Where does the tone come from?

[iwearpumas]

I figured i'd ask the professionals. Where does the majority of the tone come from on a wood bass? The tops or the core? Or is it a complete mixture of the tops, core, neck, and fingerboard. Im speaking as far the natural sound of the bass without the preamp adding tone.

 

[SactoBass]

I figured i'd ask the professionals. Where does the majority of the tone come from on a wood bass? The tops or the core? Or is it a complete mixture of the tops, core, neck, and fingerboard. Im speaking as far the natural sound of the bass without the preamp adding tone.

Do a TB search for tonewood.

You will be reading for months!

 

[lowfreq33]

I think the stiffness of the neck is the greatest contributor as far as wood goes. I personally feel that technique contributes to tone more than wood choice, but I suppose that's a little outside the scope of your question.

 

[Beej]

After the "why don't people like ken smiths" thread and now this one, I'm starting to think you might be a troll. The references to gospel and church in your profile make me wonder about that though too...

 

[bassistjoe93]

The pickguard.

 

[guy n. cognito]

The pickguard.

Only if you use the proper screws.....

 

[Smilodon]

The pickguard.

So does basses without pickguards make a properly awful sound, or are they dead silent?

This is very bad news as my next bass will be without a pickguard...

 

[Nidan]

This is a never ending topic . You are likely to get many perspectives .

my 2 cents :

All elements contribute to tone to a degree ,including the player and thier rig, however for an electric solid body instrument the majority of tone comes from the neck and pickups.

Bodies make a subtle difference in my experience . I've built "identical" instruments using a variety of body woods and the same construction and pickups .

 

[Marcury]

It's all in the dots. Clay dots give the best tone!

 

[giacomini]

Pickups.

 

[Duckwater]

Really depends on what tone screws you're using. Most basses will come with aluminum screws which give crap tone with no low frequencies. Gold screws have the best tone but they shred so easily. Steel and brass are a good compromise, steel screws are like putting tubes in your bass while brass screws make your bass growl like a dragon.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Fingers/Picks, Strings, Pickups, Electronics, frets, bridge & nut, fingerboard, neck wood, body wood.

In that order.

 

[LightGroove]

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[James Mobius]

toneland!

 

[Toptube]

a ton of tone is in your amp's speaker and your bass' pickups.

After that I'd say strings.

then I would say bolt-on or neck-thru

then all the other parts/design of the bass totaling a tonal sum.


Technique I think is a completely separate matter. As it has nothing to do with the starting tonal potential of a bass. Proven by the fact that the same exact technique sill not yield the same tone on two different basses.

Technique is more about the sound. Kind of like what we mean when we talk about a band's sound. Its still not any one thing, but I feel like Technique fits better, here. Tone could also be part of the [isound[/i]. but the technique and the tone are separate parts of that sum.

 

[PBnJBassist]

The pickguard.

 

[Spaldo]

your hands! (FLAME SUIT ON!!)

 

[Dubista]

So does basses without pickguards make a properly awful sound, or are they dead silent?

This is very bad news as my next bass will be without a pickguard...

If there's no pickguard, then the next largest tone contributor is the shape of your headstock.

 

[Spaldo]

toneland!

mmmm....the land of tone....

 

[SactoBass]

Really depends on what tone screws you're using. Most basses will come with aluminum screws which give crap tone with no low frequencies. Gold screws have the best tone but they shred so easily. Steel and brass are a good compromise, steel screws are like putting tubes in your bass while brass screws make your bass growl like a dragon.

+1

Also, NOS (new old stock) screws are known to have better tone than current production screws.