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Whats the difference of woods?
- Thread starter OOZMAN
- Start date
Why, I have been this way as far back as I can remember. My mind only works in this method and I tend to hang out with others that are the same way if not much worse about it.
Until it's proven that wood does not affect tone, yours remains a hypothesis - or personal conjecture - just the same.
But you refuse to acknowledge said research until it's in a scientific journal...right? I'll acknowledge your hypothesis as fact when it's in a scientific journal. Neither is going to happen any time soon, so it's a moot point.
The fact of which I spoke is that I am not normally this polite, not anything having to do with wood.
No I have not, the only research I am involved in is the classification of subspecies within the genus Lampropeltis species zonata.
Strings, nuts, tuners, pickups, and pots...they can come and go.
But the wood is home to the mojo.
Don't get me started on mojo...
Strings, nuts, tuners, pickups, and pots...they can come and go.
But the wood is home to the mojo.
That is a good one, almost a Haiku.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
like i said then. what a horrible existence.
i'll try to stay clear of your friends too.
How about a limerick?
There once was an Aspidites
Who wanted his proofs nice and tidy.
Conjecture he thought
Amounted to naught
And all else he considered too flighty.
LOL! That's nearly sig worthy.
I think that the links posted show enough evidence to pretty safely say the wood affects string vibration, which affects the tone.... now it comes down to "how much does it affect the tone", and I think that is the impossible thing to prove.
Here's the issue. Hypothetically, we could do sound clips using the test I did as a basis for our research. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we all know that wood is itself variable even in a given species and tree, a sound clip is always easy to shoot down... i.e. "I can definitely hear a difference, but we can't honestly say that all [insert wood type here] bodies would reliably give that much of a difference"...."your hand position may have changed"....etc, etc..
So the best I can say is this -
A) I personally think that the wood makes a reasonably large difference, and certainly a hearable one. This comes from 30 years of tinkering, building guitars/basses, and some basic cursory research....though nothing that I would call a "completely controlled, scientific study".
B) I think that the actual scientific studies I linked show that wood shape and composition do indeed affect the sound, but "how much" is not known.
My Personal Conclusion) Because of my experience building hundreds of instruments, I am able to reasonably predict how an instrument will sound when I build it, simply by the combination of materials I choose...wood, pickups, bridge, electronics, etc....and if I change the wood type, it will change the resulting tone in the finished instrument. (Otherwise I would just build basses and guitars from plywood...its MUCH cheaper !)
So anyway, I won't sit here and argue that it makes all the difference in the world...a "percentage" not scientifically provable (though again, I think it makes a big difference). I think arguing it is wasted effort...people will believe what they want to believe, and just like any other "opinion", one persons "big difference" is another persons "turn up the treble knob".
Here's the issue. Hypothetically, we could do sound clips using the test I did as a basis for our research. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we all know that wood is itself variable even in a given species and tree, a sound clip is always easy to shoot down... i.e. "I can definitely hear a difference, but we can't honestly say that all [insert wood type here] bodies would reliably give that much of a difference"...."your hand position may have changed"....etc, etc..
So the best I can say is this -
A) I personally think that the wood makes a reasonably large difference, and certainly a hearable one. This comes from 30 years of tinkering, building guitars/basses, and some basic cursory research....though nothing that I would call a "completely controlled, scientific study".
B) I think that the actual scientific studies I linked show that wood shape and composition do indeed affect the sound, but "how much" is not known.
My Personal Conclusion) Because of my experience building hundreds of instruments, I am able to reasonably predict how an instrument will sound when I build it, simply by the combination of materials I choose...wood, pickups, bridge, electronics, etc....and if I change the wood type, it will change the resulting tone in the finished instrument. (Otherwise I would just build basses and guitars from plywood...its MUCH cheaper !)
So anyway, I won't sit here and argue that it makes all the difference in the world...a "percentage" not scientifically provable (though again, I think it makes a big difference). I think arguing it is wasted effort...people will believe what they want to believe, and just like any other "opinion", one persons "big difference" is another persons "turn up the treble knob".
How far in your life do you take this? Let's say a french fry tasted a little "dull" would you add salt or would you have the fry tested?
Edit: Woops my mistake you wouldn't want to jump to any conclusion that it was the fry being dull and not some other outside factor influencing your perception of the fry. Forget I asked.
Oops, I forgot to add that apparently you missed my brief posts about the test assemblies I've performed as well as my findings.
