Ebony fretboard

[HeyMikey]

I have never played a bass that has an ebony fretboard. I have several basses with rosewood fretboards and 3 with maple fretboards.

IMO I think the basses with maple sound a bit brighter than those with rosewood.

Would an ebony fretboard sound different from either the rosewood or maple? How would you describe the tone given by having an ebony fretboard.

Thanks
Mike

[ThePerfectBass]

Ebony is very hard, kind of similar to maple in tone...maybe on the bright side of maple... Keep in mind though, each piece of wood is different... We can describe general characteristics of tonewoods, but that doesn't mean that in the end, a guitar will sound like you "expect" it to sound...

Peace!

[HeyMikey]

Thanks for the information. I may give the ebony a try.

Mike

[drnknmstr]

I was really into the idea of ebony on a bass, but I was disappointed. There's a nice growl to it, but it seems to have a certain harshness in the upper mids.

[thebandcircle]

For a fretless bass, ebony is the next best thing to a composite fingerboard. On a fretted instrument, I notice tapping notes to be clear and pluck-y. Played fingerstyle, you have to dig-in hard to hear its character shine! Great balance of punch and clarity that is consistent with volume increases. Any quacky-ness can be eq'ed out of the upper-mids...

[Tunaman]

I have an Ebony Reflex HH5 coming in guys...
Thanks for the tips you posted here

It will be interesting to see if plays out like you say... the thing with the Reflex is that the diverse EQ should allow compensation like band circle said