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The Evolution of Bass Guitar Technology and Beyond...

#121
Hagstrom 8-string and
Hamer 12-string

also Rickenbacker pioneered slant-fret technology in the late 60's. Although it didn't catch on, it probably helped inspire the fanned fret concept developed by Novax.

Peavy pioneered MIDI technology that used the frets themselves as sensors.

I didn't see piezo bridges mentioned anywhere.


I don't think the bass guitar is done evolving. As I see it there are still substantial design flaws that need to be overcome.

Ommitting Ned Steinberger from the list is unbelievable. His minimalistic approach to design got people thinking in different ways about the bass guitar. It was a radical leap for its time and it worked quite well.
 
#122
^lolz, nice list, but does it really end in 1970's? :bawl:

Anyway, to change the bass guitar, one should've change everything but the body and neck orientation.

We need new tuners, new pickups, new everything if you wanna have (r)evolution.

Pretty much impossible. Alumitone pickups were for me the only real shot at making it simple but new. Dunno about tuners, electronics, frets etc. But I'm talking about making it SIMPLE, not overcomplicated like lightwave etc...
 
#124
I guess people are forgetting something here. Listen to recordings form the 60's and 70's and you will hear terrible bass and drum sounds. Drums and bass sounded just as good back then as they do today, but couldn't be recorded properly, so i nominate recording equipment.
 
#128
mindbass said:
I guess people are forgetting something here. Listen to recordings form the 60's and 70's and you will hear terrible bass and drum sounds. Drums and bass sounded just as good back then as they do today, but couldn't be recorded properly, so i nominate recording equipment.
Click to expand...


Not always. In fact I'll take a lot of those 60's 70's recording bass sounds over most of them today.

1970:

Those are some of the baddest ass bass sounds ever laid down for posterity.
 
#129
mindbass said:
I guess people are forgetting something here. Listen to recordings form the 60's and 70's and you will hear terrible bass and drum sounds. Drums and bass sounded just as good back then as they do today, but couldn't be recorded properly, so i nominate recording equipment.
Click to expand...

i completley disagree, as do most producers and engineers. IMO, beatle and sinatra records still sound better than anything today. and why do you think that vintage neve 1073 modules, UA and fairchild compressors & pultec eq's cost 3-5X more than the newest high end ones?
 
#130
mindbass said:
that it's not really important if thompson tuned his bass B E.....
Some contrabasses have a low b string, so it's just a very small step to add ad a high C, which also existed before.
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For the record I'm more than familiar the various tunings that one can tune a string instrument.


And adding a high C string to a bass is still a direction in expanding more tonal opportunities for bass.
 
#134
OK.

So the guys who think that this thread is ass have now gone away, let us get back to the original idea.

And by the way, I do not care if people do not like my quick list of innovations that made a major impact on what you hear today or buy. It is just a list, made to keep people from hating my usual long windedness.

Berger still took a dive. They cannot deliver, did not evolve, and made guys run to wood. NEXT! (I pesonally think it failed because of an underlying reason that makes this Forum exist and keeps guys talking about their gear....INDIVIDUALITY! Sue me if I am wrong)

Notice how most instruments which have fully evolved have limited individuality?

So back to the issue:

Most of the really experienced guys like JohnK say the evolution has slowed and ground to a halt, That there is nothing new to consider to make the instrument better.

a Few a very very few, think that new materials is the new frontier, but they have to deliver as well as be deliverable.

Then there is the mix of 'this thread is ass' and 'I don't know why _____ isn't in the list
whiner gangs. Wa, wa, wa.


Is there enough attack and sustain in the present instuments that require movement away from magnetic forces working against?

Are the present day materials durable and of enough strength to acheive the apex of sustain that every bassist demands?

All of the talk back and forth about gear could be subject to audio-spectral analysis and breakdowns, and resolved. What is missing from the present day instrument that someone could provide, short of Price being $0?
 
#135
I think that it's inevitable that a company will develop a composite in the future that will be used in neck and body construction at a reasonable cost for mass-production. It'll be borrowed technology from some other application, like aerospace, medical or automotive technology.

Wood has been replaced with synthetic materials in many, many other areas of manufacturing. It'll happen here, too. Then, wood basses will be seen as the "boutique" or retro ones.

Seriously, I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet. But it will be enabled by technology meeting a price point of manufacturing, not driven (or encumbered) by the tastes and whims of musicians.
 
#136
Although one site Mod has explained that there was a problem with the expressive abilities of the Lightwave Optical system, there have been no entries of websites, articles, or reviews of such; not that they do not exist.

One commentor explained that the Lightwave system was too complicated.

The same complaint came from mechanics facing the onslought of computer controlled electronic fuel injection. So, complexity may not kill the baby, but the assessment of the level of advantage gained by the technology may keep the technology from being mass produced.

There are no government regulations and subsidies forcing the evolution of Bass Guitar Technology, so there is no rush to make things stronger, harder, more resilient, or even frictionless.
 
#137
Tmoney865 said:
Is there enough attack and sustain in the present instuments that require movement away from magnetic forces working against?

Are the present day materials durable and of enough strength to acheive the apex of sustain that every bassist demands?
Click to expand...

Attack and sustain work against each other. A bass with a very short sustain will appear to have a very big attack. Right now with current basses sustain is already very good, any more and you lose attack and start sounding like MIDI.

Well-designed wood furniture has lasted centuries, i fail to see why basses would be any different.

Tmoney865 said:
All of the talk back and forth about gear could be subject to audio-spectral analysis and breakdowns, and resolved. What is missing from the present day instrument that someone could provide, short of Price being $0?
Click to expand...

IMHO, nothing. Ergonomics could do with more research, though, but even that is being addressed by companies like Steinberger and Barker Basses.
 

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