Wenge vs. Purple Heart neck center lamination?

[Gard]

...I was just out in the shop talking with Tony, who is about to finish up shaping a batch of necks, and he picked up one, held it by two fingers at the "sweet spot" (about where the heel starts, it allows the neck to vibrate), and tapped the neck with the heel of his hand, then held it to my ear....

...the first one he did this with was one of the new all-wenge wedge necks - it HUMMED a really long, sustained, LOW note....then the next was a 5 string Standard (all maple) neck with a bird's eye maple fingerboard, it hummed as well, but a slightly brighter tone....then we picked up another Standard 5 string neck, but with a bird's eye maple DIAMONDWOOD fingerboard, and that one was completely different, deeper sounding than the other.

Yes, the woods matter.

[Chuck M]

I'm the proud owner of 4 Roscoe basses and have various wood combinations.

Century Signature 3006 FL-has a Maple neck with Purpleheart center and a Diamonwood fingerboard. The body is Spanish Cedar with a spalted Myrtle top. It has standard Bartolini electronics. The bass is very focused sounding with huge lows. It absolutely sings and has great sustain. I would not change anything on it.

Century Signature 3005-has a maple neck with a Cocobolo center and a Cocobolo fingerboard. The body is Spanish Cedar and has a Maple top. This bass has Bartolini PU's and an Aguilar preamp. It is a pretty aggressive sounding bass. Still has the Roscoe growl but the highs are accentuated. I was not crazy about the tone until I put a set of TI flats on it. Now it has a really great and growly in your face tone.

SKB Custom 3005 FL-has a Maple neck with a Purpleheart center and a Diamondwood fingerboard. Body is Swamp Ash with a Maple top. It has the standard Bartolini electronics. This bass has focused lows and glassy highs. Sustain is not quite as good as it is on the fretless 6 but is still good. Very sweet fretless.

SKB Custom 3005-has a Maple neck with a Purpleheart center and a Pau Ferro fingerboard. The body is Swamp Ash with a Maple top. It also has the standard Bartolini Electronics. This bass has a really great voice. Big and clear lows, clean defined mids and sweet highs. It sounds terrific in the mix.

I feel there are some differences in the tone of the woods selected but also in the individual pieces of wood. All Ash does not sound the same in my experience. The one thing that is common to all my Roscoe basses is that they sound great and are delightful to play. Amazing necks on every one of them. Superb fret jobs on the fretted basses and wonderful playing fingerboards on the fretless basses.

There are some differences caused by wood choices, however, the good news is that it is going to sound great no matter what you choose.

Chuck

[Gard]

Chuck -

Exactly!

They all sound "like Roscoe basses", but there will always be some subtle, yet important variation in that tone, unique to each one.

The same is true of ANY bass, in my experience. If it didn't matter, why would one Fender MIM-J sound better than the next?

Discounting the importance of the materials in the construction of an instrument that is itself a vibrating "system" is ridiculous. All of the woods and hardware affect the overall resonance of the system, and that affects which fundamentals and harmonic overtones are both enhanced and suppressed when a note or chord is played, which affects how the string vibrates, and THAT is what the pickup "sees" and then transmits through the electronics to the amplifier.

We cannot hit a pinpoint spot on a "map of tone" by selecting various woods and electronics, but we can darn sure take that huge map and get into a pretty small circle that way!

[Pacman]

Piling on a little here, but because someone thinks that a 2x4 bass "sounds like a bass" isn't really a definitive answer either. Just because you can't hear a difference doesn't mean there isn't one. As the owner of 4 Roscoes (and the previous owner of at least 200 basses), I can tell you, there's a difference.

[Ryan L.]

Originally Posted by Pacman

Piling on a little here, but because someone thinks that a 2x4 bass "sounds like a bass" isn't really a definitive answer either. Just because you can't hear a difference doesn't mean there isn't one. As the owner of 4 Roscoes (and the previous owner of at least 200 basses), I can tell you, there's a difference.

This.

I don't buy into the whole 2x4 thing, because, well, I don't have to. I am a complete believer that woods do, in fact, make a difference----and this is based on owning quite a few Roscoe SKB3006's in the past---each with different wood combos, and each with a different variation to the tone. I can hear a difference in them, and that's all that matters to me.

I will continue to order Roscoe basses with the wenge center in the neck, because, well, to me, it makes a difference.

[WayneKerrins]

Guys just finalizing my spec and was going for Wenge, Wenge stringer, maple, Wenge stringer, Wenge neck. But reading this thread it seems the consensus is I should go for Wenge in the middle (lows is where I'm at).
Or is the order of the Wenge and maple in the 5 piece wedge necks more aesthetics, and the mere fact that Wenge is in the neck the key for the tone I'm after?
Btw decided on Monkeypod top and back, Spanish cedar body and Wenge fingerboard.

[Gard]

Originally Posted by WayneKerrins

Guys just finalizing my spec and was going for Wenge, Wenge stringer, maple, Wenge stringer, Wenge neck. But reading this thread it seems the consensus is I should go for Wenge in the middle (lows is where I'm at).
Or is the order of the Wenge and maple in the 5 piece wedge necks more aesthetics, and the mere fact that Wenge is in the neck the key for the tone I'm after?
Btw decided on Monkeypod top and back, Spanish cedar body and Wenge fingerboard.

As someone that owns TWO of the Wenge/Maple/Wenge necked Signatures: stay the course, you will be pleased.