Why do the old ones sound better?

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='4 Strings' post='1283305' date='Jun 26 2011, 08:16 PM']Why not Squiers, they've been around for 30 odd years or more, aren't they becoming old and magical? Or is it only the US factory that can cast such a spell?[/quote]

Check the prices on the early 80s ones on the bay now. Apparently they are....

[4000]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1283148' date='Jun 26 2011, 05:35 PM']I would say that a lot of it has to do with the familiarity of the sound. You like the sound of the bass you've been playing for the last 30 years because it's what you are used to and because it's fairly likely that you've adapted your style to overcome any short comings the instrument has.[/quote]

The minute I first picked up my main '72 Ric I thought it was the best bass I'd ever laid hands on by a mile. That was in 1993. My main Ric at the time, my old '76, was utterly blown into the dust, and at the time I loved that bass; I certainly wasn't gassing for anything else, and I didn't think it was possible I'd find a better Ric (I was so wrong). The '72 is still my main bass. I haven't got used to it, I loved it from the start. What's more at the time I couldn't afford it and went away thinking "well that was the best bass I've ever played". A year later I went back to the same shop to buy an amp and it was still there, reduced (which suggests maybe it wasn't the best bass for anyone else, whch is kind of where we're going with all this anyway), so I bought it.

[Highfox]

I just visited my Luither today and asked him about aging in instrument's woods and the differences it can make, he reckons as the wood gets older the canals in the wood open up more and form small bubble chambers, the sound can then resonates in (more, many) different directions throughout the wood and thus he reckons opens the sound up more. No idea but thats what he told me and he loves his wood

As many people have said it's how it sounds and feels to you that makes the instrument special.

[Prime_BASS]

I firmly believe there is something different in the 90's EBMM stingray and sterlings. A combination of the best features they've ever done/do as standard, and if you have one in a really used(rolled edge on fingerboard etc) then you have a great instrument that will could never be produced again.

[4 Strings]

[quote name='Highfox' post='1284133' date='Jun 27 2011, 02:23 PM']I just visited my Luither today and asked him about aging in instrument's woods and the differences it can make, he reckons as the wood gets older the canals in the wood open up more and form small bubble chambers, the sound can then resonates in (more, many) different directions throughout the wood and thus he reckons opens the sound up more. No idea but thats what he told me and he loves his wood

As many people have said it's how it sounds and feels to you that makes the instrument special.[/quote]


Excellent work, asking someone who knows.

There is definitely something in this sort of thing which is why old violins etc become so valuable. However, ALL the noise from acoustic instruments such as these comes from the wood which has been fashioned into special box shapes with varying thicknesses along their length to make the most from its properties. The wood for the valuable instruments has been specifically selected for each component etc.

Our massed produced electric basses (mostly made on assembly lines by many people in large factories) are solid lumps of wood an inch thick where the noise comes from electronics, even the route to the wood is through metal frets and a bridge etc, the route from it is through pickups, cables, amplifiers, speakers and eventually against a high background noise of drums and guitars. The almost immeasurable acoustic subtleties of these canals, and there's no question of their existence, are going to be lost a long time before it hits our ears. The acoustic properties of our solid basses are far too clumsy and crudely devised to be compared to those of a quality acoustic instrument.

Edited June 28, 2011 by 4 Strings

[lanark]

[quote name='Beedster' post='1280704' date='Jun 24 2011, 11:10 AM']Or 'because you expect them to'[/quote]

Or because you've paid as much as a new car for it.

[73Jazz]

[quote name='lanark' post='1286307' date='Jun 29 2011, 01:26 PM']Or because you've paid as much as a new car for it.[/quote]


or maybe you drive too cheap cars

[99ster]

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' post='1283561' date='Jun 27 2011, 12:20 AM']I agree on this.

Its very difficult to say why (IMO) the old ones sound better, as every post on this thread has merit. "We've forgotten nothing, but learnt lots about making guitars, so they should be better now", is a great point someone made, and difficult to argue against, unless you've played a good (and there are some bad 'uns) early Fender Bass. I think its a combination of everything, the woods, the pickups, the windings, the wires, and of course, the age.
Whenever i pick up a 'new' bass, i find they all sound the same, the strings feel very tight, like they are going to snap at any moment. The controls are very responsive, but its all too 'metal-ly, too trebly, regardless of amp settings etc.

The old ones [i]are[/i] different, its a fact, i've played plenty, and own a few. They are soft, and warm, and playing one is like eating hot buttery toast in your favourite old slippers, it just feels sooo comfortable, and its as if it knows, instinctively what you are playing and how its supposed to sound, and it works every time.
The best playing, and sounding bass i ever had was a '60 Jazz, just incredible, but here's the thing, which will argue about the components being the difference, the closest i've come to that feel/sound, is my '58 P-bass, which feels and sounds very, very similar to that jazz. One has slab rosewood board, twin pickups, stack controls, the other has maple neck, split coil, single volume and tone knobs. Explain that? Plug it in, and you just melt into it, thin, worn neck, with such tone.

I have a Custom Shop Relic '58, that looks the same in every way, how does it sound?, it couldnt be further from the real '58. Is it a great sounding bass? Yes, just different.

Are the old ones better (I'm comparing a [i]good[/i] old one with a [i]good[/i] new one here)?, in my opinion, and that of most players i know, yes they are, way better! Can i explain why?, as you've seen here....No, sorry!

What i will say, is you're ever in a vintage shop, and theres an 'old' bass in (I'm talking at least pre-'64), just have a play, if you havent already, and see, its all a matter of personal taste at the end of the day i guess.[/quote]



+1
Sums it up perfectly for me.