Blindfold Test: Maple vs Rosewood

[mcgraham]

For any who are interested there is the link to the blog with the recorded clip. It's not me, if I'm honest I'd be embarrassed if that was me. But for the purposes of hearing the difference in sound of the two bodies it's great. Just to reiterate, other than one body being basswood and the other being alder, EVERYTHING else is the same, pickups, hardware, settings, player. The works... Enjoy!

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Mark

 

[SuperDuck]

Hearing slap sounds would be interesting. I said #1 was rosewood and #2 was maple.

 

[cash87]

I. Rosewood
2. Maple

Good thread, its pretty cool though how its split.

 

[The BurgerMeister]

my gut says

1. maple
2. rosewood

 

[Cerpin_Taxt]

I voted, but I cant say I heard a definitely appreciable difference between the two of them.

If you are deciding between basses because of the fretboard wood, do it for aesthetics and feel, because it just seems pointless in terms of sound.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

...

If you are deciding between basses because of the fretboard wood, do it for aesthetics and feel, because it just seems pointless in terms of sound.

I think that's the aim of this thread.

For what it's worth, I agree with you. I did hear a difference however and did not expect to. I'll have to give a listen to the processed sound files when I get home.

 

[Stereo Joe]

Maple

Rose

Edit:

Why did you choose AllParts over USACG and Warmoth? Anybody else have an opinion on the three?

I did a trade with another bassist and ended up with this jazz bass with the Allparts jazz neck. I liked it so much that I built a p-bass around the same neck, only the rosewood version. The reason I like the Allparts neck is because it has a typical jazz width at the nut, but it is thicker front to back than the newer jazz necks. It has a feel closer to the earlier Fender jazz basses. Also, for the price, it's hard to beat the quality of these necks. I highly recommend them!

 

[savit260]

So what's the answer? Which one is which?

 

[Mayers]

1 - Rosewood
2 - Maple

 

[Rumblin' Man]

A comparison of items made of a substance as variable as wood is totally worthless. Each one is unique and any attempt to create a generalization is a fools errand.

 

[Stanley Design]

I listened and made up my mind before reading anyone elses post. My conclusion is the same/exactly the opposite of most of you. The second one clearly had a harder board on it. But unlike most of you, I realize that despite the general belief that "maple will be brighter" it is exactly the opposite. Rosewood is more dense and a harder wood, thus the second clip (being the one that sounds like it has a harder board) would be rosewood.

So...

1:Maple
2:Rosewood.

 

[bongomania]

Frankly, both maple and rosewood come in so many varieties, from soft as pine to hard as rock, that any claim that one is harder than the other is meaningless.

 

[bass_fish]

A comparison items made of a substance as variable as wood is totally worthless. Each one is unique and any attempt to create a generalization is a fools errand.

Yeah but I think this is more for the "I can hear it so clearly, [insert wood] is my kinda wood" people or the "you should by the one with the [insert wood] fretboard, the other one sounds crappy" people...

 

[TomB]

Pretty different voices, I think. I'd say:

1 Maple
2 Rosewood

OK, it's quittin' time in Eastern US...

 

[jenderfazz]

I initially went with the brightness feeling and said that 1 was rose and 2 was maple, but I've got to say I feel like Maple is the first and Rosewood is the second. I don't hear much of an empirical tone difference between the two but I'm somewhat convinced that the dynamics and sound of fretbuzz are slightly different between them (in my limited experiments).

 

[Ninja>Pirate]

Tell us the answer!!!

 

[Drucocu]

yeah, tell us!!

 

[Metropolis_488]

guessing 1 - maple; 2 - RW

 

[Red Rover]

Give us the answer Joe!

 

[WoodyG3]

To my ear the difference was small, with the exception of the chord near the end. There, I thought 1 sounded a little brighter. A slight difference in technique could account for most of the sound difference I heard, IMO. I dunno', but this is interesting. Thanks for taking the time to do this, Joe!