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Maple Vs. Rosewood fingerboards

What is your favourite type of fingerboard?

  • Maple

    Votes: 57 38.8%

  • Rosewood

    Votes: 63 42.9%

  • Wenge

    Votes: 10 6.8%

  • Others (I.E. Graphite etc.)

    Votes: 17 11.6%
  • Total voters
    147
#4
I like the feel and look of rosewood. I've had maple, rosewood, ebony, and carbon-fiber.

Tonally, it depends on the instrument. For a MM bass, I'd want rosewood to balance the aggression from the bridge humbucker. On my Taylor acoustic (guitar), I like the tight brightness of the ebony, to balance with the jumbo mahogany body.

I really do like carbon-fiber, as well. It's very clean sounding (for bending, glissandos, etc) and responds extremely evenly (dynamic changes), and has a very consistent tone across the board (ha ha).

By the way, I've noticed that a lot of people say "graphite" when they're talking about guitar fretboard alternatives to wood. I've never actually seen or heard of a graphite fretboard. Ebanol, carbon-fiber, plastics composite (Ovation), sure... but are there really guitars made of graphite? I thought graphite was a form of carbon, like they use in pencil "lead." I mean, yes, graphite, in its isotropic form, and synthesized, can be carbon-fiber. But then, why not just call it carbon-fiber? That's like saying that that your stainless-steel saddles are made of chromium - while technically true, it's misleading and not the best term for it.

Not to rip on you, I'm just curious why everybody calls it graphite when Modulus, Ovation, etc call it something else.

I guess there's Moses Graphite... but they're just silly... :)

Dave
 
#6
Ah ... so ...

Point noted. I guess you guys can classify "Others" as regular non-standard woods for the fingerboard.

So so far its a three way tie for Maple, Rosewood and Wenge... Im curious how this will look after one day.
 
#7
to me... i say you can't go wrong with rosewood boards. maples on the other hand.. all i have to say is i've come across 'several' if not 'most' basses i've played that didn't sound good to ME. but i have played basses with maple boards that have sounded great to my ears as well, so i guess it all depends
 
#8
I put my vote on others.. cus to me.. there is nothing like ebony.. For fretless or fretted. When fretted you get that big clarity from a hard wood.. just like maple.. but ebony looks better imo.. when fretless you get the benefit of a hard fingerboard but you still get a warm sound.. and It looks better than rosewood imo.. I just love the whole concept..
 
#11
I don't think you're going to see a "clear winner" in your poll here ;) .

I went for maple in the end. Of course, it depends on the bass in question, but on the whole (Preparation H feels good! Sorry. :rollno: ), I like the (perceived) brighter sound and practicality of a lacquered maple board.

They're so easy to look after and (IMHO) they even look and feel great when they get really worn (moreso than dirty, dull and greasy rosewood).

Just my 2 cents.....
 
#12
When in Doubt, get one of each! (Applies to 4 string vs 5 string as well!)

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#13
I don't pick out a bass dependant upon it's fretboard. I pick out a bass strictly on feel and sound, but good looks help too. I own three basses, each with a different fingerboard wood. One maple, one rosewood, and one ebony.

MTDFENDERCARVIN.jpg
 
#15
Others:
Ebony, i like the blackness. Soundwise i doubt its a big difference though.

Sounds different from my P bass, but the P bass is passive, ash body, maple neck and bolt on, and my custom is active, Walnut core, Quilted maple top and back, Maple/walnut/mahogany neck and neck through.

I realy doubt the fretboard would make any difference in this case..
 
#20
I don't notice much of a difference on a fretted bass, tonally, especially compared to other things like electronics and playing style.

For appearance, I generally prefer rosewood, but I wouldn't say no to the right maple board. Depends on the overall look of the bass. Maple looks grungier more quickly, which can either be a good (mojo!!) or bad (yuck!!) thing, depending on your world view.

For fretless, I really dig ebony.
 

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