...and I do...once upon a time I didn't, but maple is now my PREFERENCE (even plain-jane maple...don't even get me started on birdseye or flame )...I find FRETLESS maple fretboards to look really, really weird... I want to delve into fretless at some point...if it happens, I can pretty much guarantee that whichever bass I end up getting will sport either an ebony, rosewood, or pau ferro 'board. I'm sure a fretless maple sounds fine, but I will unabashedly admit that I have to find the bass appealing in the aesthetics department as well, and yeah, fretless maple fretboards just look strange to me.
Hi HubbardsFate {} When you don 't like a fretboard, just look somewhere else or.. {} may the bass be with you Wise(b)ass
I insist on maple fingerboards for all go my fretted instruments and I go to great lengths to have basses with maple fingerboards (not really, but that sounded pretty cool in my head...). Having said that, I haven't thought twice about anything but a rosewood or ebony or anything non-maple for the fingerboard on any fretless I've ever owned. Non-maple just seems right for fretless basses.
I learned fretless on an SX Precision copy fretless...maple board. Lots of mwah, that bass got me way down the road.
Fretless SX basses are great. I picked up a fretless SX Jazz for $100 that I wish I still had, and I still have this shortscale fretless SX:
I've said it before... get one of each. {} The maple Roadster has become my number 1. (Although with Ernie Ball Stainless flats — .110 to .055 — rather than the black tapewounds in the pic.)
Here's a chance for me to share one of my favorite fretless bass performances/solos of all time: Christian McBride with Pat Metheny and Antonio Sanchez. He's playing a Rudy Pensa bass with a beautiful (to my eyes) unlined maple fingerboard. Enjoy the tune, regardless of your aesthetic preferences
I certainly do love an unlined, ebony fingerboard ... but I have a Frankenbass fretless with maple and black lines and I love it! {}