Cameron Hood on tonewoods in MTD electric basses

[RonnyOnBass]

MTD ROCKS!!

[bassmorpheus]

Informative. Thanks!

[MrBassflute]

I've been playing for about 41 years now, and have lived through and tried most of the new innovations in electric bass, in bass design, amplifier design, strings, pickups, pretty much everything. There is not a lot that I HAVEN'T tried. Just trying to spread my knowledge and wisdom to a new generation of players...at least the ones who are open minded, can listen, learn, and not read a bunch of things into my statements that I'm not really saying.

[MrBassflute]

...wounds, nickel, or 30 year old flats. Which is why I also said there is less influence on the neck pickup that on the bridge pickup - it's further away from the source of the sound. You do get SOME woody sound from the neck pickup, mostly the 'clack' that comes from the fingerboard, but the 'body' of the sound, and the initial attack as well as the control and sound of the sustain, mainly comes from the body woods. If you play long enough, and through enough basses, you gradually see this....

[MrBassflute]

Nope. Sorry. You're just plain wrong, and missing the point. The string is influenced by the woods. A claim made by EVERY maker of basses, from Fender and Ibanez to the greatest handmade instruments like Pedulla, Fodera, and Michael Tobias. As for my precision bass comments, I didn't say people didn't have their own STYLE of bass playing, I said everybody pretty much sounds the same on a precision - if they played an identically set up precision. Of course they sound different with round...

[drums6912]

In an electric instrument, a magnet is what transfers the sound to the amplifier. Any third grader would understand that a magnet is only attracted to metal, not wood. It is completely impossible for the magnet to receive any kind of signal from wood. The strings don't even touch the wood in the first place, only the bridge, nut, and frets. The wood would have no effect on the strings what-so-ever. The body does vibrate while playing, only due to motion of the strings, not through resonance.

[drums6912]

I also want to clear some things up. I did play the drums, about 8 years ago when I made this account, I quit to start playing bass. I am not a person talking completely out of place, I have done my own research here. To answer Alijazz11, there would be a difference between those two woods, in a drum kit. With drums, the wood acts as the amplifier. The shells take the sound of the head and vibrate accordingly, creating more output. The wood lets sound resonate inside, an acoustic effect.

[LigaraProg]

you are quality, sir!

[aljazz11]

@drums6912 So I guess there is no difference in tone from a maple drum kit to a birch drum kit.

[ech10]

dude. You can play. Holy cow.

[runninonempiy]

Extrodanary thats the word I was lookin' for

[runninonempiy]

HOLY SHIT!!Sorry!!!



[mingustheduck]

i like that you say this well holding a frickin Marilyn

[Trania9]

Hi Cameron! Nice video!!

[Froekfroek]

@Bassflute. Can you upload more clips of this MTD bass as I'm interested in purchasing a MTD 635. Thx a lot and kind regards.

Froekfroek.

[MrDocfunk]

Just pLay the damn bass !!

[polyshednj]

I bought a MTD KZ 5. I sold my $4000 Warwick the next day. Nuff said. I played one in Seattle, and then saw one again in Portland, and I bought it on the spot. Markbass and GT-10 plus MTD is the future =-)

[drums6912]

Do you know why these men all say tonewood matters? It is to make themselves richer! They know they can make some poor sap believe that this rare expensive type of wood sounds differnent or better than Alder or Ash. This is how they make their living, but getting people to buy their "boutique" instruments, even though they are no better than a Fender or a Gibson (besides may the electronics). They all want you to think that you should buy a $3000 guitar over a $300 one.

[MrBassflute]

@drums6912 Not even worth responding to...

[Tobias8069]

@drums6912 Tonewoods matter because the density of the wood has to do with how the vibration is reproduced. Woods that have more density have a tighter sound, more attack and naturally compress the sound. Example maple bodies, tops and maple/ebony fretboards make an instrument sound brighter or have more "bite" in their tone. Listen to how much fret noise there is with Gouches red maple fretboard 635 compared to his other purple heart and rosewood fretboard 653's.

[Iliketacos091]

@drums6912 based on your username, you are a drummer and therefore know nothing of guitars and basses and therefore should kindly fuck off. wood definitely contributes to tone, and, if nothing else, contributes to the weight and feel of the instrument. take your conspiracy theories elsewhere.

[spectorman09]

@drums6912 I totally agree.

[SlikkTim]

@drums6912 The funniest thing tho is "players who play precision bass sound the same" lmao. This is SO ridiculous. If you can't tell the difference between Bernard Edwards, Ready Freddie Washington, James Jamerson, Rocco Prestia, Willie Weeks, Byron Miller or Paul Jackson when they play a Precision... that only tells how much your hear with your eyes (or wallet).

[drums6912]

@SlikkTim I don't think you can look at a list of players, who vary in styles and genes, and say the wood makes a difference. Strings, amps, speakers, recording method, EQing, and most importantly technique make the biggest difference. I mean James Jamerson had 30 year old flats on "the Funk Machine" while Bryon Miller often times plays active Precisions through HiFi amps. That alone gives such a range that the tone wood's role would become so miniscule, as if it didn't matter.

[MrBassflute]

@drums6912 And if Byron played a pre, identically set up, with an ash body and a maple neck, then one with a rosewood fingerboard and an alder body....we KNOW 30 year old flats are going to sound different from Stainless Rounds and through a hi-fi system...you missed the point completely...

[MrBassflute]

@drums6912 And if Byron played a pre, identically set up, with an ash body and a maple neck, then one with a rosewood fingerboard and an alder body....we KNOW 30 year old flats are going to sound different from Stainless Rounds and through a hi-fi system...you missed the point completely...

[MrBassflute]

@drums6912 And if Byron played a pre, identically set up, with an ash body and a maple neck, then one with a rosewood fingerboard and an alder body....we KNOW 30 year old flats are going to sound different from Stainless Rounds and through a hi-fi system...you missed the point completely...

[MrBassflute]

@drums6912 And if Byron played a pre, identically set up, with an ash body and a maple neck, then one with a rosewood fingerboard and an alder body....we KNOW 30 year old flats are going to sound different from Stainless Rounds and through a hi-fi system...you missed the point completely...

[MrBassflute]

@drums6912 So post some videos of YOUR playing to show YOUR point of view, and stop trying to make this a PERSONAL battle between us, as we've NEVER met, and I've never personally insulted you or YOUR viewpoint. We can all have different viewpoints, you're free to have yours, I disagree with it completely, and so does a long list of the worlds finest bass builders. Show me who's on 'your' side, and quit trying to insult me. Time to put your money where your mouth is.

[drums6912]

@MrBassflute What personal battle? The last comments I have had in 10 months were to other people. I have my view and you have yours, why is discussing this is a mild-mannered comment section so offensive to you. You took your personal opinions and posted them on Youtube, as well as Talkbass. This is the internet, if you get all butthurt about someone not agreeing 100% with your opinions, then you probably shouldn't be posting. Sorry for trying to express my own ideas.

[MrBassflute]

@drums6912 and drum wood doesn't matter. It's only the mylar skin vibrating....and if you buy a drum set worth more than $300.00, you're an idiot, totally duped by the drum lobby...they all sound the same. You could build them out of plastic buckets...

[drums6912]

The back pick-up is not better at picking up the sound of the wood, it picks up the vibration of the strings near the bridge. Near the bridge, the strings are under much higher tension and add a slight bit of "omph" to the begining of the note. The neck pick is located under a much looser part of the strings, where they have a much longer distance to ring before getting picked up. None of this has anything to do with the wood, it is all in the physics of the strings and their vibrations.

[MrBassflute]

@drums6912 I'm sorry, but your first sentence is just wrong. The rest of your statement is actually correct, is common knowledge, and neither supports nor detracts from my statements here.

[drums6912]

@MrBassflute  Great job defending your point here. I am so gald you can just repeat what you said in the video and expect me to feel wrong. I believe I have already forced you into a corner that you can not escape because you only know your baised opinions that you read from these luthiers. You don't know how to explain your reasoning, you just believe that your Heros are correct, and you must follow what they say.

[MrBassflute]

@drums6912 It's called an educated opinion, based on the best talents in the business.

[drums6912]

What?! How does the wood cause a string to vibrate differenty? It is not the wood that creates the sound, it is the strings vibration. The vibration of the strings (known as sound) travel through the body, not the other way around, The body and neck just act as a medium to hold the strings on the neck and to provide a slight resonance for the vibrations to be amplifided. 

[MrBassflute]

@drums6912 I'll let some of the great electric bass luthiers of our age speak to this...you should get in touch with them and tell them all about your new 'findings' and can then tell them personally they're full of ****:

mtdbass.c o m/articles/quest_for_tone.pdf

kensmithbasses.c o m/woodpages/woodpagecontents.h­tml

pedulla.c o m/html/the_bass-ics.html

alembic.c o m/info/wood_standard.html

This is just a few of them...let me know how you make out....

[denverbass79]

@drums6912 Wow, have you ever played two basses from the same maker with different wood? Of course it matters.

[mulepods]

Pickups, strings, and technique matter much more to tone than wood!

[MrBassflute]

@mulepods Nobody said they didn't...I'm replying to the people who say tonewoods make NO difference...and actually, the argument could be made that if you change pickups with the SAME type pickups, there is NO difference, and if you change strings with strings of exactly the same type/age, there will be no difference, and yet, two seemingly identical pieces of wood will sound different.