Effect of Body Wood vs Fingerboard Wood on Tone

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I have three Stingray 5's. A maple fingerboard, a rosewood board and a fretless. I have twice swapped necks around. Once to get a fretted board on the lightest body and just today, to put the fretless on the body of one that will likely be sold soon.

One of these basses has a really present/cutting midrange. It's interesting that, having had all the necks on it, it still retained the characteristic mids (it looks like ash by the grain pattern). So, I am wondering if the body has more effect on the tone than the fingerboard wood.

What is your experience?

 

[Aussie Mark]

I am wondering if the body has more effect on the tone than the fingerboard wood.

What is your experience?

Yes, I think that some body timbers have an audible impact on tone, and that tonal differences between fingerboard wood types is minimal.

Having said that, I think that many body timbers don't make a lot of difference, and I don't buy the "tonewoods" hype dispensed by certain manufacturers. Body timber can have a major impact for acoustic instruments, but for solid body electric instruments - not a lot.

For example, I don't hear any difference between alder and ash. Basswood is a little "darker" in tone, but not a lot. Mahogany definitely has an audible tone of it's own, the 30th Anniversary Stingray is a case in point.

 

[Alex001]

Yes, I think that some body timbers have an audible impact on tone, and that tonal differences between fingerboard wood types is minimal.

Actually, I have found the opposite to be true. With a high-gloss polyester finish, you are essentially encapsulating the entire body in a type of 'plastic' for lack of a better word - negating quite a bit of the properties of the wood itself. The base tonal qualities do come through, but are not as pronounced as they would be if finished with a thinner compound. Nitrocellulose lacquer finishes let the body wood 'breathe' more (Nitro is porous), but because of VOCs their use is regulated.

Having said that, I think that many body timbers don't make a lot of difference, and I don't buy the "tonewoods" hype dispensed by certain manufacturers.

Agreed, if you encapsulate 'tone woods' in a thick finish, quite a bit of the tonal properties get choked out. Although there are what are considered to be tonewoods(resonant woods) for instruments. You could make a bass out of solid oak, but it would be extremely heavy and would most likely sound horrible.

...Mahogany definitely has an audible tone of it's own, the 30th Anniversary Stingray is a case in point.

True, but again it is still encapsulated in a polyester finish. I suppose bottom line to what I am trying to say is that the tonal variations in different body woods is there, but is not quite as pronounced as one may think depending on finish. As a general rule, most people feel that Alder has more mid-range presence than Ash and has a more 'even' tone across the range of the instrument, Poplar has HUGE low-end with cutting highs, and Mahogany being the most resonant of the ones I mentioned is 'fat' with great mid/low-mid presence. Again, those subtleties do come through, but with a polyester finish they are lessened or 'muted-out' somewhat.

Fingerboard woods, to my ear, make more of a difference in tone. Rosewood is warmer and has more fundamental than Maple with more growl. Maple is smooth and even across the range, but for me I find it a bit sterile. Ebony has good lows, pronounced upper-mids and more attack than the previous two mentioned - which translates into it be less forgiving if you are playing sloppy.

Basically, the woods from the body, neck, and fingerboard all act together as an EQ of sorts - damping certain frequencies of the strings vibration or accentuating them (more damping is happening than anything else).

That being said, EVERYONE has a different opinion about tone. There is a lot of 'voodoo' out there concerning tonal variations of woods. What I stated above is basic regurgitation of years of debate about tonal differences in wood. Like I said, I find a larger difference in tonal variation depending on what wood is used for the fingerboard as opposed to the body wood, but there are also a gazillion other things that come into play - electronics (huge), type of neck joint, different types of metals used in bridge assemblies, etc. etc.

Your best guide is your ear - it's more accurate than anything you can read about tone. Tone is heard, you can't hear tone on the printed page (or screen). You can use what you read as a basic starting point, but ultimately it's the ear.

And don't forget another element that comes into play, one that some say is the most important (and I am inclined to agree) - YOUR FINGERS and the unique way in which you personally play. That cannot be denied. Give Percy Jones or Mick Karn ANY fretless bass and it's going to sound like Percy or Mick.

Then there is the whole amplification end of the spectrum....(don't get me started). Also, different recording methods used etc. As you can see, you begin running into nearly an infinite amount of variables.

Your ear is the absolute judge in finding what you like.

 

[TGL]

sound

Actually to me the whole thing is this : some guitars sound better than others. I don't care what finish or neck wood or body wood or what--it's all voodoo with solid body electric guitars.

One CAN predict somewhat which wood will do whatever in a build. Mahaog, Maple, Alder , Ash-- but noone has control over the fact that one bass (in this case) just sounds better.

Nitro laquer, poly , spray paint can--who knows? I have played basses with all these finishes and they just kicked ass.

So blow me off because you may want to believe that Wenge, and Padauk, and Zebrawood mixed with Rosewood and Maple and Ash are a great combo--AND there is strong positive proof and evidence that the woods have thier sound and that is all cool with me.

I have a poly finish bass that a cat couldn't scratch it's so hard and it just honks!
Same goes with my vintage laquer bass that kills with a maple neck.
Also the 64 P bass with spray paint can finish with Rosewood fretboard. OMG you should have heard that one!!!!
56 bass that God himself must have passed down to Earth--"V" neck on that one!

I've been in search of--for a while --- I can dig what all you guys say about the tones of wood and all the attributes, positives, and negatives of certain finishes and woods ---AND then a certain guitar comes along and blows all the theory to hell.

I will say that MM and some other companies are doing a great job getting things on even footing and are producing instruments that average out along an even line of "sounds pretty darn good ' without producing "duds". I would bet that there are some duds in every company though.

 

[drTStingray]

My Ray SR4HH is very light - it is also more mid rangy than any of my other EBMM basses - it can be positively nasal sounding in the position 2 (outer coils) - does a good Geddy Lee sound in that position. It produces a good classic Stingray sound but the mids are v noticeable.

I'm thinking this may be a combination of light body wood - and rosewood board cutting the highs slightly.

 

[Jim C]

TGL - Rather than re-quote, let me say that I agree with your post; some basses sound better than others even when wood, neck, electronics, etc are identical

What's you experience been with light vs. heavy basses?
I have found that the lighter Fenders sound better to me and believe that this holds true for other brands; don't have lots of experience with MM though as all the ones I've played were 9 1/2 lbs and up
Looks like there are some now in the 8 lb range based on what is listed at The Perfect Bass
The Perfect Bass - Bass Guitars, Amps, Gear!

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

One of my SR5s is 9 lbs and the other two are 10 lbs. The lighter one gets most of the playing time because... well it's just lighter! It has more even tonal response (alder) while the other (ash) is really in your face.

What does poplar look like? Are they used on transparent basses?

 

[Holdsg]

Kudos to everyone who has posted thus far, on a very intelligent discussion, without getting into "this or that sucks". I can't add much, just appreciative of the discussion.

And SMB, I don't think poplar has much of a grain to it. Like basswood, not really used in transparent finishes. I know Italian poplar is particularly light for the density, so that many speaker cabs are made of it, but don't know many basses made of poplar.

Side note: Never plant Poplar trees in your yard, though, unless you want to absolutely ruin your yard!

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I had made an info request in the S/N Database thread regarding a white Stingray that I recently came into possession of and was surprised to learn that it was a poplar body. It sounds good to me!

The poplar trees around here are really tall and skinny and grow quickly. I don't know if it's the same type of poplar that they use.

 

[Holdsg]

Yeah that's the problem, they grow so quickly, and send up shooters in all directions, that they take over evertying in their path. OK if you want a poplar orchard in your yard, not OK if you like things like shrubs, lawn, planters, garden gnomes, etc.

 

[midopa]

also, same wood dont sound the same
that wood be too easy

 

[maddog]

to take all the fun out of armchair speculative science:

http://online.physics.uiuc.edu/cour...ill_Drew_Beeson_P199POM_Fa07_Final_Report.pdf

laser doppler vibrometers are great for measuring resonances then use your ear to figure out where you like your resonances.

 

[Kristopher]

I did a neck swap with my Sterling HS, recorded it, and posted a thread asking people to guess which clip was rosewood and which was maple. Everyone (except one) guessed right.

EDIT: Honestly, I couldn't hear the difference.

 

[bovinehost]

I like green basses a lot.

 

[drTStingray]

I like green basses a lot.

How can you say that.........you exiled Heinz the green(ish) wonderbass to worldwide travels

Anyway my favourite Bongo is your candy red one - looks great.

 

[TGL]

Poplar

Those tall skinny fast growing Poplar trees are not the ones they use for guitars.

My 74 P bass is poplar. It sounds real good.

I had a picture of me taken next to a basswood tree today in Northern Michigan.

Actually I think the maple in the neck has something to do with tone.

 

[Alex001]

...but don't know many basses made of poplar.

EBMM used to use Poplar all the time for opaque finished basses. Not sure if they are still sourcing it now. They say they are using mostly Ash now, but Poplar may still be in the mix.

Fender uses Poplar for a lot of their entry level (standard series) stuff as well.

Of the handful of basses I have tried that I know were made of Poplar, I found them to be quite heavy. This may or may not be a rule of thumb. It's not a 'bad' tone wood, just different - we're talking big low-end baby!

 

[TGL]

Bass heavy

My poplar bass is average weight. I have a light bass that sounds great and a heavy one that sounds great. I've been noticing --a slight flame in the neck is good for sound as far as the Fenders I have. I don't know if it is coinsidence or what. They aren't all flamed out. In fact as the basses got older the slight flame seemed to become more noticable.

 

[Slingy]

On the guitar side I would say that my Sub and Morse which are poplar are much more resonant than my Luke which is Alder, but the Luke has a spanky clean sound. It could also be that those are hardtails and the Luke is a tremelo model. My Axis which is basswood/maple top is also very resonant.

 

[ZiggyDude]

One of the most respected guitar builders on the planet told ne that the fret board wood is more for the human feel and happy than sound. to the string - it always gets the steel fret. Now - I say the fret board and not neck wood.

I wil say that Ebony "Feels" harder. Some say "Clackier" - but if true that is to the end.