Why does wood affect bass tone?

[Gonz]

So far what is your theory?

 

[fuNKmaster83]

i say strings, pickups and frets have lots more impact on the sound that comes out of the amp than wood!!! consider wood as variable factor and it is more based on luck (in terms of if you are lucky it will not add lots of problems) than anything else!!! the ends of scale just have to be solid that is all no need to be brass or steel or graphite... if you want stiff and hard then add concrete

of course the one behind the bass playing is the most important factor in how it is going to sound

 

[MNAirHead]

I play with a guy who wanks on and on about how there's only one guitar on the face of the earth that he'll play .. it's made from swamp ash - 1 piece.. he selected it for the Fender custom shop and on and on and on.

To help me avoid getting overly dependant on one bass - I rotate them out... so one week I come in with a Cort Curbow (cort truss cover not on it).. he'd never seen one.. .. he looks at it and goes "ebony finger board and maple - great pairing" I then ask him questions of if this is where the obscure tone comes from - he keeps wanking.

I've often wonderd if I should have told him that it's plastic.

Some basses seem to sustain longer.. some necks seem to click a bit more.

Hand technique, strings and electronics seem to do most of it.

 

[pringlw]

Ya different woods vibrate, but unless that vibration is carried into the strings, it makes no difference.

Not quite. Unless the vibration is carried into the pickups it makes no difference.

Remember what the pickups are mounted into - wood. This "pickup to wood" thing is incorporated into the design of many basses. Neck through body basses are designed so that the nut, pickups and bridge are all mounted on a single piece of wood, thus increasing the quality and amount of vibration transmitted into the pickup. The "Ball Family Reserve" basses do a similar thing with the Mahogany tone block. The pickup and bridge are mounted into the tone block.

 

[ScottB.]

This might be a stupid question but I've always wondered wether it's just a coincidence...

Maple and ash are relatively bright sounding tonewoods, they are also light in colour, while woods like mahogany/bubinga are darker sounding, and are also darker in colour.

Is this a coincidenece? Or is there a direct link between brightness and colour?

 

[Cy_Miles]

FWIW

I am building a bass right now with eastern maple and purple heart in the neck thru and western maple

Before I laminated the pieces the maples had distinct but similar sounds, what I would describe and tink, or ting. The purple heart sounded like dong and if I tapped it right would resonate for close to two seconds.

The woods each had a single tone not matter where I tapped them. Then after gluing the pieces together it would make different tones depending on where you hit it, but not as simple getting the tone of what wood you hit. rather it changes as you move around the wood.

And as you hold and tap the wood/guitar you can find the harmonic points justlike you would a string.

 

[fuNKmaster83]

This might be a stupid question but I've always wondered wether it's just a coincidence...

Maple and ash are relatively bright sounding tonewoods, they are also light in colour, while woods like mahogany/bubinga are darker sounding, and are also darker in colour.

Is this a coincidenece? Or is there a direct link between brightness and colour?

there are over 200 species of mahogany witch one do you mean and what is its density and grain structure???
there are at least 10 species of ash out there and 20 species of maple... at least that is how many they have taught us at dendrology class

i have a ibanez jazz bass from the 77' and it has a maple neck and a mahogany body... the sound is brighter and stronger in fundamental than any other maple/ash jazz bass i have ever played... so i don't think mahogany sounds darker

mahogany can have any sound you want it all depends on its grain density and where it grew... as far as other exotic dark woods go... they have a darker or warmer sound cuz of the oil that are in the wood, the oil can dampen the high frequencies... they do not require any finishing cuz of the oils inside... as i have come to finish... that has a great impact on the sound and vibrations... i think that under a good coat of polyurethane the wood doesn't matter that much

 

[WarriorJoe7]

I am sorry. this is incorrect The pickup itself vibrating has no effect whatsoever on the sound.

To prove it get a bass and record it. Then take the pickup out and have something not connected to the bass hold it on the other side of the strings, the same distance from the strings.

Make sure that you play over the same part of the string in the same location. The bass will sound the same through the pickup.

Pickups pick up magnetic field changes from metal strings passing through it's magnetic field... pickups do not sense ANYTHING about physical vibrations directly.

The Strings however are the ones that "sense" the physical vibration directly, and react directly to different woods, tone blocks, bridges etc.

Not quite. Unless the vibration is carried into the pickups it makes no difference.

Remember what the pickups are mounted into - wood. This "pickup to wood" thing is incorporated into the design of many basses. Neck through body basses are designed so that the nut, pickups and bridge are all mounted on a single piece of wood, thus increasing the quality and amount of vibration transmitted into the pickup. The "Ball Family Reserve" basses do a similar thing with the Mahogany tone block. The pickup and bridge are mounted into the tone block.

 

[dvh]

My alder/rosewood Schecter Jazz = bright & snappy

My ash/maple 51 reissue = darker & warmer

Same strings

The tone impact of wood in a solid bodied electric instrument is insignificant.

 

[David Jayne]

Different woods (even in the same species) have different densities and grain configurations. These different configuration allow some of the vibrations to be dampened and others to resonate more freely.

This. And neck wood/construction techniques have FAR more impact than body wood, since the neck is the most flexible part and vibrates the most.
But, pickup type and especially pickup LOCATION have the most effect, by far. Compare a Jazz bass and a P bass. Same wood, same overall design(different shape notwithstanding), completely different sound. Put Jazz pickups in a P bass(in the right places) and it will sound like a Jazz.

 

[Rickett Customs]

On solid bodied instruments, wood does not play the same role as an acoustic instrument, period. Just don't ask this in the LC..... You'll get your feelings hurt

 

[Freelancer]

Not quite. Unless the vibration is carried into the pickups it makes no difference.

Remember what the pickups are mounted into - wood. This "pickup to wood" thing is incorporated into the design of many basses. Neck through body basses are designed so that the nut, pickups and bridge are all mounted on a single piece of wood, thus increasing the quality and amount of vibration transmitted into the pickup. The "Ball Family Reserve" basses do a similar thing with the Mahogany tone block. The pickup and bridge are mounted into the tone block.

The pickups only generate a sound when the strings vibrate over them at certain frequencies, stimulating the magnet and producing an electrical signal by the amp that's hopefully correctly played to the same frequency. You can vibrate the pickups till the cows come home. They aren't going to produce a sound unless a ferromagnetic material is vibrating within a certain range over the pickup's sensitive zone. Although being an electrical device and all there is always electrical interference that can come into play as well. Really sensitive pickups can sometimes get or have interference canceled out with close proximity of the human body and the electrical field all living things exude from themselves.

Now from what I have noticed. The beginning millisecond of the attack seems to be almost entirely tone of whatever strings are on the bass and almost immediately there after, the reverberations of material and craftsmanship of the electric bass/guitar surge up up and swallow and absorb the sound into the unique sound we get from each successive instrument. So while crafting material is indeed a great and fairly important factor in the overall sound of the instrument. It's not the entire factor in which the electric bass or guitar's sound is generated from.

Now on acoustic instruments, then yes. The wood of the instrument will almost entirely determine the sound characteristics of the instrument. Their sound is usually generated from the strings resonating through the bridge though the body of instrument into either the sound post like in the violin family of instruments. In an acoustic guitar or bass, the strings vibrate through the bridge into the sound board(face or top of the instrument,) which resonates into the sound box in which the sound may get altered a bit by the different materials of the back and sides before getting projected back out the sound hole. So the mixing and matching of different tone woods is much more noticeable and more of a delicate procedure for the non-amplified acoustical instruments.

As I said earlier though. The vibrations of the body and the pickups by them self wont do a thing. Hope that helped a little.

Rock on!
-Chris

 

[David Jayne]

I am sorry. this is incorrect The pickup itself vibrating has no effect whatsoever on the sound.

If you are speaking in absolutes, this cannot be true. If the pickup vibrates at all, it becomes part of the resonant system- this will cause certain frequencies(from the strings) to be reinforced while others are muted. Unless the pickup does not vibrate at all(removed from the bass and held per your example) this will be the case. But the effect is minimal, certainly.

 

[Deacon_Blues]

I'm no physics expert, but i have always looked at an electric guitar and bass and overall musical instruments as kinetic energy systems where all the instrument affects how string vibrates.

Ive always assumed its all about the energy and absorption and distribution of energy across the body . some woods are harder and stiffer while others are softer, and this affects how wood absorbs energy from the string, its not about the pickups absorbing the vibrations of the wood, but the wood absorbing energy from the string so that the energy in the system stays constant, and this energy loss in the string will change the way it vibrates and the pickups will pick up this resultant vibration in the strings and tone may vary. Also that could explain why some people say that certain woods give better sustain. and why there is a difference in sound between wooden necked instruments and carbon necked instruments. (because carbon absorbs energy in a different way than wood does)

Of course i might be wrong because this is based solely on intuition and bachelor grade education.

+1 to this. Best description so far.

Shortly, the wood (and bridge and tuners and nut and saddle and...) determines how the string is allowed to vibrate by absorbing string vibrations.

 

[Dark Horse]

Not exactly what you are looking for, but interesting none the less:

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[WarriorJoe7]

If you are speaking in absolutes, this cannot be true. If the pickup vibrates at all, it becomes part of the resonant system- this will cause certain frequencies(from the strings) to be reinforced while others are muted. Unless the pickup does not vibrate at all(removed from the bass and held per your example) this will be the case. But the effect is minimal, certainly.

of course having that extra mass of the pickup on the body affects the wood vibrations and thus the string vibrations to a small degree, but it's ridiculous to mention (how fat you are probably affects the sound more than the physical pickup mass.) I was just countering the thought that a pickup primarily works (or even significantly) from physical vibrations. It does not.

 

[David Jayne]

of course having that extra mass of the pickup on the body affects the wood vibrations and thus the string vibrations to a small degree, but it's ridiculous to mention (how fat you are probably affects the sound more than the physical pickup mass.) I was just countering the thought that a pickup primarily works (or even significantly) from physical vibrations. It does not.

You misunderstand me. I am NOT suggesting the pickup adds mass to the body in a meaningful way. I AM saying that if the string vibrates, and the pickup also vibrates under the string, there will be cancellations/reinforcements. For example:
If you could somehow vibrate the pickup without vibrating the string, a tone would be produced. Relative motion between string and pickup is what I'm talking about, and that's all it takes to make a sound. Minimal, but there.

 

[DeanT]

Because different types of wood resonate at different frequencies.

 

[usurperbass]

I think the wood does play some part of the sound but not 100%,I've put good p/u in chineese made guitars and they sound good.I would say the pups have alot to do with what sounds come from your bass.

 

[WarriorJoe7]

i understand now. the pickup is not a fixed point when attached to the bass, and movement through it's magnetic fields creates sound. So if the pickup is moving then it will make sound.

a good experiment. Mount up a pickup to a vibratora and then hold it close to bass strings. It will now produce a pitch a pitch at the frequency of the vibrator, but how does string guage affect it? (I wonder if the vibrator material will affect this too... what type of "wood" should the vibrator be made of for the best tone?) LOL

You misunderstand me. I am NOT suggesting the pickup adds mass to the body in a meaningful way. I AM saying that if the string vibrates, and the pickup also vibrates under the string, there will be cancellations/reinforcements. For example:
If you could somehow vibrate the pickup without vibrating the string, a tone would be produced. Relative motion between string and pickup is what I'm talking about, and that's all it takes to make a sound. Minimal, but there.