Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Yep----next time you want the Beatles' technical advice, ask John Lennon about his "humberdinker" pickups (as he's a "rhythmer," you know. )

So even the opinions of great musicians are to be dismissed.


And if you want to understand Lennon's comment, try reading his poetry. It is full of such mispronunciations, except they weren't mispronounced because they were intentional. Remember this is the guy that wrote a book titled A Spaniard in the Works.

But if you follow your argument to its logical conclusion, there should be no tonal changes for different woods, a Les Paul should sound like an SG, ash should sound like alder.

This statement makes no sense at all. Please allow me to follow my own arguments to their conclusions. Most folks who know me know that I don't have any problems saying what I'm thinking.

But the fellow isn't asking about stripping a guitar, he's talking abaout finishing an unfinished body without covering the wood.
I've given my advice, what's yours?

Actually, he asked:

i'd like to know what is the best finish to apply to the body to get the best tone ?

....and I think our answer was basically that the finish made such a small difference in the big arena of things that generate the tone of a solid body bass, that it didn't much matter. In comparison to other factors (bridge, strings, pickups, AMP and playing skill) the finish is a non-factor and I have yet to read (or hear in 42 years of playing bass) any valid evidence to the contrary. This may go a long way toward explaining why:

i have search and didn't find too much.

Combine this with the fact that even though we would all like to be soloists and have the audience riveted to their seats with every tiny nuance of our playing, a fair portion of the tone you generate as a bass player gets buried in the mix and never gets much farther than a couple feet in front of your amp. The folks in the second row aren't likely to notice any tone difference between one finish and another.

Had he said "I like that matte, cutting-board-style finish - what's the best one to use? or asked "Which gloss finish holds up best?" then there might be more to talk about. One thing that I do like on open-grained woods like ash and mahogany is using clear epoxy resin as a grain filler, rather than trying to match the color with some sort of pigmented stuff. Plus, the epoxy is 100% solids and doesn't shrink. Once the surface is re-sanded, you can then apply whatever finish trips your trigger. Then again, I build wooden boats and usually have it on hand. My favorite oil for both boats and guitars is Deks Olje #1 because it builds a lot faster than the others when you're trying to end up with a smooth sealed surface.

nbfanca wrote:So even the opinions of great musicians are to be dismissed.


And if you want to understand Lennon's comment, try reading his poetry. It is full of such mispronunciations, except they weren't mispronounced because they were intentional. Remember this is the guy that wrote a book titled A Spaniard in the Works.

An opinion is exactly that, and worth what it costs, if uninformed.

John's wordplay was brilliant entertainment. But these fun words and pithy observations have zero to do with the technical aspects of stringed instruments.