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Old 11-27-2007, 01:12 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: "Newland", Finland
Question Fingerboard; Maple vs. Ash

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Hey to all you people.

I'm in the middle of planning a new build, and has been thinking a lot about different types of wood specied to use, and there specific sonic characteristics.

So how about you guys? Have you ever heard of or seen/played a fretted electric bass with an ash fingerboard?
Compared to maple (Acer platanoides), one of the most common woods for fingerboards, ash (Fraxinus Excelsior) is not that very different.
Maple weighs about 577 kg/m³ (air dried), has a bending strength of 635 kg/cm², and a density of 609 kg/cm³, while ash corresponding values are 689, 641 and 689.
Ok, ash is heavier than maple (about 18%), but its got a higher density than maple (about 13%), AND it's 25% stiffer than maple.

So what conclusions can be drawn from these facts? I'm not shure, I'm no engineer, but in my ears this sounds like ash would be the winner of these two contestants when it comes to selecting wood for necks and fingerboards.
Does anyone agree?

"It's got to be funky"
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Old 11-27-2007, 02:10 PM
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I would think that all of the finish prep work (like grain filling and sanding a fretted fretboard) for Ash would be a total pain

not something I can see using on any of my builds because of this ... and I'm sure I'm not alone

all the best,

R
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