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Where the sound come from?

#63
I don't have a good answer other than my own experiences as a novice player and expert bass money spender. I think certain qualities in an instrument interact proportionately with how the player handles an instrument. Maybe a high density bridge responds more noticeably to someone with a light touch at the bridge. Maybe ash bodies or neck through responds more dramatically to someone with a heavy fingerstyle attack. Or maybe flats and a rosewood board react more prominently to someone with an articulate style on both hands. Etc, etc. IOW the tone really IS in the hands and the way to get there varies from person to person. What works for me will not likely work as well for anybody else. Or maybe what I like would play horribly for a better player. And vise verse. I do know what I like and what works for me so I do believe there is some science to the tonewood thing, etc. But those are not measurable or reliable data points. It's more of a quest and the more a player knows about what he / she works well with the better chance that person has of getting the combination right. A person combining parts based on qualities derived from internet chatter, charts, and laboratory results is doomed to disappointment.
 
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#64
The basic sound comes from the string and the player. The rest, including the bass, is filtering/coloring.

For the basic character the bass contributes, I’d say the top influence are pickups (and electronics): their number, location, and construction. On a passive bass, the cable to amp or effects is important too (particularly capacitance).

I also care about scale, bass construction (particularly body type: solid, chambered, semi, and hollow), and woods.

I found that woods matter, but I cannot predict their influence. I imagine an experienced builder can (semi)predict the sound if they can examine the piece of wood.

But practically speaking, our choices se quite simple:
  • Do you believe wood matters? If no, then ok, you’re done. If yes, go to next:
  • Can you chose the woods? If no, then ok, you’re done. If yes, go to next:
  • Can you get your hands on the piece of wood, or assembled bass? If no, then you can either pick at random, or make an informed guess. Luckily, most accounts of the woods influence on sound are consistent. For example, folks that do think rosewood sounds different than maple tend to agree that rw is smoother/warmer, and maple rawer/brighter. So if you want to make an informed guess, the decision is quite easy (as long as you know your preferences).
  • If you can get your hands on the piece of wood (or a whole bass), then examine it as best as you can. Play it, tap it, smell it, whatever. And then make an informed decision.
 
#65
Gilmourisgod said:
The "Maple boards are snappier than Rosewood" is the trope I hear most often, but in all the blind tests I've seen, damned if I can hear it. I love Alembic basses, but if you really want to drink the Coolaide on Tonewood, check out the poetic descriptions on their website, which sound like articles from a Fine Wine magazine, with amusing notes of ebony and hints of cocobolo adding a smooth body and fruity finish. Superb marketing and the purest BS. Making a bass out of beautiful materials is a worthy goal in itself, if it sounds great too, all the better.

Alembic - Fine handcrafted basses and guitars
Click to expand...

smeet said:
I tend to believe that wood species has a subtle and probably unpredictable effect on tone. But all the great luthiers disagree with that. Michael Tobias in particular seems to have a wood-species-based system for building an instrument to get a specified tone.

Are all these expert builders just fooling themselves?
Click to expand...

Tobias was who came to mind for me as well - it doesn't help that he appears to only have like, four or five ways to describe the different sounds all these woods make. Can't remember the last bass I saw on his instagram that didn't have a "bright, sweet treble."

Beautiful instruments and I have all the respect in the world for him and his skills, seems like a hell of a nice guy, too, but. C'mon now.
 
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#66
dreamadream99 said:
In order of the extent to which they are responsible for the resulting sound, my opinion is:
  1. Strings
  2. Pick ups
  3. Electronics
Click to expand...
I agree. I just this week re-did my Sterling Sub Series bass with a new pickup and electronics. I installed an Aguilar AG-4M pickup and a John East MMSR 2-Band Preamp. Both were exact fit replacements. It's like night and day. You wouldn't even guess it was the same bass the way it sounds now. It has more gain, the notes are clear as a bell, and the EQ actually does something. Well worth the $250 spent and the 30 minutes to install.
 
#67
Ramirogg10 said:
Hey everyone! I have been searching this kind of info, and there is a huge world out there!
can you share your opinion on this?
how you split the sound of your best bass in term of:
  • woods used: body, neck, fretboard.
  • construction.
  • painting or finishing
  • tunners.
  • bridge
  • pickups: location and construction:alnico/ ceramic/ neodymium.
  • electronics.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
All I can say for certain is that tunners have no affect at all. That's why I never bother with them.
 
#70
The answer is pretty clear and measurable. The electronics MOSTLY.

But it's well proven over and over that certain woods do sound darker than others, even when it's a solid body bass or guitar.

Maple tends to emphasize mids and highs. Bubinga tends to emphasize low end. Those are facts.

But, that is really more like putting an EQ on an instrument. The tone still MOSTLY comes from the electronics... the pickups (and how they interact (magnetically) with the vibrating strings, and then preamp if included.
 
#71
Ramirogg10 said:
Hey everyone! I have been searching this kind of info, and there is a huge world out there!
can you share your opinion on this?
how you split the sound of your best bass in term of:
  • woods used: body, neck, fretboard.
  • construction.
  • painting or finishing
  • tunners.
  • bridge
  • pickups: location and construction:alnico/ ceramic/ neodymium.
  • electronics.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
I rank this whole topic on a par with politics when it comes to distasteful discourse. To those who espouse the differences due to the above features, those differences are enormous and obvious but to those who feel that the differences are small the differences are, well, small. No amount of online or offline discussion, no matter how well reasoned or heated, is going to change minds. I’ve wished for many years that people would take practice at least as seriously as they take the details of gear. <sigh> With rare exceptions it’s so far been an unfulfilled wish.
 
#72
I absolutely agree. In my days of obsessively playing until my fingers bled, I knew nothing about music, gear, wood,.... I'm not even sure I knew that the damn thing was even made of wood. I didn't know what intonation was or that there was even a truss rod in the neck until I was in my 20s!
But I could play my a$$ off.
Now? I haven't played in a really long time and have decided to take up building. So, these conversations are fun and interesting.
 
#74
ficelles said:
A 10 inch aura, well that is impressive.
Click to expand...
"I got no idea what I'm doing with my life... but i have a beard.... so... I got that going for me....
....which is nice"
-Saint Spackler.
Screenshot_20210708-160547_Google.jpg
 
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