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I'm disappointed TB, this thread is already on page 4 and it hasn't degenerated into a tonewood argument yet.
This is a huge oversimplification! One must always account for the thickness of the mojo, the weight of the Fairy dust, and the placement of the Unicorn poop.Mojo
Fairy dust
Unicorn poop
Fingers first! 
followed by strings...
Since amps (and sadly, carrots) are not in the equation, I will go with pickup type/location trumping all else on the list of worthy and honorable choices.
But really, where and how you pick or pluck has always been the determining factor.
followed by strings...Since amps (and sadly, carrots) are not in the equation, I will go with pickup type/location trumping all else on the list of worthy and honorable choices.
But really, where and how you pick or pluck has always been the determining factor.
It depends how you look at it. The controls are there to give you more options and they certainly affect tone, that's what they're for. But I looked at this differently, assuming you'd want to learn how to get as much tonal variation as possible before adjusting controls. As an example, I play in a band that does a couple of Neil Young songs. When I play My My Hey Hey or whatever it's called I move my fingers all the way behind the bridge pickup on the jazz and pick as hard as I can. Playing like this gets me that grungy distorted sound I need without even adding a pedal. I can't do that with tone controls. The most I can do with those is tweak EQ.
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This is an interesting question that I had been thinking about a lot recently. A few weeks ago I would have said it was mostly the strings, pickups (& location), and the electronics (passive vs active). Playing my MM Stingray unplugged though kind of opened my eyes to the fact that there is certainly other factors that play a large role. I found that playing this bass unplugged, I could still hear that distinctive Stingray tone, even though the pickup wasn't being used at all. So it must have something to do with the bridge or more likely the body and neck construction. None of my other basses sound like it when played unplugged. In fact, they all do sound slightly different unplugged compared to each other.
When my brain tells my fingers: "Deploy the tone"
I like to think it originates deep within the imagination of the player.
Everything else is a means to an end.
Everything else is a means to an end.
If a banjo accidentally falls down the stairs and no one is there, does it still play Yankee Doodle Dandy until it lands at the bottom?
If you forgot to unmute your amp and played for half the song before turning the mute off, would anybody notice.
If tone is in the fingers, can Vulcans finger meld and instantly become great players after melding with a pro?
If you forgot to unmute your amp and played for half the song before turning the mute off, would anybody notice.
If tone is in the fingers, can Vulcans finger meld and instantly become great players after melding with a pro?
