The truth Wood resonance Build Ect.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Then explain why some Fender Precision Basses sound different from other Fender Precision Basses. Of course the differences will be incredibly subtle but as musicians and artists we trade heavily in subtleties...they tend to mean the difference between good and great in many regards. But hey, if you don't wanna believe in wood nymphs then wood nymphs won't exist for you. Maybe I'm nuts but I want to make music on a magic instrument.

One of the biggest influences on the sound of mass produced instruments is the tolerances of the electronics. Even the best CTS pots have a tolerance range of +/-10%, many pots are much worse than that (which is why I specified mass produced instruments, where parts with wider tolerances are going to be common place).

I'm not saying the wood has no effect. I've swapped one wiring rig and pickups from my SG to my Les Paul. They are setup the same, they are both set neck guitars, have the same strings. The only significant variable being the type and amount of wood on the guitar. While they had some tonal similarities, that is far from being the same.

 

[johnk_10]

A single example of 2 basses with incredible variables (and we've not even got onto setup yet!) is hardly a 'winning' argument here. Additionally there's no way to say, without a doubt, any number of things needed to justify your point.

IMO, you just don't get it and have no idea of what you're talking about.

Saying that the electronics are the most important component of making a sound is so far from 'wood doesn't matter' (which the OP didn't imply, or state) that it's not funny.

i never said that the OP did. i was responding to other replies about the pickups making the biggest difference.

Any bass with decent strings, setup and hot pickups will have 'sustain'.

completely false. the only sustain that comes from hot pickups is overdriving the front end of the amp.

A microphone is not a pickup - this argument is incredibly flawed. You can't compare a microphone and a pickup - they do entirely different things in different situations it's like comparing a car stereo with a Guitar Amplifier.

sorry, but wrong again. a mic or a pickup is used to amplify the source, be it any instrument or human voice. mics and pickups have different 'colors' but the source still plays the major role in the equation.

 

[nic salsus]

Acoustic instruments are different beasts. But we aren't talking about acoustic instruments.

The Wendler is a solid slab western red cedar body.....what's generally referred to as "tone wood"?

This is pointless one side knows what they hear and the other side will continue to "debunk" at all costs and will never believe what they refuse to hear.
A few more tin eared musicians out there doesn't make any difference to me.
Have a nice day.

 

[johnk_10]

This is pointless one side knows what they hear and the other side will continue to "debunk" at all costs and will never believe what they refuse to hear.
A few more tin eared musicians out there doesn't make any difference to me.
Have a nice day.

+1

 

[Billy Low]

Wow! Just...wow!

 

[lupini]

all I want to say is regarding the bass building scientific stuff
wood, neck etc...
I really like to watch this guy's video
http://www.youtube.com/user/oconnordc

 

[mongo2]

sorry, but wrong again. a mic or a pickup is used to amplify the source, be it any instrument or human voice.

Not exactly. Microphones and pickups are transducers that are used to convert one form of energy into an electric signal. The amplification happens later.

 

[johnk_10]

yeah, but i was just using it as an example, and IMO, it still translates to a very similar result. IME, its the acoustical properties of the bass that gives it its 'voice', even though a pickup captures it magnetically, and a mic captures sound waves in the air. both of them convert it to electrical energy, then onto the preamp and subsequent amplifier stages.

 

[ghiadub]

I have a bro that collects vintage P basses. He has over 30 of them. I played the 8 that were from '62-'64 and they all sounded different. All were stock with the same strings (flats), same setup, same wood, same fb wood, same pickup distance, all sounded very different.

Some were mellow, some were dubby, one had tons of high end like a jazz bass in the bridge pickup.

Even acoustic, some were a lot louder than others.

 

[mongo2]

Even acoustic, some were a lot louder than others.

Exactly, there are obvious audible differences in tone even when unplugged. That's certainly not due to any pickups or tolerances in the electronics.

 

[melodicly]

Exactly, there are obvious audible differences in tone even when unplugged. That's certainly not due to any pickups or tolerances in the electronics.

+1, but this could fall under "build quality" as well

 

[johnk_10]

+1, but this could fall under "build quality" as well

IMO, not really. i talked with Leo Fender about this years ago. he said that it has more to do with the specific pieces of wood used to make the body and the neck. we even got into why one '62 p bass as compared to another '62 p bass could 'feel' to have a different tension on the strings, even using the same set of strings on each bass.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Oh yeesh. Here we go again with the tonewoods bull. Go and read the luthiers corner on this topic. Read my posts on setting up an experiment. I'll save you the time, wood type and construction type make little discernable difference when genuine controls are introduced. What you're testing is the power of suggestion...

Is that a "fact"?



You're wrong. IMO/IME. And when the luthiers corner becomes the defacto last word on that, heaven help us.

 

[mongo2]

+1, but this could fall under "build quality" as well

Yet another set of variables, but consider that none of the MIA Ps or Js hanging in the local shop sound the same yet they all have the same build quality.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Just because they are made by the same company as the same product, doesn't mean they have the same build quality.

And Mongo2, I never stated that tolerances were a be-all and end-all, they are just have a large impact of the amplified tone of an electrical instrument (just something else in the equation is what I was getting at).

 

[Dark Horse]

People who have an "opinion" about this one way or the other are unlikely to be swayed without the presence of a real, scientifically conducted set of tests - including wood types, weights, moisture contents, accurately calibrated measurements of pots, caps, wiring, etc, etc, etc - so in the absence of that, these threads invariably only lead to arguments.

If you believe that wood doesn't matter, then great . Go play whatever you want and don't worry. If you believe that it does matter, then great. Go play what you want and don't worry. Trying to convert people to "your way of thinking" is a futile effort.

 

[flipper_gv]

he forgot to include the resonance of the body vibrates the pickup, that changes the tone. Also, the vibrations to stress points of the bass are created by the body and neck vibration, which are functions of the construction and the wood type. That modifies how the string itself vibrates.

 

[Diogenes]

... Trying to convert people to "your way of thinking" is a futile effort.

I think Marshall Applewhite would disagree with that.

 

[Dark Horse]

I think Marshall Applewhite would disagree with that.

I doubt it - he's been dead for 13 years .

 

[M.R. Ogle]

Oh, so THAT'S the guy in the on-stage video behind Dream Theater when they played "In the name of God"... I didn't know who he was.