Wood and weather

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Desmund Nichols

I know that weather changes the tone of the bass. Living in NY i get a lot of temperature changes and each time my bass has a different tone to it. I spend more time trying to adjust knobs than i do playing in certain temperatures. How does the heat and coldness and humidity and dryness effect the tonal sound of a Smith?

I think the changes you hear is not just the Bass. The speaker cabinets are mostly made of wood and the speaker cones are usually a paper substance. This too will be affected by change. Also, if the air is heavier with more humidity or thinner with less (not sure of the scientific lingo here) then that too will affect what you hear as well.

On the Bass side, I believe that Basses with an oil type finish can have more variation in change than ones with a more sealed type lacquered finish. Even the Strings are affected as the windings have more or less moisture in them. If your hands are dry, the strings stay cleaner. If they sweat as you play, the windings clog faster with dna mixing with the metallic oils in the string which dampen the sound when mixed making the string sound dead. That's why boiling or cleaning strings makes them sound fresher as you get the 'dirt' out.

There is no 'one' thing here that affects the sound as the weather changes. It's a little bit of everything In my opinion.