any) and fanned frets (30 years ago there weren't any).
Look at NAMM photos from past years, and you'll see the fads that died, and the evolution that caught on.
Hindsight seems the only reliable way to tell which is which...

When I was last working in an office I had a variable height desk that you could stand at but I work from home now and think not spending hours commuting or being in an office full of people beats the standing desk thing

The first 5 string upright bass was apparently circa 1880... and to quote Wikipedia "fanned frets first appeared on the 16th-century Orpharion, a variant of the cittern, tuned like a lute". A lot of modern-day invention is actually reinvention.

But I reckon a P-bass will be much the same a hundred years from now. Maybe with more tort.