Annoying Twit

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1413669441' post='2580846'] My body wood made a baby. [/quote] Are you sure you could tell the difference if your baby had actually been made by a different body wood?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1413671309' post='2580872'] The one fly in the ointment is the mahogany Stingray 30th anniversary model, everyone has agreed that it sounds different to every other Stingray made of the more usual,ash,alder or poplar. More punchy comes up everytime? [/quote] 1st - Is the only difference in the instrument exactly the same except for the body wood? Or, are there other differences in the design/implementation? 2nd - It's quite easy for 'everyone' to think something, and for it be wrong. Look at the history of science, it is full of examples.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1413663879' post='2580783'] Even then what are we going to measure, no one here can agree exactly what, darker, clanky, growly, thin, boomy, brittle, etc is can they? [/quote] Easy. If the question is "Does the species of body wood make a significant difference?", then what we should measure is whether or not people can tell the sound made by basses of two different body wood species apart. E.g. you could have an experiment where there are three basses. Two have the same body wood species, and one has a different body wood species. The experimental subject would be asked to identify the pair of basses with the same body wood. Repeat this for a population of experimental subjects and randomly chosen sets of three basses for each experiment. If the experimental subjects can identify which is the pair of basses with the same body wood species at a frequency greater than would be expected from random guessing, then body wood species does make a difference. If they can't, there isn't. There's no point looking into more detail of what the differences in sound from different body wood species are (e.g. your "darker, clanky, growly, thin, boomy, brittle") unless it's actually been established that there is a difference to be characterised. First things first.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1413661884' post='2580749'] Not many basses are made from solid fancy wood though are they, also these claims are often made when its only a top added that has supposedly altered the tone, "spalted woodius wormus top adds amazing top end zing compared to my book matched rotten knotted hazelnut one" etc [/quote] If the wood species of the top alone could change the sound, then you'd expect the wood species of a solid one piece body to make an even bigger difference. Hence, that would seem to be the logical experiment to try first. BTW: I'm not saying that you think that the wood species of the top will make a difference, I'm just talking about what the most logical experiment to perform first would be.

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1413655374' post='2580652'] The real point of the post is that there is no point...... [/quote] My point was that even if you don't care about the species of the wood used for the body, you may be affected by other people being more choosey.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1413654928' post='2580644'] I think you are missing my point. When the average wood glue is supposedly stronger than the wood it is joining it, then IMO it will have a significant effect on how a body made from several pieces of wood glued together reacts, when compared with a body made from a single piece of wood, and going further the number and position of these joins may well also have an effect. [/quote] Yes, I didn't spot that you had branched out significantly from the core topic of this thread. In that you're now comparing basses with the same species of body wood (you haven't been clear on that, but I assume that's what you mean from what you write), but either a solid piece of wood, or a number of pieces of wood stuck together with glue. However, I think you're making a similar error to those who claim that the species of body wood makes a noticeable difference in body tone. You can say that logically it should make a difference because the two bodies are quite different. But, that doesn't mean that the differences between the bodies are enough to make a significant (e.g. detectible) difference in the tone of a solid body electric bass. Without proper experiments, all a logical argument such as yours can do is make it plausible that the way that the body is constructed could make a difference. That is very far from providing enough evidence to say that it either should or does make a significant difference to the sound. [quote] AFAIK bodies that are not designed to make a feature out how of the multiple pieces are used, do not have any consistency to them regarding the number of pieces used and the placement of the joins, and therefore your method has already introduced too many variables to give any meaningful results, no matter how big your sample size is. [/quote] I disagree. If we are performing a proper experiment to see if body wood species makes a significant difference to the tone of a solid body electric bass, then the basses in the experiment should differ only in the factor being investigated. In this case, the species of wood should differ. All other factors must be identical, to remove the 'other variables' that you mention. I'm not sure why you raise the issue of bodies being stuck together by glue, because it hasn't been mentioned here that I noticed. If there were to be experiments on body wood species of basses, it would seem to be common sense to use solid one piece bodies. If the effects of multi-piece bodies were to be investigated, then that would be a different experiment for another time.

At least this takes the attention off me for being the person who started the second thread on it.

I don't claim to be a bass connoisseur, but when I tried the Squier Fretless VM P, and the Squier Fretless VM Jazz, I thought the Jazz felt considerably nicer.

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1413641620' post='2580454'] If bass feels right, sounds right and looks right (to me) ....then it is right. How and why doesn't concern me tbh. [/quote] I think you have missed the point of my post.

Sorry to hear about this. I hope you get all of your gear back safe and sound. Except perhaps one of the guitar necks which will have to be removed surgically from the burglar's posterior at a later date.

I'm surprised to find this out of 'off topic.' But in any case, I'm seriously thinking of buying a bike (I presume bicycle not motorcycle) trailer for carrying stuff. I would like to know what model bicycle trailer you have, and see a photo of it fully loaded.

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1413635724' post='2580375'] Honestly....I really don't care. I just enjoy playing the bass. [/quote] It may still affect you. If luthiers use fancy (and expensive) woods because 'the market' won't accept a high-end bass made of cheap materials, then you end up paying more for a certain quality of bass than you would be able to if 'the market' was more accepting of different types of wood. Not a problem, I would expect if you're buying custom made basses, as you can choose the wood. But, if you're buying higher quality off the shelf products, this may affect you. If you're concerned about ecology, then 'the market' also has a tendency to value woods of endangered species over and above more common, less endangered, species.

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1413622448' post='2580186'] A guy with a CNC machine in the States, a guy with a CNC machine in China. If it's the same quality wood, what's the difference? [/quote] Finishing, fretwork, etc. I'm not a bass connoisseur, but I thought that the Chinese made Fender that I tried felt very nice to play. I didn't plug it in, and heard later that the pickups aren't the best. But it felt very nice to me, and above the Mexican Fenders and Squiers I tried at the time. But, I just wanted to address the CNC comment, which I think is over-simplifying the matter.

mea culpa.

With the market share that they have, and the fact that many of their instruments are simple and easy to build, you'd have to wonder how they can't be profitable. If they are saddled with debt, that could mean that even an otherwise structurally sound company could go under. However, if that happened, I'm sure that someone would buy the brand itself, effectively separating the brand from its debtors, and the company could then continue under its new ownership.

I've got serious GAS for that one.

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/American-Fender-precision-bass-Dad-sed-made-in-60s-70s-4-strings-right-handed-/221578697300?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item33971e9a54"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item33971e9a54[/url] [quote] Got this off mi dad who got it off his dad before him. Its defo right cos mi dad sed that grandad got if off honest John the working mans frend who had a stall at Clitheroe car boot. Must have tons of history and mojo and that. Rock and roll history mate. Its got a maple neck and an ash body. Everything is original and it soundz awsum. You cant see it until you have paid cos its worth tons and you might rob me or me house cos i've got valuable paintings there and that. I dont do paypal either. Its cash or you can sod off. Will meet you cos my house is hard to find. [b]And if i see any of you lot from basschat on here, I'll be right round your house. [/b] [/quote]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1413454879' post='2578349'] Personally I think there are still too many variables in this. Even something fairly simple like a Fender P, no two bodies are made in the same way with the joins between the various pieces of wood being in the same place, so the comparison would still be meaningless. Personally when it comes to solid electric instruments talking about "tone woods" is fairly pretentious. The important qualities for the wood in these instruments is rigidity and weight and how it vibrates is of minor importance in comparison. In the end all that matters is: do you like how the instrument look, plays and sounds? Everything else is irrelevant. [/quote] If there is variation between identically specified basses, then all you need to do is compare a number of basses of one wood type versus a number of basses of another wood type. In that way, variation within a single wood type would be handled, and we could see if the different species makes a significant difference. Statistical techniques can be used to calculate how many 'a number' should be. PS: I see several posts about 'obsessing about minutiae' when buying basses. When I've bought basses I've not been concerned about the body wood at all, and in some cases didn't even know what the body wood was until I got the bass home and looked it up. I still think it's a reasonable thing to discuss body wood in a single thread on basschat. What makes it a reasonable topic to discuss is that there are both people who believe that body wood species makes a difference, and people who don't.

Sold for £320.

The other alternative was some sort of pine. My Rockbass is made from carolena, which I believe is pine. It seems to have a similar 'big' grain. Though it'hard to see under the very thick finish.

How about £599 for a Vintage V1004 then? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-V1004DX-Active-4-string-Bass-Guitar-/221578391513?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item339719efd9"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item339719efd9[/url] £499 RRP, and £429 new on GAK. http://www.gak.co.uk/en/vintage-v1004dx-bass-poplar-birds-eye/17981

When I was a teenager in my first bass-life, I had an Ibanez Artist bass. If only I had it now I had a vague feeling that it might be ash as while the Ibanez had a darker finish, it had that same 'big wood grain' look. (This isn't the actual bass - no photos exist)

This will probably be gone very soon. A generous offer. I thought of suggesting to SWMBO that we make our weekend outing on Saturday one to Cambridge. But, being 5/6/7 miles outside makes it just that bit tricky for me.

Thanks.

Ibanez Roadstar II A quick google seems to support it being an RB950. Looks a bit odd to me as the headstock says classic Ibanez to me, while the body looks more modern. But I'm sure I could get used to it. Surely it's worth more than the starting price, and will sell. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-RoadstarII-Bass-Guitar-/161452449828?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item259750e024