suspended wooden floor acoustics

[Fionn]

I recently moved house. The new place is a 1950's built house with a suspended timber floor downstairs. It's suspended about 2ft above the ground, and consists of standard pine floorboards laid over 8x2" joists (no insulation underneath). One of the improvements that I've made was to rip out the cruddy old carpets, sand back the floors, and varnish them. Looks great, and all that.

[i]However[/i], I discovered an unexpected [color=#ff0000][b]mega-bonus[/b] [/color]the other day when sitting on the downstairs lounge-room floor playing an unplugged electric bass ... When playing with the hip of the bass resting on the floor, the floor acts as a sound-board. I moved around the room testing different parts of the floor and I've found the sweet spot. Naturally it's at a point on a floor board which is mid way between joists, although the sweet spot that I've found is particularly sweet, as some floor boards resonate better than others. Resting the bass onto a knot in the wood makes a slight difference too.

It doesn't just resonate a wee bit, like when you press the back strap button against a door, stud wall, or something. It's really significant, and the tone is good too ... very bassy, but not overly muddy, surprisingly defined. Needless to say that my fretless bass now resides permanently in the lounge-room.

If you have a suspended downstairs floor and you haven't tried this already, I bid you to do it. I've hardy plugged in a bass since I did. Deep joy! (in a bass-geek fashion).

Edited May 20, 2013 by Fionn

[Fionn]

Oh, and make sure that your arse or leg is planted on a different floorboard to that of the bass.

[steve-bbb]

THIS POST IS WORTHLESS WITHOUT A RECORDING !!!

[Zenitram]

What wood is best for metal?

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1368700308' post='2080275']
THIS POST IS WORTHLESS WITHOUT A RECORDING !!!
[/quote]

Yep, get some mics in that room now.

[charic]

Similar to using a cupboard

[Fat Rich]

Works standing up too if you've got two wooden legs and a brass ass.

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1368701971' post='2080298']
Works standing up too if you've got two wooden legs and a brass ass.
[/quote]

or a big spike like a cello

[Fionn]

Resting the strap button on the floor, with the bass in the upright position, doesn't even nearly provide the same volume or quality of tone.

[iconic]

My house is a 53 issue with suspended floors....we think a hard pine or beach for the geeks.

im gotta have a go !!!

[bertbass]

Have you tried a wardrobe yet? Hard to beat!

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1368723962' post='2080765']
Have you tried a wardrobe yet? Hard to beat!
[/quote]

depends ... does it have tonewoods ? single slab or laminate construction?


............ [size=3][i]runs [/i][/size]

[bertbass]

Mahogany is best, giving an excellent mellow tone, pine on the other hand is quite bright sounding.