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Whats the difference of woods?
- Thread starter OOZMAN
- Start date
Thanks. Point taken.
I'm wondering if those differences are enough for the human ear to hear. Especially for electric bass. That's what I remain skeptical about. Especially considering this, from the study:
"Many luthiers and serious musicians claim to hear the trademark sound that certain woods have when they are used on the back and sides. Lighter woods like mahogany are said to have a dry and woody sound. The denser rosewoods have a rich and bell-like sound, while the denser-still Ebonies and Blackwoods are said to impart a deep, piano-like sound to the guitar.
Even to the experienced luthier/musician these differences are very subtle and emphasis should be placed on the fact that even small changes in the way a soundboard is constructed could change the sound of a guitar much more noticeably."
True enough...you cannot measure an actual "percentage of variation" due to the complex and varying nature of wood, even through a given species. However, you can surmise that there is indeed "some" difference present. Having done tests myself where I changed the body on a given bass (all bodies +/- 2oz), I know that there was a definite "hearable" difference. Of course you could argue that it was just those particular pieces of wood, but all four sounded different with the same pickups, electronics, bridge, neck, setup, etc.
I've provided studies that show that shape and composition of a wood body change the way guitars sound. My work is done. I'll let you guys debate just how much that sound is changed.
Have fun !
Maybe on a hollowbody instrument it's subtle. On solidbody basses the differences can be remarkable. It can give certain playing styles a completely different character.
Like I said, clips aren't the way to experience this. Just for grins, let me ask this... ever played two otherwise identical instruments and you can actually feel one vibrate against you more than the other?
Or not.
Just note: that's not peer-reviewed.
The proponents of the "wood matters a lot" school -- I'm pretty sure the thesis is that the differences in the sound you get from diff types of wood are not all physical, not mechanically detectable. It's more spiritual than audible. That's why it takes a cultured sophisticated musical ear.
I believe there are a lot of reasons why someone may not notice the diffence in wood selection. Of course heavy EQ, effects, highly driven valve amps and a ton of other stuff can make these differences less noticable. Sealed cabs with no tweeter.
If you are using a fairly transparent rig and mostly set up bass-cable-amp and a flat EQ these differences are more apparent. Flat wound strings and rolling off a significant amount of passive tone also mask these differences.
If "your" sound is highly dependent on this kind of stuff the wood probably doesn't matter as much.
You may also come across a bright rosewood or a mellow maple blurring the lines between the two. I've got a fairly bright honduran rosewood board on one of my basses and it doesn't sound like maple but it is not a typical rosewood and would probably throw many people off.
I'm not sure I'd agree but I can tell you the feel is different under your fingers and I know nobody is gonna measure that.
This.
If you use anything that genericizes your sound, differences will likely be obscured. If OTOH you listen to the unadorned sound as many of us do, it can be pretty blatant.
I don't think what I hear is spiritual. It's audible.
I won't go into the problems I have with clips agian.
The luthiers I either know or have dealt with and let me add this caveat WHO DON'T BUILD HIPPIE SANDWICH INSTRUMENTS all understand what wood brings to the table. And it would be asy to say that the difference you hear in otherwise identical basses is variations between the same electronics ( I don't know any major electronics company whose QC is that bad but hey...) or the brass in the nuts were mined on different continents or the identical hardware just coincidentally follows the sound of the same wood from instrument to instrument...
yeah, it could happen.
How about I put it another way that you just may understand, anecdotal evidence is not valid on ANY topic under any circumstances.
Can I hear a difference between almost identical basses, yes, but I would NEVER make a judgement about what actually created the difference until every single variable was independently isolated and tested to determine the EXACT frequency variable from item to item.
This is the crap you keep propagating, you seem to think that not agreeing that wood makes a difference=inability to hear a difference from bass to bass when it actually means that hearing a difference=/=the wood is the culprit.
EVERYTHING I accept as valid on ANY topic has to be shown to me in a scientific method or I simply do not believe it. Personal conjecture means absolutely nothing to me and an appeal to authority even less.
If someone tells me the sky is blue I know that they don't realize that the sky only appears blue because of the way the blue color spectrum is isolated by the atmosphere, that does not mean that the sky is actually blue.
Dark Horse actually posted scientific data, that I understand and accept as valid data, your personal conjecture I do not. I have been working on and building basses and guitars for 20+ years but I would NEVER make a statement as to why there was a tonal variation without hard data to back it up.
Maybe on a hollowbody instrument it's subtle. On solidbody basses the differences can be remarkable. It can give certain playing styles a completely different character.
Like I said, clips aren't the way to experience this. Just for grins, let me ask this... ever played two otherwise identical instruments and you can actually feel one vibrate against you more than the other?
Or not.
Yes, all of the time but I know better than to accept that as evidence that it has any bearing on the tone the bass produces when plugged in. Basically I want peer reviewed scientific research on ANY topic, instruments or otherwise.
If you listen to the unadorned sound as many of us do, it can be pretty blatant.
But it can't be recorded and distributed, it appears.
