Voodoo and Wankery (?) YOU Decide!

[groucho]

I had quite a brewhaha on a Facebook bass page over this so I thought it may prove entertaining
to some over here. The [to be un named] fellow was making much of his cool discovery that
"if you put electrical tape over your Jazz pickup you mellow out the highs" - I tried to respond to
that politely but the ignorance of the man was only exceeded by his arrogance. Even sent him
links on the way magnetic fields behave and links on how pickups work - to no avail....

So I created these clips - Each is a short phrase, repeated with :
No tape, one layer, two layers, or THREE layers of PVC electrical tape
over the entire face of the pickup.

The individual in question refused to "take the tape test" and resorted to "yo momma"
comments as the most persuasive and forceful proof of his assertions

The really weird thing is how most of the people on this page defended HIM (!)
Not because they thought he was right - But because he "had a right to believe it"
this I found truly disturbing....You are entitled to your own opinions - but not your own facts.
I would have gladly given this bozo a pass if all he was doing was saying he liked the way
his pickups sounded with PVC tape on them (whatever) But he was extolling the virtues
of this bogus assertion AS "fact" and the internet is full of enough misinformation and
you know what - to be putting more in the heads of newbies looking to understand their
instruments and how they work.

ANYway....If you ever wondered what your Jazz Bass pickups sounds like slathered in
PVC tape , ENJOY! And if you believe you can hear a difference? Submit your answers
(which segment of which clip has which amount of tape)
and I will let you know how you scored


http://www.hinterlandmusic.net/TapeTest/MagicTape.mp3

http://www.hinterlandmusic.net/TapeTest/MagicTape2.mp3

 

[/\/\3phist0]

They were right! no-one has the right to tell the emperor he has no clothes!

 

[line6man]

I'm sorry, but any sensible person would have laughed him out of the room and been done with. Between the dispute of high school level physics and the attitude, that guy wouldn't have been worth my time.

 

[cheapbasslovin]

How he might be right: his pickups are too high and his technique lacks control. The tape absorbs some of the energy hard plastic pickups may not (reducing clack), or it prevents him from pounding the string into pole pieces (reducing...ick I don't even want to know what that sounds like).

So basically it's a work around of bad setup and technique, and has nothing to do with the tone of the electronics. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt .

 

[groucho]

I'm sorry, but any sensible person would have laughed him out of the room and been done with. Between the dispute of high school level physics and the attitude, that guy wouldn't have been worth my time.

Ah, I agree in principle but I think it's always worth the time to dispel nonsense. There's enough real stuff to take in inf you are a newbie trying to understand about pickups.

 

[groucho]

The tape cannot "absorb energy" unless you are referring to dissipating the mechanical energy of the string whacking into the pickup?
Which would not effect "tone" only reduce spurious mechanical noises, which was not his "claim".

 

[cheapbasslovin]

Yes, mechanical energy of the string smacking the pickup. I wasn't there for the whole argument, but that could account for hearing a 'reduction in highs.'

It doesn't mean his argument's sound, just that he actually heard something.

 

[el murdoque]

Perhaps he's got microphonic PU's ?

 

[Hopkins]

The dumbest, rudest, and most willfully ignorant people on this planet all hang out on Facebook. Getting into a facebook argument is like wrestling with a pig, you both get filthy but the pig enjoys it.

 

[walterw]

The dumbest, rudest, and most willfully ignorant people on this planet all hang out on Facebook. Getting into a facebook argument is like wrestling with a pig, you both get filthy but the pig enjoys it.

nah, the true bottom of the barrel is to be found in youtube comments, but yeah, facebook can get pretty close depending on what group of "friends" is involved.

 

[BazzTard]

I'm sorry, but you were trying to educate people on FaceBook?

Come on, look at the futility of it

The clever people come here for bass talk.....

 

[RobbieK]

Not because they thought he was right - But because he "had a right to believe it"

He certainly has a right to want to believe. But of course he has no scientific right at all to believe it.

The same happens with climate change sceptics, religious miracle believers, super food evangelists, etc etc etc.

Sadly most people believe in science only when it suits them.

 

[joeeg33]

Ahh, the old Placebo effect! Sometimes people's braines will let them hear what they want to hear! I have a buddy like that, he'll argue until blue in the face. I say, hey if your happy, that's all that matters. Then under my breath I'll say, still doesn't make you right.

 

[Awesome Sauce]

nah, the true bottom of the barrel is to be found in youtube comments, but yeah, facebook can get pretty close depending on what group of "friends" is involved.

Are we forgetting Reddit, and, ahem, 4chan? Nevermind the barrel, those 2 sites are like the lowest rungs of Hell.

 

[JustForSport]

He certainly has a right to want to believe. But of course he has no scientific right at all to believe it.

The same happens with climate change sceptics, religious miracle believers, super food evangelists, etc etc etc.

Sadly most people believe in science only when it suits them.

Science is still learning- very young at this stage, and financed/influenced by politics/money. You only get out of it what they want you to...

 

[Baird6869]

Funny!

I recently replaced pickup covers that had exposed poles with non-exposed covers. I would eat the exposed pole covers if anyone could consistantly differentiate between the two in recordings. Tape making a difference beyond maybe cutting down a bit of string noise is idiotic IMO. YMMV...