In light other basically supportive posts on the subject of age and sound affect regardless of the brand I will allow a general non-brand specific discussion here which however will shine a light on Smith basses in the end because of how they are made and why age will improve a Smith in time more so that other brands made more in the Guitar school of building rather than the Violin school of building. Ok with everyone?
I will make a comment here to start this and that is, we build with less of a thick smothering finish on our wood which allows the bass to breathe better. The wood tone when a string is plucked is what the pickup (microphone) amplifies and what the circuit EQ's if using the controls. We use basically 'colorless' sounding pickups that we designed for these basses back in 1982. If using these pickups in another bass, they will not make a bad singer sound like a good singer so to speak.
Than you Bin and the others for your instant wisdom here!
