Rosewood vs Ebony

[Bassalova]

I am planning on putting an all wood endpin on my Grunert. Considering the Onyx from Lemur. There is a rosewood version and an ebony version. I also consider replacing my ebony tailpiece with a rosewood compensated tailpiece.

Anyone got any ideas regarding the difference in these woods?
How will they effect the bass? Ebony vs Rosewood

[Cody Sisk]

Too many variables here. I would venture out to say that, generally speaking, rosewood is lighter than ebony. But if you have a medium quality ebony and a high quality rosewood, the rosewood might be heavier. Then at that point you would be debating the weight of the tailpiece in relation to the sound. There are a number of recent threads discussing that topic.

As far as the endpin, I don't see it making much difference unless they differ significantly in weight. Then again, same argument as above..

All I can say is try both and figure out which sounds better on YOUR bass because someone else's results might have the polar opposite effect on your bass.

[Bassalova]

I might go for the Rosewood, because it matches the other rosewooden details on my bass, such as tunerknobs and the ekstra "tailgut anchor"

Buying both ebony and rosewood is out of the question regaring to relatively high price on the units

[Bassalova]

I recon the rosewood would let the bass vibrate more freely..... since it is less dense than ebony.
Any thoughts?

[Fletcher Lanning]

Harder wood = more efficient vibration

The softer a wood is, the more vibration is absorbed and therefore not translated to sound (think about it like a softer pillowtop bed absorbing another person in the bed's movement)

[Bassalova]

I´ve also thought about making a solid one piece endpin, to stick directly into the bass. This is possible because my Grunert has in addition to the endpin a single wooden knob for anchoring the tailgut.
Someone in the forum wrote that he used a curtain rod as an endpin, probably spruce.
I´m curious about this solution, because a spruce endpin of this kind will be stiff enough (1 1/2 inch diameter), and still being open grained and less dense than many other woods. Thus stealing little energy I guess.
This endpin can easely be made on a common lathe, and spruce is a pretty common wood to get hold of.

[Cody Sisk]

Originally Posted by Flanning

Harder wood = more efficient vibration

The softer a wood is, the more vibration is absorbed and therefore not translated to sound (think about it like a softer pillowtop bed absorbing another person in the bed's movement)

This is true though more efficient vibrations on certain instruments isn't necessarily a good thing. For example, it might really irritate a wolf tone or make the bass extremely bright beyond the player's liking. There are a number of outcomes but I would not be so quick to say that more efficient vibration on the tailpiece would always be an improvement. Thus a general trend could not really be set here. It's going to have to be trial and error in any application..