jmstone Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 Sorry if this has been done before.. Just curious as to what difference different materials for body/ neck make - like what's the difference between a high density body and a relatively low/soft wood one? What difference does a maple vs other necks make (apart from appearance? How about hard varnish/lacquer vs. oil finish? Is this whole wood thing really overdone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 There's quite a bit on the forum already about this one, here are some links to help you. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=60601"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=60601[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=24874"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=24874[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8436"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8436[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=607"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=607[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 I think you can only talk in generalisations and expectations, not absolutes. You never know exactly why it will sound like it does which is why there always great examples of basses and gtrs and some not at all good ones. I think hi-end luthiers get round this with the use of pre amps...but until you glue ever thing together, you are never totally sure how the wood will react together, IMV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hubrad Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 I've long thought that the best way to first try an electric guitar or bass is unplugged - just the tone of the wood. If you like the acoustic resonance, pretty much any pickup/preamp/amp combination will have something to work with. If, on the other hand, you don't like the unplugged sound it's pretty much a dead cert you won't like that bass amplified. But then, one piece of maple won't be 100% the same as the next piece; there is no exact science to it. I think that the high-end luthiers get down and dirty with lumps of raw wood! I used to occasionally hang out at Paulman's workshop in Huddersfield; I remember one time he was getting really excited about a particular piece of something on his racks.. knocking on it with his knuckles "just listen to that! It'll make a beaut bass body!" Ah, the experienced ear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmstone Posted June 28, 2010 Author Share Posted June 28, 2010 Yes.. Good points. And thanks for the pointer to the extensive previous posting on this subject matter. I am clearly not very adept at searching this forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 What JTUK said is more or less true in my experience apart from the preamps. You should firstly decide what sound you want and then search out an instrument that delivers. There are some manufacturers like Lakland who have managed to achieve an incredible level of consistency in their instruments but you won't get much in the way of customisation. If you go to a custom luthier you're more or less at the mercy of their wood pile. Finding a custom luthier who has nailed their wood selection is like finding a needle in a haystack. To have the best of both worlds, find an instrument that gives you the sound and then have it customised. You won't be able to get much back for it in terms of resale value but if its one in a million then its unlikely you will ever need to sell it. This does assume that you will have tried loads of basses before settling on what you're looking for. Whether it has a maple fingerboard or walnut body doesn't really matter at the end of the day. Basses are like a recipe, in that they represent a mix of ingredients. One ingredient can be added or altered in such a way to compensate for the inadequacies of another. Whether you like the flavour is another matter entirely. I've tried loads of basses over the years. The ones that stood out for me were made almost exclusively from maple, but a particular combo of hard and soft maple. So I have a couple of Spectors now but they've been heavily customised to make them sound warmer than standard Spectors.. I also really like graphite necks but haven't found a bass yet which combines low action with warm sound. I'm still working on that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Imo body wood is the least influential factor regarding tone. Especially when the finished article is no longer the solid ingot of wood it started out as - cavities are routed, objects are inserted and mounted onto it and finally a finish is applied (remember the finish goes into the wood, it doesn't just sit on the surface). Most influential, in no particular order, is neck construction (for proof just think of the difference a carbon neck makes) and how well the union between neck and body is carried out, pickups, strings and of course electronic implimentation and design.... and fingers. When you consider how some of the most tonaly specific benchmark basses started out, I think Leo knew this..... From Leo's G&L workshop (Fender® basses were designed exactly the same way)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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