Where does the tone come from?

[Desmund Nichols]

Just curious, what has the most impact on the tone of the basses? Is it the tops, the cores, necks, fingerboard, or electronics? Which part carries the biggest factor in tone?

[Jason Wilson]

Hi, I am not sure it comes down to any one thing. And changing any one of the components could really effect the sound i.e. pickups, pickup placement, electronics, strings, wood. etc
The only real way to find out I guess, and timely & expensive is get a bass, and change one piece at a time, then replace & try something else & record each time.
But I think wood, neck, fingerboard, frets, electronics, pickups, pickup placement will all have an effect on the sound. But all of those things together make "the sound".

[Ken Smith]

Hi, I am not sure it comes down to any one thing. And changing any one of the components could really effect the sound i.e. pickups, pickup placement, electronics, strings, wood. etc
The only real way to find out I guess, and timely & expensive is get a bass, and change one piece at a time, then replace & try something else & record each time.
But I think wood, neck, fingerboard, frets, electronics, pickups, pickup placement will all have an effect on the sound. But all of those things together make "the sound".

The Top, neck and fingerboard. The parts closest to your hands, strings and pickups. The pickups reproduce the sound given to them from the strings that come from the wood. Something like that. I think! :confused: .. lol

[Desmund Nichols]

The Top, neck and fingerboard. The parts closest to your hands, strings and pickups. The pickups reproduce the sound given to them from the strings that come from the wood. Something like that. I think! :confused: .. lol

OK, so the core plays a small role in the natural tone of the bass?

[Tim Bishop]

Just curious, what has the most impact on the tone of the basses? Is it the tops, the cores, necks, fingerboard, or electronics? Which part carries the biggest factor in tone?All of the above. However, the biggest factor is the player.

[Ken Smith]

OK, so the core plays a small role in the natural tone of the bass?

I think the Core flavors the top and color of its sound, width of notes, etc.

It (the core) will also enhance similar frequencies shared between the woods or tone down the opposites between them.

[Franck Callebert]

Maybe from the fingers ?

Just put your bass in some differently experienced hands, and you will discover another sounding ...

[Jens Westerinen]

Indeed, but to get a sertain sound you'll need a typical kind of pickup.
Sure, fingers make tonal difference, but they can't make a single coil in bridge position sound like a mudbucker in neck position. :)
I'd argue that, maybe the biggest, factors is position and kind of pickup/pickups.

[Ronen Tat]

I'd argue that, maybe the biggest, factors is position and kind of pickup/pickups.

Totally agree. The basic/fundamental character of the tone is there. Beyond that - woods, laminations etc, it's fine tuning.
My two neck through Ken Smiths are constructed from different woods, certainly sound different but you can easily recognize the Ken Smith signature tone in both.

Opinion.

[Scott Pope]

I respectfully disagree. It's the synthesis. Ken's basses sound like Ken's basses because of all the above: the woods, the construction, the electronics, etc. Other manufacturer's basses sound like they do for the same reason. It's synthesis. Over the years I've experimented a lot, and the end results have always been the same: it's the synthesis of the major attributes of the particular manufacturer that make a bass sound as it does.

[Jens Westerinen]

Scott, I think you are so right, but the question is "what has the most impact on the tone", so would you still argue that, say, the top wood colors the tone just as much as the pickups, or the placement of the them?

[Scott Pope]

I think body wood and construction methods have more to do with overall tone. I think if you experiment and put different pickups in the same bass, it will by and large still sound like the same bass, maybe a different flavor, but the same general sound.

[Jens Westerinen]

Ok, I understand. :)