Whats the difference of woods?

[OOZMAN]

In particular what is the difference in sound of an alder body, maple or basswood? Is one higher quality than the others? Is stronger? What's the difference in tone? etc.
Obviously I'm a complete newbie to this stuff, I think alder is brighter, is this true? I have an alder bass and it's brighter than another maple one i have, is this the norm?

 

[mongo2]

Of those three, and in the widest of generalities...Maple is reputed to be the brightest followed by Alder and Basswood. I've had several Alder and Basswood bodies that sound similar but basswood can be softer and ding more readily (hard finishes can help that though).

Caveat:

Each piece of wood is different as is everyone's perceptions. Without getting too complicated it can be a crapshoot how a particular bass will sound with a particular body so the best thing to do is to try a lot of instruments and decide what you like the sound of best.

 

[WoodyG3]

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[m_bisson]

The sound comes from the strings/pickups. Screw some strings into a concrete floor, tie them to a metal railing, hold a pickup in the right position and it sounds like a bass.

If it was an acoustic bass then the wood would matter. Maple/oak/cherry/birch..... hard woods resonate better.

 

[David Jayne]

The sound comes from the strings/pickups. Screw some strings into a concrete floor, tie them to a metal railing, hold a pickup in the right position and it sounds like a bass.

If it was an acoustic bass then the wood would matter. Maple/oak/cherry/birch..... hard woods resonate better.

Yep, it would sound EXACTLY like a concrete and steel bass........

 

[David Jayne]

OK, seriously...there are DOZENS of threads about this. In MY experience, yes, electronics play the biggest role, BUT I have a couple of P basses that differ only in that one has a USA Std. neck(maple/rosewood/carbon fiber stiffening bars) and one has an all-maple Allparts neck-----these two basses do sound different------the one with the USA Std. neck is significantly brighter sounding. Go figure.

 

[johnk_10]

Yep, it would sound EXACTLY like a concrete and steel bass........

 

[FunkyMan]

The sound comes from the strings/pickups. Screw some strings into a concrete floor, tie them to a metal railing, hold a pickup in the right position and it sounds like a bass.

If it was an acoustic bass then the wood would matter. Maple/oak/cherry/birch..... hard woods resonate better.

Well, me and a lot of people will disagree here. Certainly, the highest percentage of the sound comes from the strings and the pickups, but I say it with foundation: Wood MATTERS, i Have on the way a custom bass, and I had the opportunity to go to the workshop where they are made, and i played several basses with the same dimensions, same pickups, same hardware but different woods, and the sound wasn't equal on each

 

[mongo2]

Yep, it would sound EXACTLY like a concrete and steel bass........

The only place I have concrete and steel here is in the basement so it'd be the Basement Bass.

 

[Kwesi]

The sound comes from the strings/pickups. Screw some strings into a concrete floor, tie them to a metal railing, hold a pickup in the right position and it sounds like a bass.

If it was an acoustic bass then the wood would matter. Maple/oak/cherry/birch..... hard woods resonate better.

So you're telling me that the Fender AmDlx basses (ash bodies) and the Fender Victor Bailey Signature (koa top, mahognay body) should sound exactly the same right? Lol, I don't think so.

 

[johnk_10]

those that say that the strings and pickups are the only thing that determines the sound (tone) of a bass is just another load of pure misinformation that continues to propagate itself on the web by people that don't know any better.

 

[FunkyMan]

those that say that the strings and pickups are the only thing that determines the sound (tone) of a bass is just another load of pure misinformation that continues to propagate itself on the web by people that don't know any better.

Sometimes i think it's a sabotage they know about woods, they know...

 

[Relayer71]

Yep, it would sound EXACTLY like a concrete and steel bass........

So good for Rock AND Metal???

 

[m_bisson]

The bridge and the nut are where the strings come into contact with the guitar. What type of glue was used to hold the nut on? What metal is the bridge? How humid is it? Is it cold outside (ie. below freezing). These things effect how the strings vibrate. The wood plays no noticeable difference.

 

[johnk_10]

correction: not noticeable to YOU.

 

[OOZMAN]

Of those three, and in the widest of generalities...Maple is reputed to be the brightest followed by Alder and Basswood.

Wow, I'm surprised to an extent, because as i said, have one alder body guitar and one maple and the alder sounds drastically brighter, amp or no amp, so its not just the electrics.
But I'm only comparing two so it must just be a strange exception.

 

[Dark Horse]

The bridge and the nut are where the strings come into contact with the guitar. What type of glue was used to hold the nut on? What metal is the bridge? How humid is it? Is it cold outside (ie. below freezing). These things effect how the strings vibrate. The wood plays no noticeable difference.

I'll repeat what I said in another thread...


A few years back, a friend and I did a test. I got 4 P Bass bodies, all 5 lbs (+/- 1 ounce)....woods tested were mahogany, alder, ash, and maple capped ash.

For the test we used the exact same neck, bridge, electronics (without desoldering), strings, nut, tuners, string tree, etc...EVERYTHING but the wood was the SAME. In fact, we went so far as to take measurements on the setup (including pickup distance from strings) so we could ensure that EVERYTHING was indeed the same, and that the ONLY variable was the body wood itself. This test was done over a 2-3 hour period indoors, so ears were fresh, temp was stable, and humidity didn't change.


Guess what ?

It was EASY to hear the differences from one body wood to another. You didn't even have to "begin" to strain yourself. In fact, we preferred alder as the best tone, with mahogany as a "second choice", for it's big fat thump. Alder was certainly the most balanced sounding.

Remember, all these bodies were +/- 1 oz, so the largest possibly variation between bodies was 2 ounces. That's all. Of course those who believe that body wood doesn't matter, MUST, by definition, also believe that weight cannot possibly make a difference, so to some it is a moot point....but we wanted to make sure that we would eliminate as many variables as we could.

 

[mulchor]

The bridge and the nut are where the strings come into contact with the guitar. What type of glue was used to hold the nut on? What metal is the bridge? How humid is it? Is it cold outside (ie. below freezing). These things effect how the strings vibrate. The wood plays no noticeable difference.

Actually on almost every note you play, the nut isn't part of the vibrating string. So fret/fingerboard...

Elasticity, compression, believe me there are bazillions of qualities, and many volumes have been written. .
Here's a tech report with some measures (Go Badgers! ) http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Wood_Handbook.html

The fact is the differences between woods is small compared to everything else. If and how it's laminated will matter more to strength and elasticity than what kind of wood, shape >> wood (think hollow vs solid body), metal rod composite.

When it comes down to making an electric bass, I think the primary constraints make the wood not matter that much. The neck has to be strong enough to remain straight under load, so most have one or more truss rods in them. A finger/fretboard has to stand up to metal strings, so ...

I guess here's really the way to think of it. If you look up the CV for most of these properties, you'll see that the variability WITHIN a species for the factors is on the same order of magnitude as the differences BETWEEN species.

 

[m_bisson]

Actually on almost every note you play, the nut isn't part of the vibrating string. So fret/fingerboard...

Elasticity, compression, believe me there are bazillions of qualities, and many volumes have been written. .
Here's a tech report with some measures (Go Badgers! ) http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Wood_Handbook.html

The fact is the differences between woods is small compared to everything else. If and how it's laminated will matter more to strength and elasticity than what kind of wood, shape >> wood (think hollow vs solid body), metal rod composite.

When it comes down to making an electric bass, I think the primary constraints make the wood not matter that much. The neck has to be strong enough to remain straight under load, so most have one or more truss rods in them. A finger/fretboard has to stand up to metal strings, so ...

I guess here's really the way to think of it. If you look up the CV for most of these properties, you'll see that the variability WITHIN a species for the factors is on the same order of magnitude as the differences BETWEEN species.

Does this mean you're on my side?

 

[johnk_10]

i don't find the differences in the wood used to build a bass to be small at all. IMO, the player makes the biggest difference. after that every component on it accounts for its harmonic structure and attack/sustain, and IME, the wood plays a large part in that.